Mandarin mogul
老牌中国通
NO MATTER what you may be selling, your business in China would be enormous if the Chinese who are meant to buy your goods would only do so. （1）This observation about the perils of doing business in China should be uppermost in the thoughts of every hopeful foreign executive whose plane touches down on the mainland today. Yet it was first made 70 years ago, by Carl Crow, perhaps the original “old China hand” and author of one of the most influential and amusing books on how to sell to the Chinese—his 1937 bestseller, “Four Hundred Million Customers”.
如果那些能买你东西的中国人真的买了的话，那么不管你是卖什么的，你在中国的业务都将是巨大的。这句话描述了在中国经商的危险性，对于今天每一位满怀期望来到中国内地的外国经理主管人员而言，这可能是他们最先想到的一句话。首次发此感言的人是70年前的卡尔•克罗，他大概是最早的“老中国通”，其所著《4亿消费者》也是关于如何在中国经商的最具有影响力和最有意思的作品之一，并成为1937年的畅销书。
The lessons Crow drew from observing Western companies in China, first as a journalist and newspaper publisher and then as an advertising executive in Shanghai, remain relevant. （2）Then as now, it is naive to assume that Chinese consumers will buy what you make just because it is cheap, and foolish to treat the vast country with its differences in income, climate and tastes as a single, giant market.
克罗在上海先后做过记者、报纸出版商和广告主管，他通过观察驻中国的西方公司所总结的经验至今仍然适用。就拿现在来说吧，假如你以为中国消费者光是由于贪图便宜而买你的东西的话，这种想法就太天真了；假如你把这个在收入、气候以及品味等方面都存有差异的泱泱大国看作是一个单一的大市场，那你就太愚蠢了。
On reading Paul French's book, “Carl Crow”, however, it becomes clear that the Missouri-born entrepreneur's life is at least as instructive and engaging as his books. Arriving in Shanghai in 1911 as a 28-year-old rookie reporter, Crow had a lust[1] for adventure. Unlike most of his peers, who lived a comfortable colonial existence in Shanghai's international settlement, Crow reported on floods up the Yangzi, negotiated the release of hostages from a Shandong warlord[2] and slept in inns so grim he would stand his bed legs in kerosene to keep centipedes at bay[3]. （3）Most importantly, he worked hard to learn about the local culture and language, and soon came to understand and even appreciate how the Chinese did things—from the way businessmen preserved “face” during the toughest negotiation to the tricks beggars used to exaggerate their poverty and win more alms[4]: one woman he knew rented a child. Whenever a local foible[5] or tradition grabbed his interest, such as the country's idiosyncratic[6] waterway laws, he would research it exhaustively.
不过，看了保罗•弗伦奇《卡尔•克罗》一书你就会发现，这位生于密苏里州的企业家的一生起码像他的著作一样具有教育意义，并散发着迷人魅力。1911年，28岁的克罗作为一名初出茅庐的记者来到上海。他渴望冒险。当他的同行大多数都在上海租界地区过着舒适的殖民者生活之时，克罗却报道了长江洪灾，通过谈判从山东一名军阀那里解救了数名人质，睡在阴冷的小旅馆里（为了赶走蜈蚣，他还把床腿浸泡到煤油里）。最为重要的是，他还努力学习当地语言和文化，并且很快就懂得甚至开始喜欢上中国人的处世方式——既有生意人在谈判僵持不下时顾全“颜面”的方法，也有乞丐们用来“哭穷”以求得更多施舍的技巧（比如他就知道有位妇女租了一个小孩）。当地任何一种怪癖或者习俗（比如该国另类的水路交通法），他只要感兴趣，不管怎样都要查个究竟。
All this led to jibes[7] of “going native” from fellow Westerners. But Crow's inside knowledge and the respect he won from locals helped him build Carl Crow Inc into the country's biggest advertising agency—and, for a time, made him a rich man.
