Following in the tradition of generations of expatriate Chinese merchants, they began establishing small family businesses. Today, the authors show, these have expanded into conglomerate business empires. Entrusting corporate divisions almost exclusively to relatives, and dealing extensively with fellow expatriates, these entrepreneurs have formed close-knit and formidable business spheres throughout Southeast Asia - a "bamboo network."

This research explores the economic contributions of overseas ethnic Chinese (commonly referred to as the "bamboo network") in the economic transformation of Indonesia and the Philippines. This think-piece asks whether or not this economically dominant group can act as the catalysts of economic growth in the period of globalization, as it arguably did during the early decades of economic transformation in the postwar years. Given the unique economic terrain of Southeast Asia, to what extent this network engenders positive economic momentum and to what extent it can hamper further economic dynamism in the age of integrating markets?

Leading scholars in the field consider the profound importance of meanings of place and the spatial processes of mobility and settlement for the Chinese overseas. Visit our website for sample chapters!

Based on new archival research in many countries, this volume broadens the context of the U.S. intervention in Vietnam. Its primary focus is on relations between China and Vietnam in the mid-twentieth century; but the book also deals with China's relations with Cambodia, U.S. dealings with both China and Vietnam, French attitudes toward Vietnam and China, and Soviet views of Vietnam and China. Contributors from seven countries range from senior scholars and officials with decades of experience to young academics just finishing their dissertations. The general impact of this work is to internationalize the history of the Vietnam War, going well beyond the long-standing focus on the role of the United States.