Chinese planning characteristically operates over extended time horizons—years and decades rather than weeks and months. Whether planning education, business development, national policy, or personal cultivation, Chinese planning accepts that significant achievements require extended effort and that present choices have distant consequences. This extends to multigenerational thinking: families plan for descendants, organizations plan beyond current leadership, national planning thinks in historical development terms. Long horizons enable strategies unavailable to those with shorter perspectives—investments with extended payback periods, developmental processes requiring years of building, positional strategies that unfold slowly.
When working with Chinese planning, expect and respect these extended timeframes. What may seem like excessive patience reflects orientation toward lasting achievement rather than quick results.
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