William Overholt argues that as China reaches a threshold where success has eliminated the conditions that enabled miraculous growth, Xi Jinping is pursuing the riskiest political strategy of any important national leader. Alternative outcomes include continued impressive growth and political stability, Japanese-style stagnation, and a major political-economic crisis.
Wei Yen Discusses His Book "From The Great Wall to Wall Street"
Wei Yen (厳序纬), author and veteran businessman, examines Chinese outbound investment and how American businesses can take advantage of China’s rise to forge win-win partnerships.
November 8, 2017
About the Book
Yen addresses the mistakes Westerners sometimes make while trying to overcome cultural barriers in doing business with Chinese. He argues that understanding traditional Chinese culture, and how it affects management behaviors and current events, can help decision makers make better decisions in business, finance and politics. He further combines culture with credit analysis to argue that it is unlikely that China will suffer a financial collapse despite a slowing economy and high debt levels. Yen shows how some of these traditions also hamper China’s efforts to innovate or project the “soft power.” He’ll discuss efforts to integrate China more fully into the global community and will suggest ways policy makers can forge more realistic policies. Yen firmly believes none of this can be accomplished without deeper cultural and historical knowledge on both sides.
This video is also available on the USCI YouTube Channel.
About the Author
Yen is the author of From the Great Wall to Wall Street: A Cross-Cultural Look at Leadership and Management in China and the U.S., published by Palgrave Macmillan earlier this year. He retired from CITIC Pacific in Hong Kong, where he was the Group Treasurer. Before CITIC, Wei was a managing director in corporate finance for Lehman and Nomura and the managing director for Moody’s Asia FIG rating practices. He also had experience as CFO for iSwitch, a tech company in Shenzhen. Yen began his financial career in New York in biotech venture capital with Rothschild.
Featured Articles
April 16, 2018
The U.S.-China Institute and PEN America hosted the West Coast launch of the PEN America report on social media in China, Forbidden Feeds.
Events
April 26, 2018 - 4:00pm
Los Angeles, California
Please join the USC U.S.-China Institute and USC professor Brett Sheehan for a discussion on the evolution of Chinese capitalism chronicling the fortunes of the Song family of North China under five successive authoritarian governments.
June 5, 2018 - 7:00pm
Los Angeles, California
Please join the USC U.S.-China Institute, the East Asian Studies Center, and the USC School of Cinematic Arts for a screening of the 1993 Chinese film Woman Sesame Oil Maker (香魂女). It tells the story of a woman in a small village who buys a peasant wife for his mentally disabled son after her sesame oil business becomes unexpectedly successful. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director, Xie Fei (谢飞).