Setting up a Factory in Shanghai, China? Think again...

Capitalist Pirates in Shanghai China - think carefully before launching a production factory campaign in China: Terry Petty and his Chinese representatives thought the terms were ridiculous. So starts the capitalist pirate story...

An American investor, Petty had forged a venture with the son of a local Communist Party official to open a machine shop here in the industrial outskirts of China's most cosmopolitan city.

But after two years of internal disputes, the venture had disintegrated. The local man was urging Petty's people to sign a contract selling him their stake and surrendering full control. They would not go along.

But even as the negotiations proceeded on this September afternoon, the local partner was mobilising to seize the factory: a team of 15 men - many with shaved heads and dressed in black - arrived at the plant, according to managers. They told the workers that they were now in charge and ordered production to cease.

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