Michael Justin Lee - The Chinese Way to Wealth and Prosperity: 8 Timeless Strategies for Achieving Financial Success

Copyright 2012 by Michael Justin Lee. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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INTRODUCTION
ACRES OF DIAMONDS

CHAPTER ONE
OBTAIN KUNG FU IN EDUCATION

CHAPTER TWO
GO MOBILE

CHAPTER THREE
UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF GUANXI

CHAPTER FOUR
KEEP DEBT TO AN ABSOLUTE MINIMUM

CHAPTER FIVE
PLAY FINANCIAL DEFENSE

CHAPTER SIX
DEFER GRATIFICATION

CHAPTER SEVEN
LOVE THE LAND

CHAPTER EIGHT
DO NOT AS THE CHINESE DO

My first thanks are to God for blessing us with the freedoms and prosperity that we enjoy in the United States of America. Every day should be Thanksgiving Day in America.

Additionally, I wish to express my gratitude and appreciation to all the following:

My mother and father, Shui-Yung and Yu-Woon Lee, who in word and deed taught me everything I convey in this book.

My wife, Daphne, for unstinting support through the best of times and the worst of times.

My nieces, Talia and Ilana, and my nephews, Ethan, Asher, and Lucas, for being the wonderful grandchildren my parents always wanted.

My sisters, Hannah and Judy, for being appropriately good cop or bad cop as the occasion warranted and who in our youth put up with more from me than I care to remember.

Eyal Barzel, M.D., healer extraordinaire and the most compassionate person Ive ever known.

Eric Tyson, who taught me the seminal importance of finding ones own way in writing and in vocation.

My agent, Matthew Carnicelli, for seeing the potential in this book when at first I questioned it myself.

My magnificent team at McGraw-Hill: Jennifer Ashke-nazy, senior acquisition editor; Janice Race, senior editing supervisor; Lydia Rinaldi, director of publicity; Sara Hendricksen, marketing manager; and, Ty Nowicki, cover designer. No champion boxer ever had a team in his corner as wise as mine was. My most humble and respectful thanks to you all for your professionalism.

Judy Duguid, for her superb copyediting.

Leah Odom, whose charming enthusiasm for this project warmed my heart repeatedly.

Gisele Sizto, Jennifer Jiang, Bin Chen, Xiaofeng Chen, and Pen Hen Hu for your wise counsel about the sword of prosperity.

Eddie Van Halen, whose guitar pyrotechnics provided the octane to propel me through many a long night and early morning of writing.

The Authors Guild and the American Society of Journalists and Authors for their great work in defending intellectual property rights.

Finally and most important, to my precious children, Jessica and Justin, the lights of my life, who gave me the love that kept me going through a season of turmoil. You are gifts from God. I hope you will always benefit from the lessons contained herein.

With all the talk and attention paid to the rapidly growing Chinese economy and the fact that it holds a sizeable amount of the U.S. government debt, you would think more Americans would know about China, its economy, and the ways of its people. Nevertheless, we dont yet we should.

Whether you want to make the most of your career, make the most of the money that you earn, or make better use of the educational system, you will benefit from reading and thinking about the lessons and stories in this excellent book.

You dont have to agree with the Chinese approach at all or even in part. The United States is a great and exceptional country, but China is an emerging economic force from which we can learn some things.

In The Chinese Way to Wealth and Prosperity, economist and author Michael Lee explains eight lessons pertaining to the enduring resilience of the Chinese people. Michael is the ideal person to write this book because he was born in Hong Kong and raised in New York Citys Chinatown.