If you worry that money and politics are too closely linked in the United States, you can comfort yourself that our leaders take a vow of poverty compared to the People's Republic of China's:
The market economy has not been good for Communism, but it has been awesome for your average top commie. Of course, even with its police state and still endemic brutality, China is in many important respects a far freer place today than than at any time during the second half of the 20th century. Perhaps some looting at the top is a small price to pay for that fair wind.
More than a few Chinese families have had money for a very, very long time. Like some British traders, some of those Chinese families became wealthy through the sale of tea and opium during the Age of Sail. Most of those wealthy Chinese families hung onto their money during Mao's years in power.
ReplyDeleteNovelist and screenwriter James Clavell knew a lot about Asia. Remember his historical novel "Tai-Pan"? In the book the Chinese tea and opium trader Jin-Qua loaned Dirk Struan a fortune to save the Scottish trader from bankruptcy in the 1840s.
In the islands of modern-day Indonesia, Chinese traders used to pay farmers in places like Java more than the going rate for spices to help the poor on the islands in the 1600s.
Basic Chinese rule in business: "Never break anyone's rice bowl."
Personally I think the Chinese--especially the overseas Chinese (the Chinese outside mainland China)--are the best business people in the world. It didn't take the Chinese on the mainland long to acquire/reacquire world-class business skills. It's "in their blood."
Crony watch? As I've said before, people do business with their friends. I encourage you to spend less time complaining about cronyism and more time teaching readers how to network effectively.
- DEC (Jungle Trader)