ABSTRACT
This introductory chapter highlights the significance of qiaopi and the qiaopi trade in the context of the transnational history of modern China and the Chinese diaspora. It briefly introduces the contents and significance of the book as well as the main arguments of each chapter. We argue that remittance played an important role in China’s economic and social modernization, so a detailed analysis of the qiaopi trade’s contribution to interactions between the Chinese diaspora and the ancestral homeland will shed new light on the historical evolution of modern China as well as its linkages with globalization through the flows of capital, ideas, people, and social practices.
