本文旨在透過法屬波里尼西亞華人社群的硏究，說明瑞阿提亞（Raiatea)島 上鬥雞賽的互動結構。鬥雞賽通常是由勝券在握的華人玩家與勝算渺茫的瑞阿提 亞當地參賽者對抗。華人玩家經常在與對手賭博時，以不等的賠率下注：他們其實 是以讓步，在理論上平衡了比賽雙方得勝的機會。從這些鬥雞賽中所呈現的賭注結 構，反映出華人與波里尼西亞人之間族群關係在歷史上的結構運作。此外「信貸關 係」這個在兩個族群互動時常見的焦點，卻無形中維持了族群間的區隔。這種信貸 關係的持續，並非肇因於雙方對於共同利益有對應的理解，反而是肇因於誤解。作 者將在文中指出賭博關係與信貸關係在結構上具有同質性。這種看來成功又矛盾 的族群交往形式，是建立在雙方可以各自使用他們認定的解釋方式來保住顔面。

Drawn from a study of the Chinese community in French Polynesia, this paper explores the structure of interactions around cockfights held on the island of Raiatea. These contests typically pit a Chinese player, nearly always assured of victory, against a Raiatean contestant, whose chances of winning are minimal. Chinese players routinely propose uneven bets to their opponents: they play with a handicap, theoretically equalizing both sides， chances of winning. The structure of the bets concluded in these encounters reflects the historical structuring of inter-ethnic relations between the Chinese and the Polynesians. Credit, a common focus of interaction between these groups, contributes to the maintenance of their separation. The continuation of the credit relationship is less due to a reciprocal understanding of mutually shared interests than to a misunderstanding. I will show in this paper that the gambling relation presents a structural homology to the credit relation. The paradoxical success of these inter-ethnic encounters is based in the different rationalities that allow each party to save face in its own way.