A man of connections

In the bookstores of Hangzhou , the shelves are full of volumes about the business success of Li Ka-shing, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett - and Hu Xueyan, one of China's richest men during the 19th century.

Hu's extraordinary rise and fall is a story close to Hangzhou people because he was a native of the city and built its most luxurious private home, now one of the most popular tourist attractions.

Born into a poor family in 1823, Hu became the biggest banker in China, and expanded into grain, pawnbroking, medicine, Shanghai property, importing arms and exporting silk. He owed his fortune in large measure to his ties to Zuo Zongtang, a leading general of the Qing dynasty.

This earned him the nickname 'businessman with the red hat', which is why his story is more relevant today to mainland readers than those of Mr Li, Mr Gates or Mr Buffett.

In today's world, no less than in the 1860s and 1870s, entrepreneurs must establish good guanxi (connections) with officials if their modest family business is to grow into a large conglomerate.

Aged 13, Hu went to work as an apprentice in a private bank and was so successful that he later opened his own. He befriended and helped the man who became Zhejiang governor, who in turn rewarded him with a monopoly of banking business in the province.