The China Briefing Bookstore
ULAAN BAATAR, Mongolia, May 28 - Just to prove well rounded tax lawyers have other interests, Chris Devonshire-Ellis, Senior Partner of Dezan Shira & Associates, and publisher of China Briefing, launched his “Travel Guide to Ulaan Baatar & The Mongolian Countryside” on Friday at the British Embassy in Ulaan Baatar, with all proceeds from the book launch going to a local charity of the Ambassador’s choice. The event, televised by Mongolian Channel 9, raised 360,000 togrog (about US$400) towards building a summer camp for underprivileged children in Mongolia.
Pictured are Chris Devonshire-Ellis (left) with British Ambassador Chris Osborne, with the donation and a copy of the book. For further info on the guide please email Tuya Gombosuren or visit the Mongolia Expat website.
May 29th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
Chris D-E is a pretty good guy actually, good to see a lawyer with a heart.
May 29th, 2007 at 7:14 pm
Well done!!
May 29th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Good for them. Dezshira are a pretty good outfit and a lot of folk can learn from what theyre doing. Chris Devonshire is one of Chinas gentlemen imo, always has time for people starting out.
May 30th, 2007 at 10:51 am
Chris doesn’t suffer fools gladly and has had his fair share of arguments with some of the stupids out there, but you have to admit the bloke is a bit of a bloody legend! Good work mate, and looking forward to hearing more about Dezan Shira’s Indian business development.
May 30th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Hear hear
May 30th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
This is what the man himself wrote about actually getting there on his China Expat blog - hilarious:
Mind you - you don’t know the hassle we had getting there…my Air China flight Beijing to UB was postponed by 8 hours which would have meant I’d have missed my own book launch event, with the Ambassador, about 200 guests and State TV all waiting. I’d already been stamped out of China and was waiting for the plane by the gate when they announced the delay. Cue a mad rush to re-enter China (I’d officially exited the country for about 20 minutes), retrieve my checked luggage, and find an alternative flight - which turned out to be on Aero Mongolia leaving at 4pm from Tianjin. Raced back to ny office, got new tickets issued, grabbed a car to Tianjin, then got held up the motorway for a hour crawling along due to road works. Eventually got to Tianjin airport - the flight was delayed. Waited for that, eventually took off, a two hour flight and the launch event starts in a hour. Called the Ambassador to let him know we’d be late. Arrived at UB, raced through immigration, jumped into our waiting car, sped off towards the British Embassy and got stopped by a traffic cop for speeding. On the spot fine, then arrived, out of breath, one and a half hours late at 8:30pm. Downed a swift double gin and tonic before the Ambassador made his opening remarks. After that it was all OK, but I came pretty close to missing my own event…but it just shows where there is a will there is a way…Bloody Air China…
Ha ha ha!!!
May 30th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
Chris gave a talk at an Amcham event last week about marketing for SME’s in China; it was utterly fascinating, especially the problems he’d faced previously with the Asian Financial Crisis and SARS, how he dealt with those, and the development of China Briefing and how that came about. It was probably one of the most frank and honest presentations I’ve heard from a China-based businessman about how he made his efforts pay off. It’s great to see people like Chris and his company grow up in China, there is some inspirational backgrounds there. Hopefully he’ll be talking a lot more about how he developed his company in the future - it was an entertaining and interesting talk. One of the better expat consultants here without doubt. Keep up the good work!
May 30th, 2007 at 5:39 pm
Woah ! Steady on guys or I’ll have to raise my hourly rates !
Your comments much appreciated, thanks -
Chris
September 19th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Wow Lonely Planet linking to Chris’s Mongolia Guide!!!