The Three Character Classic, a traditional primer for children, holds up students who drove themselves. “One tied his hair to the beam. One jabbed his thigh with an awl. No one made them. They drove themselves to hard study.”
“One read by fireflies in a bag. One read by the light of snow. Their families were poor, but they never stopped learning.” The four students were Sun Jing, Su Qin, Che Yin and Sun Kang.
鸡娃 Chicken child. To give a child a shot of chicken blood. Parents keep adding study and activities so that the child keeps striving.
别人家的孩子 Other people’s child. The clever child with good grades and good habits whom parents hold up to their own.
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.”
When Qin attacked Zhao, Qi would send troops only if the Empress Dowager of Zhao gave her youngest son, Lord Chang’an, as a hostage. She refused, and the ministers pressed her. She declared: “If anyone speaks again of making Lord Chang’an a hostage, this old woman will spit in his face.”
The old minister Chu Long came in slowly and spoke of his bad feet and of her appetite. He asked for a post in the palace guard for his own youngest son. Later he said: “Parents who love their children plan far ahead for them.” The empress dowager sent her son to Qi, and Qi sent its troops. (Strategies of the Warring States)
In 2016, the Communist Party’s Several Norms on Political Life Within the Party listed rules for its organizational life. One of them reads: “Uphold the system of heart-to-heart talks.” (坚持谈心谈话制度)
“Members of leading groups among themselves, members of leading groups and Party members, and Party members among themselves should hold regular heart-to-heart talks, meet each other frankly, share their thoughts and exchange views.”
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。)
In 1565, the official Hai Rui sent the Jiajing Emperor a memorial. It said that the emperor had neglected the state for years, and that officials were corrupt and the people suffering. The emperor had him thrown into prison. Hai Rui was released only after the emperor died in 1566.
The Veritable Records say that the emperor first threw the memorial to the ground in anger. Then he picked it up, read it again and again, and kept it for months.
In 1961, the historian Wu Han answered Mao’s call to emulate Hai Rui’s frankness with a play, Hai Rui Dismissed from Office. On November 10, 1965, a critique of the play by Yao Wenyuan in Wenhui Bao became the fuse of the Cultural Revolution.
Wei Zheng served Emperor Taizong of Tang as a remonstrance official and at times angered him. In 632, back from court, the emperor raged: “I must kill that country bumpkin.” Empress Zhangsun calmed him.
When Wei Zheng died in 643, Taizong said: “With bronze as a mirror, one can straighten one’s clothes. With the past as a mirror, one can know rise and fall. With a person as a mirror, one can see right and wrong. Now Wei Zheng is gone, and I have lost a mirror.”
Remonstrance of this kind depended on a ruler willing to listen.
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.”
软钉子 A soft nail. A refusal or criticism made in a gentle, roundabout way.
旁敲侧击 To knock at the side and strike from the flank. To make a point indirectly, without stating it.
指桑骂槐 To point at the mulberry and curse the locust tree. To seem to blame one person while really blaming another.