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China's business leaders seek advice from Japan's Tokugawa Ieyasu

China's aggressively ambitious business community, tormented by the global financial crisis, is turning to an unexpected mentor for advice: a 17th-century Japanese feudal warlord.

Despite its bulk, the 13-volume epic Tokugawa Ieyasu, a work that charts the struggles of one of Japan's most famous historical figures, has proved an explosive commercial success in China. In Ieyasu's difficult and stressful quest, say his modern-day Chinese fans, lie the secrets to prosperity, order - and, ultimately, domination.

Sohachi Yamaoka's Tokugawa Ieyasu was written 50 years ago. The first Chinese translation appeared on bookstore shelves at the beginning of last year - since when it has shifted more than two million copies, and continues to sell at an extraordinary pace for a foreign work.
Read entire article at Times (UK)