Overseas Chinese returned to China to set up schools, build hospitals and invest in domestic industries. In two celebrated cases new railway lines were backed by individual overseas Chinese financiers, namely Malaya-based Chang Hung-nan's Chao-chow-Swatow line and American-based Ch'en Hsuan-hsi's Hsin-ning line.
華僑還回國興學、蓋醫院、投資國內商業等，其中以修築鐵路最著名，如南洋華僑張鴻南出資修築潮汕鐵路、美國華僑陳宣禧建新寧鐵路等。