Research has shown that the number of ethnic Chinese in China who came from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia grew significantly with China's open-door policy in the 1980s, and they soon became the biggest foreign investors in China (Huang 2003). According to official reports, more than 80 percent of the total foreign investments in China came from Overseas Chinese sources (see Table 3.1) (Chen and Hu 1997; Huang 1998). Studies also revealed that in China, 18 to 20 million people were employed by Overseas Chinese–owned or Overseas Chinese–invested enterprises by the end of 1994 (Tracy and Lever-Tracy 1997). Both of the quotations at the beginning of this chapter show that Overseas Chinese have been seen by politicians and intellectuals alike as bridge builders who, especially after the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989, have emerged as an important group in providing the capital and expertise for fueling China's rapid economic growth.