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When China opened its economy in a fishing hamlet bordering Hong Kong three decades ago, some of the bravest and most visionary overseas Chinese entrepreneurs returned to a country that they or their ancestors had fled for a better life. They came back to make a fortune.
That fishing hamlet, China's first special economic zone, was Shenzhen. Enjoying an almost infinite supply of cheap labor, easily obtained credit, and an economy that never stopped running, many of the businessmen struck gold by helping turn a one-time economic backwater into the world's factory floor.
As China's cost advantage is losing edge and real estate bubbles are bloating, overseas Chinese businessmen, who invest heavily in manufacturing and property, now have to change their path of gold digging along with the country's economic transition.
While more than 3,000 such figures are preparing to assemble for a conference in the western Chinese city of Chengdu to discuss their China investments, many are questioning the future of the country's economic momentum as China goes through a key rebalancing.
Exports have born the brunt of the national dynamic, which takes place amid the worst global economic crisis since the Great Depression. With demand slumping, wages shooting up and currency appreciating more than 30 percent, exporters, many of whom are overseas Chinese, have found making money much harder.
According to the General Administration of Customs, export growth tumbled to 9.2 percent in the first eight months of 2013 from an average of 30 percent between 2003 and 2007.
Meanwhile, China's home prices have continued to climb despite warnings like rising financial risks and slowing economic growth. According to bank estimates, China's ratio of credit to GDP has reached about 200 percent. The country's economic growth dipped to 7.5 percent in the second quarter, far below the doubt-digit growth registered in the past decade.
Li Ka-shing, a Hong Kong mogul and Asia's richest man, reportedly sold a shopping plaza in Guangzhou in August and plans to cash in on an office building in Shanghai, sparking fears that overseas Chinese businessmen are pulling money out.
However, many such entrepreneurs are convinced that China will remain a bright spot for investment as the world's second-largest economy upgrades to a more value-added and consumption-driven pattern.
Delegates for Wednesday's World Chinese Entrepreneur Convention are scheduled to include Dhanin Chearavanont, a Chinese Thai and the richest person in Thailand.
His Charoen Pokphand Group has investments worth nearly six billion U.S. dollars in China and owns a 10-story shopping mall at the center of Shanghai's Lujiazui, China's Wall Street. His company last December paid HSBC about 9.4 billion U.S. dollars to buy a 15.6-percent stake in Ping An, China's biggest private insurer.
This is typical of a significant change in priorities among overseas Chinese, according to some observers.
"[They] are shifting their focus, moving from manufacturing to service industries and high-tech businesses," said Long Denggao, a professor studying overseas Chinese entrepreneurs at Tsinghua University. "More overseas Chinese are setting their sights on strategic emerging industries. These businessmen have also become more skillful in using China's financial market."
Xue Shuihe, an Australian born in China's Fujian Province, has been investing in his home country for 18 years, expanding businesses from food production to real estate and then to hotels. Xue believes overseas Chinese entrepreneurs will have more room to develop as China pushes forward its economic transition.
Zhu Hai'an, chair of the Belgium China Association for Promoting Peaceful Reunification, and owner of the biggest Chinese restaurant in Belgium, agrees. "Confidence is most needed when China deepens its reforms. With confidence, we overseas Chinese will come back and invest in wave upon wave," Zhu said.
"China is a big tree which we need to lean on. Overseas Chinese still invest quite a lot in the mainland."
In addition to shifting industries, going west is also a popular option among overseas Chinese running businesses in the mainland. While rising wages, surging land costs and louder opposition to pollution have driven factories out of east China, the west of the country is yearning to welcome businessmen to relocate their money and give the area a shot at modernization.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told global economic leaders earlier this month at the Summer Davos Forum that the process of industrialization and urbanization is far from being completed in China, suggesting fallow ground which promises much room for regional development and huge market potential.
Chengdu, the economic hub of southwest China, is striving to lure tycoons to invest. For the World Chinese Entrepreneur Convention, delegates have been offered the best hotels, smooth transportation and tight security.
With the ambition of becoming the economic driver in west China, Chengdu turned its southern suburbs into a skyscraper-filled district as modern as Shanghai's Pudong. As its GDP grows faster than the national average, the city has attracted 245 Fortune-500 companies and operates China's fourth-busiest airport by international passenger traffic, according to its government.
Chen Yuanwei, a U.S. permanent resident, moved back to Chengdu and built a chemicals company in the city's high-tech industry zone in 2008. Within several years, his business grew from a 20-person lab to an employer of 200 people.
"The Chinese economy is entering a new season. High-tech and emerging industries will receive a bigger boost. The signals are clear and we have greater confidence and expectation for the future," Chen said.
