Mr. China

by Tim Clissold

Mr. China tells the rollicking story of a young man who goes to China with the misguided notion that he will help bring the Chinese into the modern world, only to be schooled by the most resourceful and creative operators he would ever meet. Part memoir, part parable, Mr. China is one man's coming-of-age story where he learns to respect and admire the nation he sought to conquer.

Genres: China, Business, Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, History, Asia

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I doubt I'll read a better business book this year. A cracking tale of a man trying to set up and invest in businesses in China, it reads sometimes like a drama, sometimes a soap opera, sometimes a comedy and sometimes a travelogue. It works on all these levels too. You can't help feel sorry for Clissold as he wrestles with business case situations that would be near impossible to control in the West never mind China, involving fraud, cheating, lying, shooting, rioting and cultural racism. The stress almost kills him, but underneath it all there is an affection for this country and all its foibles that allows him to forgive it and its people. He wants to help them to a better life, and believes capitalism is the answer. Money, however, seems to bring out the worst in many people whatever culture they're from, and millions are squandered in every chapter. One of the most amazing cultural depictions therefore, is that of Wall Street, dolling out hundreds of millions on the strength of a presentation or two. This is a sobering picture of what the capitalists are doing with your hard-earned money you put away for your retirement - gambling it on a fashionable whim with about as much information as you could pick up from an edition of Newsweek. I'd thoroughly recommend this book.

[Simon Kozlov · Rating 4 out of 5]

My new company does a lot of business with China (we're in manufacturing space), I asked what should I read to get the feeling of what's it like - this was the only recommendation so far.

Book is a memoir of an American businessman investing the first wave of Wall Street money into China in the 90s - just when China began to open up to the western world. Tim is obviously enamored with China but approaches it with the western business world view, failing and learning in the process.

First, they're traveling across most of the China to find factories and businesses to invest, and then somewhat predictably spend much more time and effort to recover any of it back. Devil is in details and the value of the book is in the stories and details that paint the picture - and those are great stories at that.

What would be one of the good ones...
One of the factory directors made some letters of credit which would allow the funds to be transferred to a Chinese partner company (at the time, only joint ventures were allowed for foreign investment) and disappeared somewhere in US nowhere to be found. They discovered this and came to the Chinese bank where funds were deposited, saying that it's obviously a fraud and they shouldn't honor these letters. In response, the bank froze their funds but still honored the letters (meaning, the bank was in on the scheme).
So they sue the bank in a Chinese court and found some documents showing the bank knew about this long before. But then, after the first hearing,:
"I was slightly perturbed when I heard that the judge had said that he had found the case ‘confusing’ during the trial and had then visited the bank later to ask further questions. It seemed a bizarre reversal for the judge to be going to the bank rather than demanding that they appear in his court. But I shrugged it off and looked forward to the verdict." (quote)
LOL. I mean, seriously. Naturally, the verdict was they're at fault and need to compensate the bank twice the amount.
They have also tried to contact some Anti-Corruption Bureau about this...
"‘I thought that he should be extremely busy,’ said Li Wei. ‘You’d expect the Anti-Corruption Bureau Chief in Zhuhai to be rushed off his feet, but he was sitting in his office smoking and reading the newspapers.’ I heard later that he had listened half-heartedly to the tale and then, rousing himself with some effort, he’d said that he would set up an investigation, but that in order to do so we would have to give him ‘a car and some working capital.’ ‘What? Are you serious!?’ I asked when I heard the news. ‘So the Anti-Corruption Bureau wants a car and a bag of money!’" (quote)
And it goes on and on to cover a spectrum of ways Chinese directors could outmaneuver laowais on their home turf.

I really liked this as an American perspective on doing business in China - it's honest, not bitter, trying hard to learn and understand, but coming from a very different place. He describes some kind of unique "Chineness" to it - an immense, ancient and all-encompassing culture, which keeps thousands of years of uninterrupted history, has China as the center of the world and is only mildy entertained by the rest of the world.

Fun to draw analogies with Russia in the 90s as well - it's very similar and very different at the same time.
All in all, highly recommend the book.

