China Archives - Page 68 of 112 - understand-culture

Zhai Gong’s Gate

The Records of the Grand Historian tells of Zhai Gong of Xiagui. When he served as Commandant of Justice, guests crowded his gate. When he lost the post, a net for sparrows could have been set up outside it. When he was appointed again and the guests wanted to return, he wrote on his gate:

“One dies, one lives, and the feeling of friendship is known. One is poor, one is rich, and the manner of friendship is known. One is high, one is low, and friendship shows itself.”

Sima Qian added that the officials Ji An and Zheng Dangshi had the same experience. “With power, they had ten times the guests. Without it, it was not so.”

Yao Asks the Four Mountains

In the Canon of Yao, the first chapter of the Book of Documents, Yao asks the Four Mountains, his chief ministers: “I have been on the throne seventy years. Can you carry out the mandate and take my place?” They answer: “Our virtue is too poor. We would disgrace the throne.” Yao says: “Bring forward the illustrious, and raise up the humble too.”

The assembly then tells him: “There is an unmarried man in a low station, named Shun of Yu.” Yao says: “I will test him.”

A Rare Good Worth Holding

The merchant Lü Buwei was trading in Handan when he saw Zichu, a grandson of the King of Qin held there as a hostage and living in hardship. The Records of the Grand Historian says: “He pitied him and said, ‘This is a rare good worth holding.'” (此奇货可居)

Lü Buwei went to Zichu and said: “I can make your house great.” Zichu laughed. Lü answered: “My house waits for your house to become great.” He offered a thousand gold to travel west and win Zichu the position of heir. Zichu later became King Zhuangxiang of Qin.

The Vocabulary of Accord

集思广益 Gather thoughts and widen benefit. To collect the wisdom of many and take in all useful views.

群策群力 The plans of the many and the strength of the many.

和衷共济 Of one heart, crossing together. To work together to overcome difficulty.

众志成城 The wills of the many form a city wall. From the Discourses of the States: “The hearts of the many form a city wall.”

Sayings on Fair-Weather Ties

树倒猢狲散 When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter. When a powerful person falls, those who leaned on him leave. In Dream of the Red Chamber, Qin Keqing warns Wang Xifeng that the family might one day prove the saying true.

势利眼 Power and profit eyes. Deciding how close to be by the other person’s wealth and power.

有奶便是娘 Whoever has milk is mother. Siding with whoever offers an advantage.

过河拆桥 To cross the river and pull down the bridge. To drop those who helped once the goal is reached.

前倨后恭 Arrogant before, respectful after. From the story of Su Qin, whose sister-in-law treated him with contempt while he was poor and bowed to him once he was powerful.

Zichan and the Village School

The people of Zheng gathered in the village schools to discuss the government. Ran Ming asked the minister Zichan: “What if we destroy the village schools?” Zichan answered: “Why? People come there morning and evening to discuss whether the government is good or bad. What they approve of, I carry out. What they dislike, I change. They are my teachers.”

“I have heard of reducing resentment by loyalty and goodness. I have not heard of preventing resentment by a show of power.” Stopping the talk, he said, would be like damming a river. A great break would harm many people. Better to let a little water out and to hear their words as medicine. (Zuo Zhuan)

Ms. Hu and Ctrip

In July 2020, Ms. Hu, a diamond-level member of the travel platform Ctrip, booked a room at a hotel in Zhoushan through Ctrip for 2,889 yuan. The hotel’s own listed rate for the room was 1,377.63 yuan. In 2021, the Keqiao District Court in Shaoxing ordered Ctrip to pay her 4,777.48 yuan: the part of the difference it had not yet refunded, plus three times the price difference.

Chinese media described it as the first court judgment that made a company using big data against its familiar customers refund the difference and pay three times as much. The Personal Information Protection Law, adopted in August 2021, forbids “unreasonable differential treatment” of individuals “in transaction prices and other trading terms” in automated decisions.

Rotating CEOs

Huawei’s top management works through committees. Chinese Wikipedia describes this as collective leadership that also avoids “too great a concentration of power.” In 2011, Huawei introduced rotating CEOs. Guo Ping, Hu Houkun and Xu Zhijun took turns as chief executive, six months at a time. In March 2018, the rotating CEOs became rotating chairmen, with the same six-month terms.

The Shopkeeper’s Sayings

童叟无欺 Cheating neither child nor old man. Fair and honest trade.

货真价实 Genuine goods at true prices.

和气生财 Friendliness brings wealth. A dictionary calls it a common saying of traders: a seller who is gentle and does not offend customers will get rich. In Lu Xun’s story Divorce, a character says: “A person should always be friendlier. ‘Friendliness brings wealth,’ isn’t that right?”

货有高低三等价，客无远近一般看 Goods come at three prices, high and low. Guests near or far are treated alike. In Journey to the West, Sun Wukong quotes it as a common saying to an innkeeper who has just named three classes of service.

Genuine Goods at True Prices

In chapter 5 of Wu Jianren’s novel Bizarre Happenings Eyewitnessed over Two Decades, the narrator hears that government posts are being sold openly, with prices set and offers made everywhere. “This is one way of attracting business,” he says. “But I wonder whether they have the words ‘Genuine goods at true prices, no cheating of child or old man.'” His friend laughs.