One brisk spring day earlier this year, Doug Shultz and I spent a day driving through the Xinjiang countryside with one Liu Haiwei. Liu, a self-described talker, rattled on and on as we sputtered on from Kashgar to Karakul Lake in his jeep. His rants, which he delivered in between smokes, ranged from the quality of American cars versus Japanese cars to the backward lifestyles of those Kyrgyz families who live around Karakul Lake. Although of Han ethnicity, he still slurped down a big bowl of homemade Kyrgyz noodles, drank yaks milk, and ate naan bread with some enjoyment. He, like so many others, moved to Xinjiang as a child when his father, a PLA soldier, was dispatched to the barren lands of Xinjiang. One wonders how his business is suffering with the destruction (“renovation”) of old Kashgar and particularly the youth hostel where he met many of his customers, like Doug and myself.
Thanks for the Doug Shultz link. He’s definitely onto something with his comment, which follows a treatise on the importance of listening in networking:
“…this is exactly the way Chinese business runs. Only the companies that can survive a night of trying to outdo each other in luxury dining, heavy drinking, and extended periods of karaoke singing together can make it to the point of signing contracts and doing business together. It is based on feelings[,] not on what [one’s] worth looks like on paper.” Sounds like Old Liu was worth listening to.
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