Chinese Rules
Mao's Dog, Deng's Cat, and Five Timeless Lessons from the Front Lines in China
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
From the author of the acclaimed Mr. China comes another rollicking adventure story—part memoir, part history, part business imbroglio—that offers valuable lessons to help Westerners win in China.
In the twenty-first century, the world has tilted eastwards in its orbit; China grows confident while the West seems mired in doubt. Having lived and worked in China for more than two decades, Tim Clissold explains the secrets that Westerners can use to navigate through its cultural and political maze. Picking up where he left off in the international bestseller Mr. China, Chinese Rules chronicles his most recent exploits, with assorted Chinese bureaucrats, factory owners, and local characters building a climate change business in China. Of course, all does not go as planned as he finds himself caught between the world’s largest carbon emitter and the world’s richest man. Clissold offers entertaining and enlightening anecdotes of the absurdities, gaffes, and mysteries he encountered along the way.
Sprinkled amid surreal scenes of cultural confusion and near misses, are smart myth-busting insights and practical lessons Westerns can use to succeed in China. Exploring key episodes in that nation’s long political, military, and cultural history, Clissold outlines five Chinese Rules, which anyone can deploy in on-the-ground situations with modern Chinese counterparts. These Chinese rules will enable foreigners not only to cooperate with China but also to compete with it on its own terms.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Drawing on more than 20 years of experience living and working in China, Clissold (Mr. China) a British businessman, offers five lessons that are absolutely crucial to understanding, appreciating, and ultimately working with and competing against the Chinese. These lessons are delivered through two parallel narratives. Clissold looks back to 2005, when he suddenly became involved in an emerging investment market based in China. He cofounded an investment company and invested in the carbon credits market. His recounting of his ensuing struggle to build a successful business aptly conveys the gaps between Western and Chinese business and social practices. These gaps can only be bridged by a working knowledge of the history of Chinese culture, traditions, and society. And so, second, the book is part history: Clissold recounts carefully selected historical episodes, from the dispatch of a British embassy to China in 1792 to the political rise of Mao and his successor Deng Xiaoping, as well as an account of the deadly 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square. Clissold's memoir is less than captivating it's an "adventure" only insofar as investing is an adventure but the historical portion is well-told. Perhaps most importantly, Clissold's advice is timely and may even be useful to those outside the business world as well in.
