Book review: Ancient Chinese tactics prove useful for modern investors

The Thirty-Six Stratagems is a collection of 36 Chinese proverbs related to 36 battle scenarios in Chinese history and folklore from the Warring States and the Three Kingdoms Period some 2,500 years ago. The anecdotes and tactics described are applied in the fields of war, politics and diplomacy, as well as espionage.

The Thirty-Six Stratagems has been reinterpreted for investors by a team of experts from HSBC Jintrust Fund Management in a new book, 36 Stratagems for Investors: Timeless Financial Wisdom from a Chinese Classic.

Tapping the wisdom of the ancient Chinese, HSBC Jintrust Fund Management found that understanding the 36 stratagems can make it easier to understand the rationales for fund investment.

Using each of the 36 stratagems, it guides investors on how to identify and pick a trustworthy fund company and a suitable fund product, how to earn higher returns and avoid unnecessary losses, as well as how to avoid common mistakes in investing.

There are strategies that direct readers to a unique trading channel in closed-end funds and also advice on how to find obscure information in funds reports. The book contains warnings about publicity gimmicks in fund brochures, leaflets and handbooks.

Written in a clear and succinct style, readers, especially investors, can benefit from this handy guidebook.

The book will show readers how to think in new ways about investment issues through the interpretation of the 36 stratagems.

(China Daily 10/12/2009 page5)