After 14 days of quarantine-induced cabin fever, I found myself in a surreal banquet hall being serenaded by a Chinese billionaire — and before I knew it, I was reciting Rudyard Kipling’s If to a room of powerful men, expensive wine in hand and the weight of global history echoing through the silence. This is Part 2 of my encounter with the enigmatic Chairman — a man who survived starvation, rose through the Communist Party ranks, and now controls vast swathes of China’s new empire. From £2000 bottles of vintage brandy to patriotic karaoke, from gaudy carpets to geopolitical nuance, this is the bizarre reality of foreign design work in a country racing toward the future.

✴️ What you’ll experience in this episode: The hidden rituals of business in modern China A poetic showdown of empire and memory Brandy, billionaires, and bewilderment Why the Chinese love Britishness (but not Britain) The moment you become both useful... and expendable

🗺 Part of The Accidental Exile — a series of illustrated stories from inside the beautiful, baffling machinery of modern China.

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