Originally published in 1972, this is a detailed examination of the policy of the People's Republic of China towards the overseas Chinese - those people of Chinese origin living outside China, mostly in South-East Asia. The overseas Chinese have often been regarded as a kind of fifth column used by the Chinese Communist Party to stir up revolution in their home countries. Dr Fitzgerald convincingly demonstrates the falseness of this view and traces the development of the CCP from 1949 through to the Cultural Revolution. He has succeeded in producing a valuable, new, and carefully researched study of Chinese policy, which contains many new insights and much new material of interest to those dealing with modern Chinese politics.