Convenor
Zhang Jijiao
Department of Social Research, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology,
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Abstract
There are over 50 million overseas Chinese. Most overseas Chinese are living in Southeast Asia where they make up a majority of the population of Singapore and significant minority populations in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines, and Vietnam. In North America, Europe and Oceania, occupations are diverse and impossible to generalize; ranging from catering to significant ranks in business, medicine, the arts, and academia.
Overseas Chinese are estimated to control 1.5 to 2 trillion USD in liquid assets and have considerable amounts of wealth to stimulate economic power in China. China ranks second after India of top remittance receiving countries in 2010 with over 51 billion USD sent. The overseas Chinese business community of Southeast Asia, known as the bamboo network, has a prominent role in the region’s private sectors. For example, in Asia the overseas Chinese and the Chinese of Taiwan and Hong Kong are among the most dynamic business people. Making up around 6% of the population of Southeast Asia, ethnic Chinese business people control more than 70% of the region’s corporate wealth.
In this panel, we need to understand how the overseas Chinese do business. On the perspective of Anthropology, the social network, Organization and Culture they have are critical to an understanding of how Overseas Chinese business is done around the world.