What do you think?
Rate this book
The Lettuce Diaries: How A Frenchman Found Gold Growing Vegetables In China
A snobbish French executive arrives in Shanghai with his expensive shoes and ties, expecting a short career-boosting posting before returning to Paris. Instead, he ends up deep in China's manure-soaked fields, buying and selling vegetables, all because he has convinced himself that he can singlehandedly drag Chinese agriculture into the 21st Century. It didn't work out as he planned.
The Lettuce Diaries is a revealing and humorous memoir of entrepreneurship, doubling as a primer for all seeking to do business in China, and explaining things the French executive, Xavier Naville, only learned the hard way - like humility and listening to people, and how the Chinese economy is both totally different and a huge opportunity.
The Lettuce Diaries is a revealing and humorous memoir of entrepreneurship, doubling as a primer for all seeking to do business in China, and explaining things the French executive, Xavier Naville, only learned the hard way - like humility and listening to people, and how the Chinese economy is both totally different and a huge opportunity.
- GenresChina
259 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 30, 2021
4 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
Read
December 12, 2021I almost never write reviews, but I'll attempt one for this.
I found this book really thought-provoking. The perspective of the author, as a French entrepreneur working in China, shed light on the cultural differences and assumptions of the people he worked with - Europeans, Americans, and especially the Chinese. I'm still thinking about it.
The book was filled with incidents of cultural misunderstanding. The author, in his capacity as someone trying to build a viable business in China, is consistently confronted with situations where he questions his basic assumptions about the Chinese way of thinking. He analyzes these situations from the pragmatic point of view of an entrepreneur and a Frenchman, but also from the standpoint of a human being who is seeking understanding of a rich and diverse culture that has a long and complicated history. He keeps his mind and ears open to his own strengths and weaknesses.
I found all of this interesting, and the story well-told.
I also learned about how much China has changed in the last 30 years in this book - although I knew this was true, I hadn't thought about it much, honestly.
The book left me wondering about the relationship between international entrepreneurs and the Chinese government - it doesn't talk about this much.
I found this book really thought-provoking. The perspective of the author, as a French entrepreneur working in China, shed light on the cultural differences and assumptions of the people he worked with - Europeans, Americans, and especially the Chinese. I'm still thinking about it.
The book was filled with incidents of cultural misunderstanding. The author, in his capacity as someone trying to build a viable business in China, is consistently confronted with situations where he questions his basic assumptions about the Chinese way of thinking. He analyzes these situations from the pragmatic point of view of an entrepreneur and a Frenchman, but also from the standpoint of a human being who is seeking understanding of a rich and diverse culture that has a long and complicated history. He keeps his mind and ears open to his own strengths and weaknesses.
I found all of this interesting, and the story well-told.
I also learned about how much China has changed in the last 30 years in this book - although I knew this was true, I hadn't thought about it much, honestly.
The book left me wondering about the relationship between international entrepreneurs and the Chinese government - it doesn't talk about this much.
January 11, 2022
Even after having lived in China for 26 years, I learned a lot from this extraordinary story. That it was written about a period of time in China that I have shared with Xavier makes me realize just how much I have missed in regard to rural China. The book is also highly readable! I am one of those he referred to who had an extensive background in language and culture from my university days in the 70's onward. Xavier truly captures the real China and the tremendous changes that have occurred over the past three decades. I used to recruit quality control and other management people for Pepsi Foods -> Tricon -> Yum and it was so cool to read about the difficulties/hardships he went through in supplying KFC/Pizza Hut. An engrossing read and highly recommended for anyone who has any interest at all in China.
January 21, 2024
Very interesting first line persona experience in China showing how this country has evolved and how challenging the entrepreneurial experience must have been.
Honestly and openly written, it give a great intro to whoever wants to do business in China, or is simply interested by this country
Very good book
Honestly and openly written, it give a great intro to whoever wants to do business in China, or is simply interested by this country
Very good book
April 5, 2022
The account of a very intense and vivid experience of what it means to do business in China. Very instructive to anyone thinking on tapping the fastest growing market in the world
December 20, 2022
Insightful and respectful perspectives of business in China. Very interesting stories. If you are a fan of Mr. China, you will enjoy this.
January 18, 2025
The perfect intersection between a memoir and business advice book. Gripping and easy to read. Probably the only nonfiction book I've willingly read multiple times!!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews