Originating in the 1820s and used for 150 years thereafter, qiaopi is the name given in Chinese to letters written home by Chinese emigrants to accompany remittances. Their key function was to preserve family ties. Although such correspondence focused principally on the provision of economic support, the qiaopi also touched on cultural, political, educational, and gender themes.
This book therefore seeks to examine the qiaopi from two interconnected perspectives. One views qiaopi from a political and institutional angle, the other from a financial and social angle. Bringing together the extensive research of a group of international scholars, this multi-authored volume sheds light on the larger significance of the qiaopi for modern China. Taking an empirical, evidence-driven approach, the contributors employ a wide range of primary sources in both Chinese and English and relate their findings to scholarship in both the Chinese-speaking world and in non-Chinese interdisciplinary fields. In so doing, this book helps to bridge the gap between Chinese- and English-speaking researchers in the field of qiaopi studies.
As one of the first books in English on the qiaopi trade and its significance, this book will appeal to students and scholars of Chinese history and Chinese migration, as well in Migration Studies and Diaspora Studies more generally.

China's development has entered a new phase since the era of Mao and Deng Xiaoping. Its GDP has grown to more than 10 trillion US dollars, twice that of Japan's and close to that of the United States; and Chinese diplomacy has taken on a more active profile as the nation moves towards superpower status on the world stage. At the same time, all of this has resulted in serious ecological problems, and as the economy develops social contradictions are growing more prominent within the country. Xi Jinping, who became General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012, has developed a new philosophy of governance to confront these challenges. The result is a 30-year plan that is the roadmap to The China Dream, which has led to various programs such as the ongoing campaigns to address and eliminate corruption within the CCP and reform of the Military; Market reforms and the "Belt and Road Initiatives" meant to improve domestic infrastructure and broaden Chinese economic influence on the world stage; and the evolution of a new approach to foreign relations. In addition to an analysis by leading Chinese thinkers of the elements of this plan and its implementation, an overview of Xi's early career and the first two years of his leadership provide readers a look at his thinking and how it has developed and provides a preview of what we might expect from China in the Xi Jinping Era.