Research on poverty reduction through entrepreneurship has often emphasized external help from government or charitable institutions. Evidence from China is used to argue that poverty reduction through entrepreneurship is an internal process which helps the poor to undertake positive actions to reduce their poverty. To conventional analyses emphasizing endogeneity and sustainability, social networks rooted in nostalgia are proposed as another determinant of the success of entrepreneurial poverty reduction initiatives. That expanded theoretical framework provides a refined and deeper understanding of how poverty reduction through entrepreneurship succeeds or fails.