China Archives - Page 59 of 112 - understand-culture

A Letter Breaking Off a Friendship

When his friend Shan Tao recommended him for an official post, the writer Ji Kang answered with the Letter Breaking Off Relations with Shan Tao (与山巨源绝交书). He listed seven things he “could not bear” and two that were “most impossible.” He liked to sleep late. He could not bear being wrapped in official robes and bowing to superiors. The second impossibility was his temper: “Hard against evil, careless and blunt in speech, I burst out whenever something happens.”

Ji Kang was later drawn into a friend’s lawsuit and jailed. The powerful minister Sima Zhao feared the influence of his words and, on the advice of Zhong Hui, had him executed. Sources date his death to 262 or 263.

The Blue Army

In 2006, Huawei formally set up a “Blue Army Staff Department” (蓝军参谋部). Its task is to play the imagined enemy of the company’s “Red Army” and to find the faults in its plans.

In 2017, Ren Zhengfei said: “If the Blue Army can raise a challenge, that shows its level. If it can raise a challenge and at the same time propose a plan that can be carried out, that shows a high level.”

At Huawei, challenging the company’s own plans is the work of a dedicated unit.

Too Ill to Serve

When Cao Cao was Minister of Works, he summoned Sima Yi to serve him. According to the Book of Jin, Sima Yi saw that the Han dynasty was in decline and did not want to bend to the Cao family. He declined, saying that he was paralyzed and could not get up. Cao Cao sent a man at night to stab him in secret. Sima Yi lay firm and did not move.

When Cao Cao became chancellor, he summoned Sima Yi again and told the messenger: “If he hesitates again, arrest him.” Sima Yi was afraid and took the post.

Dragging Its Tail in the Mud

Zhuangzi was fishing in the river Pu when two officials arrived from the king of Chu. The king wished to burden him with the affairs of his state. Zhuangzi held his rod and did not turn his head. He said that Chu had a sacred tortoise, dead for three thousand years, kept wrapped in a box in the ancestral temple. “Would this tortoise rather be dead and have its bones honored, or alive and dragging its tail in the mud?”

The two officials said: “Alive and dragging its tail in the mud.” Zhuangzi said: “Go away. I will drag my tail in the mud.” (Zhuangzi, Autumn Floods)

Some Other Day

改天吧 Some other day.

下次吧 Next time.

暂时不 Not for now.

这次免了 Let’s skip it this time.

A 2024 China Daily language lesson notes that “directly saying ‘no’ is often considered rude in Chinese culture.” To decline an invitation from a superior, it suggests a form such as “If I could, I would love to, but…”

The Vocabulary of Not Saying No

不置可否 To set down neither yes nor no. To give no position at all.

打哈哈 To go “haha.” To brush someone off and deal with a matter only on the surface.

打官腔 To speak in the official tone. To use official set phrases to deal with a request or to pass it on.

搪塞 To plug one hole. From an image in the Huainanzi of a dike with ten thousand holes, of which only one is plugged. To deal with something only for form’s sake.

婉拒 To refuse gently. To decline in a roundabout, polite way.

Taking Over a Parent’s Job

Under the planned economy, when a worker retired, a son or daughter could take over the post. The system was called dingti (顶替), “taking the place.” It began in the 1950s. From the late 1970s, it was applied across the country to ease unemployment among urban youth.

In 1983, a State Council notice set out to regulate and restrict it. A study of the system notes that some parents even retired early, before they met the legal conditions, so that a child could take over.

Chen Chunxiu’s Place

In 2020, it became public that another woman had taken Chen Chunxiu’s place at university in 2004. Shandong University of Technology confirmed that its student Chen Chunxiu of the class of 2004 “had entered under a false name in another person’s place.”

The investigation found that the impostor had scored 303 points in the 2004 college entrance exam, below the cutoff for the first batch of junior colleges. Her father and her uncle, then the head of a township, had asked the head of the county admissions office to help her take another person’s place at university.

The Law of Avoidance

Under the imperial state, officials could not serve in their home region. This was the law of avoidance (回避). An official’s native place and the place he governed could not be the same or neighboring. Close relatives could not serve in the same office, or in offices directly above and below each other. The aim was to prevent favoritism and local protection.

Today’s Civil Servant Law keeps the principle. Civil servants who are spouses or close relatives may not work in posts where one directly supervises the other.

Qi Xi Recommends a Successor

In 570 BC, Qi Xi of Jin asked to retire. The duke asked him who should succeed him. Qi Xi named Xie Hu, his personal enemy, but Xie Hu died before he could be appointed. Asked again, Qi Xi said: “Wu will do.” Qi Wu was his son. (Zuo Zhuan)

The Zuo Zhuan praises him: “He named his enemy, and it was not flattery. He put forward his son, and it was not favoritism.” He is remembered with the saying 内举不避亲，外举不避仇, “in recommending insiders, he did not avoid kin. In recommending outsiders, he did not avoid enemies.”