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Bamboo network

Countries and territories	Brunei  Cambodia  Indonesia  Laos  Malaysia Myanmar  Philippines  Singapore  Thailand  Vietnam
Languages and language families	Chinese,English,Burmese,Filipino,Indonesian,Khmer,Laotian,Malay,Thai,Vietnamese andmanyothers
Major cities	Bandar Seri Begawan Bangkok Ho Chi Minh City Jakarta Kuala Lumpur Mandalay Manila Phnom Penh Singapore Vientiane

Thebamboo network (simplified Chinese:竹网;traditional Chinese:竹網;pinyin:zhú wǎng) or theChinese Commonwealth is a term used to conceptualize the links between businesses run byoverseas Chinese in Southeast Asia (in a narrower sense with theMin Chinese speaking community).^[1][2] It links the overseas Chinese business community ofSoutheast Asia, namelyMalaysia,Indonesia,Singapore,Thailand,Vietnam, thePhilippines,Myanmar,Brunei,Laos andCambodia with the economies ofGreater China (mainland China,Hong Kong,Macau, andTaiwan).^[3] Overseas Chinese companies in Southeast Asia are usually managed as family businesses in a centralized bureaucratic manner. In an article in The New York Review of Books, Indian critic Pankaj Mishra called it the "largest economic force in Asia outside of Japan".

Overseas Chinese businesses in Southeast Asia are usually family owned and managed through a centralized bureaucracy.^[3][4][5] The businesses are usually managed asfamily businesses to lower front office transaction costs as they are passed down from one generation to the next.^{[5][6][3][4][7][8]} The bulk of these firms typically operate as small andmedium-sized businesses.^[5][9][10]

Bamboo networks are also transnational, which means channeling the movement of capital, information, and goods and services can promote the relative flexibility and efficiency between the formal agreements and transactions made by family-run firms.^[11] Business relationships are based on theConfucian paradigm ofguanxi, the Chinese term for the cultivation of personal relationships as an ingredient for business success.^[12][13][14]

Some overseas Chinese businessmen include Malaysian dealmakerRobert Kuok, Indonesian banker and retail proprietorLiem Sioe Liong, and his son, financier and money managerLiem Hong Sien in addition to fellowFuqing native andSalim Group co-founder and investorLiem Oen Kian, Filipino billionaireHenry Sy, and Hong Kong business tycoonLi Ka-shing.^[6][15]

Much of the business activity of the bamboo network is centered in the major cities of the region, such asMandalay,Jakarta,Singapore,Bangkok,Kuala Lumpur,Ho Chi Minh City,Phnom Penh,Vientiane, andManila.^[16]

Commercial influence of Chinese traders and merchants in Southeast Asia dates back at least to the third century AD, when official missions by theHan government were dispatched to countries in the Southern Seas. Distinct and stable overseas Chinese communities became a feature of Southeast Asia by the mid-seventeenth century across major port cities of Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam.^[17] More than 1500 years ago, Chinese merchants began to sail southwards towards Southeast Asia in search of trading opportunities and wealth. These areas were known asNanyang or the Southern Seas. Many of those who left China were Southern Han Chinese comprising theHokkien,Teochew,Cantonese,Hakka andHainanese who trace their ancestry from the southern Chinese coastal provinces, principally known as Guangdong, Fujian and Hainan.^[18] Periods of heavy emigration would send waves of Chinese into Southeast Asia. Unrest and periodic upheaval throughout succeeding Chinese dynasties encouraged further emigration throughout the centuries.^[19] By the 12th century, Chinese began permanently settling in Thailand, and by the 13th century, in Cambodia^[20][21] and in Indonesia.^[22] In the early 1400s, the Ming dynasty Chinese admiralZheng He under theYongle Emperor led a fleet of three hundred vessels around Southeast Asia during theMing treasure voyages.^[23]

