 ::*Hey Crisco, something occurred to me. I don't know where I read it, but I did: according to the source I read (a book, or something else that seemed reliable enough) the immediate cause was not just general hatred of Chinese or overpopulation or something, but sugar. (That is, tariffs on sugar to limit production in the Far East of sugar, the development of clandestine sugar trading channels, etc.). See what you can find. I'm on Batavia in 1740.   