Although the focus of Glen Peterson's Overseas Chinese in the People's Republic of China is on the policies towards and experiences of the “returned overseas Chinese” (guiguo huaqiao) in the 1950s, the book contributes an original and refreshing perspective on the political economy and geo-political positioning of the early People's Republic. The first substantial English-language book dedicated to this topic since Stephen Fitzgerald's excellent China and the Overseas Chinese was published in 1972, Peterson's book broadens out the field, opens up new sources and adds new perspectives crucial for an understanding of China's politics and economy today.

The book sets the role of China's overseas migration after the mid-19th century within the globally entangled context of colonialism and industrialization. Overseas Chinese migration was part of the global deployment of raw material extraction and cultivation, labour, capital, technology and transport. Overseas Chinese trade and investment in Southeast Asia as well as labour (in the form of the coolie trade) had gained particular importance in the world economy during the high tide of colonialism. The Qing (until 1911) and Republican (1912–49) governments dealt with the overseas migrants as a resource for national development, while emigration was predicated on cohesion between migrants and their families. Peterson examines this legacy under the conditions of the Cold War. Decolonization in South East Asia and the Cold War dictated that China must both dissociate itself politically from its Southeast Asian diaspora lest the new potential allies regard it as a threat and harness it in an effort to circumvent the embargoes and political isolation imposed by the US through the United Nations: Peterson explains convincingly how the rapidly evolving geopolitical context forced the Chinese Communists to persuade Southeast Asian overseas Chinese to naturalize in their nations of sojourn. Even though domestic issues in China during the Land Reform (1950–51), the Socialist Transformation Movement (1953–58) and later the Cultural Revolution (1965–69) harmed overseas Chinese interests, shaking their confidence, the Chinese authorities were able to enlist their support, secure large remittances and settle large numbers of returnees.

The overseas Chinese role in China's geo-political maneuvering in the face of Cold War isolation gains particular significance in the tale of how Hainan's tropical agriculture developed. China's urgent need for rubber to cover the planned targets for truck, tractor and car tyres and to meet the Soviet Union's demand for imports forced a rapid development of plantations in Leizhou and Hainan, using the capital and skills of overseas Chinese with experience from rubber plantations in Southeast Asia. As part of this move, other tropical products in short supply were cultivated on a similar large scale. The important point is not just that the Cold War embargo reversed the old colonial order by transplanting it to Chinese territory, but that the determination, coordination and logistic integration with which this huge scientific prospecting, planning, process management, infrastructure development, investment, construction and recruitment project was initiated in 1950 helped shape the Communists' approach to large-scale Chinese-style development projects, a legacy that still today ensures gives China a development advantage.

The book provides many such deep and rich insights into the economic, social and political context of the overseas Chinese who returned to China. The strengths of the book are many; it is based on excellent scholarship as evidenced in the thorough use of Chinese-language sources, some of which are hard to find, and critical use of the rapidly expanding secondary literature. It keeps a panoramic perspective on the geopolitical context, while also focusing on germane micro-level, daily-life experiences of returned overseas Chinese catapulted into the Chinese mainland's challenging social and climatic environment. It reveals an excellent understanding of political practices and structures in China. The narrative “looks into the future”: Peterson shares the perspective and uncertainties of the protagonists, which means that he better captures their difficult decisions, disappointments and frustrations alongside their optimism, hopes and achievements. The main drawback of the book is that it limits itself to the 1950s, only covering the following half-century in a slim chapter. I am sure I am not alone in wanting more. I believe that historians like Glen Peterson should not succumb to haptophobia when they face exciting contemporary phenomena. It is an awful historians' myth that anything more recent than the Cultural Revolution is out of bounds; it is about time historians apply their critical tools to the more recent events. The role of returned overseas Chinese in the reform era is still a story to be told properly.