Introduction

Chinese have been important diaspora traders around the South China Sea since well before the 12th century and they were the predominant middlemen in precolonial and colonial times in Southeast Asia. As the new century dawns, the memory of the Asian Financial Crisis is fading around the region, like a bad dream. Asia had been divided by colonialism and then by cold war boundaries and by autarkic national development policies. The Asian Financial Crisis and its aftermath provide a crucible in which Chinese diaspora capitalism has been tested, and a new prism through which its strengths and weaknesses may be seen in a different light. Chinese merchants led the way in East and Southeast Asia by the 12th century and dominated regional trade by the 14th century. The chapter also presents an overview on the key concepts discussed in this book.