Santiaogou Republic
East of Montrado, bordering the Lara region, the Santiaogou built a long stockade along the mountains, so large that it "resembled the Great Wall".
[5] Santiaogou's power steadily increased in the decade that followed, and finally peaked in winning the presidency after the 4th Heshun headman, Dagang-affiliated Liu Zhengbao, abdicated to visit his family in 1818.
[2] Zhu Fenghua succeeded Hu Yalu's premature reign, probably the main candidate chosen by the Santiaogou in order to save face.
This, along with being the caretaker and foreign representative of the Heshun to the Sambas sultan and the later Dutch diplomats, made him an extremely powerful and affluent man.
However, his relations and position in the Confederation made Fenghua want more than a temporary presidency and more than a figurehead that depended on the vote of the Heshun parliament.
Fenghua attempted to nominate himself as headman-for-life in the Confederation, an unprecedented action that was considered blatantly disrespectful and almost the entire alliance turned against him.
[5] At this time, Heshun's mining activities had spread beyond Montrado and now had settlements eastward to Larah, northeast to Seminis, Sepang, Lumar, and northward to Pamangkat.
In May 1822, spearheaded by a Santiaogou flank, a Dutch vanguard under Lieutenant von Kielbeg marched inland to Larah to stop the "Dagang invasion".
On June 23, 1822, Santiaogou quietly commanded its members living in its settlements to pack up and flee to the Gunung Penaring mountains, where the Xiawu kongsi is located.
After a few fruitless days of attempting to scale the Gunung Penarings, they finally made it over and marched into Larah, where Santiaogou's strongholds were destroyed.
Tobias, the Dutch magistrate that was put in charge of West Borneo, mediated tensions between Dagang and Santiaogou, and called a meeting in Montrad on September 13, 1822.
After some time, members of Santiaogou quietly returned to reoccupy their former mines, and its leaders renamed the kongsi to the Sanda futing ("Three reaches deputy hall") to be, at least in name, on par with the Heshun zongting, whose power has been wrenched by the Dutch.
Willer, in his last decrees, changed the name of the kongsi one more time to Hexian zhengting and attempted to rally so that Santiaogou members would return from Sarawak; many did not.
[5] The majority of Santiaogou immigrants found a new place in the similarly Chinese mining villages of interior Borneo, particularly the county of Bau in Kuching province, Malaysia.
The earliest migrants settled there during its reign under the Bruneian Empire, but a spike of immigration in the mid 19th century coincided with James Brookes' rise in Sarawak.
[5] Their autonomy threatened the British settlers and plantation owners, leading to the Twelve Companies, under Liu Shan Bang, to attempt a coup against Brooke's rajahnate, only to fail and be brutally defeated.
