A joke that I heard spoken once was this: “What do the Chinese have in common with the Jews?” Answer: “They are found everywhere in the world”. Just as Jewish Diaspora is a well documented fact, so are overseas Chinese. Chinese in China make up 19.8% of world population plus the Diaspora Chinese (60 million, not counting Taiwan), you will have more than 20% of world population. That’s an incredible fact, numbering close to 1.4 billion of 6.7 billion of all human beings on earth.

In the recent years, Mauritians have moved from seeking their roots in the lands of their ancestors to the spread of their likes over the world. Migrants have settled Mauritius into a nation where life goes on in a wonderful mix of different people, religions and cultures, yet fascinating in the form of the world in miniature. It is like a stage where humanity is in fusion. What Mauritius is today, the world will be tomorrow. A metamorphosis is being engineered inside and between communities reproducing a human race apart.

The Chinese have helped shape the history of the Malay peninsula for more than 600 years. In the early 15th Century, Malacca paid tribute to Thailand. But all that changed when the Chinese emperor gave the port his protection in 1409. "After that Hsien Lo [the Thai ruler] did not dare invade," wrote contemporary diarist Ma Huan. Thus 1409 is the date to which some trace the origins of the first independent Malay kingdom on the peninsula.

Here is an article By Phar Kim Beng

HONG KONG - In any discussion about overseas Chinese, direct reference to their wealth cannot be avoided. Nor can one help wonder about their capacity to "capture the state", since overseas Chinese are spread throughout East Asia.