Mr. China—Book Review

MAY 19th 2009 UPDATE--Jack Perkowski's book, Managing the Dragon is reviewed here.  The stories in Mr. China were collected while Tim worked for Jack.  These books tell many of the same stories from two different perspectives.------------------------------No one single person should be allowed to have this much fun in China. Ok, I suppose it’s alright for Tim Clissold considering the years of his life that he undoubtedly sacrificed to Baijiu, factory pollution, stress and deadly bus rides to distant factories. Absolutely enjoyable and a bit scary at the same time.Mr. China is the book that tells the stories that many have of us have lived being in China over the last 20 years. Clissold is the man who did what everyone just talks about—he put all the stories down in print—and what a job he did!Quite an uncensored look at what “business” has been like in China for the last two decades, and an equally exposing look at both backward Chinese practices and ignorant Western boardrooms. Mr. China provides great insight into both the Chinese business environment and the mentality of many of those doing business in China.In addition to the fantastic shake-your-head-unbelievable stories the value of the book is the fact that many factories, Chinese businessmen and Westerners are still doing business like this today. This is not a history of what-china-was-like-in-the-past as much as it is a look into the deep dark insides of what China can still be like today.I highly recommend that anyone working or planning on working in China read this book as a cautionary tale of what could happen to your best intentions (and investment dollars) if you come to China with more optimistic than realistic expectations.