Participants attend the Academic and Policy Forum on Global Chao People and Belt and Road held at the Chinese University of Hong Kong on May 31, 2023. (EDMOND TANG / CHINA DAILY)
The industrious and enterprising streaks permeating Chaoshan (or Chaozhou and Shantou in Guangdong) people have enabled them to weave a huge, tight-knit commercial and diplomatic fabric between China and overseas countries, and speakers who shared ideas at a forum featuring discourses on the role of the Chaoshan in the Belt and Road Initiative on Wednesday agreed that that affinity will continue to nourish exchange and collaboration in the BRI.
The forum, loosely translated as “Academic and Policy Forum on Global Chao People and Belt and Road” held at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, highlighted the Chaoshan region’s track record of trade booms and potential future economic contributions to the BRI
The forum, loosely translated as “Academic and Policy Forum on Global Chao People and Belt and Road” held at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, highlighted the Chaoshan region’s track record of trade booms and potential future economic contributions to the BRI. The initiative, sometimes referred to as the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, was launched in 2013 by Chinese President Xi Jinping to link East Asia and Europe through collaboration on physical infrastructure, trade, investment and cultural exchange. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the ambitious vision.
Chaoshan or Teoswa is a cultural-linguistic region in the east of Guangdong. Also known as Chiushan in Cantonese, it consists of the cities Chaozhou, Jieyang and Shantou.
Since the opening of Shantou, it has become one of the largest ports in China. From the 30th year of Emperor Guangxu (1871-1908) to the 24th year of the Republic of China (1904-1935), more than 2.98 million people reportedly went abroad through Shantou to earn a living, and more than 1.46 million returned as overseas Chinese, people of Chinese birth or ethnicity who reside outside the Chinese mainland, the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao, and Taiwan.
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The BRI draws the focal point on “Five Links”, with connectivities in cross-governmental policy coordination, infrastructure development, investment and trade facilitation, financial integration, and cultural and social exchange. Development on the five domains has borne fruit, catalyzing prosperity and flourishing along the BRI route, said Zhang Guoyi, deputy director of Publicity, Culture and Sports Affairs at the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Chaoshan is home to many overseas Chinese people. Overseas Chinese and Chinese of Teochew heritage are strewn all over the world, especially in Southeast Asia, where an estimated more than 6 million overseas Chinese have settled. In addition, there are more than 1 million Chaoshan people living in Hong Kong and Macao.
People of Chaozhou origin account for one-fifth of overseas Chinese, which emphasizes their significant role in shaping cultural and trade exchange and bond along the BRI, Zhang said.
Chaozhou and Shantou are blessed with natural bounties, with “water” being the central avenue and vehicle for trade exchange and commercial flow, which cements Chaozhou’s strategic position and cachet on the Maritime Silk Road, he added.
The virtue of “Chao people” being characterized as “industrious, intelligent, hard-working, composed and harmonious” has been celebrated, and the blossoming local economic, commercial and cultural activities have done justice to Chao people’s commendable merits, and the modern and contemporary folk hailing from Chaozhou exhibit their patriotism, Zhang added.
He said he relishes the characteristics and achievements of Chao people through history, convinced that the highly-prized characteristics flowing through them and their descendants’ veins will continue promoting the commercial, economic, and cultural synergy that exists between China and Southeast Asia.
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“Hong Kong, as the international financial center, superconnecter between the Chinese mainland and overseas countries and hub of its vibrant offshore renminbi business, will continue allowing its advantages full play, in Belt and Road collective development,” he noted.
A natural “water” bridge as well as a channel for trade and commercial ties along the BRI, Chaozhou has proactively engaged in industrial zone development and established a rapport in trade and commercial cooperation with over 180 overseas regions, fueling the momentum of expansive cross-regional collaboration along the Silk Road, said Wang Xuezhu, vice-mayor of Shantou government, whose primary responsibilities cover Hong Kong and Macao affairs, overseas Chinese affairs and foreign affairs.
Boasting an immense business network after decades of endeavor, Chaozhou is blessed with diplomatic resources, which should be leveraged for further exploration of trade, commercial and thus economic opportunities among Belt and Road countries, contended Wang.
To turn this treasure gem of a region into a dynamic trade and commercial center between Belt and Road countries entails shrewd and keen business sensibilities, and Chao folks are well-equipped with those shining attributes, said Gao Peixuan, member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and chairwoman of the Federation of Hong Kong Shantou Community Organizations. “They were and are still enterprising, venturing, and audacious, which has enabled them to create legendary business feats from antiquity to today,” and which will endure, she said.
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The natural treasure “water” that flows in the DNA of Chaozhou people has brought ample fortune and bountiful trade opportunities, which has channeled not only the flow of “commodities” but also the flow of “talents”, said Lee Chack-fan, director of the Jao Tsung-I Petite Ecole, University of Hong Kong. “Trade, finance and culture” are where Chaozhou’s edges lie, and should be tapped for maximum tangible benefits and contributions to the “five connectivities” underpinning the BRI, he said.
Shantou enterprises have invested $140.32 million in 40 countries involved in the BRI including Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Tanzania
“Merchants and businessmen with Chaozhou lineage have played a vital and zealous role in establishing a sizable trade network and an immense transnational commercial industry fabric, particularly in Southeast Asia. The assets will continue to inject vitality and infinite opportunities in Belt and Road collaboration,” said Liu Hong, Tan Lark Sye chair professor in Public Policy and Global Affairs at the School of Social Sciences at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
In April, Xinhua Web reported that the export volume of toys from Shantou to Belt and Road countries registered a year-on-year increase of 67.9 percent in 2023.
According to 2015 statistics, 10 countries involved in the BRI had invested in Shantou, including Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Yemen, Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia and Pakistan, in 330 approved investment projects. Shantou enterprises have invested $140.32 million in 40 countries involved in the BRI including Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, the United Arab Emirates, Russia and Tanzania.
In the first half of 2017, total imports and exports between Shantou and BRI countries reached 983 million yuan ($138 million), and trade with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations reached 509 million yuan.
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While such accumulated resources and social capital are essential, they may not guarantee that overseas “Chao merchants” default to Chaozhou as their prime choice for investment in the future, Liu said.
“Only a healthy and instrumental business milieu and a wholesome commercial mechanism would ensure Chaoshan region establishes itself as an allure for investment and a locale that opportunities embedded in the Belt and Road route would flow to,” he said.
