It is difficult to do business in China. At times really difficult. Laws are vague, sometimes partners can be less than forthcoming, and things are always in flux. But the modern Chinese economy is not exactly the Wild West. As a member of the WTO, and a relatively responsible member of the international business community, there is the rule of law in China.

Go back to the late 1980s and early 1990s. China was really the Wild West, where companies could be legally taken from you if the almighty chops, or officials seals, somehow managed to find their way into someone else’s hands. Quality control was so minimal that beer bottles sometimes had more sand than hops. It is in this hectic environment that Tim Clissold tried to make his fortune through investment.

Along with a New York Wall Street heavy hitter and a local Chinese partner, Clissold travels the country meeting with every type of company imaginable. His experiences took him to second tier cities, and taught him that nothing is as it seems. Using four case studies of how to botch investments in completely different way, Mr. China teaches us that the most important rule of business here is to be really careful.

The book has a bit of a feel that it was rushed to print without proper editing. At times the writing is choppy, and you get the distinct feeling that important aspects of the experience are not included. About two thirds of the way through the book Clissold mentions his wife and children who apparently are living with him in China. It is impossible to wonder why they have been entirely omitted to this point, but then they make no more appearances making their inclusion even more peculiar.

Yet these oddities are clearly an afterthought, much as his family appears to be, to the amazing stories that we hear. At one point Clissold sues a Chinese man who has embezzled a huge amount of money form him. His lawyer argues that the defendant has clearly broken the law, at which point the judge admits that he does not understand the legal basis for the claim, and asks the bemused attorney for an explanation of it.

Clissold paved the road with his sweat, and quite literally some blood, for foreign investors to enter the Chinese market. Were it not for his travails there is no way that the mega-deals like Intel’s multi-million dollar Dalian investment could have materialized. Yet the lessons he learned were not cheap. He and his partners managed to lose hundreds of millions of dollars before calling it quits. In other words, your work might be hard, but you do not know what it really means to have difficult business partners.