The Chinese Way to Wealth and Prosperity

by Michael Justin  Lee

The author, Michael Lee, has peppered this book with stories and anecdotes from Chinese history, both from the world at large and from the history of the Chinese experience in America. But telling these stories and sprinkling some common sense investment practices explanations with terminology in Chinese does not by any means make this a book about “The Chinese Way” to do anything. Just because there is a word for it in Chinese doesn’t mean it was absorbed by Western society from Eastern culture. It could just be common sense (and often, it is).

Still, this is an interesting and helpful book, clearly written, well organized, and short and to the point. There are a few inconsistencies that detract from it to make it only an average book on the “utility in investing” scale. For example, on page 4: “Your diamonds...are in your own back yard...” Page 54: (the title of one whole section, no less) “Invest Beyond Your Backyard”. The common sense can be boiled down to any number of simple topics, all of which have been written about before: Don’t waste your money, invest in an education, buy things with value, etc. These only have to do with “The Chinese Way” in that, people need to do these things to be prosperous, whether they are Chinese or not.

Given the tenuous connection of this book to (specifically) the Chinese Way (leaving the argument about whether the Chinese are, in fact, wealthy and prosperous), this is not the best book on investing, and certainly not the best book to learn about Chinese financial goings on and the like. But the average reader should be able to get through the book easily enough and pull out some valuable insight, making it well worth three dollar marks.