Description

The China Challenge tells of the life, loves, wins and losses through 23 towns and cities in China of an Australian businessman, teacher and journalist. This is the deluxe version of the book, containing colour photographs and illustrations, and the first of four in the series of Craig Hill’s Work Field Notes.

From glittering Chengdu boardrooms to crowded high-school classrooms in Chongqing and a trip into industrial Tangshan, “The China Challenge” follows Australian educator and writer Craig Hill through 23 Chinese cities and towns, and even a Buddhist Monastery.

As a corporate trainer, Craig coached managers at Procter & Gamble, Volvo-Geely, Symantec, Syngenta, Maersk, Texas Instruments, Marposs and PetroChina, helping them adapt Western management ideas to Chinese workplaces built on hierarchy, harmony and rapid change.

As a teacher, he delivered Australian qualifications and English in Chinese high schools and universities, guiding students who dreamed of global futures while navigating a system rooted in exams and rote learning.

As a journalist, he reported on Chinese business and travel, writing from Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Hong Kong and beyond.

Blending memoir, travel writing and frontline observation, this book offers a ground-level portrait of China at work and at school: its ambitions, contradictions and humour seen through the eyes of someone who had to learn, adapt and negotiate every day in the Middle Kingdom.