Sometimes an interruption is worth a thousand words. Taking the train from Shanghai to Shandong province, Michael Kramer shared a four-bed sleeping compartment with a middle-aged factory official clad in a blue Mao suit. As the man explained to Kramer why only foreigners and very important bureaucrats were allowed to travel in such accommodations, the door opened and in strolled a young Chinese man in a yellow Lacoste shirt, loaded down with boxes of stereo equipment. Absorbed in the music crackling through the headphones of his Walkman, the budding entrepreneur remained oblivious to Kramer and the very-important-bureaucrat, who talked late into...
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