We need a new primer on how to do business in China. Years ago, on a flight to Shanghai, you could spot an MBA graduate in every seat mouthing polite mantras — how to show “face”, how to behave at a banquet. Long on protocol, the books were short on useful information. What you really need to know is who’s in charge; which Communist Party official pulls the strings; what to do when a bureaucrat solicits a bribe or the IT staff sell secrets to a state competitor. A manual for today’s China tyro would make grim reading. A former...