Are we moving away from the government of "dao" (way) to "shu" (tactic)?
In simple explanation, “dao” means the direction to ideal society like a government doing good things openly to gain support from the people to achieve the target. And “shu” means the strategy to achieve success like using method, tactic, art, or statecraft to gain the trust of the people.
The debate between “dao” and “shu” may be best described in Taiwan after the death of Chiang Kai-shek. In slightly more than 30 years, Taiwan political development experienced the change over from “dao-shu” balance to “shu” majority and then back to “dao” majority.
The Taiwan Presidency since 1978:
Chiang Ching-kuo (20 May 1978 - 13 Jan 1988) placed equally emphasis on “dao” and “shu”.
Lee Teng-hui (13 Jan 1988 - 20 May 2000) moved towards “shu” and gave less emphasis to “dao”.
Chen Shui-bian (20 May 2000 - 20 May 2008) went even further to a state of no “dao” and full of “shu”.
Ma Ying-jeou (20 May 2000 - ) makes a u-turn and give more weight to “dao” and discourages “shu”.
Ma was elected due to the majority of Taiwanese wanting to have a change. They are having too many “shu” in the political, business and social sense. They want Ma to make changes and implement more “dao”. However, Taiwan had in a period of 20 years (1988-2008) been governed by Presidents who believed in “shu”. “Shu” culture has already been planted in public administration, military, and many aspects of society. It is not an easy task to get rid of it or minimise its influence. It is still too early to tell whether Ma can successfully turn the table around and make Taiwan a “dao” base state.
When Singapore gained independent in 1965, our first generation leaders believes in delivering good things to the people and they openly declared the way in the Singapore National Pledge:
We, the citizens of Singapore,
pledge ourselves as one united people,
regardless of race, language or religion,
to build a democratic society
based on justice and equality
so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and
progress for our nation.
It seems to be a tall order. However, it shows the foresight and quality of our past leaders. This is the way (dao) that we want to follow and aim to achieve. And indeed, we are very successful and become one of the highest income countries in the world. The first generation leaders managed to cut down unemployment; build schools and flats; develop economy and even establish a sizable defence force.
With the passing of first generation leaders, can we still maintain the “dao” as it stood in 1965?
Look at the 2008 World Financial Crisis; don’t we see more “shu” (tactics) than “dao” (way) in the marketing and structuring of financial products? It had moved away from the traditional banking practice and investment arrangement – in the name of getting higher return!
Monday 30 August 2010
Sunday 22 August 2010
Surname, family root and DNA
Surname, traditionally a show of family root, is facing challenge in modern China. With employment, income, better education, and equal right, Chinese women are demanding naming their children with their own surnames. And surprisingly, some Chinese men have agreed with this suggestion.
This revolution challenge will affect the traditional Chinese family structure and concept. However, with a one-child family, more urban population, and more say in family affairs, Chinese women are moving away from the traditional role and demanding more rights in making family decisions. As a compromise, some families have given their children with double surname, i.e. with both the surnames of father and mother.
Under the influence of Confucianism, Chinese social, cultural and political system is predominant male centric. However, the modernization process and rapid economic development have challenged these traditional values and practices. We cannot expect these changes to take immediate effect. While we too cannot expect the total decline of traditional values and practices. Chinese history has proved that Chinese are always adapting to changes and are good to neutralize outside influences and most of time, they survive and move forward.
Surname plays an important role of family relationship and kinship. In the past, many ordinary men and women want to associate with a reputable family by marriage, adoption or even changing their own surnames. Hence, a change in surname will affect the family tree and affect the future generation. However, for the goodwill of his family, this sacrifice is a good investment.
On the other hand, Chinese also value their surname and will try all means to protect and resist the change of their surnames. A gentleman will always keep his family surname although he may change his name by circumstance, by change of position, or belief. To maintain and keep the family surname is equivalent to protecting the reputation of the family.
