Book - Product Information
Mr. China: A Memoir
Tim Clissold
Rating: 5.0/5 Stars
Rank: 690
The idea of China has always exerted a pull on the adventurous type.
There is a kind of entrepreneurial Westerner who just can't resist it: red
flags, a billion bicycles, and the largest untapped market on earth.
What
more could they want? After the first few visits, they start to feel more
in tune and experience the first stirrings of a fatal ambition: the secret
hope of becoming the Mr. China of their time. In the 1990s, China
went through a miraculous transformation from a closed backwater to the
workshop of the world.
Many smart young men saw this transformation coming
and mistook it for their destiny. Not a few rushed East to gain strategic
footholds, plant their flags, and prosper.
After all, the Chinese had
numbers on their side: a seemingly endless population, a thirst for
resources, and the tide of history.
What they needed was Western knowledge
and lots of capital. Or so it seemed ... Mr. China tells the
rollicking story of one man's encounter with the Chinese.
Armed with
hundreds of millions of dollars and a strong sense that he and his
partners were -- like missionaries of capitalism -- descending into the
industrial past to bring the Chinese into the modern world, Clissold got
the education of a lifetime. The ordinary Chinese workers, business
owners, local bureaucrats, and party cadres Clissold encountered were some
of the most committed, resourceful, and creative operators he would ever
meet.
They were happy to take the foreigner's money but resisted just
about anything else. At every turn, the locals seemed one step ahead of
Clissold's crew threatening to take the Westerners for all they were
worth. In the end, Mr.
China isn't a tale of business or an
expatriate's love for his adopted land. It's one man's coming-of-age story
where he learns to respect and admire the nation he sought to conquer.
Editorials
Sample 3 of 10
Mr. China: A Memoir
Tim Clissold
![]() | | | Newsweek | | "Lots of Western businessmen have China war stories, but only Tim Clissold
has written . . . this funny book." |
![]() | | | Tucker Carlson, co-host of CNN's Crossfire | | "One of the wittiest, most compelling accounts of anything I’ve read
in a long time. A terrific book." |
![]() | | | Washington Post | | "Hugely entertaining ... Clissold loves China . . . but he also views it
with clarity and no small amount of humor." |
Customer Reviews
Sample 3 of 18
Mr. China: A Memoir
Tim Clissold
![]() | | | The Vietnam war of American business | | (Beernem, Belgium) October 21, 2004 - 5.0/5 stars | | This book, which reads like a thriller, relates the tribulations of a Wall
Street banker with his investments in China.
The reader discovers
with consternation the unstoppable disappearance of millions of dollars in... read full review |
![]() | | | Marvelous & Triumphant!!!!! | | (Essen, Germany) June 24, 2004 - 5.0/5 stars | | A must read for every business person - particularly those who dream about
making a buck in China! Through his business misfortune, Tim Clissold has
gained profound understanding about China - its people, heritage,... read full review |
![]() | | | Cautionary tale that doesn't dim the potential of China | | (Addison, Texas) July 6, 2004 - 4.0/5 stars | | Tim Clissold became smiiten with the potential of China and - unlike many
of us - acted upon those feelings by plunging into a two-year dedicated
study of Mandarin. Through luck and hard effort, he then got himself
paired... read full review |
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