Weijian Shan

The native form of this personal name is Shan Weijian. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Weijian Shan
單偉建
Born	1954 (age 69–70) Beijing, China
Alma mater	University of International Business and Economics (Beijing) University of San Francisco University of California, Berkeley
Title	Executive Chairman, PAG

Weijian Shan (Chinese: 單偉建; pinyin: Shàn Wěijiàn; born 1954) is an economist, businessman, and author based in Hong Kong. Shan is the Executive Chairman of PAG, a leading alternative investment firm focused on the Asia Pacific region. Shan 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 taught 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 Authored

• 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

External links

• Official website
• Weijian Shan at Bloomberg.com
• bookdepository.com