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China Cuckoo: How I Lost A Fortune And Found A Life In China
The story of an Englishman who went to China in search of a fortune, and found a life.
358 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
May 27, 2021
A culturally biased book with an amalgam of the worst stereotypes and rumors about China. Filled with trifle details that are uninteresting and irrelevant, Kitto taught us how to be culturally resistant in another country for ten years by staying in a village that was colonized by European invaders that his cafe is "finally reinviting westerner" back to this Chinese village.
Upon this book, you can learn about classic stereotypical characters like: "rich foolish Chinese easy girls", "nosey and overly-hospitable aunties", "random greedy people","cities full of reckless bad drivers", "inefficient over-censoring government". Furthermore, you can also learn a lot about how to glorify colonialism, be completely culturally resistant, and wonderfully express implicit condensation to another culture.
Kitto masterfully captures how he, the Eurocentric, white-supremacist, arrogant, condescending capitalist whose business (barely mentioned in the book) was shut down by the communist party, went on a trip that mostly consists of him demeaning local Chinese for not fluently speak English in China, doing the same things he did back home, inferring the malice of CCP by simply talking to people with Chinese names, with the trip ending in a village previous colonized and him reinviting the scared scattered foreigners back to their colonized home in China. All this written in biased description to display the demonized version of China that only he saw, with terrible rhetorics, absurd analogies, and details no one wants to know (seriously, why put your experience of being found in midst of an intercourse in your book, Kitto?).
So if you want to waste your time and money to become a xenophobe while degrading your brain with subpar works of writing, please enjoy this book.
Upon this book, you can learn about classic stereotypical characters like: "rich foolish Chinese easy girls", "nosey and overly-hospitable aunties", "random greedy people","cities full of reckless bad drivers", "inefficient over-censoring government". Furthermore, you can also learn a lot about how to glorify colonialism, be completely culturally resistant, and wonderfully express implicit condensation to another culture.
Kitto masterfully captures how he, the Eurocentric, white-supremacist, arrogant, condescending capitalist whose business (barely mentioned in the book) was shut down by the communist party, went on a trip that mostly consists of him demeaning local Chinese for not fluently speak English in China, doing the same things he did back home, inferring the malice of CCP by simply talking to people with Chinese names, with the trip ending in a village previous colonized and him reinviting the scared scattered foreigners back to their colonized home in China. All this written in biased description to display the demonized version of China that only he saw, with terrible rhetorics, absurd analogies, and details no one wants to know (seriously, why put your experience of being found in midst of an intercourse in your book, Kitto?).
So if you want to waste your time and money to become a xenophobe while degrading your brain with subpar works of writing, please enjoy this book.
November 9, 2011
This book is complete shit. Kitto writes about everything you don't care about (such as what he ate for dinner with his girlfriend who he only breaks up with a month later) and nothing you care about (such as how he built up his magazine business.
April 13, 2024
An interesting and unusual memoir. In 1999 Englishman Mark Kitto discovers a place where he can retreat from the frantic pace of his life in Shanghai. Moganshan, a beautiful mountainside village a few hours from Shanghai, had been a popular resort for western colonials in pre Communist China. In 1999 Shanghai is booming and Moganshan with its dilapidated western houses is about to enjoy a renaissance. When Kitto’s very successful magazine publishing business is forcibly taken over by the Communist Party, his life comes crashing down around him. But, instead of giving up, he and his Chinese wife and two children retreat up the mountain to their now beloved Moganshan to try their luck at rural Chinese life and running a village cafe.
I thoroughly enjoyed China Cuckoo. It’s well written, full of humour and gives insight into a side of China that is rarely explored.
I thoroughly enjoyed China Cuckoo. It’s well written, full of humour and gives insight into a side of China that is rarely explored.
May 19, 2017
Great piece of life on Shanghai and the challenges of a foreigner in a Chinese environment. Makes me want to go back to Chinese countryside & enjoy the ordinary life. Also very insightful about Shanghai history and the old colonist times.
September 18, 2020
i made you miller
October 4, 2022
I enjoyed reading about China, and it’s an interesting tale of how easy it is to be duped in business in a foreign country.
August 17, 2023
Nice to have a trip down memory lane to expat China!! And interesting to learn about Moganshan history
June 26, 2009
A compelling and comfortably written story of one man's life in China. Half is about a rural Chinese village and the other half about a media business operating in the gray zone and ultimately succumbing to the machinations of Chinese authorities.
Mark shares good anecdotes; the best ones are about navigating relationships with Chinese government officials, both local and national. His takeaways follow from his encounters and so are not overly didactic. For example, Mark fells dying trees for firewood in the forests around Moganshan which is against the regulations, and manages the occasional encounter with a forestry official by giving face and cigarettes. He concludes, "in China, it is always better to act first and ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission."
Mark's "The Lodge" in Moganshan, China is also a terrific place to visit! As a special bonus, we were there one evening to witness first-hand as a group of drunken government officials crashed in for coffee. Government hotshots aside, it is a welcoming and relaxing retreat.
Mark shares good anecdotes; the best ones are about navigating relationships with Chinese government officials, both local and national. His takeaways follow from his encounters and so are not overly didactic. For example, Mark fells dying trees for firewood in the forests around Moganshan which is against the regulations, and manages the occasional encounter with a forestry official by giving face and cigarettes. He concludes, "in China, it is always better to act first and ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission."
Mark's "The Lodge" in Moganshan, China is also a terrific place to visit! As a special bonus, we were there one evening to witness first-hand as a group of drunken government officials crashed in for coffee. Government hotshots aside, it is a welcoming and relaxing retreat.
