Central is not the middle

Chinese or Chinese people always give confusing answer or reply to a certain question. People who do not understand the characteristics of Chinese and Chinese thoughts will form misconceptions and think Chinese are not serious in life or not discharging their duties accordingly.

If one understands the concept of “central is not the middle”, perhaps one will understand why Chinese react in a different way. In the book “Zhong yong” (中庸), the central position is not necessary to be in the middle. Or, in a simple explanation, the central point of 100 marks for an examination may not necessary is 50 marks. You have to consider a suitable passing mark as the central point. This is why in some examinations, the passing marks can be as high as 70 and the other can be as low as 40.
There must be some reasons why the passing marks are different for different examinations.

Reasoning or giving a meaning to the subject is a key and important consideration. When the assessors or evaluators decide on a passing mark, they need to consider the knowledge that a student is suppose to possess. In this case, the central point (50) may not be a suitable indicator of acquiring certain knowledge. For professional exams, the required passing mark is set higher and for common exams, it can be lower.

“Zhong yong” is one of 4 Confucianism books (四书). Zhong mean central/middle (harmony) and yong means always (happenings). In simple translation, Zhong yong means one’s behaviour should always in the central reasoning that leads to harmony. This teaching sometimes have been criticised for weak behaviour as it always moves along the middle to please others.

When a Chinese gives his reply, he may not stick to the central point or an always expected answer. He will form his own reasoning. For A candidate, the passing mark is 50, B 60 and C 40. He evaluates the situation and gives different passing marks. Outsiders will wonder why there is no standard passing mark. For his reasoning perspective, he has input the concept of standard deviation. While as an outsider, we always look at the mean.

If one knows some things about Yijing (易经), here is another example. There are always 6 rows to form a Gua (卦), how come the central position is not row 3 and row 4 but row 2 and row 5. On surface, 3 and 4 is the central of 6 rows. However, you need to understand the formation of Gua, then you will realise why there are 2 centres and a Gua has the upper and lower portion. Each portion has a central. Yijing is a difficult topic and it involves many changes. And so the central positions will change from time to time, from place to place and form person to person.