Anyone seeking to learn more about Anbang, the little-known Chinese insurer that has announced $32bn in overseas deals in just 18 months, can visit the company’s website. There they will find a corporate “vision” that manages to be at once cryptic and assertive.

Alongside the heading “Business Strategy”, the vision statement reads “win-win”. By “Organisation Chart”, it says “flat”. The elaboration on “Human Resources” is “professional”, while the one-word explainer for “Process and Systems” is “simple”.

Those after further enlightenment may scroll down to a section on corporate culture. “We learn our way of living from water: being natural as water to link with clients, (the) market and society; being flexible, modest, open and inclusive as water to meet clients’ diversified demands,” it says in Chinese and four other languages.