China's Globalization from Below: Chinese Entrepreneurial Migrants and the Belt and Road Initiative

341 Pages·2021·3.539 MB·English

by  Theodor Tudoroiu

China’s Globalization from Below
This book analyzes the Chinese-centered globalization ‘from below’ brought about
by China’s entrepreneurial migrants and conceived of as a projection of Chinese
power in the Belt and Road Initiative partner states. It identifies the features of
this globalization ‘from below,’ scrutinizes its mutually reinforcing relationship
with China’s globalization ‘from above,’ and shows that these two globalizations
are intrinsically related to the construction of a new international order. It outlines
how the actors in China’s globalization ‘from below’ include Chinese emigrants
who are located in informal transnational economic networks. It reveals that
Beijing has enacted many laws that compel these emigrants to contribute to
the development of their country of origin but also influences them through the
successful promotion of a specific type of deterritorialized nationalism; and that
China is ready to impose harsh punitive actions on political elites in partner states
which fail to protect its migrants or limit their economic activities. Finally, it
argues that China’s globalization ‘from below’ is fundamentally different from
the non-hegemonic globalization ‘from below’ represented by, among others,
Lebanese and East Indian traders, and that China’s globalization ‘from below’ is
rather a self-interested national strategy intended to support the construction of a
Chinese-centered international order.
Theodor Tudoroiu is a senior lecturer at the University of the West Indies, St.
Augustine campus, Trinidad and Tobago.
Routledge Contemporary China Series
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Environmental Governance and Public Participation in Transition
Natalie Wai Man Wong
Hegemony with Chinese Characteristics
From the Tributary System to the Belt and Road Initiative
Asim Dogan
Homeownership in Hong Kong
House Buying as Hope Mechanism
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Local Clan Communities in Rural China
Revolution and Urbanisation since the Late Qing Dynasty
Zongli Tang
China’s Energy Security and Relations with Petrostates
Oil as an Idea
Anna Kuteleva
Ethnic Identity of the Kam People in Contemporary China
Government versus Local Perspectives
Wei Wang and Lisong Jiang
China’s Globalization from Below
Chinese Entrepreneurial Migrants and the Belt and Road Initiative
Theodor Tudoroiu
Civil Society in China
How Society Speaks to the State
Runya Qiaoan
For more information about this series, please visit: https :/ /ww w .rou tledg e .com /
Rout ledge -Cont empor ary -C hina- Serie s /boo k -ser ies /S E0768
China’s Globalization
from Below
Chinese Entrepreneurial Migrants and the
Belt and Road Initiative
Theodor Tudoroiu
First published 2022
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 Theodor Tudoroiu
The right of Theodor Tudoroiu to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-1-032-07002-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-07006-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-20494-7 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003204947
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By Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
À Renardine

Contents
Acknowledgments xii
1 Introduction 1
References 8
2 China and the interplay of multiple globalizations 9
2.1  Setting the framework: two Chinas and five globalizations 9
The two Chinas 9
The two globalizations ‘from above’ 11
Counter-hegemonic globalization ‘from below’: transnational 
political resistance 12
Non-hegemonic globalization ‘from below’: the informal 
transnational economy 15
The Chinese-centered globalization ‘from below’ 18
2.2  Challenging America’s international order 19
2.3 Normative power China 25
Normative power 25
Normative power China and relationality 27
A note about socialization 30
China’s norms 31
2.4  China’s globalization ‘from above’: the BRI and the 
socialization of political elites 37
The Chinese-centered globalization ‘from above’ 37
The Belt and Road Initiative 39
The BRI institutional structure 41
The BRI socialization of political elites 47
Differences 55
References 56
viii Contents
3 The Chinese entrepreneurial migrants 66
3.1 Conquering the Global South 66
Post-Soviet monuments and Jamaican higglers 66
From Sino-Soviet border trade to globalized migration 69
3.2 Key features 73
Mobility, economies of scarcity, and poor governance 74
A transnational middleman minority 76
Business and social Chinese networks 77
China as source of labor, merchandise, and capital 80
A global system of mobility 81
3.3 Huaqiao and Huaren: ‘new’ and ‘old’ Chinese migrants 81
References 84
4 The state-migrants relationship 88
4.1  The evolution of China’s emigration policies 89
Dynasties and Maoists: the migrant as traitor 89
A new era: the migrant as patriot 91
New discourse and understandings 92
4.2  Engines of emigration 93
Local governments 94
Private migration agencies 95
4.3  The state-diaspora relationship 96
4.4  The overseas Chinese state 99
4.5  Overseas Chinese work and united front work 105
Qiaowu 105
United front work 106
Diasporic Chinese organizations 108
Media, public diplomacy, and people-to-people
cooperation 110
Youth, language, and Confucius Institutes 111
Chinese students abroad 112
4.6 The win-win state-migrants relationship 114
The benefits of being Chinese 114
The Chinese state’s expanding role 115
Protecting ethnic Chinese non-nationals 117
4.7  China’s benefits 119
4.8 Diaspora policies as projection of normative power 123
Note 124
References 124
Contents ix
5 China and Ghana: Globalization from below and social conditionality 129
5.1  A stable African democracy 129
5.2 The Ghana-China relationship 131
Renewed partnership 132
The dark side of infrastructure projects 135
Society perception versus elites socialization 139
5.3 The Chinese entrepreneurial migrants in Ghana 142
Negative attitudes toward Chinese small traders 144
Textile competition and deindustrialization 146
The fragmented Chinese community 148
The perceived vulnerability of Chinese entrepreneurial
migrants 149
5.4 The Chinese migrants in Ghana and the Chinese state 151
5.5 The Chinese social norm as social conditionality 153
Galamsey 153
China’s social conditionality 156
5.6 Of pawns and normative power 158
Note 160
References 160
6 China and Suriname: The virtuous circle of China’s two globalizations 164
6.1 A small state on the Wild Coast 165
Military dictatorship 166
Democracy and ambiguity 167
Apanjaht consociationalism 169
6.2  Suriname’s relations with China 171
Sino-Surinamese cooperation under President Venetiaan
(2000–2010) 172
Sino-Surinamese cooperation under President Bouterse
(2010–2020) 176
The Chinese socialization of Suriname’s elites 179
6.3  The ‘old’ and ‘new’ Chinese in Suriname 180
Baihuo Business 182
Economic success and anti-Chinese resentment 183
‘Colonization,’ ‘conspiracy,’ and the Surinamese ‘soft 
state’ 185
6.4 The Chinese migrants as intermediaries between Beijing and
the Surinamese state 187
The Chinese migrants and ethnopolitical power-sharing in
Suriname 187