Chinese motivational culture accepts that achievement requires suffering. Success comes through hardship that must be endured, not avoided. The concept of “eating bitterness” (吃苦) frames hardship as something to be consumed and overcome on the path to success.
This acceptance sustains effort through difficulty and motivates willingness to sacrifice present comfort for future benefit. “First bitter, then sweet” promises that endured difficulty leads to later reward. This orientation prepares people for difficulty—those who expect hardship find obstacles confirming rather than demoralizing.
In Chinese contexts, appeals to endure current difficulty for future benefit align with this cultural logic. The expectation that achievement requires sacrifice means intensive effort and difficult conditions may be accepted more readily than elsewhere.
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