[Kunal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Witty. With insights into the psyche of the dragon and the turmoil of developing a business in a distant land rooted in its venerable history and swayed by its prevailing politics.

Empirical lessons on how the LPG pans out on ground in a developing economy! How opening the market for investment is not always an end-all, happily-ever-after story!

[Lifeng Wu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up in China in the 70's. I relate to most of the experiences discussed in this book.

It's one of the most humorous English books I read about China.

I recommend it to all my friends who have some China experience.


A good narrative. A good account of China in a specific period. Author's style could have been more polished. But , well, he's an investment banker.

The author could have put in a few "success" stories. The three main stories on Madame Wu (Beijing), Chen HaiJing (HuBei), and finally, Old Shi (Anhui), are all "fight" stories. I wonder if Tim had other more successful investment experiences in China. Looks like "Mr. China", Pat (Perkowski) in this book, published a book himself. Jack Perkowski is currently the Chairman and CEO of ASIMCO Technologies, a leading player in China's automotive components industry. ASIMCO is the Harbin auto components business described in Tim's book.

[S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

tried to resist reviewing this since I read it in '07, and then in bits and pieces, but with my review of "Big in China," figured I'd just jot down a few notes. this is a business book, contrary to the good reads entry description, but in contrast to the 70-80% of foreigners in asia who teach english, clissold was hired to get factories functioning, and so it embraces capitalism in its raw, chinese, polluting form.

not a bad work; has even a poignant moment or two towards the end as clissold reflects on the cost of leaving, but just in comparison to some other expat books i can only rate it a high 3.

[Stephen King · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read. Tim Clissold was among the first pioneers of foreign investment in China and his experiences are both exhilarating and exhausting. From investing in breweries to car components he scoured the Chinese countryside in the early 90’s armed with huge amounts of $ from eager US investors. The stories illustrate the best and worst of human nature and a profound love and respect for China.

[Jazz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still very real for China

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating insight into doing business in China in the 1990s - and some great insights into modern Chinese culture and history (I had never heard of the Third Front campaign, for example). The end is is poignant but slightly abrupt - I wish it’d carried on for another hundred pages or so!

[Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

“I’ve got a lot of investment capital. China is ripe for the picking. The Chinese are weird. Repeat.”

[Pierre-Arnaud · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read ! reads itself like an adventure novel with great characters, plots and arcs. Has also some interesting bits about Chinese history.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tim Clissold, businessman and China-aficionado aiming to strike it big in China, tells his own story of how he planned to help bring China into the modern world and at the same time make a fortune in investments in a rapidly-modernising Chinese economy. However, as he finds out is not all plain sailing; problems arise from the first day: language issues, corrupt managers, inefficient legal systems, impatient investors, poor planning, and a heart attack all challenge Clissold and yet he remains throughout the memoir indomitably determined to succeed.

His love for China is clear throughout and yet he does not overly-romanticise his experiences; on the contrary, he outlines in painful detail every setback and triumph he has. The clarity with which he narrates the almost Wild West days of early foreign investment in China have importance not only for any future business planning on making their fortunes in China, but also for those currently or planning to reside in China long-term. The constant intractable bureaucracy and often the difficulty in getting the most simple tasks done are commonplace for any foreigner living in China. Clissold retells his experiences with humour and create a sense of solidarity for the readers living in China.

This then is not just a book for those interested in business in China but also for those interested in China more broadly: the culture clashes Clissold deals with are found in any other environment and his love of the country, people, and culture testify of a deep affection for China and its future, something this fellow China-watcher shares.

[Kindall Palmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read! This book touches on some of the most hidden and difficult aspects of doing business in China. From government corruption, to money laundering, to corporate drama, to innocent mistakes throughout the journey. Its interesting to watch $418,000,000 simply disappear all to be chalked up to good experience. The writing was brilliant, i felt just as stressed as the writer must have felt as he had these experiences himself! His resolutions to daily issues, insight on the Chinese culture, language, and history were all intriguing.

[Renata Stuhlberger · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are interested in China or in doing business in China, this is a must read. This book was recommended to me by one of my professors back in the time when I lived in Hong Kong.

