We Chinese, more than the British, are an empire of shopkeepers. My descendants would come to control the businesses world in much of the Pacific and SE Asia. Their control of money in these unequal, poor countries would lead to pushback from local communities, like strong affirmative action laws in Malaysia and race riots in the Philippines.
How did I and my cousins come to arrive in such numbers in countries that were colonised by western empires? Why were we the Pacific's shopkeepers rather than western colonists or Indigenous entrepreneurs?
What did I do to provoke such resentment in later generations? Was it my fault or was it the inevitable envy of success in a winner take all world?
My answer here , focusing on the major wave of Chinese immigration to Singapore and Malaya, might be of interest.
I also want to make some clarifications regarding the question:
We can't generalise and say that the Chinese are an empire of shopkeepers. Chinese immigration to these Malaya and Singapore was diverse, consisting of several dialect groups engaged in a large variety of trades, not just shop-keeping.
The Chinese did not have a monopoly on trade and shop-keeping - the Chettiars from India, for instance, were well-known as money-lenders and financiers in Singapore.
Affirmative action laws in Malaysia have complex origins and it's unfair to pin it all on envy of Chinese success.
It's unfair to say that the Chinese were all very successful. The vast majority of Chinese immigrants to Malaya and Singapore were not wealthy tycoons at all. Many laboured as tin miners, dock hands, coolies, rickshaw pullers, farmers etc.
My answer here may be of some use.