A Long March From Maoism to Microsoft

From the New York Times: “In one sense, Sidney Rittenberg can be viewed as just another international business consultant scrambling to cash in on the China boom. He certainly appears to fit the mold, driving an expensive late-model BMW and serving as an adviser to a long list of companies that have included Microsoft ,Intel , Prudential Insurance and Polaroid.

But at 83, Mr. Rittenberg is a striking contrast with the new breed of self-proclaimed China experts setting up shop on either side of the Pacific, promoting themselves as corporate matchmakers. It’s a safe bet, after all, that he is the only American business consultant who can claim to have been airbrushed out of a photograph appearing in the official Beijing Review. And certainly none of his competitors can say, as he did in his autobiography, ‘Mao didn’t really like me.’ ”