It covers some fun (and not so fun) stories about doing business in China so its an interesting way about learning more about the Chinese business culture.

[Tim Mortfenkov · Rating 4 out of 5]

A plain story, no insights at all. Probably I've known them all?

[Peter Keller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid read on doing business in China that I bought in a bookstore in the Hong Kong airport.

Not a business book- more of a memoir. Best description of Baijiu I ever read :)

My notes:

Mr. China
Tim Clissold

xxi
At the core, a deep sense of ‘Chinese-ness’ persists perhaps intensified by the recent successes; certainly, there are moments when if you push a deal too hard, this sense of nationhood may be offended and everything will be lost. Experience and study of these traditional ways of thinking can help us navigate safely through business deals, but we will never be more than outsiders.

12
An age-old culture had somehow taken a wrong turn, but I could feel the determination to catch up.

61
Baijiu looks like gin but tastes much stronger. It is distilled from grain and sorghum and there are many famous brands of the drink in China. Wuliang ye or ‘five -grain liquid’ comes from Yibin in Sichuan, and maotai, the most famous in China, comes from Guizhou, further south. At the lower end of the market, there is er guo tou or ‘the top of the second wok’, which is distilled in Beijing. A really good bottle of maotai can cost the equivalent of several months’ salary. Baijiu is always taken neat, but thankfully, in small doses. The idea is to knock it back in one go with a cry of ‘Gan bei’, ‘Dry the cup!’ The problem is that drinking baijiu at a Chinese banquet is compulsory; it is slightly viscous, has a smell like exhaust fumes mixed with chocolate and seems both fiery and sickly at the same time.It burns the inside of your throat and leaves you with a sensation rather than a taste. There is an immediate feeling of heat and tingling that creeps up the back of the neck and radiates out all over the scalp. I already knew that formal banquets entailed elaborate drinking rituals designed to get the guests hopelessly drunk, so I braced myself for the deluge.
Baijiu loosens tongues almost immediately although I’ve never met anybody, even at the heights of alcoholic derangement, prepared to admit that they actually like the taste. After drinking it, most people screw up their faces in an involuntary expression of pain and some even yell out. But there were plenty of people who liked the sensation and the atmosphere that a couple of bottles of baijiu produced at a dinner. It created the best parties and the worst hangovers imaginable and the smell seemed to seep through my pores the following day. A German friend once summed up the experience perfectly. She said, in her perfect Hochdeutsch, that when her husband had been out drinking with his Chinese colleagues and had hit the bailie, it was as if she had ‘woken up the following morning next to an oily rag that had been soaked in diesel’,

90
The hills are high and the Emperor is far away

153
The result was a society with some areas of rigid control where the Party delved deep into narrow vertical sections. But these sections seemed roped off from each other, leaving great voids in between. This was where the Chinese entrepreneur learnt the ropes, where officials manipulated badly written rules: a place of writs and freezing orders, fake letters of credit, judges who did not understand a case but passed judgement anyway, officials from an Anti-Corruption Bureau who asked for cars and bags of money. One thing was for sure: if you played by the rules you were finished.

154
I knew that we would have to find a Chinese solution to a Chinese problem.

155
Chinese people have a deep sense of ‘Chineseness’...

[Wolfgang · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came to know Tim Clissold in a short video on the China TV site CGTN.com, in which he talked about changes that have been taking place in China over the past decades. The inside-out knowledge he has about China, the sincerity he conveys when describing his observations about the country and its people, drew my attention – least like many Westerners who hold a stubborn bias about China based on what they read and heard but have set their feet on China’s soil.

Then I checked into his book Mr. China that’s cited in the story. The book was not long. And I was instantly drawn into it, finishing it in a few days, a rare deed for me as finishing an English book is often a daunting task for me as a non-native speaker.

