Chinese Network Capital: Past and Present

Colloquium
Victor Zheng,  Siu Lun Wong,  Tsai-man Ho,  Kin Sheun Louie,  Posan Wan  

We live in a network society. Although we know that we are interconnected with many others in the social web, we mostly take this as consumption (goods) instead of investment (capital). This panel addresses the research question of “network” (social, economic, political, and cultural connections) and discuses from the angle of “capital,” focusing on making network for generating benefit, by using a generic term “network capital.” Since Chinese culture puts strong emphasis on network (guanxi), this panel opts to use overseas Chinese as cases to illustrate how they maneuver various kind of network past and present to achieve their different goals. Prof. Siu-lun Wong's "Soul Searching: Overseas Indian and Chinese Diasporic Comparison" will compare the Chinese and Indian diasporas massive migration flows in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries from the perspective of an innovative perspective of “soul-searching.” He will examine their disparities in terms of remittance behavior, network patterns, and homeland ties. Dr. Tsai-man Ho will focus on socio-business re-networking by using the case of Taiwanese businesses in Vietnam in her paper, "Business Relocation and Network Re-establishing in Today's Taiwan." Her paper will address problems faced when the Taiwanese firms tried to move their assembly lines to Vietnam under the so-called “Southern-looking economic development policy.” Dr. Victor Zheng will talk about Chinese business network in South East Asia and Hong Kong by using an in-depth case of Aw Boon Haw—the so-called “King of medicine business” and “King of newspapers business” in the twentieth century. Dr. KS Louie and Posan Wan will talk about the Cuban Chinese endeavours in Cuban in the twentieth century, especially to compare life before and after communist rule. In their paper "Cuban Chinese and Their Survival Network," they will also discuss the current China-Cuban relation and the recent life of the Cuban Chinese. By using the above-mentioned cases/presentations, this panel hopes to enhance the understanding about Chinese network capital, especially on its idiosyncracy, intricacy, and intertwining.