January 7, 2017
This is not a business book, but a book about a business man who got stung hard by bad circumstances but didn't stay sore and changed his life into something that was always a dream for him.
I enjoyed Mike Kitto's story very much, it gives some insights into China but more importantly gives us a great example of somebody falling out of success rapidly but elegantly. He did not give up his love for China, despite what the powers at be did to him (pulling his business out from under his feet). Where most people would have left and stayed sore forever, Mike Kitto made a new life for himself and reignited his love affair with the country and it's history.
I recommend this book to anybody who fears failure or who has experienced great business of career failure and wants to feel positive about the future.
Enjoy!
I enjoyed Mike Kitto's story very much, it gives some insights into China but more importantly gives us a great example of somebody falling out of success rapidly but elegantly. He did not give up his love for China, despite what the powers at be did to him (pulling his business out from under his feet). Where most people would have left and stayed sore forever, Mike Kitto made a new life for himself and reignited his love affair with the country and it's history.
I recommend this book to anybody who fears failure or who has experienced great business of career failure and wants to feel positive about the future.
Enjoy!
February 7, 2013
I had thought that the book would be more about Mark's business story in China instead of which it is almost a travel book for Moganshan in China.
Having said that, he did a great job of creating a pace about the book about half way through that seemed to mirror the relaxed lifestyle that he and Joanna had created for themselves.
Having been in China for 5 years though his stories about doing business in China brought it all rushing back so by the end of the book I also began to feel that Moganshan was my retreat too.
I have to confess to knowing the author so not sure how objective I am:)
Having said that, he did a great job of creating a pace about the book about half way through that seemed to mirror the relaxed lifestyle that he and Joanna had created for themselves.
Having been in China for 5 years though his stories about doing business in China brought it all rushing back so by the end of the book I also began to feel that Moganshan was my retreat too.
I have to confess to knowing the author so not sure how objective I am:)
May 22, 2013
I bought the book after attending a talk by Mark Kitto. You can sort of read out his "type" - garrulous, ballsy, witty. He sums up a bit of the events described in the book, and gave some rather witty anecdotes unique to China life, but I was still curious to learn more.
The book was an extended version of the talk, and very interesting. Kitto writes honestly and is fair in his portrayal of China and the Chinese - giving both the highs and lows.
I enjoyed the read, especially as I now have lived in China's quasi-neighbor/province of Hong Kong for almost 4 years. I do wonder how one without China experience would find these descriptions.
The book was an extended version of the talk, and very interesting. Kitto writes honestly and is fair in his portrayal of China and the Chinese - giving both the highs and lows.
I enjoyed the read, especially as I now have lived in China's quasi-neighbor/province of Hong Kong for almost 4 years. I do wonder how one without China experience would find these descriptions.
Read
January 21, 2016China Cuckoo is a wonderful read. It gives you a feel about life in China from a big city and small town perspective. You can learn that regardless of where you are in China there are still many similarities between the people and the government agencies.
Mark's journey is very interesting and is proof that you can find what you want in China if you know what you are doing.
Do not expect any great business insights, though you will learn a great deal about Chinese history in Moganshan related to the past 100 years or more.
A delightful story.
Mark's journey is very interesting and is proof that you can find what you want in China if you know what you are doing.
Do not expect any great business insights, though you will learn a great deal about Chinese history in Moganshan related to the past 100 years or more.
A delightful story.
September 18, 2011
Went to see this author speak at a Shanghai luncheon last week. His talk was not that impressive, so I was hoping that the book would make up for it. If you're looking for the details on how Mr. Kitto lost his successful magazine to the Chinese government, you're not going to get it here. However, if you're interested in the minute details on how he found his Chinese hideway, the history of, and life ever afterwards in Morganshan, then this is the book for you. Pretty disappointed.
December 1, 2016
Memoir from Mark Kitto, a young British entrepreneur who tried to make it in China. The story ignores most of his business life and instead focuses on episodes from his early retirment: starting a family and buying a home in a rural part of China. Kitto focuses his story on the quiet beauty he has found in China, but anyone reading from the outside will be discouraged by the corruption and selfishness that he can't seem to escape from.
May 2, 2016
A really enjoyable memoir giving insight into life in China - from the modern city, cut throat business, back handers and unique way of like to the dream of renovating a mountain village villa once owned by foreigners. Mark has a light and easy style to telling his story and I felt the book was a modern day equivalent of the 'let's go to Italy or France' books of the 1980s. Overall very enjoyable and inspiring.
October 2, 2011
After living in Shanghai for five years, I cringe just looking at yet another foreigner memoir of China. But someone lent me their copy so I felt I had to read it. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed it. Mark's story is one that every foreigner here can relate to, and he can really write.
If someone passes a copy along to you, read it!
If someone passes a copy along to you, read it!
March 18, 2010
Written by the man that started 'that's shanghai' (Beijing, etc.) only to have it all taken away by the government. He then moved to Moganshan and still lives there. Interesting story if you have been to Moganshan.
July 21, 2010
Almost two books in one - on the one hand a story about life doing up a house in rural China; on the other the life of a non-Chinese businessman trying to work within what is a very different business culture to that of the UK or USA. I found it really fascinating thoug.
August 26, 2013
A gut-wrenching page turner for China "old hands" and those of us who observed this tale from relative safety and anonymity. The 2012 Epilogue is an admirable addition to the 2nd edition.
November 17, 2014
Interesting having just been to moganshan and living in china but not I suspect particularly interesting to anyone who hasn't been there and isn't living in china
February 12, 2016
Honest and realistic portrayal of China
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews