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An American management guru has swept into the best-sellers' list with a Chinese translation of his formula for striking it rich.

Fuelled by sales of more than one million copies of Rich Dad, Poor Dad  since its Chinese release last September, thousands of Beijingers queued for tickets to hear Robert T. Kiyosaki give a motivational speech this month.

The mostly middle-aged women in the audience paid 200 yuan (HK$188) to learn his secrets at the Beijing International Conference Centre.

'Will you work for money all your life, or will you let money work for you?' he asks in the book, which has sold 1.17 million copies in China. It also promises to teach readers 'what the rich teach their kids about money that the poor and middle class do not'.

In his book, Kiyosaki coined the term 'financial IQ', suggesting the secrets of wealth-creation lie in developing the right mental approach.

Riding the success of the book, the financial IQ theme has become a growth industry. In April, the Beijing Financial IQ Education Training Centre was opened.

Tang Xiaoming, who runs the centre, was one of the people who brought the book to China. 'We did not imagine that the book would become such a big success,' he said. 'It prompted us to expand it into a bigger project.'

Now the centre is opening a national institute and will start admitting students next month. It is also working on designing a set of cartoons and a puppet show to back the financial IQ learning approach.

Outside the lecture venue, a woman said she bought the book to help her 10-year-old son.

'It is not that I am crazy about money. Understanding money will become an indispensable skill in modern society,' she said. 'I want my kids not to be so naive about money as my generation.'

Kiyosaki draws on his own background for inspiration. He is a fourth-generation Japanese-American. Born and raised in Hawaii, he saw his 'poor dad' spend all his life working for others, only to be laid off soon before retirement.

Fortunately, a 'rich dad' - the father of a classmate - taught him the value of becoming one's own boss.

Kiyosaki became a millionaire in his 20s by following this advice. Some years later he became penniless, due in part to his adventurous spirit, he told his audience. But he said he put his failures to good use.

'It is like learning to ride a bicycle. If you do not fall off a few times, how can you possibly ride it?' he said. 'Money management is a learned skill.'

Kiyosaki claims he retired when he was 47 with billions of dollars.

'My goal of writing the book is to share the education of the rich dad with Chinese,' he told Beijing Morning News  this month.

'China is going to become the richest country in 10 years. The changes in China are happening faster than in any country in the world. The best way to make money is to come to China and be part of it.'

Publishing books on money-making secrets and tips has become a boom industry in China. With the income gap growing, many Chinese have become eager to join the nouveau riche.

Selling for 298 yuan a copy - and 268 yuan for the children's edition based around a toy called Cashflow - Kiyosaki's books are not cheap in China.

His second book, Guide to Investing,  has recently been released.

But critics say his theories and techniques are not entirely applicable to China.

A woman surnamed Liu said her parents were exactly like the 'poor dad' described by Kiyosaki.

'They taught me to study well, find a good job, save more and spend less' she said. 'But I have no money and no place to go to borrow. How can I not work for money?'

The lack of lending services has tied the hands of many aspiring Chinese and made many tips unworkable in China, critics say.



Financial guru strikes it rich in Beijing