4.5 Stars

Chinese Rules

Mao's Dog, Deng's Cat and Five Timeless Lessons for Understanding China

‘Chinese Rules’ identifies five essential techniques that Westerners need to understand in order to do business successfully in China. It is narrated around the challenges Tim encountered whilst establishing a business for reducing carbon emissions in China that was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust.

The Chinese Rules are supported by vivid descriptions of key episodes in Chinese history, such as the Taiping Rebellion, the Chinese Civil War, the Japanese Invasion and the evolution of economic policy in the post-Mao People’s Republic. They will equip outsiders not just to co-operate better with China, but to compete there better as well.

4.5 Stars

Reviews

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“Read Tim Clissold, the British businessman whose book ‘Mr China’ is probably the best I have ever come across about China. Now he has written another, Chinese Rules; it’s about what makes China tick – for foreigners who can clearly hear it ticking but can’t quite figure out why.”

“"As in ‘Mr China’, Clissold shows that he’s an exceptional writer. The descriptive passages sparkle. And he has lost none of his storytelling verve. Clissold somehow manages to make the complex world of carbon trading read like a thriller. And his character sketch of the monumentally unscrupulous, yet crazily disorganised, Chinese corporate broker, Cordelia, is brilliant … and there’s a good deal of practical wisdom here." ”

““His accounts of roller-coaster negotiations, back-stabbing intermediaries and a 10-day deadline to answer U.N. queries or lose a contract worth tens of millions of euros are gripping and fast-paced. The deadline is eventually met with just six minutes to spare.” ”