Introduction

This introductory chapter shows that a view on China as a unitary outward investor is flawed. The high share of provincial outward investors, as well as the regional variation within China, disproves the unitary view, with select provinces along China’s east coast being provably uniquely important for China’s outward investment, whereas a majority of other provinces have outflows at comparatively low levels. Against this background, this chapter argues that existing works that focus on central-state motivations or enterprise interests remain important, but insufficient. Instead, the focus of analysis should be put on the provinces with high investment outflows. This chapter walks through the selection process of the two examined provinces, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, for investigation, and gives insights into the data used and the methods of their generation, as well as the investigation’s contributions and limitations. The chapter concludes by providing an outline of the book.