Desmond Sham shows the rotten foundation of Chinese business in key revelations

In the early hours of July 1, 2021, buses full of party members leave for Tiananmen Square. Descendants of the communist revolutionaries who ruled the country since 1949. As the economy picked up speed in the early 1980s, they amassed numerous concessions for themselves and their families, as Desmond Sham points out in his book Red rouletteThis is a rare and important exposure of the rotten foundations of Chinese trade.

‘Keeping your accounts in order is a strange thing from abroad. Many companies do not know what their revenue is. They grew too fast to withstand. The management was full of pride, ‘says Stokesham via video link from his London apartment.

Shoom receives interview requests from around the world. Not surprisingly, this is the first time a Chinese entrepreneur has offered a behind-the-scenes look. ‘People do not dare to speak. But this is the real China. I want people to have a better understanding of how the Chinese Communist Party works.

Corruption and relationships were rampant

The businessman grew up in Shanghai and a poor slope in Hong Kong. When Deng Xiaoping opened the doors to the outside world for China, Shum had the opportunity to study in the United States and pursue a business career. China’s new, open economy has splattered money against passports. Shoom entered the rankings of the richest, a class previously assigned to the Red Elite.

In the decade before current President Xi Jinping came to power, corruption and relations were on the rise. Everything is possible and nothing is so crazy. “We came from a state of nothingness. If we haven’t done anything in our lives, it’s not a bar. Then why not go for it? ‘ Shum writes.

But the higher you climb, the harder you can fall. The only way to break such a trap is to build relationships, that is the essence of Chinese business. “You do business in a gray area,” Sham explains. “In every Chinese law, the last sentence is the rule of escape. So they can use the law anyway. So you should always stick with a political authority.”