Constructing the 'China Circle' in China and Southeast Asia: State Policy, the Presence of Chinese Overseas and Globalisation

In recent years, due to the fact that the Asia/Pacific region has become a major centre of global capital accumulation, there have been numerous scholarly works devoted to the phenomenon of the China Circle or Greater China (e.g. Hsing, 1994; Naughton, 1994; Sung, 1994; Shambaugh, 1995). What is the China Circle or Greater China? Sociologist Manuel Castells describes the China Circle as,

... the powerful networks of ethnic Chinese capital, connecting Hong Kong, Taipei, Singapore, and 'overseas' Chinese business groups (often operating through Hong Kong), all of them with direct linkages to China, forming what observers are calling the 'the China Circle' (Castells, 1996, p. 109).