The National Development and Reform Commission gives the schedule of the Three-North Shelterbelt Program (三北防护林): “The construction period is 1978 to 2050, in three stages and eight phases.”
Tian Ji’s Horse Race
Tian Ji, a general of Qi, often raced horses against the princes for high stakes. Sun Bin noticed that the horses on each side were not far apart in speed and fell into three classes. He told Tian Ji: “Race your lowest team against their best, your best against their middle, and your middle against their lowest.”
Tian Ji lost one race and won two, and he took the king’s thousand pieces of gold. Afterwards he introduced Sun Bin to the king, who made him his teacher in war. (Records of the Grand Historian)
Sayings on Looking Ahead
人无远虑，必有近忧 A person without far-reaching thoughts will have troubles close at hand. (Analects)
十年树木，百年树人 Ten years to grow trees, a hundred years to grow people. Training people takes long investment.
舍车保帅 Give up the chariot to save the general. A term from Chinese chess. To sacrifice something secondary to protect what matters most.
On Protracted War
From May 26 to June 3, 1938, Mao Zedong gave a series of lectures in Yan’an titled On Protracted War (论持久战). He rejected two views of the war against Japan: that China would win quickly, and that China would be conquered. The war would be protracted, he argued, and the final victory would be China’s.
Generation Names
In many old families, one character in each person’s name marks the generation. Since the early Ming, the descendants of Confucius have taken these characters from lists issued by the central government. Chinese Wikipedia gives the list for the 56th to the 105th generation, fifty characters in all. It begins 希言公彦承 and ends 永锡世绪昌.
Under the Qianlong Emperor, the court decreed that descendants of Confucius and of three other sage families must take their names from the granted characters, or they would not be entered in the family register.
The Ming founder set twenty characters for each line of his own descendants. According to Chinese Wikipedia, the former premier Zhu Rongji belongs to the generation 镕 in the line of the Prince of Min.
The Yellow Calendar
The huangli (黄历) is the traditional almanac. Besides dates and solar terms, it lists for every day what is auspicious and what should be avoided (宜 and 忌). It is used to choose a good day. The Handian dictionary explains the old custom of 看日子, choosing a day: people usually asked a fengshui master or consulted the huangli.
The name goes back to the calendars once compiled by the court and issued in the emperor’s name, the “imperial calendar” (皇历). Because they often had yellow covers, they were also called the “yellow calendar.”
Eight O’Clock on the Eighth
The Beijing Olympics opened at 8 pm Beijing time on August 8, 2008. A China Daily language column explained the date to its readers: “The eighth of August. The eighth day of the eighth month. Eight is a very lucky number in China.”
Love You for a Lifetime
On January 4, 2013, couples crowded into marriage registry offices. In Chinese, the date 2013-1-4 sounds like 爱你一生一世, “love you for a lifetime.” China News Service reported that in Chengdu the number of couples had risen sixfold. In Lanzhou, more than 200 couples registered within two hours.
Think Three Times
三思而后行 Think three times, then act. The phrase comes from the Analects, where it is said of the minister Ji Wenzi. Confucius heard it and said: “Twice is enough.” (再，斯可矣)
欲速则不达 Seek speed and you will not arrive. Also from the Analects: “Do not seek speed. Do not look for small gains. Seek speed and you will not arrive. Look for small gains and great matters will not be achieved.”
磨刀不误砍柴工 Sharpening the axe does not delay the cutting of firewood. Good preparation does not waste time.
The Three Gorges Vote
The idea of a dam at the Three Gorges of the Yangtze goes back to Sun Yat-sen’s Plan for National Reconstruction, published in 1919. Seventy-three years later, on April 3, 1992, the National People’s Congress approved the project. The vote was 1,767 in favor, 177 against and 664 abstentions. Twenty-five delegates did not press the voting button.