Since 1500, Southeast Asia has been a magnet for Chinese emigrants where they have strategically developed a bamboo network encompassing an elaborately diverse spectrum of economic activities spread across numerous industries.^[24] The Chinese were one commercial minority among many including IndianGujaratis,Chettiars, Portuguese and Japanese until the middle of the seventeenth century. Subsequently, damage to the rival trade networks the English and Dutch in the Indian Ocean allowed the enterprising Chinese to take over the roles once held by the Japanese in the 1630s.^[25] Overseas Chinese populations in Southeast Asia saw a rapid increase following theCommunist victory in theChinese Civil War in 1949 which forced many refugees to emigrate outside of China causing a rapid expansion of the overseas Chinese bamboo network.^[16][26][27]

Governments affected by the1997 Asian financial crisis introduced laws regulatinginsider trading led to the loss of many monopolistic positions long held by the ethnic Chinese business elite and weakening the influence of the bamboo network.^[28] After the crisis, business relationships were more frequently based oncontracts, rather than the trust and family ties of the traditional bamboo network.^[29]

Following theChinese economic reforms initiated byDeng Xiaoping started in 1978, businesses owned by the Chinese diaspora began to develop ties with companies based inmainland China. With China's entry into the global marketplace and its concurrent global economic expansion since the dawn of the 21st century, the overseas Chinese community in Southeast Asia have served as a conduit for China's businesses.^[30][31]

• Chua, Amy (2003).World On Fire.Knopf Doubleday Publishing.ISBN 978-0385721868.
• Folk, Brian C.; Jomo, K. S. (2003).Ethnic Business: Chinese Capitalism in Southeast Asia (1st ed.).Routledge (published September 1, 2003).ISBN 978-0415310116.
• Gambe, Annabelle (2000).Overseas Chinese Entrepreneurship and Capitalist Development in Southeast Asia.Palgrave Macmillan.ISBN 978-0312234966.
• Gomez, Terence (2003).Chinese Business in Southeast Asia.Routledge.ISBN 978-0415326223.
• Gomez, Terence (2001).Chinese Business in Southeast Asia: Contesting Cultural Explanations, Researching Entrepreneurship.Routledge.ISBN 978-0700714155.
• Haley, George (1998).New Asian Emperors.Routledge.ISBN 978-0750641302.
• Hemrit, Maetinee (2010).Beyond the Bamboo Network: The Internationalization Process of Thai Family Business Groups.Stockholm School of Economics.ISBN 978-9172588431.
• Landa, Janet Tai (2016).Economic Success of Chinese Merchants in Southeast Asia.Springer.ISBN 978-3642540189.
• Paul Dana, Leo (1999).Entrepreneurship in Pacific Asia: Past, Present & Future.World Scientific Publishing.ISBN 978-9810239299.
• Rae, Ian (2008).The Overseas Chinese of Southeast Asia: History, Culture, Business.Palgrave Macmillan.ISBN 978-1403991652.
• Richter, Frank (1999).Business Networks in Asia: Promises, Doubts, and Perspectives.Praeger.ISBN 978-1567203028.
• Santasombat, Yos (2017).Chinese Capitalism in Southeast Asia: Cultures and Practices. Palgrave Macmillan.ISBN 978-9811046957.
• Suryadinata, Leo (1997).Ethnic Chinese as Southeast Asians. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.ISBN 981-3055-58-8.
• Suryadinata, Leo (2012).Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent: A Biographical Dictionary.Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.ISBN 9789814345217.
• Tagliacozzo, Eric; Chang, Wen-Chin (2011).Chinese Circulations: Capital, Commodities, and Networks in Southeast Asia.Duke University Press.ISBN 978-0-8223-9357-3.
• Tong, Chee-Kiong (2014).Chinese Business: Rethinking Guanxi and Trust in Chinese Business Networks. Springer.ISBN 978-9814451840.
• Wang, Gungwu (2002).The Chinese Overseas: From Earthbound China to the Quest for Autonomy.Harvard University Press.ISBN 978-0674009868.
• Willmott, William E. (1967).The Chinese in Cambodia. Publications Centre:University of British Columbia Press.ISBN 978-0774844413.
• Weidenbaum, Murray L.; Hughes, Samuel (1996).The Bamboo Network: How Expatriate Chinese Entrepreneurs Are Creating a New Economic Superpower in Asia. Free Press.ISBN 978-0684822891.

• The Bamboo Network: Asia's Family-run Conglomerates – Strategy + Business January 1, 1998]

• Bamboo network
• Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia

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