From Outsider to Observer: What China Taught Me About the World—and Myself Inspired by A White Man’s China by George Jaeggi

Most people travel to China with a business plan. George Jaeggi arrived with a suitcase, a stack of consulting notes, and a pocketful of assumptions.

What unfolded over the course of eighteen years and fifty-plus journeys wasn’t just a series of business ventures—it was a personal evolution. In his reflective and often humorous memoir A White Man’s China, Jaeggi chronicles not just the external shifts he witnessed in cities like Shanghai, Xiamen, and Hangzhou—but the internal shift in himself.

At first, Jaeggi admits, he believed the glossy brochures and boardroom promises. But it wasn’t until he stepped off the guided path—into the round houses of the Hakka people, into late-night karaoke lounges, into the quiet rituals of Chinese family dinners—that he began to really understand what China meant​.

China didn’t just change his view of the East. It changed his view of the West.

“Reading and dreaming are wonderful,” Jaeggi writes, “but if you want to know something new—go there and see for yourself.”​

His writing carries the honesty of someone who made mistakes, asked the wrong questions, ordered the wrong dish (and learned to shake it before eating), and still came back eager to learn more. He shares practical etiquette tips, like how to toast properly at a banquet or navigate a business meeting, but beneath it all is a deeper message:

Humility is the greatest tool in global exploration.

Whether you’re a CEO exploring new markets, a student of cultural diplomacy, or just a curious traveler, A White Man’s China reminds us that understanding doesn’t come from reading headlines—it comes from lived experience. From stepping into someone else’s rhythm, if only for a while.

As George Jaeggi shows us, when we trade assumptions for curiosity, the world reveals itself—one dish, one conversation, one awkward misunderstanding at a time.