Some of the early western investors in China bungled so badly you have to wonder how they managed it.

When Bass swept through China’s “open door” in the 1990s, the UK brewer chose a rough bunch of rural entrepreneurs from a company called Red Mouth as its partner. It then located its brewery in a remote area near North Korea that froze in winter and flooded in summer. Logistics were so poor, it could take two months for the company’s overpriced Tennents lager to reach the big markets of south China. Tempers flared, relations broke down and Bass called time on the enterprise in 2000.

It is now the turn of Chinese investors to indulge in similar follies as they pursue Beijing’s edict to “go out” into the world. They are proving at least as accomplished as their western counterparts in their talent for hubris and blinkered self-deception.