My wife's family is ethnically Chinese. For some reason, they moved to Cambodia at least a generation before the Khmer Rouge genocide. Why might Chinese have emigrated to Cambodia?
My Mother-in-law won't talk about Pol Pot and what happened. All I know is most of her family was killed before the churches brought her to the States. They don't event have birth certificates. I would like our kids to know a little bit about their ancestry but I was taught nothing about these events in school. Where is a good place to learn about it? Any great books on the topic?
Do you have a more specific date for their immigration? The motivations may change a lot between the 1930s-1950s. The Chinese were the economic class in colonial Indochina, and really throughout Southeast Asia. They had a separate administration system from the Cambodians, since they were considered Chinese citizens simply abroad, or Chinese sojourners, and not immigrants in the new country. Their administrative documents, like certificates, would be held at the local Chinese association house, administered by an elected Chinese leader. I'm almost sure that those would have been destroyed after 1975. For specific works on overseas Chinese in Indochina, the pickings are slim. If you're willing to read a dissertation, not a popular history, I can make some suggestions/provide you with a PDF.