Building on the last post about the primacy of money in the Chinese mindset, today we take a look at how this stacks up with a contrasting view from the U.S. This post picks up exactly where the last one left off, just after Carolyn Blackman has described the elaborate, theatrical negotiations she observed in [...]

Elaborating here on the theme from the last book post: the scarcity of money in the Chinese mindset. I ended that last book post by contrasting the default Chinese view with a different, American view of scarcity: the opportunity to use one’s talents in the most fulfilling way possible. In this post we delve more [...]

Over Labor Day weekend I got together with an old friend — a fellow I once taught Chinese to, who for a couple years made a quasi-career out of advising Western leaders on the ground in China about how to do business. I asked him to tell me a few stories. He told me of [...]

In some earlier posts on the business of culture, I’ve referred to three precious resources that are hard to come by and easy to squander in China: time, money and goodwill. The third one may be a bit of a puzzler. To the American eye it may look out of place alongside the twin kings [...]

Today an old friend and I had dinner at a quaint little spot in southeastern Beijing. We talked shop about an American organization we both know well, and some of its latest China moves — and how little sense they make.