ABSTRACT
The triumphalist narratives of legendary Chinese tycoons and their family enterprises spanning the Asia Pacific nation-states should certainly continue to be grist for our theoretical mill as we seek to understand the transnationalization of overseas Chinese capitalism. Yet capitalism cannot be identified solely with a form of economic organization, nor Asian capitalism only with a family form of organization; rather, these must also be considered within the frame of associated modernities that encompass and position specific bodies, identities, and spaces within the Asia Pacific, particularly as these modernities are imposed by the interface between state powers and civil society (see the introduction to this volume and Ong’s essay). Nor should diasporic Chinese throughout the Asia Pacific be reduced to being represented metonymically by a very few, spectacularly successful capitalist exemplars, however much rightful ethnic or racial pride might seem to call for it in the coming “Pacific Century.”
