Posted on 09/04/2007 12:07:23 PM PDT by GeorgeKant
Yin Rishuai, a Chinese entrepreneur, says Jewish success books "teach about family and education and other values," not just business.
SHANGHAI -- Showcased in bookstores between biographies of Andrew Carnegie and the newest treatise by China's president are stacks of works built on a stereotype.
One promises "The Eight Most Valuable Business Secrets of the Jewish." Another title teases readers with "The Legend of Jewish Wealth." A third provides a look at "Jewish People and Business: The Bible of How to Live Their Lives."
In Shanghai, which prides itself on having provided a safe haven for Jewish refugees fleeing Europe since the 1930s, some members of the city's small Jewish community are uneasy about the books' message.
Nonetheless, in China, a country where glossy pictures of new billionaires have become as common as images of Mao Zedong, aspiring Chinese entrepreneurs are obsessed with getting their hands on anything they think can help them get an edge on the competition.
In the past few years, sales of "success" books have skyrocketed, publishers say, and now make up nearly a third of the works published in China, and perhaps no type of success book has been as well marketed or well received as those that purport to unveil the secrets of Jewish entrepreneurs. Many of these tomes sell upward of 30,000 copies a year and are thought of in the same inspirational way as many Americans view the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" series.
The business success books provide idealized notions of what Chinese people should strive to become and serve as templates for teaching people who have been working at communist, state-owned enterprises for a generation how to transform themselves as capitalists.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Like the Chinese need some help.
How Jews make money - Hard Work + Education + Strong Families + Helping each other out...
ping
HAHAHAHAHa...awesome...however...chinese are the worst at trying to negotiate price at retail stores at US malls...not knowing it’s (typically) not possible to haggle. They’ve got the joooooos beat there.
Hey, not knocking haggling everyone should get the best possible price.
BINGO...perhaps that is how these books read, but i doubt it.
I entered this thread thinking it was going to be about the China demagoguing Jewish people. Instead it seems to be holding their financial prowess up as an example to emulate.
Yes it may be a stereotype, but I’m not convinced it’s a negative in this instance.
Disagreements?
We mock Chinese crap right now, give them 10-20yrs.. They will be ruling the business world.
That's consistent with my understanding and experience with both Jewish and Chinese culture. Which is what makes this so funny. The Chinese are the most economically Jewish non-Jews around!
I have a close friend who’s dad (not Jewish or Chinese, btw) actually did haggle with the manager at K-Mart over the price of a lawnmower and managed to get a discount.
The secret: Kosher Chinese restaurants.
[Yes, they have those in Israel!]
I’ve spent lots of my life in Asia and have found Chinese women to be among the world’s best businessmen. (couldn’t use that word on DU I’d bet)
If the Jews don’t watch out, their favorite stereotype will soon be developing slanted eyes.
They have them in NYC too.
My son’s Bar Mitzvah was catered Kosher Chinese — the master chef (Mandarin) is a member of our congregation. Married the love of his life and converted over 20 years ago. He threw one fabulous oneg when he celebrated what he calls the “Chai” year of his conversion (18 years). A blessing on his head and our tables.
I met some Koreans who said “The Chinese are the Jews of the Orient”. I don’t think it was meant as flattery...
Love of family, education, arts...all elements both cultures share. Wontons and kreplach are not dissimilar either.
“One promises “The Eight Most Valuable Business Secrets of the Jewish.”
I know they’re buying into stereotypes, but for some reason, that title is hilarious. Jews have business secrets no one else is aware of?
Its kind of funny, but I knew some chinese folks who used to say that "The Japanese are the Jews of the orient" (almost the exact phrase.
And I KNOW they did not mean that in a positive way.
That is the most clear similarity: ethnic chinese and ethnic jews have the business of business down cold.
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