Hierarchy Archives - understand-culture

Elders First

The Dizigui (弟子规), a rhyming primer of the Qing dynasty, sets out how a child behaves toward elders. “Eating or drinking, sitting or walking, the elder goes first and the younger after.” (或饮食，或坐走，长者先，幼者后) “When addressing an elder, do not call him by his name.” (称尊长，勿呼名) “In front of an elder, keep the voice low.”

The text is generally attributed to Li Yuxiu, a scholar of the Kangxi era. Jia Cunren later revised it and gave it its present title. It is built on a line from the Analects: a young man is filial at home and respectful to his elders outside.

Seats at the Table

At a formal Chinese banquet, every seat has a rank. The seats facing the door are the seats of honor. A 2015 article on Xinhua’s website places the guests around the host’s seat, the zhupei (主陪): “To the right of the host is the seat of the chief guest, to the left the seat of the second guest, and opposite is the seat of the deputy host.”

An etiquette guide published by the Shanghai government adds a rule for drinking. To show respect, a guest keeps the rim of the glass below the host’s.

The Kowtow Question

On August 14, 1793, the Qianlong Emperor issued an edict. Everyone who came to the court with tribute had to perform the three kneelings and nine kowtows, san gui jiu kou (三跪九叩), even a king in person. The British envoy Lord Macartney refused. In the end, the emperor gave way and allowed him to kneel on one knee, as he did before his own king.

At the audience in Rehe on September 14, Macartney knelt on one knee. Later Chinese records said that he had been so overawed that he fell to both knees. Chinese Wikipedia calls this claim unfounded. One Chinese article holds that he performed the full kowtow at the emperor’s birthday ceremony three days later. The sources still disagree.

In 1816, another British envoy, Lord Amherst, also refused the kowtow. The Jiaqing Emperor expelled his embassy from the country.

A Deer Called a Horse

In the last years of the Qin dynasty, the chancellor Zhao Gao wanted to seize power but feared that the ministers would not follow him. He set a test. He brought a deer to the Second Emperor and said: “It is a horse.” The emperor laughed. “Is the chancellor mistaken? He calls a deer a horse.” He asked the people around him.

“Some of those around him were silent. Some said horse, to please Zhao Gao.” (左右或默，或言马以阿顺赵高) Zhao Gao had those who said deer secretly charged under the law. “After that, all the ministers feared Zhao Gao.” (Records of the Grand Historian) The idiom zhi lu wei ma (指鹿为马), to point at a deer and call it a horse, comes from this story.

Three Kinds of Silence

In 2008, four researchers published a study in Acta Psychologica Sinica (心理学报) on the measurement of employee silence in the Chinese context. They surveyed 928 employees with a questionnaire of their own design. They found that employee silence takes three forms: acquiescent silence, indifferent silence and defensive silence.

Trust in the superior reduced all three. Trust in the organization reduced only the first two. It had no significant effect on defensive silence.

The Work Unit’s Letter

Until 2003, a couple who wanted to marry needed a certificate of their marital status from their work unit, danwei (单位), or from their village or residents’ committee. A 2003 report on Sina put it simply: “In the past, both marriage and divorce required a letter of introduction from the work unit.”

The new Marriage Registration Regulations took effect on October 1, 2003. They dropped the certificate. Applicants now declare their marital status themselves. The same report summed up the change: “The government and the work unit no longer ‘interfere’ in people’s marriages.”

Repaid as a Man of the State

Yu Rang served the noble families of Fan and Zhonghang. When Zhi Bo destroyed them, Yu Rang went over to Zhi Bo. Later Zhi Bo was killed by Zhao Xiangzi, and Yu Rang tried again and again to kill Zhao Xiangzi. “A gentleman dies for the one who knows him,” he said. “A woman makes herself beautiful for the one who delights in her.” (士為知己者死，女為說己者容)

Zhao Xiangzi asked why he took such deep revenge for Zhi Bo, when he had done nothing for his first masters. Yu Rang answered: “The Fan and Zhonghang treated me as an ordinary man, so I repaid them as an ordinary man. Zhi Bo treated me as a man of the state, so I repay him as a man of the state.” (Records of the Grand Historian)

The Seal Left Behind

In chapter 27 of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu leaves Cao Cao to return to his old lord, Liu Bei. He seals up the gold that Cao Cao has given him and hangs up his seal of office, feng jin gua yin (封金挂印). One of Cao Cao’s generals wants to pursue him. Cao Cao stops him: “He does not forget his old lord. He comes and goes openly. He is a true man.”

Cao Cao then tells Zhang Liao: “Wealth could not move his heart. Rank and salary could not change his will. I respect such a man deeply.” He says that he will see Guan Yu off with travel money and a robe.

Life Mentor

In August 2009, the Ministry of Education issued Regulations on the Work of Head Teachers in Primary and Secondary Schools. Every class must have one head teacher, the banzhuren (班主任). Article 2 says that the head teacher “should strive to become the life mentor of primary and secondary school students.”

Article 8 asks the head teacher to know every student fully and to analyze each student’s “thinking, psychology, study and living conditions.” Article 12 asks the head teacher to contact students’ parents and their communities on his or her own initiative.

A Gate as Deep as the Sea

In chapter 6 of Dream of the Red Chamber, the poor country woman Liu Laolao hopes for help from the great Jia household. “The gate of a noble house is as deep as the sea,” she says. “Nobody there knows me.” Her son-in-law has a plan. She should first find Zhou Rui, a servant of the lady of the house. “This Zhou Rui once did a piece of business with my father. We were on very good terms.”

At the side gate, the doormen ignore her and tell her to wait by the wall. She finds Zhou Rui’s wife instead. Years before, Gou’er had helped Zhou Rui a great deal in a dispute over buying land, so his wife finds it hard to refuse. She takes Liu Laolao first to Pinger, the trusted maid of Wang Xifeng. Only then is Liu Laolao led in.