Chinese philosophy is very much built on uncertainty and the related fear and worry associated to the uncertainty. It is also more concern about the main land rather than sea.
Chinese characteristics are therefore influenced by these backgrounds and reflect into behaviour like unwilling to travel, reserved, conservative as compared to the outward looking Europeans. This inward attitude builds up the internal strength and can be seen in how they face and handle crisis.
Take Yi Jing for example, the creation of 8 trigrams (gua) representing 8 different natural elements: Qian (heaven), Kun (earth), Zhen(thunder), Xun (wind), Kan(water), Li(fire), Gen(mountain) and Dui(lake). These elements are certain and have constant behaviour. However, the combination and changes of these 8 elements will create new uncertainties and make life difficult for people. These new changes can lead to disasters which again can be expected, for example, the coming of a storm.
These changes and unchanged elements will move along the natural environment and generate many happenings in the world. They create the possibilities of uncertainty and as a result, human beings have to find solutions and find ways to cope with the crisis. Just imagine, few thousand years ago when there were no scientific instruments to predict the unknown elements of changes, human beings for sure would be worry about their future. From 8 trigrams, it then developed into 64 hexagrams (consist of 2 trigrams) that represents all the possible happenings in the world. Hence, the main purpose of Yi Jing is to prevent us from making mistakes (to have less worry and fear). However, it later branches out to be an important tool for fortune telling.
Few hundred years after the compilation of Yi Jing, Hundred school of thought took place during the spring-autumn and warring period, a period of even more uncertainties, fear and worry. Hence, under such a circumstance, Chinese philosophies form different attitude towards crisis, survival, life and how individual building up internal strength to manage and face them. For example, Confucianism wants rulers to implement “仁政ren zheng” to be kind to the people. Daoism wants rulers to leave the running of the country to natural cause, not to disturb people.
So, in time of crisis, what will Chinese react? What is the right thing for them to do? How do they achieve internal satisfaction? What is the responsibility of a gentleman?
Right thing to do
Through out the history of China, it is either against or for. “Against” mean you will fight against the situation, i.e. you are even willing to sacrifice your life to protect your belief that it is the right thing to do.
“For” means you accept the fate and let the situation moves accordingly. The principles are to follow the winners.
Internal satisfaction
You are happy and satisfy with your own action. “Against” means even sacrificing life, internally, you will feel satisfaction and external suffering is insignificant.
For “means” you are happy and comfortable to move along with the situation. Not necessarily external comfort, but internally, you are happy with the environment.
A gentleman’s responsibility
When you feel some things are wrong, and internally not satisfied, you feel this is your responsibility to do some things to right the wrong. In this case, a gentleman’s responsibility is to stand up against the situation and to make changes.
“For” means doing the right thing is to protect one self. Once you feel satisfied with new situation, your duty is to follow the crowd and not against the situation.
Chinese reaction to crisis can result to very contrasting and extreme outcomes. When a dynasty fell, some would surrender and others would sacrifice themselves with the old kingdom. When an earthquake strikes, some will run away or take advantage of the situation and some will risk their lives to save the unfortunates.
So, what is the true colour of Chinese characteristics? It depends ….
Tuesday 30 November 2010
Thursday 25 November 2010
Business Excellence and strategic thinking
In business, we talk about excellence. But what is the definition of excellence? The US Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award used to be quite popular in the 1980s and 1990s. However, many excellent companies and organisation are now no more interesting at the Award. So, have the pursuit and search of excellence stopped? No, they look for other models or develop their own models with internal and external inputs.
Chinese philosophy in the period of Hundred schools of thought (see below) had introduced several options for an ideal society and provided advices for rulers to build a stronger and prosperous nation. As you may aware, the winner was legalist who advised Qin that used tough and strict law to unite the whole China. However, Qin had a short life in history and was replaced by Han which lasted more than 400 years.
In business, would like to be short lived as Qin?
Philosophy let us know the maximum, even though it may not be achievable in reality. It may be harder for people and businesses under the survival line to think about ideal society or business excellence. However, with the progress of society and economic development, more and more will live above survival line and look for better society and business performance. Along the way, we will need to know our target; even it may be a philosophical one and bench mark against it.
