LORDS OF THE RIM: How Offshore Chinese Networks became the world's richest people over two thousand years

For 3,000 years, China's merchants have fled tyrannical dynasties and warlords to make their fortunes overseas. Seagrave reveals for the first time the invisible empire of the Overseas Chinese in a dozen countries, and how its secret societies control over $2-trillion. Richly researched, his book recounts comic and exciting episodes over the centuries, filled with piracy, treachery, adventure -- including his discovery that Chinese Admiral Cheng Ho was the inspiration for legends of Sinbad the Sailor. Now, Seagrave shows how the tide has reversed, and the Overseas Chinese have gone home to help create China's rich Renaissance at the start of what is called "The Chinese Century".