Not that he’s any of the best story tellers or writers of fancy language or quips. Nor was it because he sang high about my mother country China – actually the book contains a lot of disputes and cultural differences he encountered, sometimes mixed with some personal misunderstandings that many Chinese readers may find not to their likings. However, the book deserves a unique place among all the China narratives by foreign writers, as it documented an important part of history, mainly through the 1990s, a period of time when the once isolated, underdeveloped China with a strict planned economy opened its door to foreign investment and took off ever since by diving into the world manufacturing and trading system. China has not suddenly jumped onto the world stage and become the world’s second largest economy, getting closer by day to the No.1 economy and triggering the U.S. politicians with one after another knee-jerking reactions trying to slow down the new challenger. China’s rise since the economic and social opening-up in the past decades came with great pains. The flooded-in capital and Western management concept meant opportunities for Chinese factories and foreign investors. They also brought collisions before the two sides of the joint ventures got to know more about each other and made profit together, or waved goodbye.

In the book, you’ll find several interesting figures Clissold met when doing business in China. There were some factory owners who didn’t follow the U.S. rules in their joint venture partnership. The American investors also had to deal with the Chinese people in numerous drinking events and banquets. There were also lots of fight with the partners and local officials. After all, some people did eventually win the author’s respect, such as a former business partner who broke up with the Americans but eventually grew his own business to become one of the largest auto part suppliers in China.

I’m glad that I’ve come across this book and gained some different perspectives of China’s profound changes in the 1990s. I’d recommend it to whoever is interested in getting a better understanding of the business world of China. I believe Mr. Clissold’s view about China and its people has also been evolving over the years. If you continue to follow his writing or talks on the internet, you’ll have more discovering.

[Austin Gaghadar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was an entertaining and effective example of a compelling investment thesis and theoretical potential saddled with immense difficulties in terms of execution and reality. I appreciated the first hand account of early (modern) Chinese business history told through a unique lens, providing a western perspective that was relatable and made the book more engaging and easier to understand. The author's experience making principal investments in China during the late 1990s also shed light on a number of areas that I find fascinating. One of these was the opportunity to think about the private equity industry from first principles, considering the benefits of allowing for growth that would not be possible due to failures of the local capital markets and the expertise that can come from diverse viewpoints. These benefits were traded off against the costs of principal agent conflict including the specific instances of needing to police the company management during bad times, ensure they retained enough upside potential in good times and during the normal course manage the company in a way that is attuned to the local norms and preferences. This also made apparent the importance of institutions and the rule of law in supporting the type of capitalist system that allows for these types of investments to be made successfully in the western world. I also respected the authors willingness to be extremely frank in terms of mistakes that he felt that he made in the process allowing for reflection and what appeared to be an open assessment of the business landscape at the time, albeit from only one perspective. The main weaknesses in my opinion were the lack of details on how the portfolio as a whole was doing over time, lack of clarity over the relationship with Pat and difficulty in keeping the timeline straight. Nonetheless, this book was a page turner that will stay with me, pausing to reflect on potentially extremely lucrative business opportunities, especially in foreign countries, and consider what unexpected hurdles I might be missing, on the human, regulatory, political, or business fronts.

[Abid Famasya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apa yang kita ketahui tentang China? Alibaba? Xiaomi? Atau komunisme nya?
Ternyata China dibentuk dengan sejarah panjang. Mirip dengan restorasi Meiji yang membuka akses Jepang ke negara luar, siapa sangka China juga melakukan hal yang sama dengan reformasi ekonominya sejak era Mao.

Buku ini menarik, karena membuka tabir negeri ini dibalik kekuatan ekonominya. Anggapan saya selama ini yang menganggap komunisme sangat kaku dengan egaliternya ternyata salah. Tim Clissold, si penulis, membeberkan sisi efek dari reformasi ekonomi China. Ternyata komunisme China tidak berarti mereka menutup diri dari investor luar. Ada investasi yang sangat besar pada era reformasi ekonomi China yang panjang. Paradoks? Entahlah. Tapi penulis adalah salah satu pembuka akses investor pasar kapital terbesar di dunia --Wall Street-- menuju ke daratan tirai bambu itu.

