If you think of the quintessential image of overseas Chinese in contemporary popular culture, chances are they are Cantonese, people originating from the Chinese mainland’s south coast.

Indeed, many of these overseas Chinese will be from Guangdong Province. You can find evidence of their ties to home in Guangdong’s Shantou city. In the early 20th century, many Chinese from here were working in Southeast Asia but there wasn’t an effective way to wire their money back home. So they relied on unofficial, civilian organizations to manually bring their hard-earned cash back home, along with a letter for their loved ones. It left a paper trail, parts of which are now exhibited in Shantou.

This evidence may remain, but the days of dodgy manual money transfers into China are long gone. Overseas Chinese founded the Bangkok Bank in Thailand, the Overseas Union Bank in Singapore and the Public Bank in Malaysia. And as China’s Belt and Road Initiative strengthens regional infrastructure and banking processes, they have also been getting more proactive in investing in their home country. More than 5,600 projects in Shantou feature investment from overseas Chinese, accounting for 94 percent of all foreign investment in the city.

Local officials’ hopes for consolidating this investment boom are centered on the Overseas Chinese Economic and Cultural Cooperation Zone, which offers a wide range of resources including a regional equity exchange on which more than 450 companies are currently listed.

The zone was set up in 2014, and its vice president Li Zhao said he wants to attract more companies in the sectors of tourism, education, healthcare and finance.

“Overseas Chinese have an advantage in understanding the language and culture of overseas societies, and they also know Shantou’s policies. I believe they will do a great job in investing here,” said Li.

Lin Haiyi is a partner in a startup in the zone. “Through the Overseas Chinese Board, we raised 5 million yuan. That allowed us to grow,” said Lin, of food and beverage firm Wingoo Anime. 

City officials are promising to come up with more favorable policies for the zone. They hope Shantou can mean not just a hometown, but also a business opportunity for more overseas Chinese.