Sprinkled with telling observations, compelling characters, and lively anecdotes about the brilliant successes and sometimes painful stumbles of the world's most powerful software company, Guanxi is essential reading for business leaders, entrepreneurs, and technologists around the globe.

Guanxi (gwan-shee), the Chinese term tbr mutually beneficial relationships essential to success in the Middle Kingdom, tells the story of the juggernaut research lab that underpins Microsoft's relationship building in China. Unfurled through a gripping narrative that moves between Beijing and Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington, it follows the lab's emergence as a mecca for Chinese computer-science talent. The company has invested well over $100 million and hired more than 400 of China's best and brightest to turn the outpost into an important window on the future of computing and a training ground to uplift the state of Chinese computer science--creating dramatic payoffs for both Microsoft and its host country that are helping the company overcome many of the challenges of China.

Prologue: The Mysterious Journey to China of the World's Richest Man, and Other Stories  1

1 Beast from the East

  (November 8-11, 2004)  13

2 The Bell Labs of China

  (Fall 1997-November 1998)  32

3 From Beijing to Bill G.

  (November 1998-October 1999)  60

4 Microsoft's Chinese Heart

  (November 1999-August 2000)  85

5 Ya-Qin Dynasty

  (August 2000-July 2001)  111

6 The Great Wall and Other Microsoft

  Creations (October 2001-January 2004)  130

7 Microsoft Made in China

  (November 2002-November 2004)  147

8 The Curious Inventions of Jian Wang

  (September 1999-June 2005)  168

9 Search War

  (March 2003-March 2005)  187

10 The Further Adventures of One-Handed

  Jordan and Mr. Magneto (March-May 2005)

11 Battle Over Kai-Fu Lee

  (August 2000-September 2005)  233

12 How to Make It in China

  (Summer and Fall 2005)  259

Epilogue: "Congratulations, We Survivedf"  275

A Note on Sources  287

Acknowledgments  291

Index  295