Kompleksitas dan masalah-masalah dibeberkan penulis sepanjang buku ini. Diawali dari pengalaman pribadinya yang "terdampar" di China, ia merunut kisahnya menjadi seorang konsultan ekonomi disana. Saya seperti membaca sebuah memoar yang penuh istilah ekonomi: pribadi, namun cukup membuka pikiran. Beberapa kali saya merengut untuk mencerna logika ekonomi. Di sisi lain, terjemahan yang kurang tepat pun membuat saya cukup kelelahan. Di awal-awal buku terasa agak membosankan. Namun, mulai pertengahan buku, saya rasa cukup menarik. Seperti membaca suspense dengan latar belakang ekonomi.

Selain typo-typo yang cukup mengganggu sepanjang buku ini, saya suka gaya penceritaannya. Sebuah memoar yang membuka pikiran dibalik tirai China yang selama ini tidak banyak kita tahu

[Justin Goldman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This work from Mr. Clissold, a British businessman, captures a series of events as he joined forces with a Wall Street banker in the early 1990s who was determined to connect capital to investment opportunity in China as the country began opening up to foreign investment and some privatization of state-owned enterprises was taking place. Published in 2005, the majority of the events chronicled take place between 1995-2002 as their venture soon owned shares in several businesses and Mr. Clissold comes to terms with the challenges of operating in the early stages of what is often referred to as China's economic miracle. As the book jumps from efforts at numerous Chinese manufacturing plants, the environment he is operating in takes its toll on Mr. Clissold as a he suffers a heart attack at a relatively young age from his constant battles with middle managers entrenched in their factory structure that is intertwined with local officials from the Chinese Communist Party. With no social safety net in place, a business decision to "right-size" the workforce to make a factory profitable could have real consequences in these provincial cities. This is a very accessible story covering a period in China's economic development at a time when the outlook of those investing in China had very uneven levels of understanding of the dynamics in which they were investing in. Mr. Clissold certainly comes of age in this book and the story conveys the growing respect he develops for a rapidly changing China at the dawn of a new millennium.

[Mykhailo Sapiton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Literally chugged down in one sitting, which is a rarity among business-oriented book. But this was of course lucky with setting (mis-90s, frenzy and rural China) and the narrator, who does an excellent job portraying personal details, town outskirts and even nature. It's also genuinely funny — stories about patriotic cabbage and the rubber goods factory made me laugh. At first I was thinking there would be more generalizations and larger set of overarching narratives, but really we walk through several endlessly tough business takeovers and a mad rush to return some promised capital. It's a very good showcase on the question of why foreign companies either failed in China or eventually got duped, copied and out mannered — you really can not control what happens in the joint ventures, forced on you by regulation. Everything go wrong and then something else: I was shocked by the amount of side quests necessary for things like firing the factory manager. The book is both critical about the Chinese system and still kinda in awe of it, and of course it would sound much better had the narrative been settled in the booming coastal regions. But this was more honest, and deeply-deeply interesting — one of the foundational reads (albeit light) for anyone who's digging his way into Asian region.

[Jackqueline Buenaflor · Rating 4 out of 5]

it tells a story of an entrepreneur who tried to venture into a place where the culture is completely different to the usual business practices. The book tells its readers that there is this China whose business practices is almost impenetrable. This book is a window that shows few of China's business practices. This book provides cultural aspects of china which may not have been familiar to those who hadn't had background knowledge as to how does they do business in china. Though I am not much certain whether those practices that have been written in the book are still present nowadays, all there is that I can think of is doing business in a place whose business practices is almost impenetrable could be complicated. If the practices in the book still hold true to day, In the book it's as if there's no room for foreign investors in the place. They have their own rules, and all that they follow. For me, my reading of this book could not suffice the idea about having completely understood how Business is done in China. I've more books to go. it ends here for my reading of Mr.China. This is it for now.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite being written well over a decade ago, Tim Clissold’s insight into the Chinese psyche and the modus operandi of the largest country on earth is perhaps more relevant than it has ever been. Although technically a memoir, the workings of component factories and breweries has never seemed more engrossing. These banal settings are enlivened by Clissold’s intricately crafted portraits of his partners and adversaries and by the last page it is clear that the adventure that has been captured in this book is primarily a result of the author’s incredibly admirable pursuit for deep human empathy.

