Surfacing Problems Archives - understand-culture

Telling the Family

Article 1219 of China’s Civil Code, in force since January 1, 2021, requires medical staff to explain a patient’s condition and treatment to the patient. Before surgery, special examinations or special treatment, they must explain the risks and the alternatives and obtain the patient’s clear consent. Where this is “impossible or unsuitable,” they explain it to the patient’s close relatives and obtain their consent instead.

In a 2013 study by researchers at Peking University, 104 of 186 family members of patients with oral and maxillofacial cancer said the patient should not be told the truth. The most common reason they gave was fear of psychological harm.

Watered Down at Every Level

On June 2, 2025, Xinhua published an article headlined “Concealing rule-breaking drinking and dining is a serious political problem.” It dealt with cases in Huangmei County in Hubei and Qianling Township in Anhui.

In Huangmei, after the event, posts were deleted and people were silenced. “When reporting upward, they watered it down at every level and concealed it at every level,” the article said, “and even tried to keep those who knew silent.”

Candid and Clear

In mid-2018, the internet company ByteDance set out its company values. One of them is tancheng qingxi, “candid and clear.” When the company revised the list in June 2022, it kept this value. Its founder, Zhang Yiming, has said that candor lowers the costs of transactions inside the organization.

In 2019, Xu Min, who works on ByteDance’s culture, said: “The foundation of our company culture can be said to be the efficient flow of information.”

How to Criticize the Boss

In December 2011, the Hangzhou newspaper Daily Business ran a feature titled “How Do You Criticize Your Superior?” One employee, Zhu Jun, told his department head at a full staff meeting that a decision was wrong. This time the head rebutted him without sparing his feelings and kept the plan. Afterwards, Zhu found that the head rarely asked his opinion.

Another employee, Li Fang, also criticized a superior in front of others. The superior looked displeased and embarrassed, but accepted the point and corrected the decision at once. Later the superior spoke with Li: “Thank you very much for the suggestion. But from now on, in private, it is fine to be direct. When many people are present, give me a little face.”

On Expressing an Opinion

On July 8, 1925, Lu Xun wrote Lilun (立论), On Expressing an Opinion, collected in Wild Grass. A pupil dreams that he asks his teacher how to state a view.

The teacher tells of a family that shows its baby son to guests at his one-month celebration. One guest says the boy will be rich and is thanked. A second says he will be an official and is complimented in return. A third says the boy will die and is beaten by all of them together.

“To say he will die is to say what must happen. To say he will be rich may be a lie.” The pupil wants neither to lie nor to be beaten. Then, says the teacher, he must say: “Aiya! This child! Look! How very… Ayo! Haha! Hehe! he, hehehehe.”

The Vocabulary of Covering Up

粉饰太平 To paint over and present peace. To hide disorder and show a picture of peace and prosperity.

捂盖子 To hold the lid down. To hide a problem and keep the truth from coming out.

遮丑 To cover the ugly. To hide a shortcoming, a mistake or something shameful with words or actions.

瞒上不瞒下 To hide things from those above but not from those below. Also, to act together so that superiors do not find out.

Three Kinds of Silence

In 2008, four researchers published a study in Acta Psychologica Sinica (心理学报) on the measurement of employee silence in the Chinese context. They surveyed 928 employees with a questionnaire of their own design. They found that employee silence takes three forms: acquiescent silence, indifferent silence and defensive silence.

Trust in the superior reduced all three. Trust in the organization reduced only the first two. It had no significant effect on defensive silence.

Bian Que and Duke Huan

The physician Bian Que told Duke Huan of Cai: “Your Lordship has an illness in the skin. If it is not treated, it may go deeper.” “I have no illness,” said the duke. When Bian Que left, the duke said: “Doctors like to treat people who are not ill, to take the credit.” Twice more Bian Que warned him, and twice the duke did not answer. The fourth time, Bian Que saw him and ran.

The illness had reached the marrow. Five days later, the duke was in pain and sent for Bian Que, who had already fled. The story is in the Han Feizi. It gave the idiom 讳疾忌医, to hide an illness and avoid the doctor, and in a wider sense to cover up faults and fear criticism.

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.

The SARS Dismissals

On April 3, 2003, Health Minister Zhang Wenkang said that SARS was under control and that Beijing had only 12 cases and 3 deaths. On April 20, Beijing’s reported number of cases jumped from 37 to 339. Hours after that press conference, the Party Center and the State Council removed Zhang and the mayor of Beijing, Meng Xuenong, from their Party posts.

Meng resigned as mayor, taking responsibility for the failure (引咎辞职). Five years later, as governor of Shanxi, he resigned again after a tailings dam collapse in Xiangfen.