Imaginaries on financial value. Cross-border investment in Chinese territory

Abstract

This article analyzes the practices of financial valuation carried out in cross- border investment in China. Based on interviews carried out with financial professionals in charge of buying companies in China with money coming from abroad or buying companies abroad with money coming from the Chinese ter - ritory. Financial value is defined through conflicts concerning the methods of valuation and the definition of what are the companies being bought and sold. These meanings are constituted through the interaction between different dis - courses and practices, such as the political and macroeconomic rationales that distinguish the jurisdictions that are crossed by financial flows, the power rela - tions in the transactions, the bureaucratic and career issues concerning each employee in their work place, and the constitution of moral, political, national and cultural identities. The paper highlights the importance of moral and political meanings and of the construction of cultural and national identities in the definition of financial value in everyday professional  practices.