Nevertheless, it was a great honor that the Emperor awarded a new surname to a family due to one’s contribution. However, having the same surname or names as the Emperor is not advisable. When a new dynasty was established, those affected people will have to change their surnames and names to prevent the conflict of having same surname or names as the new ruler. In written documents, words related or similar to the Emperor’s surname or names would have to change to other words.
Surname in fact is a family DNA tree. Since the surname is carried over by the male children. They, too carry the family DNA through generations to generations. It is therefore, possible to identify certain diseases with certain surname groups. This is in particular the family is living in a certain village in many generations. Chinese also has a traditional that a certain surname group is not allowed to marry to another surname group.
This could be a DNA issue or other reasons like enemy in generations, different race, dialect, etc.
This revolution challenge will affect the traditional Chinese family structure and concept. However, with a one-child family, more urban population, and more say in family affairs, Chinese women are moving away from the traditional role and demanding more rights in making family decisions. As a compromise, some families have given their children with double surname, i.e. with both the surnames of father and mother.
Under the influence of Confucianism, Chinese social, cultural and political system is predominant male centric. However, the modernization process and rapid economic development have challenged these traditional values and practices. We cannot expect these changes to take immediate effect. While we too cannot expect the total decline of traditional values and practices. Chinese history has proved that Chinese are always adapting to changes and are good to neutralize outside influences and most of time, they survive and move forward.
Surname plays an important role of family relationship and kinship. In the past, many ordinary men and women want to associate with a reputable family by marriage, adoption or even changing their own surnames. Hence, a change in surname will affect the family tree and affect the future generation. However, for the goodwill of his family, this sacrifice is a good investment.
On the other hand, Chinese also value their surname and will try all means to protect and resist the change of their surnames. A gentleman will always keep his family surname although he may change his name by circumstance, by change of position, or belief. To maintain and keep the family surname is equivalent to protecting the reputation of the family.
Nevertheless, it was a great honor that the Emperor awarded a new surname to a family due to one’s contribution. However, having the same surname or names as the Emperor is not advisable. When a new dynasty was established, those affected people will have to change their surnames and names to prevent the conflict of having same surname or names as the new ruler. In written documents, words related or similar to the Emperor’s surname or names would have to change to other words.
Surname in fact is a family DNA tree. Since the surname is carried over by the male children. They, too carry the family DNA through generations to generations. It is therefore, possible to identify certain diseases with certain surname groups. This is in particular the family is living in a certain village in many generations. Chinese also has a traditional that a certain surname group is not allowed to marry to another surname group.
This could be a DNA issue or other reasons like enemy in generations, different race, dialect, etc.
Monday 16 August 2010
Beyond values, what else
Integrity, meritocracy, level playing field and English are the four core values that drive Singapore as reported by My Paper, 16 August 2010. The report is about a speech given by MM Lee in his constituency’s National Day dinner.
These values might have some similarities of Legalism - Fa Jia (法家) in the spring-autumn and warring states period in Chinese history. And true enough Fa Jia is the most pragmatic school of thoughts that translated Qin into a superpower and conquering other warring states. It also gives the best short term return in a political reform. Hence, Fa Jia becomes the best practice and the most successful philosophy among the Hundred schools of thoughts that helped to unify China with the establishment of Qin Dynasty. It led to the creation of the first Emperor in China, Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇).
Fa Jia believes in practices, reality and usefulness. It exercises fairness in law. Even the relatives of royal family and senior officials will be punished if they commit crimes. They also promote people who make contributions to the states regardless of their social status. Even a slave can be a General or top official if he is capable. They use rules and regulations to govern the country and when Qin united China, they also introduced several common standards such as standard writing language, measuring method, and transportation system etc.
Fa Jia also practiced strong economic policy and focused on agricultural development. But they restrict the movement of businessmen and give less priority to commercial activities. Nevertheless, they want to build up a strong (agricultural) economy so that they can support a strong army. The strong army finally destroyed the armies of the other 6 warring states and made Qin the first united imperial state of China. It was an example of a strongly Legalist government that governed harshly. That is why revolts broke out all over the country as soon as the First Emperor (Qin Shi Huang) died.
