1. Overseas Chinese refer to people who have China nationality but have lived or settled abroad for a long time. China and China are both people of China origin, but their nationality is not China.
2. In other words, China people are also the collective name of all China people, while China people are foreigners with a quota of China descent, and overseas Chinese are China people with China nationality who have settled abroad.
3. Overseas Chinese are bound by the laws of China mainly because of their nationality, while Chinese are not bound by the laws of China because of their nationality, as long as they do not violate the laws of China.
4. China people are not only overseas Chinese, but also China people who have been naturalized as foreign nationals and emigrated to other parts of the world. Overseas Chinese refer only to China citizens living abroad. In People's Republic of China (PRC)'s law, the so-called China people refer to those who are related to the Chinese nation but whose nationality does not belong to People's Republic of China (PRC).
It has a long history. Before the Tang and Song Dynasties, there was no fixed title for overseas Chinese. After the Tang and Song Dynasties, due to the development and exchange of economy and culture, the expansion of foreign trade and the development of transportation, the number of people who emigrated abroad increased sharply, and they were often called Tang people by the people in the countries where they lived. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, some of them were called China people, China people, Cantonese people and Fujian people.
Overseas Chinese mainly live in Singapore, where there are many local ethnic minorities, and Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam, where there are few local ethnic minorities.
Overseas Chinese in these areas were mainly in Fujian and Guangdong provinces in the 16- 19 century, and later in Hainan province, while immigrants in the 10- 15 century mainly went to Malacca and Southeast Asia.