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Comment by yc-kraln | Hacker News Reader

I mean, the mundane explanation would be that there are simply a huge number of Chinese businessmen, and that by proxy there are a large number of successful ones (and an even larger number of unsuccessful ones).

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To be fair, I think the author recognises this. He calls it a trope throughout and makes frequent reference to the less successful and unsuccessful ones. The main thrust of the article seems to be about what we can learn (if anything) from the trope. I found it all a mildly interesting read.

EDIT: The "paradox," I believe, has nothing to do with being Chinese or not. Rather, it is that he finds the most successful ones to be rational, but superstitious; and intelligent, but uneducated.

The author is not describing China, but South-East Asia, where Chinese are a small but conspicuously successful minority. The blog series is an exploration of possible reasons why this is so.

I am reminded of comedian Ronny Chieng's bit about Caishen, the Taoist "God of Money". And how the New Year's greeting is literally "Hope You Get Rich" ;)

This is a great read. But the underlying fundamentals don't seem to vary much, East or West. Learn by doing. Trust your gut. Bias toward action. Cash is king.

>>> what separates the Robert Kuoks, the Mochtar Riadys, the Ng Teng Fongs and the Yeoh Tiong Lays from the rest of the traditional Chinese businessmen who have graced both sides of the Malaccan Straits? The obvious answer — the one that springs to our lips — is Luck.

The concept of Wufu may be so ingrained that it transcends mere philosophy. I've heard it described in terms of family history even. That ancestors are reaching through the veil of space and time to help the new generation succeed!

I don't think the author is suggesting that business Chinese businessmen are uniquely successful. He is really just trying to pinpoint what makes the successful ones successful.

You could remove the word "Chinese" from the whole thing, and it would still make sense.

Am an ethnically Chinese Singaporean. That is not really true. Chinese businessmen have a way of doing business that is pretty unique and not startup-like.

Some examples:

1. Real estate purchases (with bank loans) are a superior alternative to renting because paying mortgage beats making a landlord richer. Also, east-asian culture believes that very few things beat the appreciating value of land.

2. We love profit. I for one, started a company since I graduated moving from one product to another. And I do not tolerate making losses unless there is significant expectation of profit in the short-term. (I think this applies to older generation "chinese businessmen" because we never had such a thing as venture capital.

That's how small to mid size business used to be run. Successful ones always worried about margins before growth.

We get this trope in other regions too, like Jews in the west and Marwaris in India.

What made them succesful was generational knowledge. As there were no business schools.

I have long suspected there was this generational knowledge that some tend to rely on and others don't. I wonder if there are any attempts to document this generational knowledge somewhere like in a blog or a book.

> blog or a book.

Never heard of any in popular culture, you question prompted me to search.

I found a good article about of the communities I mentioned above.

https://nextbigwhat.com/marwari-business-principles/

Thank You!

Businessmen are "non-startup-like" all over the world as far as the "prefer profits to losses" part goes. And I suspect that the love for real estate is also widely shared (including by non-businesspeople).

Exactly. Nobody talks about the million start ups that failed before their first big funding round.

It probably also explains the maxim of “No matter how good one be at any given task, there is always a ten year old Chinese child that is better at it.”.

There are quite a few ten year old Chinese children.

Though, it does beg the quæstion why we hearn't as much from the 10 year old Indian children

I have never heard this so-called “maxim”

You could have searched for it to see that it exists in your favorite search engine, however.

I just searched for “no matter how good always Chinese child better” and got a great deal of references to this in various phrasings.

Your posts, frankness be, more so suggests your dislike for it's existence, than anything.

It's funny, I first heard of it a few weeks ago when discussing emerging startups, and how for every innovative ideas you might have in your day-to-day life, odds are someone else already made it into a business+website.

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