HONG KONG — As American investors pull funds out of China, local financiers are focusing more on finding business domestically — and learning a homegrown card game that might help them.
Guandan, also known as “throwing eggs” in Chinese, is a poker-like card game that originated in Jiangsu, one of the wealthiest provinces in China. Amid some of the tensest U.S.-China relations in decades, it has eclipsed Texas Hold’em as the must-have social skill for Chinese financial professionals.
Chris You, an associate at a U.S.-based venture capital firm in Beijing, said guandan is now more commonly played in the Chinese finance sector as U.S. curbs on investment in China alter the strategic landscape.
Last August, President Joe Biden issued an executive order restricting U.S. investment in China in strategic sectors including artificial intelligence, quantum computing and semiconductors. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said Wednesday that she expected the rules implementing those restrictions to be completed by the end of the year.
The effects have not gone unnoticed in China, which has struggled to rebound economically since emerging from three years of pandemic isolation early last year.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Chinese officials have been trying to revive confidence in the world’s second-largest economy, with Xi visiting Europe last week for the first time in five years and meeting with top U.S. executives in Beijing in March. That same month, China’s State Council issued a list of 24 targeted measures designed to attract foreign investment, which at $33 billion in 2023 was the lowest in 30 years.
Investors in affluent Chinese provinces and cities, however, are doing whatever they can to court local government officials and other potential sources of business, including learning their favorite card game.
“To raise funds, investment institutions have to serve those who have money and cater to their preferences,” You said. “It is natural to play this local card game as a social activity.”
In Jiangsu and the neighboring province of Anhui, more than 20 million people are playing guandan regularly, the Chinese financial newspaper National Business Daily reported in January. In Shanghai, China’s business capital, the game is being promoted by the newly established Guandan Card Association, which is headed by billionaire Qi Shi, the newspaper reported separately.
Guandan has some distinct advantages over other Chinese games that are popular with business professionals, such as mahjong.
The object of the game, in which four players are paired up in two teams, is to work with your partner to ensure that one of you plays all your cards before either of your opponents does. It’s easy to learn and doesn’t take much time, allowing the players to finish before the first dishes are served.