A book for the OG China expats
Remember Beijing in the late 2000s?
Fuerdais flexing their Lambos outside Beijing Worker’s Stadium,
Getting swarmed by Mongolian prostitutes at Maggies,
Those Nigerian dope dealers in the alleys of Sanlitun,
Fubar, Mix, Vix, Babyface, D Lounge, Jenny Lou’s, Bookworm…
Those were the days, huh?
I was a starry-eyed ABC who landed in China in 2009. Spent the next decade+ bouncing between Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. Dated my fair share of Rainys (RIP CCJ), married a Vivian, started my own digital marketing agency, and made bank during the tech boom era.
On the surface, I was a star entrepreneur. But behind the scenes, I was cutting backroom deals with Bytedance, Alibaba, and Tencent; hooking up global execs with KTV chicks, laundering money through underground banks, and greasing the right palms to keep business flowing.
However, everything came crashing down in late 2022, when my company got caught up in an investigation by the Shanghai ECID (Economic Crime Investigations Department). My partner made a run for Dubai, while I laid low in the States. With nothing to lose, I decided to write it all down - 14 years, not a single dull moment:
Confessions of a Chinese American Swindler: My Rise, Fall, and Exile From the Cutthroat World of Chinese Advertising
A no-holds-barred, Wolf of Wall Street and Red Roulette styled exposé of the Chinese media/tech world.
If you’re an OG expat who wants to relive the good ol’ days, OR curious about how business really gets done in China, check it out: