Disertasi ini menguraikan tentang prosesual adaptasi etnis Tionghoa Palembangdari masa kolonial (1905) hingga pembubaran Lembaga Vreemdeoosterlingen1950 pasca Konfrensi Meja Bundar. Pendekatan adaptasi dari W. Bennetdigunakan untuk melihat proses adaptasi sosial etnis Tionghoa Palembang dalamsetiap masa penguasa yang berbeda. Penelian ini menemukan bahwa kelompoketnis Tionghoa Palembang mampu beradaptasi dan mempertahankan eksistensinyadi Palembang. Tercatat bahwa proses adaptasi tersebut berlangsung sejak masaKerajaan Sriwijaya dan semakin mengkristal pada masa Kesultanan Palembang.Segi budaya dan fleksibelitas dalam aspek religi etnis Tionghoa di Palembangmemainkan peran penting, baik sebagai katalisator maupun mempermudah untukberdinamika dalam ruang Palembang. Melalui integrasi keagamaan kelompok etnisTionghoa membangun sarana/lembaga pernikahan dengan masyarakat lokal sejakmasa Kerajaan Sriwijaya, hingga masa Kesultanan Palembang. Kebudayaan etnisTionghoa yang berasal dari negeri leluhur ternyata memiliki sedikit kemiripandengan kebudayan Melayu-Islam Palembang milik masyarakat lokal, sehinggamampu berpadu tanpa terjadi friksi/ konflik. Tradisi Ceng Beng yang berpadudengan tradisi ziarah kubur (Kubro) milik etnis Tionghoa Palembang, terserapnyabahasa Tionghoa ke dalam bahasa Melayu di Palembang, hingga aspek kuliner(Pempek) yang kemudian menjadi representasi kuliner bersama sebagai identitaskota Palembang menunjukkan bagaimana kemampuan adaptasi etnis Tionghoa diPalembang.

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This dissertation describes the process of adaptation of Palembang Chinese

ethnicity from the colonial period (1905) to the dissolution of the

Vreemdeoosterlingen Institute in 1950 after the Round Table Conference. The

adaptation approach from W. Bennett is used to see the process of social adaptation

of the Palembang Chinese ethnicity in each different ruling period. This research

found that the Palembang Chinese ethnic group was able to adapt and maintain its

existence in Palembang. It is recorded that this adaptation process took place since

the Sriwijaya Kingdom and became increasingly crystallized during the Palembang

Sultanate. In terms of culture and flexibility in the religious aspects of the ethnic

Chinese in Palembang, they play an important role, both as a catalyst and to

facilitate dynamics in Palembang's space. Through religious integration, the

Chinese ethnic group built marriage facilities/institutions with the local community

from the time of the Sriwijaya Kingdom to the Palembang Sultanate. It turns out

that the culture of the Chinese ethnic originating from their ancestral country has

little resemblance to the Palembang Malay-Islamic culture belonging to the local

community, so that they are able to blend together without friction/conflict. The

Ceng Beng tradition combined with the tradition of pilgrimage to graves (Kubro)

belonging to Palembang Chinese ethnicity, the absorption of Chinese into the

Malay language in Palembang, to the culinary aspect (Pempek) which later became

a joint culinary representation as the identity of the city of Palembang shows how

the Chinese ethnic adaptation ability in Palembang.