China Experts: Really?

David Wolf over at Silicon Hutong just did a blog post that everyone should know about — at least anyone who has ever used the term “China expert.” In his post, entitled, No China Experts, Wolf talks about the concept of China experts and of how there is no such thing. Does anyone know a United States expert? I rest my case.

Wolf lays out the following disclaimer:

I am not a “China expert.”
There is no such thing as a “China expert.”

Anyone who comes to you claiming to be a “China expert” is either deluded (and thus to be pitied), lying (and thus suspect), or out to separate you from your money (and thus to be avoided.)

In my experience, those who claim to be China experts virtually always fall into one of the last two categories, which probably should be conflated into just the last one.

Wolf then writes about how “China is too large, too old, and too complex to be sufficiently understood by a single individual. At the very most, we can be ‘specialists.’ We can never be ‘experts.’” Amen.

Wolf then issues the following counsel:

When doing business in China, you thus cannot rely on the counsel of a single individual, regardless of how experienced, well-connected or erudite. Instead, seek and genuinely consider the advice of a range of people of different backgrounds, and in so doing form your own view based on a synthesis of their views.

China “experts” will only get you into trouble.

Of course he is right.

For another spin on this issue, check out Your Chinese-American VP Don’t Know Diddley ‘Bout China Law And I Have Friggin Had It

The post China Experts: Really? appeared first on China Law Blog.

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