In the Analects, Confucius says: “In attending on a gentleman, there are three errors. To speak before it is one’s turn to speak is called rashness. Not to speak when it is one’s turn is called concealment. To speak without first watching his expression is called blindness.” (侍于君子有三愆：言未及之而言谓之躁，言及之而不言谓之隐，未见颜色而言谓之瞽。)
Speaking Before a Teacher
The opening chapter of the Book of Rites, Quli, sets out how the young speak in front of elders and teachers. “When an elder has not raised a matter, do not cut in with talk.” (长者不及，毋儳言) “Sitting with a teacher, when the teacher asks a question, answer only when he has finished.”
Meeting a teacher on the road, a student hurries forward and stands straight. “If the teacher speaks to him, he answers. If the teacher does not speak to him, he hurries away.” In front of a friend of his father, he does not answer unless he is asked.
Gentle Remonstrance
In the Analects, Confucius says: “In serving one’s father and mother, remonstrate gently. If they show that they will not follow the advice, remain respectful and do not oppose them. Work hard and do not complain.” (事父母几谏，见志不从，又敬不违，劳而不怨。)
The Handian dictionary defines 几谏 as “to remonstrate in a tactful, roundabout way.”
Lower Levels Obey Higher Levels
Article 10 of the Constitution of the Communist Party of China sets out the basic principles of democratic centralism. The first reads: “Individual Party members obey the Party organization, the minority obeys the majority, lower-level organizations obey higher-level organizations, and all organizations and all members of the Party obey the National Congress and the Central Committee of the Party.”
Improper Discussion
The Communist Party’s Regulations on Disciplinary Action, as revised in 2015, contained an offense called 妄议中央, improper discussion of the Center. Article 46 punished members who “improperly discuss the major policies of the Central Committee, undermining the centralized unity of the Party.”
The 2023 revision keeps the offense in Article 51. It now speaks of the major policies of the “Party Central Committee.”
Comrade, Not Director
A Party text of 1978 told members: “Within the Party, everyone addresses each other as comrade. Do not use official titles.” (党内一律互称同志，不要叫官衔。) In 2016, the Several Norms on Political Life Within the Party repeated the rule: “Within the Party, everyone is called comrade.”
A 2018 article on the Party’s official website still listed addressing people by their official post as a habit to be avoided. The rule had been written down twice, 38 years apart.
When Views Differ Widely
In March 2021, the Central Committee issued its Opinions on Strengthening Supervision of “Top Leaders” and Leading Groups. One provision concerns meetings of the leading group. “Members of the leading group should fully express their views. When views differ widely, the vote should be postponed. The votes and the dissenting views at the meeting should be recorded truthfully and kept on file.”
The provision appears in a document whose purpose is to watch over the person at the top.
The Vocabulary of Light Words
人微言轻 The person is low, so the words are light. What a person of low position says is not taken seriously. Su Shi used the phrase in a letter: “I have reported this matter three times and have had no reply. The person is low and the words are light, so it is only natural.”
插嘴 To insert a mouth. To speak before another person has finished.
打官腔 To strike the official tone. To answer with official set phrases in order to put someone off.
Indirect Admonition
In a story from the Strategies of the Warring States, Zou Ji asks his wife, his concubine and a guest whether he is more handsome than Lord Xu of the northern city. All say yes. When he sees Lord Xu, he knows they were wrong. His wife favored him, his concubine feared him, and the guest wanted something from him.
Zou Ji then tells King Wei of Qi that the king, surrounded by palace women, ministers and common people, is deceived far more than he is. He urges the king to open the way for criticism. The story is collected in the anthology Guwen Guanzhi as “Zou Ji Admonishes the King of Qi Indirectly to Accept Advice.”
A Thousand Yeses
The reformer Shang Yang asked the scholar Zhao Liang whether his rule of Qin was better than that of a famous earlier minister. Zhao answered: “The skins of a thousand sheep are not worth the fur under one fox’s leg. The yes, yes of a thousand men is not worth the frank objection of one gentleman.” (Sima Qian, Records of the Grand Historian)
The idiom 唯唯诺诺, to say yes to everything, goes back to the Han Feizi. It describes the people around a ruler who say “yes” before he has given an order and “certainly” before he has asked.