Chinese Rules: Five Timeless Lessons for Succeeding in China
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 co-operate with China but also to compete with it on its own terms.
”'Clissold’s attempt to encapsulate how China works in five neat rules is well timed … fans of Clissold’s first book will find plenty of only-in-China tales from the author’s reincarnation as a carbon credit entrepreneur … His amusing anecdotes illustrate some of the rules he sets out for foreigners mystified by China … Formidable storytelling … An entertaining and valuable book” - Financial Times
Praise for ‘Mr. China’: -
”'Clissold’s memoir is an instant classic. Sharply observed, funny as hell. Indispensible” - Time Magazine
”'Hugely entertaining … Clissold loves China … but he also views it with clarity and no small amount of humour” - Washington Post
”'Delightful … this trenchant, immensely entertaining study in the contradictions of Chinese capitalism should be required reading” - Fortune Magazine
”'Clissold is a wonderful and compassionate narrator [with] a deep respect for the culture, language, and history” - USA Today
”'One would be hard-pressed to find a serious Western investor in China who isn’t aware of Clissold’s eye-opening account” - Forbes
”'A compelling account, related with sly humour and hard-earned wisdom” - Library Journal