Mr. China: A Memoir [Paperback]

Tim Clissold (Author)

Book Description

Release date: February 28, 2006

Mr. China tells the rollicking story of a young man who goes to China with the misguided notion that he will help bring the Chinese into the modern world, only to be schooled by the most resourceful and creative operators he would ever meet. Part memoir, part parable, Mr. China is one man's coming-of-age story where he learns to respect and admire the nation he sought to conquer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A British businessman with a background in accounting and auditing, Clissold joined up with an entrepreneur in the early 1990s and set out to buy shares of Chinese firms and to work to make them more profitable. Within two years, Clissold's venture owned shares in 20 Chinese businesses, with 25,000 employees among them, but the story really centers on Clissold's encounters with the nation's "institutionalized confusion." Firing entrenched middle managers became a protracted process that led to factory riots and employees using company funds to set up competing businesses; the anticorruption bureau demanded cash bribes before opening investigations. Clissold's narrative is somewhat aimless, slipping from one misadventure (taking American fund managers to a condom factory) to the next, and there's a certain amount of too-easy humor derived from the exoticism of Chinese culture (e.g., the inevitable banquet where unusual body parts of rabbit and deer are served). Even in these passages, though, Clissold's fundamental respect for the Chinese culture is unmistakable, and the scenes where he leaves his office and interacts directly with the people can be quite vividly detailed. By the late '90s, millions of dollars poured into the companies yield disastrous results from an investment standpoint (and Clissold himself suffers a heart attack), but the Chinese economy as a whole hums ever more loudly. Crossover appeal of this title may be limited, but business readers are likely to be entertained.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

In the early 1990s, British businessman Clissold--with a passing knowledge of China and of Mandarin--found himself the point man between a group of Wall Street bankers with hundreds of millions to invest and a budding entrepreneur class in China strapped for cash and foreign expertise. This seemingly perfect marriage would become, as one investor put it, "the Vietnam War of American business." By decade's end, hundreds of joint ventures would fail and billions of dollars would be lost. If Clissold was well placed to help create many of these ill-fated partnerships, he's even better positioned to explain, through his own horrific experiences, what went wrong: a labyrinthine legal and political system that Westerners (even with Chinese help) could never decipher, a rickety and hidebound system of factory management in China, an almost-willful lack of respect by Wall Street for Chinese sensibilities, and often-flagrant abuse by Chinese managers of the Western largesse made available to them. A compelling account, related with sly humor and hard-earned wisdom. Alan Moores
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: HarperBusiness; Reprint edition (February 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060761407
• ISBN-13: 978-0060761400
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #232,699 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Cautionary Tale about Making Lemonade from Lemons February 18, 2005

By Steve Koss VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

The title of this book, MR. CHINA, refers to the notion in the early 1990's that many Westerner businessmen wanted to be the first to get inside China's nascent boom, to become a "master of the universe" with respect to the People's Republic. While the winner is ostensibly the author's mysterious business partner, known only as Pat, the author lays his own claim to that award. By the end of this book, however, it's quite clear that no Westerner could ever be "Mr. China," and that those who chased earliest and hardest missed out almost completely on the real blossoming of mainland China's relationship with Western business. The author's near miss bicycling through a dark tunnel, intended as a metaphor about the emerging China, seems far more apt as a metaphor for his own decade of hopeless running in place.

In MR. CHINA, Tim Clissold tells a remarkable story of some of the first Western business forays into China during the 1990's. The model seemed simple enough - bring Wall Street to the People's Republic by raising huge sums of capital in an investment fund, trade that capital for majority shares in going businesses that seemed promising, infuse them with new technology and management practices, then buy up weaker competitors and consolidate them into massive, unbeatable players in the domestic and export markets. Of course, it was all far easier on paper than it was in reality, and that is the crux of Mr. Clissold's story.

