ABSTRACT
American business executives had been streaming to China in increasing numbers since 1978, when it became increasingly clear that China was looking for help from the West. In America's imagination, India was thought to be timeless and changeless, while China was always about to become something different. The missionaries had once hoped China was on the verge of converting to Christianity; and, in similar fashion, after Mao Tais's death American businessmen managed to persuade themselves that China might be ready to abandon Marxism and embrace capitalism. The logic of the American executives rushing to China seemed simple and self-evident: If China had a lot of people, then it was a potentially important market. Even if China had money to spend, it was not certain that the money would go to the foreign companies that started up operations in China. It was a cliche that the Chinese cared about what they called guanxi, connections, rewarding their old friends.
