China Archives - Page 85 of 112 - understand-culture

The Flower and the Smile

In a story told in Chan Buddhism, the Buddha once held up a flower before the assembly on Vulture Peak. Everyone was silent and did not understand. Only his disciple Mahakashyapa smiled. The Buddha then said that he would entrust his true teaching to Mahakashyapa, “not founded on words, a separate transmission outside the scriptures” (不立文字，教外别传).

The earliest known version of the story dates from 1036. The words “a separate transmission outside the scriptures, not founded on words” became a motto of Chan.

P-Levels

Alibaba’s career ladder has a professional track from P5 to P14 and a management track from M1 to M10. According to the business site Jiemian, a P8 earns on average about a million yuan a year in cash and shares, and a P10 ranks roughly as a vice president.

Spring and Autumn Brushwork

The Spring and Autumn Annals record in one line that “the Earl of Zheng overcame Duan at Yan” (郑伯克段于鄢). Duan was the earl’s younger brother.

The classical commentaries read meaning into the wording. The Zuo Commentary says that Duan “did not act as a younger brother, so he is not called brother. They fought like two rulers, so it says overcame.” The Gongyang Commentary asks: “If he killed him, why does it say overcame? To magnify the Earl of Zheng’s evil.”

Passing judgment through the way an event is worded is called Spring and Autumn brushwork (春秋笔法).

The Promotion Tournament

In 2007, the economist Zhou Li-An published “A Study of the Promotion Tournament Model of Chinese Local Officials” in the journal Economic Research. His thesis: “The ‘promotion tournament’ among local officials, centered on GDP growth, is one of the key clues to understanding government incentives and growth.”

Observing the Face

In the Analects, Confucius describes a man of real standing. Such a man “examines words and observes the face, and thinks of putting himself below others” (察言而观色，虑以下人).

The phrase lives on as the idiom 察言观色. The Handian dictionary defines it as “observing a person’s words and expression in order to work out what the person has in mind.”

The Vocabulary of Comparison

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.

Declining With a Song

A short passage in the Analects tells how a man named Ru Bei wanted to see Confucius. Confucius declined, saying that he was ill. As the messenger was going out of the door, Confucius took up his zither and sang, “so that Ru Bei would hear it” (使之闻之).

The Vocabulary of Reliability

靠谱 Reliable. Said of what is sensible and makes sense. A dictionary example: “This person does things reliably.”

放鸽子 To release the pigeons. To break an appointment and lose someone’s trust.

凡事有交代，件件有着落，事事有回音 Every matter accounted for, every item settled, every message answered. A business article says that some people define being reliable by these three things, and that the three are really one: closing the loop.

What Do You Mean?

A joke published by China Daily in 2017 turns on the word 意思. The Handian dictionary gives it meanings that include meaning, intention and a small token of appreciation. The joke is a conversation between a boss and an employee.

Boss: 你这是什么意思？ What do you mean by this? Employee: 没什么意思，意思意思。 It means nothing. It is just a little something. Boss: 你这就不够意思了。 That is not very decent of you. Employee: 小意思，小意思。 It is only a small token.

Three Questions Each Day

Zengzi said: “Each day I examine myself on three points. In planning for others, have I failed to give my all? With friends, have I failed to keep my word? What was passed on to me, have I failed to practice?” (Analects 1.4)

Commentators read zhong in the first question as giving all of oneself to another person’s task.