In his notes, Clissold points out that during their nation’s rise to economic heights, the Chinese have carefully studied the habits, cultures, and values of western nations and yet that interest is generally not mutual. Well, if there was ever a better time for the average American to understand what makes China tick, now is that time and Mr. China is where one should start.

[Proton · Rating 5 out of 5]

In current business setting, sometimes you still could see the trace of history that have been described in the book. I have heard of all kind of stories about that period of economic reform by Deng here and there. It was not surprising of all these stories. Majority of Chinese are illiterate by then with limited food. Hygiene standards and protocol by turning on A/C for manufacturing is difficult to be understood while they might thought that they were diligent by not turning on A/C saving money. Same with people running away with money, they have limited knowledge about law and laws is not far from perfect by then. On the top of these, Chinese culture / language is very different from US / the UK, where authors / investors from. Vagueness is everything in Chinese (只可意会不可言传) and face/ reputation (面子）is everything.
Things have changed a lot especially in the business setting, but the traces are still there.

[Paul Whitla · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rollicking read of an Englishman working for a team of American investment bankers, buying up and trying to make profitable, Chinese companies and factories in the heartlands of China. Great character sketches of local officials, business-people and workers and some of the wild tales of what went down through the process are worthy of a thriller, though also often with a comic touch.

Re-reading this book some 15 years after it was first published though, it seems that this is a snapshot of a China that is already gone. The degree of change in how business and government works in the country has changed so significantly in such a short time that this no longer serves as a 'how-to' in China, more a 'how-it-was-done' if anything. The writer acknowledges as much in the concluding chapter, which is quite touching in the portrayal of the downsides of this development.

[Yasser Sami · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t make a business in china but points in this book claim that china should be investment environment expeller why all of those money went to china why all of those progress we have seen on past 10 years why all of those multinational company went to build manufacturers there , do u know y ? Cause they are looking for more intensive labor environment they are looking for work more pay less environment they went for no system to gain mote money but they found people who grasp there knowledge and know there greediness fair game as i think and by anyway i couldn’t imagine a giant economy-like china come from this background really we make the monster who will eat the world

[John Fullerton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hugely entertaining, funny and informative - and this is extraordinarily rare - a series of very human, personal portraits and stories of people living in the interior of Communist China. We see Chinese exceptionalism at work as the author and his Wall Street colleagues try to set up joint ventures with factory owners, private and state-owned, sometimes with disastrous misunderstandings and huge financial losses, in the wake of Deng Xiaoping's 'southern tour' aimed at opening the county up to Western investment and technology. All in all, a vital contribution to understanding mainland China and how it works (and how it doesn't).

[Al · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good, if slightly unfocused, read. I read his second book Chinese Rules: Mao's Dog, Deng's Cat, and Five Timeless Lessons from the Front Lines in China before this, which is in my opinion much better.

This is a story of how difficult joint ventures in China were during the 1990s. Its all very interesting but just so long winded at times.

I'm still glad I read it!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent “up close and personal” account of what it was like to invest in and work in China circa the mid 1990s. The author steered clear of any sort of detailed financial accounting (or terminology) to deliver a contextual look at the Chinese culture and the challenges for American businesses trying to do business there. Some of the stories are crazy enough that you will ask if you’re reading fiction at times, but I suspect that the accounts are fairly accurate based on my own limited study of and interaction with Chinese businesses.
Overall, entertaining and enlightening read.

[Anne S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book described the problems encountered when US investors started working with Chinese companies when the country opened up in the 1990's. The difference in the cultures became quickly apparent. It was an interesting look into how the Chinese do business. However, I sometimes had trouble following the ins and outs of situations.
At the end of the book the author talks about how much changed in China in the 10 years after they first started investing, mostly for the better. Since that was 10 years ago, I am curious how things are in China today compared to the early 2000's.

[Angela Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eye opening account of doing business in Chinese factories. Communism has a lot to answer for - having lived in Beijing and now in Budapest, the results are not dissimilar - where everyone has work the workforce is comfortable and not concerned with production. There must be something about the shouting too. Also enjoyed the lesson on language and writing, having made some progress with study when there it is a joy to laugh again remembering some of the quirkiness. A very good read.