For easy discussion, we only concentrate on 4 major philosophies (Confucianism, Daoism, Legalist and Mohism) in the late Zhou period for business excellence.
If we treat an ideal society as business excellence, then the 4 philosophies will provide the following visions:
Confucianism: A gentleman company. People are courteous, trustworthy, well behaved, respect seniors, follow instructions, honest and seek harmony and compromise with others. Employees want to perform well under rules and regulations and carry out duties with socially acceptable moral and ethical standard. Their aim is to be perfect workers with continuous learning.
Daoism: An action-less, natural company. Let things move in their natural path without intervention. Always focus on the weak, lower and unnoticed event, people, and things. Weak things will turn to strength and will change the bad situation to good.
Employees look for individual and spiritual satisfaction.
Legalist: A law enforcement company. Under rules and regulations, all are equal and receive fair treatment. A strict law is good as human beings are bad in nature and the law can prevent bad and unlawful behaviors. Employees know that they have to perform to be recognized and rewarded.
Mohism: A love for all company. Treat everyone with love and love has no distance regardless of whether they are relatives, friends or even enemy. They are willing to sacrifice life to defend the weak from attack. Employees follow the instructions set by leaders and go all out to spread love without fear.
As a leader you may adopt a combination of the above philosophies or at different stage of organisation development implementing different philosophy principles accordingly.
Further to the vision, in today’s management principles, strategic thinking is the use of systematic and rational methods in planning, problem-solving, and decision-making. However, strategic thinking needs to think out of box and imagine of the impossibilities, possibilities, uncertainties and opportunities. Chinese philosophy can be a source of strategic thinking.
From ideal society as a way to business excellence, we can also envisage the business planning and strategies that the 4 major Chinese philosophies will suggest:
Confucianism: Learning and education. No matter human nature is good or bad, self study, education and training can help a person to improve and upgrade to the highest level, so do the company. Company and employees trust each other in delivering the jobs and achieve a common target.
Daoism: Simplicity and reduction. Emphasis is on individual motivation, satisfaction and enrichment. Company will not influence individual decision. Individual takes their own, easy and simple way to carry out their work. Along the way, employees discard the old and leaned knowledge and see things as simplicity.
Legalist: Performance base. Employees will get rewards for their performance. Regardless of status, as far as one makes contributions to the company, he will be rewarded. Employees are motivated to use all means to achieve their target, including knowing that they may die in service.
Mohism: Universal and equal love. Without thinking one’s ability, in the name of love for all people, employees will perform their duty accordingly. They care very little about themselves but will follow the instruction of their leaders. They are not concern about the reward but are motivated to move forward even if it is an impossible mission.
As a company, you may want your employees to behave like a legalist or even better like a Mohism, never considering reward. However, when we are moving up to the higher economic level, we are searching for self actualisations rather than basic needs.
An organisation or business will need to know what Chinese philosophical strategies to engage so as to achieve excellent result.
Hundred Schools of Thought from wikipedia
The Hundred Schools of Thought (simplified Chinese: 诸子百家; traditional Chinese: 諸子百家; pinyin: zhūzǐ bǎijiā; Wade–Giles: chu-tzu pai-chia; literally "all philosophers hundred schools") were philosophers and schools that flourished from 770 to 221 BC, an era of great cultural and intellectual expansion in China. Even though this period - known in its earlier part as the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period (春秋戰國時代/春秋战国时代) - in its latter part was fraught with chaos and bloody battles, it is also known as the Golden Age of Chinese philosophy because a broad range of thoughts and ideas were developed and discussed freely. This phenomenon has been called the Contention of a Hundred Schools of Thought (百家爭鳴/百家争鸣; bǎijiā zhēngmíng; pai-chia cheng-ming; "hundred schools contend"). The thoughts and ideas discussed and refined during this period have profoundly influenced lifestyles and social consciousness up to the present day in East Asian countries. The intellectual society of this era was characterized by itinerant scholars, who were often employed by various state rulers as advisers on the methods of government, war, and diplomacy. This period ended with the rise of the Qin dynasty and the subsequent purge of dissent.
