Leader's Judgment Archives - understand-culture

On Horses

The Tang writer Han Yu begins his short essay known as On Horses: “Only when there is a Bole are there thousand-li horses. Thousand-li horses are always there, but a Bole is not always there.” Bole was the legendary judge of horses. Without him, a fine horse is mistreated by grooms, dies in the stable “and is never called a thousand-li horse.”

The essay ends with a man holding a whip over the horse. “He says: ‘There are no horses under heaven!’ Alas, are there truly no horses? He truly does not know horses.”

The Last Top Scholar

In 1904, a special palace examination was held for the seventieth birthday of Empress Dowager Cixi. Liu Chunlin of Suning, in Zhili, was placed first, as zhuangyuan. The examinations were abolished in 1905, and he became the last zhuangyuan in Chinese history.

A popular story says the examiners had ranked Zhu Ruzhen of Guangdong first. Cixi disliked the character zhen, the name of the Pearl Consort, and promoted Liu, whose name means spring rain. Sources disagree on Liu’s original place. Chinese Wikipedia calls the story an untrue legend. Under Qing rules, the emperor set the ranks of the top ten papers, and the candidates’ names were sealed.

Our Dynasty’s Wang Xizhi

The Yongle Emperor of the Ming admired the regular script of the calligrapher Shen Du and called him “our dynasty’s Wang Xizhi.” The court gave Shen Du its important texts to write. The scholars of the time then imitated his hand one after another “to cater to the emperor’s taste.” The style is also called taige ti, the cabinet style.

The Leader Writes the Comment

China’s Regulations on the Assessment of Civil Servants were issued on December 28, 2020. In the annual assessment, “the responsible leader analyzes the civil servant’s performance and related circumstances comprehensively, writes a targeted comment, and proposes an assessment grade and requirements for improvement.” The head of the agency, or an authorized assessment committee, then sets the grade.

Scratching Through the Boot

At democratic life meetings, the members of a Party leadership team are expected to criticize one another. In November 2018, inspectors of the Tianjin Party committee reported that at some units, criticism “sees the matter but not the person” and is gexue saoyang, scratching an itch through the boot. The idiom means to miss the point.

In 2023, the Party’s organization newspaper again called for criticism that does not “make light of things or scratch through the boot.”

Reminder Talks

Article 21 of the Communist Party’s Regulations on Intra-Party Supervision, adopted on October 27, 2016, sets out two kinds of talks. When a leading cadre shows the first signs of a problem in thinking, work style or discipline, “the responsible person of the Party organization concerned should promptly hold a reminder talk with him.”

For a minor violation, “the responsible person of the higher-level Party organization should hold an admonishment talk with him.” The cadre then gives an explanation or a self-criticism. After the principal leader of his Party organization signs it, it goes to the higher discipline commission and organization department.

A Ball of Harmony

一团和气 A ball of harmony. The Handian dictionary says it first described a warm and friendly manner, and now also means keeping on good terms without regard to principle. In chapter 19 of the Water Margin, a character says of the Liangshan chief Wang Lun: “He treats everyone with a ball of harmony. Why is his heart so narrow?”

Combat Liberalism

On September 7, 1937, Mao Zedong wrote a short text called Combat Liberalism (反对自由主义). It lists the kinds of liberal behavior inside the Party. The second is “irresponsible criticism behind people’s backs, instead of making suggestions to the organization.”

“Saying nothing to people’s faces, but talking wildly behind their backs. Saying nothing at the meeting, but talking wildly after it.” (当面不说，背后乱说；开会不说，会后乱说。)

Mr. Good-Good

The Eastern Han scholar Sima Hui never spoke of other people’s faults. Whatever he heard, he answered “Good.” Asked how he was, he said “Good.” When a man told him that his son had died, he said “Very good.” His wife scolded him. Sima Hui replied: “What you say is also very good.”

The Ming writer Feng Menglong, who tells the story, says that the expression 好好先生, Mr. Good-Good, comes from it. Dictionaries define it as a person who does not ask what is right or wrong and only wants peace.