Case Study: Out of the Gobi: My Story of China and America

Client: Weijian Shan

MEDIA CONNECT was retained to represent Weijian Shan – a leading economist, businessman, and one of Asia’s most prominent financiers  –  for the promotion of his business and cultural memoir, Out of the Gobi: My Story of China and America (Wiley, 2019). 

Instead of only focusing on promoting the most obvious elements of the book itself: Shan’s personal story, the history of modern China and the Cultural Revolution, etc. -- the MC team leveraged Shan’s stature and expertise as an economist and private equity investor in China to build up his personal platform in the U.S., which ultimately translated into coverage for the book in nearly every major business publication and news broadcast program in the country.

MC worked closely with Shan at the outset of the campaign on developing key messaging connecting the history of modern China to current US-China relations -- and why this history defines present day China, its economy, and the country’s leadership today. In that context, MC focused first on positioning Shan as an expert on the trade war, China’s slowing economy, the global investing/business environment, and much more.  As a result of this tailored approach, we opened up the minds of journalists and editors at “longer lead” publications to Shan’s personal story and ultimately the memoir, which led to several book reviews, profile and feature pieces in leading magazines & daily newspapers, major television & radio appearances, as well as influential speaking engagements.

Out of the Gobi became a national bestseller, hitting #34 overall (among all fiction and non-fiction books) on the USA Today Bestseller List.  

Here’s a sampling of top media coverage and speaking engagements from the campaign.

 

*Print/Online Coverage

The New York Times

• Op-Ed by Weijian Shan |American Companies Need Chinese Consumers: Apple's declining sales reveal how important the health of China's consumer market is to the world's economy

• Article by Alan Rapport | Trade Talks with China Open in Washington, as Obstacles Abound: The window for negotiations ahead of a March 2 deadline is narrowing

The Wall Street Journal

• Book Review by Tom Nagorski |‘Out of the Gobi’ Review: The Good Earth Was Elsewhere

• Profile by Sofia McFarland | Wall Street Journal Weekend Review interviewed the author.

Fortune

• Profile Feature by Shawn Tully | China’s Private Equity King Says The Country’s Economic Slowdown Has Just Begun

Foreign Affairs

• Book Excerpt |China Turned Upside Down: Life During Mao’s Bloody, Chaotic Cultural Revolution

The Financial Times

• Article by Rana Foroohar | China’s Xi Jingping is no Davos man: Trump takes the heat but Beijing is hardly a champion of internationalism

• Book Review by Gabriel Wildau | Weijian Shan’s journey from Mao’s revolution to US high finance

• Article by Henny Sender |PAG raises new $6bn fund to invest in Asia

“Weijian Shan’s Hong-Kong based private equity firm defies US-China trade worries.”

Quartz

• Book Review by Isabella Steger | A top Asia dealmaker retraces a life shaped by 40 years of the US-China relations

MarketWatch

• Article by Chris Matthews | On trade, China’s private equity king is ‘hopeful for the best, prepared for the worst’

South China Morning Post

• Profile by Bernice Chan | From Mao’s Cultural Revolution to managing billions of dollars: how six years stuck in the Gobi Desert shaped one man’s life

Project Syndicate

• Book Review by Minxin Pei | Resilience and Rebellion in Contemporary China

Asia Society

• Book Excerpt | Debating Chairman Mao in the People’s Republic of Berkeley

Axios

• Newsletter/Article by Bill Bishop | ‘Sinocism China’

Forbes

• Article by Kenneth Rapoza | The China “Hard Landing” Is Back On The Table

• Article by Kenneth Rapoza | The Trade War’s Role In Tonight’s State Of The Union Address

 

*Broadcast Coverage

NPR

• The Takeaway | The United States and China, the Best of Frenemies

Amy Walter interviews Weijian Shan about ‘Out of the Gobi’ on NPR’s ‘The Takeaway.’

• NPR One | The China Journey

CNBC

• Squawk Box | Here’s what one of Asia’s top dealmakers has to say about the US-China trade talks

• CNBC Asia | Shan appeared on “Inside China” with anchor Eunice Yoon – CNBC’s Beijing Bureau Chief

Bloomberg

• Daybreak: Americas | PAG’s Shan Says US-China May Not Solve All Trade Issues

• Bloomberg BusinessWeek (Weekend) | ‘Bloomberg BusinessWeek’ Full Show (01/25/2019)

• Bloomberg BusinessWeek Radio | Picking Global Stocks, U.S. China Trade, Shutdown

CNN

• GPS with Fareed Zakaria | Interviewed one--on-one with Fareed Zakaria

BBC

• BBC World News (TV) | Out of the Gobi – interview with Weijian Shan

• BBC 4 - Today | Weijian Shan discusses Out of the Gobi

• BBC World Service | Turning the Gobi desert into farmland

Big Think

• Big Think (TV) | Should you invest in China’s stock market? Know this one thing first.

Yahoo! Finance

• The Final Round | Weijian Shan details his life in new memoir ‘Out of the Gobi’

Real Vision

• The Interview | ‘Survival of the Fittest Investor’ featuring Weijian Shan

SiriusXM’s Wharton Business Radio

• Knowledge@Wharton | Weijian Shan: Out of the Gobi

Reuters

• Reuters | Breakingviews – The Exchange: Out of the desert, into a trade war

 

*Speaking Engagements

Asia Society (New York)

• Book Talk & Fireside Chat | Out of the Gobi: China, the U.S., and One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs

• Book Talk | China and the US: A Lifetime in a Defining Era

National Committee on U.S. China Relations

• Book Talk | Weijian Shan: Out of the Gobi

University of Oxford’s China Centre

• Book Talk & Panel | Out of the Gobi: Weijian Shan’s Story of China and America

Chatham House at The Royal Institute of International Affairs

• Book Talk | China and the US: Through Each Other’s Eyes

Talks at Goldman Sachs

• Book Talk & Fireside Chat | Weijian Shan: Group Chairman and CEO, PAG Group

Asia Society (Hong Kong)

• Book Talk & Fireside Chat | Presented on February 27, 2019

American Chamber of Commerce (Hong Kong)

• Book Talk | Presented on March 13, 2019

Wharton Global Forum

• Book Talk | Presented on March 8, 2019