Dear Friends,
In 2009, on my first visit to Shanghai, I walked each morning between my hotel and CEIBS, where I attended an executive program with the renowned French negotiation scholar, Professor Guy Olivier Faure. The boulevard felt like a corridor between two systems of thought — Europe in my mind, China beneath my feet.
Along the sidewalk, street vendors displayed stacks of pristine Harvard Business books, their covers still smelling faintly of fresh ink. They looked as if they had slipped quietly from a nearby print house, destined for distant American shelves but somehow detained by Shanghai’s pavement.
And there, among titles on strategy and dominance, lay an older volume — worn, misplaced, almost embarrassed by its presence.
The Richest Merchant in Shanghai.
It did not belong to the pile.
It felt like something rescued from a second-hand charity shop in England — a book someone had once owned deeply before moving on.
I bought it without bargaining.
The story inside followed Thomas, a Western executive who nearly lost his Shanghai venture by chasing growth and contractual precision. Under the quiet mentorship of Mr. Liang, he learned that wealth was not velocity but endurance. Reputation, not valuation. Patience, not pressure. The richest merchant, the book revealed, was not the loudest — but the one who remained when cycles turned.
I carried the lesson home, though life carried me elsewhere.
Years later, as I began Expat Eyes on China, I found the book again in a forgotten box of “lost” volumes. Dust softened its cover. With a gentle breath, I revealed the words on the back:
The Laws of Enduring Wealth
Survival Before Scale – Cash runway is sovereignty.
Trust Outlasts Valuation – Profit without reputation collapses.
Reputation Is Invisible Equity – Behavior under stress compounds.
Time Is the Invisible Investor – Patience builds durable advantage.
Harmony Preserves Access – Do not burn bridges you need tomorrow.
Expand After Foundation – Scale without reserves is exposure.
Bend Before You Break – Adaptability is continuity.
Wealth Must Circulate – Strengthen your ecosystem to strengthen yourself.
I closed the book slowly.
Some books wait.
Some lessons return when the reader is finally ready.
Cheers,
Augusto
Founder of Expat Eyes on China
P.S. 1 My friend Eric Nie nails it in this short clip: How Chinese Aunties Beat Wall Street with Grocery Bags with Gold. Wall Street has models. China has cultural gravity. Understanding the aunties’ logic might teach you more about money than any MBA — and it shows how The Richest Merchant in Shanghai still lives quietly in the subconscious of everyday China. https://youtube.com/shorts/qO4YEA8ohhg
P.S. 2 If The Richest Merchant in Shanghai resonated, it echoes a much older classic: The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason (1926). Same timeless lesson: wealth follows discipline, patience, and systems — not luck. You can read it here: https://icrrd.com/public/media/16-05-2021-070111The-Richest-Man-in-Babylon.pdf
P.S. 3 Whenever I save the draft of this LinkedIn story, the Facebook algorithm immediately suggests a post with the striking title: This Is How the Chinese Get Rich. I suppose it’s no surprise that all social media platforms are interconnected through a multilayered AI system — whether what it promotes is true or not. In any case, the content in Spanish truly matches the spirit of The Richest Merchant in Shanghai, applied to modern times. So it’s worth sharing again — now translated into English:
This Is How the Chinese Get Rich
They identify an everyday need.
They produce it faster and cheaper.
They reinvest everything.
They copy what works — without ego.
They improve the process every week.
They work in networks with family and partners.
They sell in volume.
Instead of focusing on margins, they think long term.
They negotiate every cent.
They scale with discipline.
And when the market changes, they change first.
It’s not magic. Nor is it luck.
It’s system, consistency, and total focus on the business.