Continuities and discontinuities in politics: The roc and prc policies toward overseas Chinese, 1912–66

Supporters of the GMD (Guomindang) and CCP (Chinese Communist Party) tend to emphasize the differences between the two parties in their policies toward the overseas Chinese and see the power transfer in 1949 as a watershed in the evolution of China’s official policies toward them. However, a close examination of the policies and practices that both parties adopted in managing overseas Chinese affairs indicates that from 1949 to 1966, the PRC followed many of the policies toward the overseas Chinese that the ROC adopted between 1911 and 1949, although they also made some significant changes. The beginning of the Cultural Revolution in 1966, which caused a radical change of previous policies toward the overseas Chinese, was a much more important turning point than 1949 in the relations between the Chinese government and the overseas Chinese.