Passages on China

Passages on China

This extract from Stefan Broda's eyeopening doctorate thesis on China and coming to ternms with Knowledge manaegemnt is an example of the kind of one-page read that suddenly unlocks hundreds of years of compound cultural patterning (albeit some of it already chnaging, and more needing to change, as well as some being what makes that localitiy's character vibrantly different):

In order to understand the Chinese culture, one has to take a look at the country’s history and living environment. And according to Reisach et al. (1997, p. 245), this begins as long as 5000 years ago when the Chinese developed a sophisticated system of agriculture. As land was spare and the preferred staple was rice, it was not possible for small families to live on small remote farms on their own. Also, the lack of land made the breeding of cattle difficult.
The cultivation of rice demanded larger groups, consisting out of many families whose
workforces needed to be organized collectively for different demanding tasks such as
harvesting22. Also, for requirements like water supply, some families had to cut back their own necessities for the sake of the whole village community. That way, the villagers were able to produce sufficient food for survival.
The resources had thereby to be distributed somehow among the group. The situation of
several individuals with the same claims and same status was thereby counter-productive since it led to friction and people spending more time on arguing than working. That is why over time, a hierarchical system evolved. In this system, nobody would be at the same position with another individual which made the distribution of goods more efficient.
Later, Confucius, one of the most important philosophers of Chinese society, formalized the basic rules which determine the position of each member of the society:

Confucius's 5 Unequal relationships:
Ruler over subject
Husband over wife
Father over son
Brother over sister
Friend over friend (acc to age)

Evidence for that can be found in the Chinese language which has words reserved to describe the hierarchical position of each family member. For example, there is no word for ‘brother’ but one for ‘older brother’ (哥哥, gege) and ‘younger brother’ (弟弟, didi). When Chinese are not related to each other, there hierarchical position is also determined by seniority or educational, professional or political achievement (Hu & Grove, 1991).
Confucius lived in a time when the country grew so big that the king could not centrally control it any longer and the nation fell apart into six to sixteen states (Reisach et al., 1997, p. 285). Rulers looked for legitimization of their authority and hired academics to develop philosophical concepts which could be translated into administrative and military systems.
Confucianism and Daoism were the main influencers in that period with the former being made the state philosophy from the Han dynasty (206 B.C. – 9 AD) on. Confucius philosophy consisted out of four main ideas:
1. Ruling through compassion and example
2. Relationships as a basis of moral
3. Ritualization of behavior
4. Study and achievement grant access to power
Compassion and love for others (in Chinese described as 人– ren) should be the first
consideration of every individual before any kind of action. This idea is crucial for stability and harmony among the population which became the main enabler of governing the large Chinese country. In a government context, this means that rulers should govern their subordinates with passion and love rather than by rules and regulation. A leader should therefore be an idol for his subordinates, with the highest moral integrity. His people will then serve him with moral respect. This does not only apply to governments but also to business organization where the traditional Chinese boss acts more like a father figure than a professional superior. He does not only care for the professional wellbeing of his employees
but also for their private wellbeing. It is not a rarity that Chinese employees seek their superiors for council on private matters such as marriage problems.