The Ch'ing authorities maintained a stand-offish attitude towards labor emigration, as exemplified by a public proclamation of 1860: "The Court will take no steps to enquire further about those who turn their backs on their ancestral hearths and go overseas in search of gain."
是「棄民」還是「良民」？清朝官方對於華工出國，一向又恨又愛，非常矛盾。一八六○年清廷曾文告百姓：「天朝棄民，背棄祖宗廬墓，出洋謀利，朝廷概不聞問。」