400 Million Customers [Paperback]

Carl Crow (Author), Paul French (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2008

Probably the best selling book on doing in business in China ever and undoubtedly the best ever written Carl Crow's 400 Million Customers is both amusing and informed. First published in 1937, 400 Million Customers is the distillation of the experiences of one of the most successful foreign businessmen ever to wash up on the China coast. Crow brilliantly explains the eternal truths about doing business in the Middle Kingdom. Enhanced with a foreword by Carl Crow expert and admirer, Paul French.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A rich trove of anecdotes and insights about the Chinese people and doing business in China, much of which still holds true today. --James McGregor, author of One Billion Customers

About the Author

Carl Crow (1884-1945) was a Missouri-born businessman and author who opened the first Western advertising agency in Shanghai, China, which he ran for more than 25 years. In the 1930s and 1940s, Crow wrote 13 books, including his most popular work 400 Million Customers (1937). Crow was also founding editor of the Shanghai Evening Post. In China, - a shopkeeper chooses his employees not for their intelligence, industry and honesty, but because they are members of important and influential families whose trade the shopkeeper desires; the women will not accept, even as a gift, a packet of assorted needles; orthodox poker is played as it was played in Texas thirty years ago; a man likes to conduct his business in the open so that every passer-by may see and comment upon his industry; an empty beer bottle is counted a precious gift.... The pages of this candid and hilarious book are crowded with these and thousands of other diverting facts which Carl Crow had the opportunity to gather through his more than twenty-five years in China as newspaper correspondent and advertising man. Brought up to date by the author before his death, this is a book of endless delight and rich human wisdom, a book that brings you valuable knowledge of a great people.

Product Details

• Paperback: 260 pages
• Publisher: China Economic Review Publishing Ltd; Reprint edition (October 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9881762154
• ISBN-13: 978-9881762153
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #868,010 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Classic Problems Doing Business in China, July 4, 2004

By 

Dr. Lois Bitner Olson (SDSU: San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Four Hundred Million Customers: The Experiences--Some Happy, Some Sad of an American in China and What They Taught Him (D'asia Vu Reprint Library (Series).) (Paperback)

For anyone who has studied China in advance of doing business there since Deng took his tour of the south and suggested to be rich is glorious or who has already ventured into the Chinese market, Crow's 65-year old story is reassuring. Everything in China has changed and nothing has changed. Perhaps the greatest lesson is that China changes but VERY slowly.
Crow's insight into China and especially Shanghai "before Liberation" provides wonderful stories of how to develop ads and merchandising tactics, deal with Chinese customers, and keep on laughing. If you have ever read any other book about the Chinese market, it invariably cited Crow. Now, go to the primary source. It is somewhat frustrating to know he dealt with the same issues with which we deal now, but it is also reassuring to know that he did encounter similar problems. It makes forecasting in China a bit easier.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A glimpse into China's past, February 15, 2006

By 

J. Novak (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Four Hundred Million Customers: The Experiences--Some Happy, Some Sad of an American in China and What They Taught Him (D'asia Vu Reprint Library (Series).) (Paperback)

This book offers a wonderful reflection of life, business and Chinese culture from a period before the second world war. For those who have been to Shanghai or other parts of China you can close your eyes and make more sense of the experience through the eyes of Carl Crow. For those who are planning a trip to China this book offers some cultural perspective and preparation for your travels. Irrespective of your reasons for studying or visiting China, this book is a sentimental must-have for any China library.