Meet China's Tony Robbins

After the dancing on chairs, the group massages, and “The Final Countdown” techno-remix warm-up music, I barely noticed when Chen Anzhi, China’s top motivational speaker, finally came onstage. For what felt like the first time since his “success studies” conference began two days earlier, the massive ballroom of Beijing’s Fengda Hotel went quiet. “Does anyone here want to live an ordinary life?” Chen asked as he prowled the stage, hair perfectly gelled and blue suit shining. (It might have been the gold threads woven into it.) Only a couple of hands went up. “You can leave now,” Chen said. What he was offering was not a stable life, or even a modest improvement in circumstances, but “explosive” success. Normally, he said, it might take as many as 20 years to become a billionaire. But if the attendees followed his advice, he could make them rich within ten. “Is that OK?” he asked with his trademark rapid-fire delivery. “YES!” the audience shouted.