Qin Dynasty lasted only a short period from 221 to 201 BC. The subsequent dynasty, Han (as well other followed Chinese dynasties) realized that they could no longer use the same Legalist way to govern the people. A combination of Confucianism, Taoism (lesser extent) and Legalism thoughts was selected as a way of government and this lasted until now. Although the Chinese Communists’ Party may not acknowledge this combination, one can clearly see this in the daily life of Chinese people today. Another example is the setting up of Confucius Institutes, Traditional Chinese Thoughts Institutes (国学院Guoxue yuan), etc. Besides the purpose of using traditional values and thoughts to counter the influence of western ideas, it also serves as a continuity of the traditional way of government.
In Wikipedia, you can find the explanation of legalism as follows:
Legalism is a pragmatic political philosophy synthesized by Shang Yang and Han Fei. With an essential principle like "when the epoch changed, the ways changed", it upholds the rule of law and is thus a theory of jurisprudence.
A ruler should govern his subjects by the following trinity:
Fa (法 fa3): law or principle.
Shu (術 shù): method, tactic, art, or statecraft.
Shi (勢 shì): legitimacy, power, or charisma.
Legalism was the chosen philosophy of the Qin Dynasty. It was blamed for creating a totalitarian
society and thereby experienced decline. Its main motto is: "Set clear strict laws, or deliver harsh punishment".
These values might have some similarities of Legalism - Fa Jia (法家) in the spring-autumn and warring states period in Chinese history. And true enough Fa Jia is the most pragmatic school of thoughts that translated Qin into a superpower and conquering other warring states. It also gives the best short term return in a political reform. Hence, Fa Jia becomes the best practice and the most successful philosophy among the Hundred schools of thoughts that helped to unify China with the establishment of Qin Dynasty. It led to the creation of the first Emperor in China, Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇).
Fa Jia believes in practices, reality and usefulness. It exercises fairness in law. Even the relatives of royal family and senior officials will be punished if they commit crimes. They also promote people who make contributions to the states regardless of their social status. Even a slave can be a General or top official if he is capable. They use rules and regulations to govern the country and when Qin united China, they also introduced several common standards such as standard writing language, measuring method, and transportation system etc.
Fa Jia also practiced strong economic policy and focused on agricultural development. But they restrict the movement of businessmen and give less priority to commercial activities. Nevertheless, they want to build up a strong (agricultural) economy so that they can support a strong army. The strong army finally destroyed the armies of the other 6 warring states and made Qin the first united imperial state of China. It was an example of a strongly Legalist government that governed harshly. That is why revolts broke out all over the country as soon as the First Emperor (Qin Shi Huang) died.
Qin Dynasty lasted only a short period from 221 to 201 BC. The subsequent dynasty, Han (as well other followed Chinese dynasties) realized that they could no longer use the same Legalist way to govern the people. A combination of Confucianism, Taoism (lesser extent) and Legalism thoughts was selected as a way of government and this lasted until now. Although the Chinese Communists’ Party may not acknowledge this combination, one can clearly see this in the daily life of Chinese people today. Another example is the setting up of Confucius Institutes, Traditional Chinese Thoughts Institutes (国学院Guoxue yuan), etc. Besides the purpose of using traditional values and thoughts to counter the influence of western ideas, it also serves as a continuity of the traditional way of government.
In Wikipedia, you can find the explanation of legalism as follows:
Legalism is a pragmatic political philosophy synthesized by Shang Yang and Han Fei. With an essential principle like "when the epoch changed, the ways changed", it upholds the rule of law and is thus a theory of jurisprudence.
A ruler should govern his subjects by the following trinity:
Fa (法 fa3): law or principle.
Shu (術 shù): method, tactic, art, or statecraft.
Shi (勢 shì): legitimacy, power, or charisma.
Legalism was the chosen philosophy of the Qin Dynasty. It was blamed for creating a totalitarian
society and thereby experienced decline. Its main motto is: "Set clear strict laws, or deliver harsh punishment".
