Open For Business: Lessons in Chinese Commerce for the New Millenium 1: Textbook and Exercise Book [Paperback]

Jane Kuo (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0887274560 | ISBN-13: 978-0887274565 | Publication Date: December 1, 2003 | Edition: 2nd

This much-anticipated text and exercise book set is an absolute must for students and teachers seeking an in-depth and up-to-date perspective on contemporary Chinese business communications. Designed for students in their third or fourth year of a Chinese language curriculum at the undergraduate or graduate level, Open for Business combines language learning with an introduction to trends, practices, and problems in today's business environment.

Upon satisfactory completion of this one-year course, students will be able to read Chinese-language newspapers, magazines, and other business-related documents as well as make business presentations or conduct business negotiations in Chinese. Traditional and Simplified; note that Vol. 1's exercise section is in Simplified only. B/w photos throughout.

Product Details

• Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: Cheng & Tsui; 2nd edition (December 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0887274560
• ISBN-13: 978-0887274565
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 6.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #512,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good teacher, good book, December 2, 2005

By 

Christopher J. Deasy (Depends on the time of year) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Open For Business: Lessons in Chinese Commerce for the New Millenium 1: Textbook and Exercise Book (Paperback)

I actually had Prof. Jane Kuo as an instructor in graduate school and, naturally, used this book as an accompanying text. While its nice to have the author as your teacher I still go back to the text again and again for key business terminology. There simply isn't a better guide to modern business that is Western friendly. You could say I am biased but I have looked around for other decent texts on business and this remains at the top. The text is especially instructive for overseas businessmen/women who plan on staying competitive in an increasingly Sino-centric cycle.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pandering for business, March 12, 2008

By 

Lars Peder Kallar Devold (Trondheim, Norway) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Open For Business: Lessons in Chinese Commerce for the New Millenium 1: Textbook and Exercise Book (Paperback)

A word of warning: Cheng & Tsui's books are tailor-made for Western students and contain almost as much English as they do Chinese. While this makes the books faster to read, their convenience comes at the expense of creating distance between the student and the language.

This set of books was obviously made to fill the growing market for business-oriented Chinese, it's just too bad you will never use any of the content in this book to actually do business. What it gives you is an introduction to reading economic articles in magazines or newspapers, basic vocabulary and grammar to describe macro-economic developments and market trends, and a general introduction to the various aspects of the Chinese market. This makes it basically useless in actual work situations.

On the cover it says the book is directed towards more advanced students but the vocabulary and texts are exceedingly simple and will not benefit students who are already at a decent level. All in all, my institute is very disappointed with "Open for Business" and will drop it from the curriculum next semester.

The books' sole redeeming feature is the inclusion of thorough explanations of grammar structures and homonyms at the end of each lesson. I especially found the example sentences demonstrative and useful. If you buy the book, do it for a more thorough understanding of written Chinese, for doing business, look elsewhere.