By any measure, Clissold's tale is a businessperson's nightmare, a sort of Wall Street meets the Wild, Wild East. Politics infects every transaction, rules and contracts are broken as fast as they are made and signed, paperwork is a mess, accounting principles are nonexistent, money disappears or moves from one bank account to another to hide it, local managers lie, embezzle, or compete against their own employer, and everyone works hardest when they are busy lining their own pockets. Attempts to fire managers spark massive lawsuits, beatings, and even riots. Clissold spends nearly all his time putting out fires, holding off his investment fund managers, arguing with Chinese managers he has fired, and pleading his case to judges, government officials, and Party representatives. The harder he works, the more the fund's companies fail until his own health suffers.

Tim Clissold tells his story in a surprisingly matter-of-fact tone; he deserves to be far angrier and more cynical. He writes in an entertaining and engaging style, mixing a sort of detached amusement about events with some interesting cultural background. His Chinese managers and officials come across a bit too stereotyped and some of his background is clichéd, but those shortcomings are far outweighed by his outrageous exploits. The only false note occurs in the final two paragraphs of the book when the author attempts - badly and unnecessarily - to soften his message and rationalize the dishonest and outlandish behaviors he has spent the previous 248 pages describing.

While Western companies have almost universally eschewed the joint venture approach in China, MR. CHINA nevertheless offers valuable insights about doing business on the mainland. From my own three or four years' observation living in China, I can say that much of Clissold's cautionary advice applies today. Agreements and contracts are still more symbolic than enforceable, adhered to only if and when it suits Chinese interests. I recommend this book highly for both its entertainment value as well as its lessons learned.

34 of 38 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Cautionary tale that doesn't dim the potential of China July 5, 2004

By Andy Orrock TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Tim Clissold became smiiten with the potential of China and - unlike many of us - acted upon those feelings by plunging into a two-year dedicated study of Mandarin. Through luck and hard effort, he then got himself paired up with a larger-than-life Wall Street investment banker looking to make his mark as 'Mr. China.'

After rigorously looking at hundreds and hundreds of potential investments, the two of them raise over $400 million and begin to put the cash to work in a series of JVs. In what should be a cautionary tale to anyone looking to invest or do business in China, Clissold describes - in rather remarkable detail - the unique 'challenges' they encounter in making a return on their investment. Clissold wisely focuses on three episodes - each involving plant managers or owners - where the Western and Chinese views of banking and contract law begin to diverge...then unravel. Can Tim and team keep it together? It'll require superhuman effort. I was exhausted simply reading some of these chapters. I can only imagine the stress and strain of actually living it. Indeed, at one point Clissold's body seems to simply give out. This, however, is not a man easily defeated.

Despite the travails Clissold faces in the book, the book is all about the potential of China. He brings life to the sheer numbers and masses of people - his description of Chongqing for example (how many people know that this is China's largest city?)..."The density of people was staggering: millions and millions swirling in the roadways, all in faded blue overalls and with piles of baggage, blocking the gates at the station, crammed into buses, milling about on the pavements."

Wonderful writing, made all the better by the pithy little proverbs that Clissold has chosen to begin each chapter. I stared at each of these for a minute or more, admiring their brevity, significance and - upon finishing the chapter - realizing how apt Clissold's choices were. Well done, Tim.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars An Interesting Read July 22, 2005

By T. Hooper

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Mr. China puts us in the shoes of a western businessman delving into the opening China market of the late 80's and early 90's. When Deng opened up China for business, the author, Tim Clissold, was one of the first into China with western funds to invest. However, the dream of endless profits turned into a nightmare. In this book, you'll face conflict after failure as China is dragged into capitalism. The experiences in this book may serve as a warning for those who are doing business in China. In the end though, it seems that many of these problems could have been avoided by a little more research and cultural sensitivity. Also, in being first in China, Clissold came face to face with a clash of systems. Westerners assumed that they could do business as usual without concern for the loose business practices of a formerly communist China. They run into thousands of unexpected problems. Clissold tries to put a positive spin on it in the end, but after reading the book, you'll wonder where he gets his optimism from. Overall, it's a quick and interesting read on the opening of China. If you're doing or thinking of doing business in China, check it out.