An Insider Details the ‘Black Box’ of Money and Power in China
The New York Times
A memoir by a well-connected businessman offers insights into the Communist Party’s thinking as it tightens its grip on the private sector.
To build a logistics hub next to Beijing’s main airport, Desmond Shum spent three years collecting 150 official seals from the many-layered Chinese bureaucracy.
To get these seals of approval, he curried favors with government officials. The airport customs chief, for example, demanded that he build the agency a new office building with indoor basketball and badminton courts, a 200-seat theater and a karaoke bar.
“If you don’t give this to us,” the chief told Mr. Shum with a big grin over dinner, “we’re not going to let you build.”
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