Greg Rudd, the brother of the former Australian prime minister, once met a Chinese businessman who gave him some prudent advice.
"You tend to see the good in people, Mr Rudd", he started. "People like you. You laugh a lot. But you’ll never make money in China with that attitude. You’ll only be taken advantage of. People will trade off you. They won’t pay you. The number one rule of doing business in China is this; never trust a Chinaman. Why would you as a foreigner trust a Chinese businessman when we as Chinese don’t trust each other?"
Now that advice is pretty close to the bone. But I’ve said it before in Penny Sleuth – you have to be very careful when you invest in a Chinese company. The record of AIM-listed Chinese companies is simply awful. And with so many still coming to market, there is a real chance that many private investors will end up making some very expensive mistakes...
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