西方人都嘲笑他这是“入乡随俗”，不过克罗的学识以及他在当地人那里赢得的尊重，却让他的Carl Crow公司成了该国最大的广告代理公司，并且一度使他成为一名富翁。
Crow coincided with enormous political and social ructions[8] in China. He arrived in the final year of the Qing dynasty, when China's last emperors were overthrown. He met both Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the republic that followed, and Chiang Kai-shek, the Nationalist generalissimo[9] who ruled China for much of the inter-war period. （4）After a year in Tokyo, Crow gave early and frequent warning about the growing power and ambitions of the Japanese, from whose invading army he was eventually forced to flee Shanghai in 1937, losing the fortune he had made.
伴随着中国政治和社会的动荡不安，克罗一路走了过来。在清王朝最后一年、中国末代皇帝被推翻的时候，克罗来到了中国。他同孙中山（清王朝后共和国的创立人）和蒋介石（一战后、二战前统治中国多年的国民党统帅）都会过面。在东京呆了一年后，克罗早早发出警告，多次提醒中国人当心日本人日益强大的力量和不断膨胀的野心。1937年，正是由于日本人的入侵最终迫使他逃离上海，失去了他创下的所有财富。
Mr French, co-founder of a mainland market-research firm and something of a China hand himself, deftly blends details about Crow's personal life, including observations about his house and servants and his fondness for curried[10] prawns, into a wider historical context. Throughout, the reader learns about Chinese business, society and history. （5）But the overriding impression is of the energy, indefatigable[11] optimism and sheer adaptability of a likeable and pioneering American entrepreneur—all qualities that are still essential in China today.
弗伦奇与别人一起在中国内地开办了一家市场调研公司，自己也算得上是一个“中国通”。他将克罗一生的点点滴滴（包括对他住所、仆人以及他爱吃咖喱虾的描述）与历史大背景巧妙地糅合到一起。通读全书之后，读者能够学到中国商业、社会和历史等方面的知识。不过，给读者留下印象最深的还是那位可爱的美国企业家先驱所具有的品质：活力四射、不知疲倦的乐观心态以及在中国游刃有余的生存能力——在当今中国，所有这些品质仍旧是必不可少的。
[NOTES]
1. lust n. (often derog 常作贬义)1 [C, U] ~ (for sb) strong sexual desire 强烈的性欲: curb one's lust 抑制情欲 * gratify one's lusts 满足情欲.2 [C, U] ~ (for/of sth) intense desire for sth or enjoyment of sth 对某事物的强烈欲望; 物欲; 爱好: a lust for power, gold, adventure 对权力、黄金、冒险的强烈欲望 * filled with the lust of battle 渴望战斗的.
2. warlord n.军阀, 军阀式领袖
3. hold/keep sb at bay prevent (an enemy, pursuers, etc) from coming near 不让（敌人、追逐者等）逼近: I'm trying to keep my creditors at bay. 我竭力躲避债主.
4. alms n. [pl] (dated 旧) money, clothes, food, etc given to poor people 救济金; 施舍物: He gave alms to beggars in the street. 他给街上的乞丐一些施舍. * They had to beg alms (of others) in order to feed their children. 他们得（向别人）乞求救济来养活孩子.
5. foible n. small, usu harmless, peculiarity or weakness in a person's character （性格上的）小缺点, 怪癖（通常为无伤大雅的）: We all have our little foibles. 我们人人都有些小缺点.
6. idiosyncratic a.特质的, 异质的, 特殊的
7. jibe n.嘲笑，嘲弄＝gibe
8. ruction n. 骚乱，骚动，吵闹
9. generalissimo n. (pl ~s) commander of combined military and naval and air forces, or of combined armies 大元帅; 三军总司令; 联军总指挥.
10. curried adj. [usu attrib 通常作定语] cooked with certain hot-tasting spices 用咖喱烹调的: curried chicken, beef, etc 咖喱鸡、牛肉等.
11. indefatigable adj. (fml approv 文, 褒) never giving up or stopping in spite of tiredness or difficulty; tireless 不顾疲倦的; 不畏困难的; 不屈不挠的; 不懈的: indefatigable workers 不知疲倦的工作者 * an indefatigable campaigner for civil rights 不屈不挠的民权运动人士.
责编:huangling 纠错
