On September 7, 1937, Mao Zedong wrote a short text called Combat Liberalism (反对自由主义). It lists the kinds of liberal behavior inside the Party. The second is “irresponsible criticism behind people’s backs, instead of making suggestions to the organization.”
“Saying nothing to people’s faces, but talking wildly behind their backs. Saying nothing at the meeting, but talking wildly after it.” (当面不说，背后乱说；开会不说，会后乱说。)
The editorial office of Xinhua’s Reference News published 内部参考, Internal Reference. It carried reports written and translated especially for leaders, and it was meant only for senior cadres of the Party.
The historian Shen Zhihua describes their content: “The important domestic and international news they report is generally not printed in the public newspapers, not even in Reference News.”
In 2015, the former foreign minister Li Zhaoxing explained the language of diplomatic statements. “If the newspaper says that the two leaders held frank talks, it means that they had different views.”
He went on: “What does ‘frankly exchanged views’ mean? It means that different views were also expressed.” (坦诚地交换了意见)
In the Analects, Confucius says: “The gentleman is in harmony but not the same. The petty man is the same but not in harmony.” (君子和而不同，小人同而不和。)
In his commentary, the Song philosopher Zhu Xi explains the two words. Harmony (和) means having no contrary feelings. Sameness (同) means the wish to flatter and take sides.
In the center of Tongcheng, in Anhui province, a lane less than two meters wide runs beside the old house of Zhang Ying, a grand secretary under the Kangxi Emperor. The story behind it is widely told. Zhang’s family quarreled with their neighbors, the Wu family, over a wall. They wrote to him in the capital. He answered with a poem:
“A letter from a thousand miles away, only about a wall. Why not let them have three feet? The Great Wall still stands today, but the First Emperor of Qin is gone.” His family moved back three feet. The Wu family was moved and also moved back three feet. The gap became the Six-Foot Lane (六尺巷).
Versions of the story differ in details, including the wording of the poem’s first line.
The Records of the Grand Historian tell the fate of Yan Yi, a minister of agriculture under Emperor Wu of Han. Yan had once told the emperor that a new currency made of white deerskin was a bad idea, and the emperor was displeased. Later, a guest spoke to Yan about the problems with a new order. Yan did not reply, but his lips moved slightly.
The official Zhang Tang charged that Yan, a high minister, had seen that the order was harmful, “did not speak up, but slandered it in his belly” (不入言而腹诽). Yan was sentenced to death. “From then on,” the historian writes, “most ministers and officials flattered and sought to please.”
The Discourses of the States tell of King Li of Zhou, who used a shaman to watch for anyone who criticized him and had them killed. “The people of the capital did not dare to speak. On the road, they exchanged glances.” (国人莫敢言，道路以目)
The king told the Duke of Shao that he had stopped the criticism. The duke answered: “Blocking the mouths of the people is more dangerous than blocking a river.” The king did not listen. Three years later, the people drove him into exile.
China’s 2019 Regulations on the Selection and Appointment of Party and Government Leading Cadres set out how leaders are chosen. Article 34 says that before a candidate is discussed and decided, the choice “shall be deliberated” (进行酝酿) among the leading members of the Party committee, the standing committee of the people’s congress, the government and the political consultative conference.
Only after that does the formal meeting vote, “on the basis of full discussion,” by voice, by show of hands or by secret ballot. The word 酝酿 originally means the fermentation of wine.
和稀泥 To stir thin mud. To settle a quarrel by compromise, often without regard for principle.
打圆场 To make the circle round. To settle a dispute or ease a deadlock.
报喜不报忧 To report the good news and not the bad.
打哈哈 To make a laughing sound. To brush someone off with vague talk.
中间人 A person in the middle. Someone who introduces, mediates or witnesses between two sides.
和事佬 A peacemaker. Someone who settles quarrels.
说和 To talk two sides into making peace. The word appears in Dream of the Red Chamber.
托人 To entrust a matter to another person. To ask someone to act on one’s behalf.