• Text

Some Succeed, Others Resent Their Success

How did the Chinese achieve the economic success they now enjoy throughout Southeast Asia? Well, it didn't start yesterday. As Amy Chua tells us, by the 15th century a Chinese enclave was flourishing in Java. When the Spaniards founded Manila in 1571, they encountered Chinese settlements.

Or consider the economic achievements of Jews. She recounts the story, played out many times around the world, of itinerant Jewish peddlers who in several generations in Latin America went from rags to riches. The economic success of certain...