Overseas Chinese Investment

Introduction: The ‘Nanyang Bloodline’ of Urban Utilities In Xiamen’s journey toward modernization, the 1920s served as a critical pivot point. During this era, Xiamen transformed from a traditional consumption-based port into a modern industrial city. The driving force behind this metamorphosis was not colonial charity but the ‘capital reflux’ of Southern Fujianese overseas Chinese. Statistics show that overseas Chinese capital accounted for a staggering [80% to 90%] of Xiamen’s national industry during this time. Public utilities—electricity, water, and telecommunications—were almost entirely funded by overseas Chinese. While the names of Huang Yizhu and Tan Kah Kee are legendary, there was a vast group of small and medium industrialists, the ‘Nanyang Gods of Wealth,’ who stood behind these million-dollar ventures but have since faded into historical obscurity. ...

Introduction: The Leap from a Fishing Village to a Modern Metropolis Xiamen, once an isolated island known as Jiahe Islet, saw its major turning point with the opening of the treaty port in 1843. However, looking through the lens of digital local chronicles, Xiamen’s rapid metamorphosis from a consumption-based traditional port to a modern city was primarily driven by the massive capital reflux of “remittances” from overseas Chinese, rather than just the influx of foreign firms. ...