Wild tales from China's gold rush

This is an example of a book that was initially issued by a small publisher (Robinson in the UK) but was then taken up by a gigantic one, HarperCollins, and turned into an international best seller in paperback. But it's also an

example of a fine book that

entirely deserves such elevation to honor and celebrity.

It's about investing in China during the 1990s and late 1980s. If this sounds unpromising to all except businessmen with similar interests, think again. Because although the subject matter is joint ventures, telephonic board meetings, escrow accounts and conditionality, much of the book is in the style of a hilarious

travelogue through wildest China during the period when the current economic boom was just beginning to get under way.

At the start Tim Clissold -- a former student of Jung Chang's (張戎) -- assumes the persona of an innocent abroad. He arrives in Hong Kong at an unspecified date in the 1980s, is very impressed, flies back to London, resigns from his finance company and enrolls as a language student in Beijing. He then develops contacts with American investors experiencing the first stirrings of interest in China, and before he knows what's happening finds himself escorting men with billions of US dollars at their disposal. They visit rusting Chinese factories stranded on mountain passes and endure equally hazardous banquets

serving ox's forehead, roasted

razor-blade fish and steamed

rabbits' ears. Before long he's in charge of investment projects worth many millions of dollars.

The material is certainly milked for its comic potential. But

business novices in the China sphere have been devouring this book because it provides an

accessible introduction to their new world. It has just enough of the jargon for them to understand what's happening at those long business lunches, but also give them a

whistle-stop tour through industrial China, warts and all, and in fact with the warts in sharp focus.

No one could say Mr. China lacks variety, or for that matter drama. Halfway through, when investments have already been garnered from pension funds and "high-net-worth-individuals" (rich people) investing a million dollars apiece minimum, the crises begin. A venture involving a factory making vehicle components

collapses because of irreconcilable differences between the managers and imported Western engineers. And in Zhuhai (Macau's smaller-scale version of Shenzhen) an

employee absconds to Las Vegas and issues some fraudulent letters of credit. The local anti-corruption agency demands a car and "some working capital" before it will help, and eventually a court rules against the company, despite the crucial evidence being some

obviously altered photocopies. The total loss is US$10 million.

So Clissold goes to the French Alps to recuperate and has a stress-related medical crisis diagnosed as a heart attack. Flown back to the UK, however, he's given a couple of aspirins by the hospital doctors and sent home.

I'm sure this book is a

wonderful introduction to doing serious business in China. But it also contains much material on Chinese life in general, things that will make you laugh, cry, and

finally stand back in mute

admiration. The disasters aren't by any means Clissold's last word. But he learns how life is run in China (concluding "One thing was for sure: if you played by the rules you were finished"). But by the end his admiration even for some individuals his company has