# Weijian Shan

Weijian Shan (Chinese: 單偉建; pinyin: Shàn Wěijiàn; born 1954) is a Chinese economist, businessman, and author based in Hong Kong. He is the Executive Chairman of PAG, a leading alternative investment firm focused on the Asia Pacific region. He currently serves as a Trustee of The British Museum and as an independent director of Alibaba Group.
Shan authored Out of the Gobi: My Story of China and America (2019), a memoir recounting his experience during the Cultural Revolution. He also published Money Games: The Inside Story of How American Dealmakers Saved Korea’s Most Iconic Bank (2021) and Money Machine: A Trailblazing American Venture in China (2023).

## Biography

Born in 1954 and raised in Beijing, Shan grew up in the midst of the Cultural Revolution. In 1969, when Mao Zedong closed all universities and dispatched youngsters to the countryside, Shan was sent to Inner Mongolia where he would spend 6 years in the Gobi Desert. He returned to Beijing in 1975 and enrolled at the Beijing Institute of Foreign Trade (now University of International Business and Economics) where he would study English.
Shan later moved to the United States as part of the first cohort of mainland Chinese students studying abroad after the Cultural Revolution. He earned an MBA from the University of San Francisco before continuing his studies at the University of California, Berkeley where he would earn a M.A. and PhD.
In 1987, Shan joined the World Bank in Washington DC as an investment officer. He served as an assistant professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania for 6 years, where he founded the China Economic Review.
Shan held various positions at J.P. Morgan between 1993 and 1998, eventually rising to become a Managing Director. Shortly thereafter, he became a co-managing partner at Newbridge Capital, later renamed TPG Asia, and a partner of TPG.
Shan is a member of the Board of Trustees of The British Museum and an independent director of the Alibaba Group. Shan is a frequent contributor to journals and newspapers. His commentaries have been featured prominently in the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs and others. His memoir, Out of the Gobi: My Story of China and America, was published by Wiley in January 2019 and became a national bestseller in February 2019. Shan is also the author of Money Games: The Inside Story of How American Dealmakers Saved Korea’s Most Iconic Bank (2021) and Money Machine: A Trailblazing American Venture in China (2023).

## Books

* Out of the Gobi: My Story of China and America
* Money Games: The Inside Story of How American Dealmakers Saved Korea’s Most Iconic Bank
* Money Machine: A Trailblazing American Venture in China

## Other publications

| Date | Title | Publication |
| March 29, 2023 | The edge humans have over AI? Use your imagination | South China Morning Post |
| October 6, 2022 | In Search of Value | Money Games |
| September 29, 2022 | In Pursuit of Learning | Out of the Gobi |
| July 12, 2022 | Hong Kong must ditch its damaging Covid-19 hotel quarantine policy to restore the economy | South China Morning Post |
| January 9, 2022 | Beijing and Taipei are united - in their South China Sea claims | South China Morning Post |
| June 1, 2021 | "Americans Don’t Know How Capitalist China Is" | Harvard Business Review |
| April 14, 2021 | Xinjiang: what the West doesn't tell you about China's war on terror | South China Morning Post |
| October 20, 2020 | Hong Kong is a Free Society | South China Morning Post |
| May 18, 2020 | The Fable of the Chinese Whistleblower | Project Syndicate |
| January 13, 2020 | A Delicate Truce in the US-Chinese Trade War | Foreign Affairs |
| November 1, 2019 | The Unwinnable Trade War | Foreign Affairs |
| September 17, 2019 | Hong Kong protesters should be more realistic in their goals | Financial Times |
| January 26, 2019 | China Turned Upside Down | Foreign Affairs |
| January 7, 2019 | American Companies Need Chinese Consumers | The New York Times |
| August 14, 2018 | Both Sides Can Win the Trade War | The Wall Street Journal |
| July 17, 2018 | China can bear more trade pain than America | Financial Times |
| February 12, 2009 | The Seoul Solution to the Banking Crisis | The Wall Street Journal |
| February 5, 2009 | I Bought a Bad Bank. Here is How the United States Should, Too. | Foreign Affairs |
| November 16, 2006 | China roaring | The Economist |
| September 1, 2006 | The World Bank's China Delusions | The Wall Street Journal |
| October 17, 2005 | Will China's Banking Reform Succeed? | The Wall Street Journal |
| June 23, 2005 | China's Yuan is Overvalued | The Wall Street Journal |
| May 13, 2005 | Taiwan must build bridges to China | Financial Times |
| August 18, 2004 | Focus on Core Competency | The Wall Street Journal |
| March 19, 2004 | China Must Cool Down to Sustain Growth | The Wall Street Journal |
| February 13, 2004 | How to Fight Corruption in China | The Wall Street Journal |
| October 7, 2003 | Living on Borrowed Growth | The Wall Street Journal |
| September 4, 2003 | Turning China's Growth Illusion Into Reality | The Wall Street Journal |
| September 3, 2003 | China's Borrowed Growth | The Wall Street Journal |
| August 29, 2003 | China's Moral Vacuum | The Wall Street Journal |