Cambodian society - although not Chinese of course - is still acknowledged to be technologically and socially advanced:
Judicial and agricultural systems also receive grudging praise. There are fascinating glimpses of Chinese migration, even from such an early period. The most common motivation is to become a merchant:
"In Cambodia it is the women who take charge of trade. For this reason a Chinese, arriving in the country, loses no time in getting himself a mate, for he find her commercial instincts a great asset. Market is held every day from six o'clock till noon. There are no shops in which the merchants live; instead, they display their goods on a matting spread upon the ground. Each has his allotted place. I have heard it said that the authorities collect rental for each space."
Chinese brought manufactured goods to sell and bought jungle products. These merchants or, at least, their descendants, lived in Cambodia until their murder by the Khmer Rouge.
Still, at that time, the living in Angkor was considered to be very pleasant and attractive:
Chou Ta-Kuan, Customs of Cambodia (Bangkok: The Siam Society, 1993). The original - or the version of it that still survives - was translated into French by Paul Pelliot and then into English by J. Gilman d'Arcy Paul.
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