eBook Lords of the Rim epub

I have read this one twice and bought several copies to give to those who have an interest in China. Worth the read. Full history of China. Written by a British diplomat who grew up in China. Highly recommended. An Englishman gave me my first copy.

The Seagraves never fail to inform, Their efforts are stellar in all books that I've read and reviewed. Always a five-star production.

Great book and lots of good info. Seagrave books never disappoint.

Thank you!

This is about "how to be a billionaire". It is a hybrid of Chinese history, business entrepreneurship, and financial market evolutions. The focus is about how many Chinese adventurers left China, for lands far away, and built the most successful international business network that Asia has ever seen, if not the world. All three are things that I love, and this was reflected by the author as well. This is a densely packed book, full of deep drill down research covering thousands of years. There are no shortcuts here, just quality writing, professionally researched and well explained.

I have heard of only a few of these key Chinese figures like Sun Tzu, who created the Art of War. He is often considered the inspiration for Machiavelli's "The Prince". His famous 13 chapters are now basic reading for many Japanese executives within major Keiretsu groups like Mitsubishi. The discipline needed for business has come from war. In Japan, business is today's modern war.

Also described is San Bao, the Chinese sailor who discovered Africa, Europe and even America in 1421, well before Christopher Columbus. He is considered the actual figure from which "Sinbad the Sailor" was modeled after. The world's seven seas have been sailed by the Chinese sailors for a long time. He took huge ships as long as modern football fields in massive groups. His flotilla of Vast Red Ships sailed to Africa, Australia, Europe and even North & South America! His trips were documented in stone tablets left in all of these locations that were later authenticated.

There are limited gold deposits within India, but there is plenty of gold within India today. This is mainly because of a long history involving Chinese trade. This gold story is well explained, one of many that makes your head shake in amazement from the author's clear description of events. When many visitors see theater they notice the make of the actors and can see the direct influence that originally came from Chinese opera in classical Indian live performances today. Trades brings people and cultures together is many amazing ways.

Sterling Seagraves, knows his subject well, perhaps too well. Some of the pages almost seem like text books crammed full of information you feel almost guilty about not fully absorbing right away. His ability to bring a complex observation and explain it so simply is a real skill. I did not know how Chinese dialects came about as so different to the ear, yet similar in a written form. His ability to explain this and connect it to the creation of the "Great Wall" was fascinating.

I did not understand the kind of hometown connections that connect certain kinds of Overseas Chinese dominated businesses had. I did not know how politics compliment them, in one market after another, no matter what the country or region. So much, from this master storyteller was well explained. The most recent 60+ years since Mao, had less of an impact, as it was subject matter that was more modern and familiar.

The Top 3 Takeaways from this book that really impact any reader are:

1) There is a very long history in China and the rest of Asia that has no comparison in Europe.

2) Business in Asia has been at the core of shipping and trade for much of the region that is connected by water.

3) Just like Europe, food and culture across Asia has widely spread all over and continued in the business attitudes used today.

No matter what level of Chinese history you may know or understand, this book will upgrade you. The traditions of Overseas Chinese and the businesses that they built are complex and very successful. It is not a smooth history, one full of challenges, and this book explains them well. You wish the book continued despite its more than 400+ pages. Very much worth a read, a nice pleasurable long one. Highly Recommended!

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Good long-term history of Chinese groups throughout Asia and the Pacific rim. Solid base of traditional societies and the basis for leaving China, maintaining family and regional ties and exploiting commercial and political opportunities. Plenty of twentieth century details in many countries. Eye-opening details of the role of illegal trade, political intrigue and amoral business practices.

Somewhat overstates the role of regional connections and the universal accumulation of wealth. Sometimes sounds like a conspiracy theory journalist's expose.

I look forward to reading the updated version to see the author's view of the last 15 years in China. He had a relatively negative view of the prospects, highlighting the risks of governmental collapse and overseas Chinese investments leaving.

I was pleasantly surprised by this offering of Sterling Seagrave's as normally, his works would be double the thickness of this book but hey, isn't it this saying that don't judge the book by its cover? The book spanned thousands of years, going back through time in China illustrating to us what events led to the exodus of Chinese overseas. I simply couldn't put the book down reading about those legendary statesmen like Sun Ping, Sun Tzu, Wu Tze Shih, Chao Tsao, & so forth. I vaguely knew of what my older generations told me about them when I was a kid but now, everything is coming back to me. Sterling Seagrave is at his best unwoven all the complex threads that have had been set up by those master puppeteer, who in this case is none other than overseas Chinese. I don't believe the author is making up stories here at all. Many readers found the content rather far-fetched but people in the region would disagree with that because South-East Asia is undeniably an interesting place to be. Rather, I'm astounded by his in-depth knowledge of what's happening in the South East Asia. Many of the incidents mentioned were happening in my time & I could still vividly remembered what I read in the newspaper or what I heard from the older generations who used to work for those tycoons. Whilst it's true that the second part of the book is becoming overbearing (probably it's because I have known of the incidents already or that it's already been covered in other Sterling Seagrave's offering), overall, this is still a well-researched book. A job very well-done, indeed.