MR. CHINA

by Tim Clissold

In the early 1990s, China finally opened for business, and Wall Street wanted to get in on the act. When the investment bankers arrived from New York with their Harvard MBAs, pinstripes and tassled loafers, ready to negotiate with the Old Cadres, the stage was set for a collision between Wall Street's billions and the world's oldest culture. This is the true story of a tough Wall Street banker who had reached the top and found that it wasn't enough.

Looking for glory, he came to China to surf the next new investment wave and teamed up with an ex-Red Guard and an Englishman living in Beijing. Together, they raised over $400 million and bought up factories all over China. They thought the contracts were watertight.

But then they began learning the hard way that China doesn't play by anyone else's rules. Left sitting in their boardrooms while their Chinese partners marched off in their own different directions, they watched their millions begin sliding towards the abyss. Faced with no option but to fight, they embarked on a series of desperate battles to regain control of their businesses.

Their struggle reveals the human face of this vast and complex country that knows it must modernise but throughout history has always kept the advantage when dealing with outsiders. Clissold tells his at times surreal story with amusement and affection, and the result is exhilarating, an eye-opening account of the arcane world of traditional Chinese business and an instructive insight into the limitations of Wall Street and western business-school training. He opens a window of understanding between East and West in a truly exciting human-interest story that is a mix of adventure, farce and high finance.