A China Lesson

Pots of Earl Grey tea at Costas, the little one beside Uxbridge Tube Station and not the bigger one about a hundred metres away outside the Pavillions Shopping Centre, and the sun was shining through the canopy, close your eyes, and this could be anywhere in Central or Southern Europe. It wasn't, it was Uxbridge but it was all pleasant enough and the conversation with two colleagues, one who had worked for some time in China and one who is still working there, was very interesting.
The discussion drifted to the topic of doing business in China and I was subjected to a little lesson on that score. An assortment of reasons were given why investing money in the PRC is a bad idea and all the little reasons really led to two slightly bigger reasons, namely, every Tom, Dick and Harry, or the Chinese equivalents thereof, will dip into your pocket for their cut and that along with their being no real recourse to the law has to bring us to the conclusion that the only way you are going to make money there is not to invest any in the first place except the amount that is necessary to buy something that you can sell back in Europe for a quick profit.
The picture is of the little Costa Coffee beside Uxbridge Tube Station