Tim Clissold (Chinese name: 祈立天) is a Western writer on business in China. He is the author of a

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

detailing how he helped the

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

trader Jack Perkowski to invest, lose and recover over $400 million in

mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

as the country first opened up to

foreign direct investment A foreign direct investment (FDI) is an ownership stake in a company, made by a foreign investor, company, or government from another country. More specifically, it describes a controlling ownership an asset in one country by an entity based i ...

.Dan Fitzpatrick
"'Mr. China' -- Pittsburgher's status borders on mythical"
''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', 22 November 2006 His book detailed the numerous ways the fund lost money and the steps it took to recover it.Gady A. Epstein

''Forbes'', April 25, 2008,Scott Cendrowski
"Businesses Going Into China Need to Know These Rules First"
"Fortune", December 3, 2016 Clissold was president of the foreign-invested ASIMCO Technologies before parting company from Perkowski, who claims never to have read the book that gave him the nickname Mr. China. Time Magazine described ''Mr China'' as 'an instant classic.' Bill Powell
"Books: Mr. China Hits the Road"
''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'', 20 February 2005 Clissold has since written three more books, ''Chinese Rules,'' ''Cloud Chamber'' and ''Teach the People.'' The

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

Shanghai correspondent wrote of ''Chinese Rules'': 'Read Tim Clissold, the British businessman whose book ''Mr China'' is probably the best I've ever come across about China. Now he has written another: it's about what makes China tick - for foreigners who can clearly hear it ticking but can't quite figure out why

Clissold is a Visiting Fellow at

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Jesus College was established in 1496 on the site of the twelfth-century Benedictine nunnery of St Radegund's Priory, Cambridge, St ...

and Senior Research Associate at the Cambridge University China Forum. For many years, he has undertaken dispute resolution assignments in China to mediate between Chinese businesses and foreign investors in cases where the relationship has broken down. He is non-executive director of London Stock Exchange quoted investment trusts, Henderson Far East Income and Baillie Gifford China Growth. In March, 2025, he joined Highgate Limited, a dispute resolution advisory firm as Senior Advisor.

Bibliography

*''Mr. China: A Memoir'', HarperBusiness, 2005 *''Chinese Rules'', HarperCollins, 2014 *''Cloud Chamber'', Commercial Press of China, 2021 *''Teach the People'', to be published in early 2025.

References

External links

*Tim Clissold
Mr Wang's chemical factory
Chinadialogue.net, 18 September 2007
Tim Clissold's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clissold, Tim Living people Economy of China British non-fiction writers Writers about China British male writers Year of birth missing (living people) British male non-fiction writers