On July 20, 1919, Hu Shi published an essay in the Weekly Review titled “Study More Problems, Talk Less of ‘Isms.'” “The great danger of public opinion now,” he wrote, “is that it leans toward theories on paper.” The essay set off what became known as the debate on problems and isms.
Mozi’s Three Tests
In the chapter Against Fate, Mozi says that every doctrine must pass three tests: its root, its source and its use. The root is in the deeds of the ancient sage kings. The source is what the common people have seen and heard.
The use is the last test. Put the doctrine into practice as law and government, Mozi says, and “see whether it benefits the state and the common people.”
Development Is the Hard Truth
From January 18 to February 21, 1992, Deng Xiaoping toured Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Guangzhou and Shanghai. He no longer held any office. One line from the tour was fazhan cai shi ying daoli. “Only development is the hard truth.” Another line asked for “more real work and less empty talk.”
Heroes by GDP
In December 2013, the Communist Party’s Central Organization Department issued a notice on improving how the performance of local leaders is evaluated. Chinese media summed it up in one phrase. Officials would “no longer simply be judged heroes by GDP” (不再简单以GDP论英雄).
The Five Onlys
In October 2020, the Central Committee and the State Council published an overall plan to reform the evaluation of education. It calls for “resolutely overcoming the stubborn ills of only scores, only admission rates, only diplomas, only papers and only titles.”
The Olympic Glory Plan
On July 6, 1995, the State Sports Commission issued the Outline of the Olympic Glory Plan. Its goal for the Sydney Olympics of 2000 was a leading place in the second group of nations in gold medals, and the strength to compete for more than 80 medals. New outlines followed in 2002 and 2011, one for each of the next two decades.
Empty Talk Harms the Nation
On November 29, 2012, Xi Jinping and other leaders visited the exhibition The Road to Rejuvenation at the National Museum in Beijing. There Xi said: kongtan wu guo, shigan xing bang. “Empty talk harms the nation. Real work makes it flourish.”
Yellow Cat, Black Cat
On July 7, 1962, speaking about how to judge household contracting in farming, Deng Xiaoping said: “Comrade Liu Bocheng often quotes a Sichuan saying: ‘Yellow cat or black cat, as long as it catches mice, it is a good cat.’ He said it about fighting. We beat Chiang Kai-shek because we did not follow the old rules and the old roads.”
The saying is popularly remembered as “white cat, black cat.” In 1976, the Party journal Red Flag attacked the “white cat, black cat” theory for erasing the difference between socialism and capitalism.
Practice Is the Sole Criterion
In February 1977, the leading Party papers set out the “two whatevers”: whatever decisions Chairman Mao made would be upheld, and whatever instructions he gave would be followed. Hu Fuming, a philosophy teacher at Nanjing University, wrote an article against this.
On May 11, 1978, Guangming Daily published it, revised by several hands and finally approved by Hu Yaobang, as “Practice Is the Sole Criterion for Testing Truth.” People’s Daily and the Liberation Army Daily followed the next day. A national debate on the criterion of truth began. Hu Fuming said later that the idea was not new: “Every philosophy teacher at every university knew it.”