Monday 9 August 2010
The Power of Civilization
Well known Taiwanese writer, Long Ying Tai gave a speech in Peking University recently. In her topic of “the Power of civilization – from home worry to the island of beauty”, she wishes the emergence of China is through the power of civilization. And accordingly to her, the measurement for a civilization for a city is the treatment to mental patients; the service to handicaps; the care to widows and lonely persons; and the treatment to workers and the lower class. To a country, the, measurement should be how the country treats the foreigner migrants and the minority. She will also observe how the 1.3 billion (Chinese) people treat the 23 million (Taiwan) people.
Taiwan experienced a big increase in population from mainland China when the Nationalists were defeated by the Communists. More than 2 million mainlanders escaped to Taiwan during the period. Chiang Kai-shek also imposed martial law in Taiwan and there was no democracy and freedom of speech until the late 1980s. This led to many resistances, protests and one of the famous one is “the island of beauty” incidence.
The change in population structure also resulted to conflicts between local Taiwan peoples and mainlanders. The more intellectual mainlanders traditionally occupied important positions in government and business. Even today, the blue and green political (as well as culture and language) divide can also trace its root to big inflow of mainlanders.
Singapore is also experiencing a big inflow of foreigners. More than one-third of our residence population are now not locally born. What can we learn from Taiwan in solving our issues of citizen’s expectation versus economic development? Before touching on this, we may need to first solve the great affective divide in society – a debate on the reality between citizen’s needs and government policy.
Long’s conclusion remarks touched on the freedom of speech. She wishes perhaps also in her dream that the future Chinese can speak on any topics without fear in any evenings and in any places. Her generation of people’s hope is to work hard to make sure next generation to have the freedom without fear.
Coincidentally, Singapore writer Catherine Lim in her interview with a BBC programme also touched on the topic of freedom and fear. Lim first brought up the issue of A Great Affective Divide in the 1990s.
Have they all noticed the Great Divide in the society through the writer’s eyes!
Taiwan experienced a big increase in population from mainland China when the Nationalists were defeated by the Communists. More than 2 million mainlanders escaped to Taiwan during the period. Chiang Kai-shek also imposed martial law in Taiwan and there was no democracy and freedom of speech until the late 1980s. This led to many resistances, protests and one of the famous one is “the island of beauty” incidence.
The change in population structure also resulted to conflicts between local Taiwan peoples and mainlanders. The more intellectual mainlanders traditionally occupied important positions in government and business. Even today, the blue and green political (as well as culture and language) divide can also trace its root to big inflow of mainlanders.
Singapore is also experiencing a big inflow of foreigners. More than one-third of our residence population are now not locally born. What can we learn from Taiwan in solving our issues of citizen’s expectation versus economic development? Before touching on this, we may need to first solve the great affective divide in society – a debate on the reality between citizen’s needs and government policy.
Long’s conclusion remarks touched on the freedom of speech. She wishes perhaps also in her dream that the future Chinese can speak on any topics without fear in any evenings and in any places. Her generation of people’s hope is to work hard to make sure next generation to have the freedom without fear.
Coincidentally, Singapore writer Catherine Lim in her interview with a BBC programme also touched on the topic of freedom and fear. Lim first brought up the issue of A Great Affective Divide in the 1990s.
Have they all noticed the Great Divide in the society through the writer’s eyes!
Monday 2 August 2010
Changes in China culture sector
The Chinese cultural sector and industries are undergoing some major changes to reflect the emergence of China and the important contribution of cultural activities to society and the economy. The Chinese government wants to reform the cultural system so that it can increase the internal demand/export, create more employments and push the social and economic development to a higher level.
Key policy changes are allowing corporation of government institutions, investments from private and foreign countries, mergers and acquisitions. The Chinese government also wants to build key industry players and make the cultural activities an important part of the economic strategic plan.
Since the announcement last September, the Chinese Communist Party central politburo has held 22 group studies on the reform of cultural system as at July 23, 2010. The Plan on Culture Industry Re-emergence covers a wide range of topics. It described the urgency of the reform, the importance of speeding up the reform and the culture sector serving as a counter balancing factor in economic development especially when the economy is slowing down.
