Warmth and Calculation Archives - understand-culture

Zhai Gong’s Gate

The Records of the Grand Historian tells of Zhai Gong of Xiagui. When he served as Commandant of Justice, guests crowded his gate. When he lost the post, a net for sparrows could have been set up outside it. When he was appointed again and the guests wanted to return, he wrote on his gate:

“One dies, one lives, and the feeling of friendship is known. One is poor, one is rich, and the manner of friendship is known. One is high, one is low, and friendship shows itself.”

Sima Qian added that the officials Ji An and Zheng Dangshi had the same experience. “With power, they had ten times the guests. Without it, it was not so.”

A Rare Good Worth Holding

The merchant Lü Buwei was trading in Handan when he saw Zichu, a grandson of the King of Qin held there as a hostage and living in hardship. The Records of the Grand Historian says: “He pitied him and said, ‘This is a rare good worth holding.'” (此奇货可居)

Lü Buwei went to Zichu and said: “I can make your house great.” Zichu laughed. Lü answered: “My house waits for your house to become great.” He offered a thousand gold to travel west and win Zichu the position of heir. Zichu later became King Zhuangxiang of Qin.

Sayings on Fair-Weather Ties

树倒猢狲散 When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter. When a powerful person falls, those who leaned on him leave. In Dream of the Red Chamber, Qin Keqing warns Wang Xifeng that the family might one day prove the saying true.

势利眼 Power and profit eyes. Deciding how close to be by the other person’s wealth and power.

有奶便是娘 Whoever has milk is mother. Siding with whoever offers an advantage.

过河拆桥 To cross the river and pull down the bridge. To drop those who helped once the goal is reached.

前倨后恭 Arrogant before, respectful after. From the story of Su Qin, whose sister-in-law treated him with contempt while he was poor and bowed to him once he was powerful.

Ms. Hu and Ctrip

In July 2020, Ms. Hu, a diamond-level member of the travel platform Ctrip, booked a room at a hotel in Zhoushan through Ctrip for 2,889 yuan. The hotel’s own listed rate for the room was 1,377.63 yuan. In 2021, the Keqiao District Court in Shaoxing ordered Ctrip to pay her 4,777.48 yuan: the part of the difference it had not yet refunded, plus three times the price difference.

Chinese media described it as the first court judgment that made a company using big data against its familiar customers refund the difference and pay three times as much. The Personal Information Protection Law, adopted in August 2021, forbids “unreasonable differential treatment” of individuals “in transaction prices and other trading terms” in automated decisions.

The Tea Goes Cold

人走茶凉 When the guest leaves, the tea goes cold. When an official leaves a high post, people turn cold toward him, because he can no longer grant them favors.

In August 2015, a People’s Daily commentary called the saying a vivid image of how warm and cold human relations can turn. It told retired officials to accept the cold tea and not interfere in the work of their successors.

The saying is about ties that rested on the post and not on the person.

Killing the Familiar

In 2018, Chinese media reported on dashuju shashu (大数据杀熟), “big-data killing of the familiar.” Some defined it as internet companies using their customer data to show existing customers higher prices than new customers for the same product or service.

The name expresses the expectation that a familiar customer deserves better treatment.