Why is doing business so tiring for Chinese people? Because we waste 80% of our energy on "building trust": excessive drinking, boasting, and forming sworn brotherhoods. We practically treat our partners like blood brothers before we dare to cooperate. The root cause is one thing—a lack of a credit system. Without strong public credit, we can only rely on personal relationships to hedge against the risk of default. This is incredibly inefficient! Now look at the logic of Jewish merchants: Their civilization, from the very beginning, was based on a covenant with God. Even gods must strictly abide by the terms, let alone mortals? Therefore, the foundation of Western business has never been personal relationships, but written contracts; not "deep feelings, one gulp," but a price high enough to deter default. As long as we continue to believe in "circles" and "relationships," and fail to respect rules, laws, and the spirit of contracts, your business will never grow large. Want to grow your business big and strong? Stop wasting time at drinking parties, and focus your energy on building rules and establishing contracts—that's the right path.