Turning Bricks Into Jade: Critical Incidents for Mutual Understanding Among Chinese and Americans

A culture-specific assimilation guide for China

The Chinese are fond of using four-character phrases, known as cheng yu, to improve their writing style. The Chinese characters on the cover spell out one such idiom: pao zhuan yin yu. Translated literally, this would be "throw bricks attract jade." It can also express the idea of throwing out something of little value to induce a potential business partner to offer something more valuable.

The authors of Turning Bricks into Jade, a more idiom...