In 207, the warlord Liu Bei went to Longzhong to visit the scholar Zhuge Liang. The Records of the Three Kingdoms says: “He went three times in all, and only then did he see him.” (凡三往，乃见) The first two visits failed.
At the third meeting, Zhuge Liang set out the plan for Liu Bei’s future that became known as the Longzhong Plan. Years later, in his Memorial on Sending Out the Troops, Zhuge Liang recalled that the late ruler had “visited me three times in my thatched cottage.”
When Qin attacked Zhao, Qi would send troops only if the Empress Dowager of Zhao gave her youngest son, Lord Chang’an, as a hostage. She refused, and the ministers pressed her. She declared: “If anyone speaks again of making Lord Chang’an a hostage, this old woman will spit in his face.”
The old minister Chu Long came in slowly and spoke of his bad feet and of her appetite. He asked for a post in the palace guard for his own youngest son. Later he said: “Parents who love their children plan far ahead for them.” The empress dowager sent her son to Qi, and Qi sent its troops. (Strategies of the Warring States)
Lao She’s play Teahouse (茶馆) is set in the Yutai teahouse in Beijing, run by the manager Wang Lifa. The first act takes place in 1898. On the wall hangs a slip of paper: 莫谈国事, “Do not discuss state affairs.”
The play follows the teahouse from 1898 into the 1940s. In each act, the slip of paper on the wall grows larger. Beijing People’s Art Theatre first staged the play on March 29, 1958.
Confucius said: “In serving one’s parents, remonstrate gently. If they do not follow, stay respectful and do not oppose them. Bear the toil without complaint.” (Analects 4.18)
His disciple Ziyou said: “In serving a ruler, pressing too often brings disgrace. With friends, pressing too often brings distance.” (Analects 4.26)
On April 4, 1971, in Japan, the American table tennis player Glenn Cowan missed his shuttle and boarded a bus carrying the Chinese team. The Chinese player Zhuang Zedong went up to him, greeted him, and gave him a piece of Hangzhou brocade.
On April 7, Zhou Enlai told the Foreign Ministry to have the Chinese delegation in Japan announce a formal invitation to the American team. On April 14, he received them in Beijing and said: “Your visit has opened the door to friendly contact between the two peoples.” The episode is remembered as “the small ball turning the big ball” (小球转动大球).
The Qing statesman Zeng Guofan kept warning his younger brothers against pride. In one letter, he wrote: “Pride that overrides others need not use words. Some override others with their air, and some with the look on their face.” His brother Wen had a brilliant air, he went on, but at times a rough, stubborn look, “and that most easily overrides people.”
In another letter, Zeng recalled his grandfather’s advice when he left for the capital: “Your talent is good, but you must not be proud.”
On December 4, 2012, the Politburo adopted the Eight-point Regulation on improving the work style of its members. The first point concerns leaders’ inspection trips. Leaders should “travel light, reduce the number of people accompanying them, simplify receptions, put up no banners, arrange no crowds to welcome them, lay no red carpets, set out no flowers, and arrange no banquets.”
In a 2009 speech titled “Openness, Compromise and Gray,” Huawei’s founder Ren Zhengfei said: “This harmonious process is called compromise, and its harmonious result is called gray.” Direction and principle cannot be compromised, he said. “But everything on the way to the goal can be compromised, as long as it helps reach the goal.” He added: “Tolerance is a kind of strength, not weakness.”
At the Spring Festival, people send greetings to everyone they know. According to one estimate, China’s three mobile operators carried 32 billion text messages during the seven days of the 2012 Spring Festival.
For the seven-day holiday of 2016, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology reported 13.96 billion mobile text messages nationwide. The two figures were counted in different ways.
Under Article 60 of the Civil Servant Law, as revised in 2018, a civil servant who believes a superior’s decision or order is wrong may propose to the superior that it be corrected or withdrawn. If the superior does not change it, or demands immediate action, the civil servant must carry it out. The superior then bears the consequences.
A civil servant who carries out a clearly illegal decision or order is held responsible for it.