About Us
A “China Hand” is a term for a person with deep, expert knowledge of Chinese business, language, culture, and society, often used for diplomats, journalists, or long-term foreign residents.
Our Work
For more than forty years, we have been partners in both business and in life, united by a shared dedication to Chinese military history and strategic thought.
Drawing on decades of academic research and practical experience in Chinese culture, strategy, and global markets, we bring a distinctive perspective to a world in transition and to the opportunities emerging as China’s influence continues to grow.
Founders: Les Conn 黃利賢 and Huang Shao Juan 黃少娟 (Noelle)
Les Conn 黃利賢 – Co-Founder
Les Conn
Les Conn (黃利賢) is a strategist and advisor specialising in China-related business and geopolitical risk. He works with organisations engaged in or exposed to China to identify strategic misinterpretations, policy exposure, and cultural operating risk.
While many assessments of China are filtered through Western political and media frameworks, his approach is grounded in nearly four decades of research into classical Chinese strategic thought and ancient military history. Drawing particularly on the tradition associated with Sun Tzu 孫子 and later masters of strategy, Les interprets contemporary Chinese behaviour through the strategic mindset that has shaped Chinese statecraft and institutional thinking for centuries.
Having lived and worked extensively in China, Les developed this framework not only through historical study but through sustained commercial and cultural immersion. His guidance focuses on clarifying what materially affects decision-making — where Western assumptions distort judgement, where policy direction signals structural change, and where cultural misreading creates operational risk.
Les’ objective is to help outsiders see China as China understands itself, improving judgement in an era where strategic misreading increasingly carries severe commercial consequence.
Huang Shao Juan 黃少娟
Huang Shao Juan 黃少娟 (Noelle) is a Hong Kong–born entrepreneur, historian, negotiator, and strategic advisor whose work integrates classical Chinese strategic thought with contemporary global commerce. With nearly four decades of sustained study of the classical canon — including Sun Tzu’s Art of War 孫子兵法 and other related military texts — she applies enduring principles of statecraft and competitive positioning to modern cross-border enterprise.
Distinct from purely academic interpretation, Noelle’s expertise is grounded in direct commercial execution. She has led and structured international trade initiatives, financial engineering arrangements, cross-border corporate frameworks, and global commodities sourcing strategies. Her work reflects both intellectual depth and practical fluency in complex transactional environments.
Drawing on longstanding engagement with China and East Asian business networks, Noelle operates as both negotiator and connector — aligning interests across jurisdictions, cultures, and regulatory systems. Her approach translates nuanced historical insight into disciplined market entry strategy, risk structuring, and competitive negotiation.
As an author, practitioner, and advisor, Noelle enables organisations to act with precision in environments where commercial success depends not only on opportunity, but on calibrated positioning within China and other regional systems.
Huang Shao Juan 黃少娟 (Noelle) – Co-Founder