of the domestic wholesale trade, 80 percent of the industry, 70 percent of the foreign trade, and presided over half the country's retail trade. With the Hoa's pervasive economic grasp in the palm of their hands in the South, some 117 of the 670 leading Southern Vietnamese business families were of Chinese ancestry. As Hoa entrepreneurs in South Vietnam became more financially prosperous, they often pooled large amounts of seed capital and started joint business ventures with expatriate Mainland and Overseas Chinese businessmen and investors from all over the world. Like other Southeast Asian businesses owned by those of Chinese ancestry, Chinese-owned businesses in Vietnam often foster corporate partnerships with Greater Chinese and other Overseas Chinese businesses across the globe to focus on new business opportunities to collaborate and concentrate on. Besides sharing a common ancestral background in addition to similar cultural, linguistic, and familial ties, many Hoa entrepreneurs and investors are particular strong adherents of the Confucian paradigm of interpersonal relationships when doing business with each other, as the Chinese believed that the underlying source for entrepreneurial and investment success relied on the cultivation of personal relationships. Moreover, Vietnamese businesses that are Chinese-owned form a part of the larger bamboo network, a business network of Overseas Chinese companies operating in the markets of Greater China and Southeast Asia that share common family, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural ties. Hoa also acted as agents for expatriate Mainland and Overseas Chinese investors outside of Vietnam that act as their underlying providers of economic intelligence. Under the Saigon administration, a rapid horde of expatriate Chinese entrepreneurs and investors from Macau, Hong Kong, and Taiwan came to South Vietnam in search of new business and investment opportunities. The Hoa compradore bourgeoisie in South Vietnam also had the economic and political backing of wealthy expatriate Chinese businessmen from Taiwan and Hong Kong and Overseas Chinese investors in the United States and other countries in Southeast Asia. In addition, the prominent Hoa compradore bourgeoisie was often seen colluding and mingling with Saigon government officials and the South Vietnamese army elite to attain even greater wealth. Moreover, Hoa business networks adhering through the Confucian paradigm of guanxi or personal relationships cooperate with extended family members to marshal capital, make use of technology, and establish distribution networks. In addition, Hoa business networks employ business negotiations in casual settings that go down during Hoa community activities hosted by Hoa-based