The guiding thought is to make culture industry as a new GNP stimulator. However, the basic principal is to place social benefit as key consideration and aims to achieve both social and economic returns. There are 5 objectives: improving culture market conditions, culture industry structure, innovation capability, modernization, and exportation of cultural services and products.
The Plan also specifies 8 action plans:
1. To develop key culture industry sectors: e.g. innovations, movie and TN production, publication and distribution, advertising, performance, exhibition etc.
2. to position key projects as strategic movers: e.g. national digital movie base, multi-media, economic information platform, etc
3. To nurture major cultural corporations: e.g. government involvement, mergers and acquisitions, inter-regional co-operation or re-structure, etc
4. To speed up the development of cultural industrial parks and bases: e.g. regional centers for products exchange and distribution, incentives etc.
5. To expand the culture consumerism: e.g. branding, intellectual property rights, related industries (education training, health, tourism, leisure) development etc.
6. To establish modern culture industry market system: e.g. communication, national network, private involvement, etc.
7. To develop new culture industry activities: e.g. digital, mobile, new cinema, mobile performance, network etc.
8. To expand foreign trade on culture: export, market development, encouragement of joint venture, co-operation, holdings in foreign countries etc.
There are 5 policies to encourage the culture industry development:
1. Lowering the entry requirements.
2. Increasing government involvements.
3. Providing tax incentives.
4. Increasing financial supports.
5. Setting up China Culture Industry Investment Fund.
The last part of the Plan provides 4 assurances to the reform:
1. Strengthening organization leadership and making cultural activities as a key performance indicator.
2. Depending the cultural system reform and providing a creative and innovative environment
3. Training culture industry talents and attracting finance, IT, foreign and management professionals
4. Strengthening legislation and protecting intellectual property rights.
Key policy changes are allowing corporation of government institutions, investments from private and foreign countries, mergers and acquisitions. The Chinese government also wants to build key industry players and make the cultural activities an important part of the economic strategic plan.
Since the announcement last September, the Chinese Communist Party central politburo has held 22 group studies on the reform of cultural system as at July 23, 2010. The Plan on Culture Industry Re-emergence covers a wide range of topics. It described the urgency of the reform, the importance of speeding up the reform and the culture sector serving as a counter balancing factor in economic development especially when the economy is slowing down.
The guiding thought is to make culture industry as a new GNP stimulator. However, the basic principal is to place social benefit as key consideration and aims to achieve both social and economic returns. There are 5 objectives: improving culture market conditions, culture industry structure, innovation capability, modernization, and exportation of cultural services and products.
The Plan also specifies 8 action plans:
1. To develop key culture industry sectors: e.g. innovations, movie and TN production, publication and distribution, advertising, performance, exhibition etc.
2. to position key projects as strategic movers: e.g. national digital movie base, multi-media, economic information platform, etc
3. To nurture major cultural corporations: e.g. government involvement, mergers and acquisitions, inter-regional co-operation or re-structure, etc
4. To speed up the development of cultural industrial parks and bases: e.g. regional centers for products exchange and distribution, incentives etc.
5. To expand the culture consumerism: e.g. branding, intellectual property rights, related industries (education training, health, tourism, leisure) development etc.
6. To establish modern culture industry market system: e.g. communication, national network, private involvement, etc.
7. To develop new culture industry activities: e.g. digital, mobile, new cinema, mobile performance, network etc.
8. To expand foreign trade on culture: export, market development, encouragement of joint venture, co-operation, holdings in foreign countries etc.
There are 5 policies to encourage the culture industry development:
1. Lowering the entry requirements.
2. Increasing government involvements.
3. Providing tax incentives.
4. Increasing financial supports.
5. Setting up China Culture Industry Investment Fund.
The last part of the Plan provides 4 assurances to the reform:
1. Strengthening organization leadership and making cultural activities as a key performance indicator.
2. Depending the cultural system reform and providing a creative and innovative environment
3. Training culture industry talents and attracting finance, IT, foreign and management professionals
4. Strengthening legislation and protecting intellectual property rights.
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