Confucianism and its derivatives
Main article: Confucianism
Confucianism (儒家; Rújiā; Ju-chia; "School of scholars") is the body of thought that arguably had the most enduring effects on Chinese life. Its written legacy lies in the Confucian Classics, which later became the foundation of traditional society. Confucius (551–479 BC), or Kongzi "Master Kong", looked back to the early days of the Zhou dynasty for an ideal socio-political order. He believed that the only effective system of government necessitated prescribed relationships for each individual: "Let the ruler be a ruler and the subject a subject". Furthermore, he contended that a king must be virtuous in order to rule properly. To Confucius, the functions of government and social stratification were facts of life to be sustained by ethical values; thus his ideal human was the junzi, which is translated as "gentleman" or "superior person".
Mencius (371–289 BC), or Mengzi, formulated his teachings directly in response to Confucius.
The effect of the combined work of Confucius, the codifier and interpreter of a system of relationships based on ethical behavior, and Mencius, the synthesizer and developer of applied Confucianist thought, was to provide traditional Chinese society with a comprehensive framework by which to order virtually every aspect of life.
There were many accretions to the body of Confucian thought, both immediately and over the millennia, from within and without the Confucian school. Interpretations adapted to contemporary society allowed for flexibility within Confucianism, while the fundamental system of modeled behavior from ancient texts formed its philosophical core.
Diametrically opposed to Mencius, in regards to human nature (性), was the interpretation of Xunzi (c. 300–237 BC), another Confucian follower. Xunzi preached that man is not innately good; he asserted that goodness is attainable only through training one's desires and conduct.
Legalism
Main article: Legalism (Chinese philosophy)
The School of Law or Legalism (法家; Fǎjiā; Fa-chia; "School of law") doctrine was formulated by Han Feizi (d. 233 BC) and Li Si (d. 208 BC), who maintained that human nature was incorrigibly selfish; accordingly, the only way to preserve the social order was to impose discipline from above, and to see to a strict enforcement of laws. The Legalists exalted the state above all, seeking its prosperity and martial prowess over the welfare of the common people.
Legalism greatly influenced the philosophical basis for the imperial form of government. During the Han Dynasty, the most practical elements of Confucianism and Legalism were taken to form a sort of synthesis, marking the creation of a new form of government that would remain largely intact until the late 19th century.
Taoism
Main article: Taoism
Philosophical Taoism or Daoism (道家; Dàojiā; Tao-chia; "School of the Way") developed into the second most significant stream of Chinese thought. Its formulation is often attributed to the legendary sage Laozi ("Old Master"), who is said to predate Confucius, and Zhuangzi (369–286 BC). The focus of Taoism is on the individual within the natural realm rather than the individual within society; accordingly, the goal of life for each individual is seeking to adjust oneself and adapting to the rhythm of the natural (and the supernatural) world, to follow the Way (tao) of the universe, and to live in harmony. In many ways the opposite of rigid Confucian morality, Taoism was for many of its adherents a complement to their ordered daily lives. A scholar serving as an official would usually follow Confucian teachings, but at leisure or in retirement might seek harmony with nature as a Taoist recluse.
Mohism
Main article: Mohism
Mohism or Moism (墨家; Mòjiā; Mo-chia; "School of Mo") was developed by followers of Mozi (also referred to as Mo Di; 470–c.391 BC). Though the school did not survive through the Qin Dynasty, Mohism was seen as a major rival of Confucianism in the period of the Hundred Schools of Thought. Its philosophy rested on the idea of universal love: Mozi believed that "everyone is equal before heaven", and that people should seek to imitate heaven by engaging in the practice of collective love. His epistemology can be regarded as primitive materialist empiricism; he believed that human cognition ought to be based on one's perceptions – one's sensory experiences, such as sight and hearing – instead of imagination or internal logic, elements founded on the human capacity for abstraction.
Mozi advocated frugality, condemning the Confucian emphasis on ritual and music, which he denounced as extravagant. He regarded offensive warfare as wasteful and advocated pacifism or at the most, defensive fortification. The achievement of social goals, according to Mozi, necessitated the unity of thought and action. His political philosophy bears a resemblance to divine-rule monarchy: the population ought always to obey its leaders, as its leaders ought always to follow the will of heaven. Mohism might be argued to have elements of meritocracy: Mozi contended that rulers should appoint officials by virtue of their ability instead of their family connections. Although popular faith in Mohism had declined by the end of the Qin Dynasty, its views are said to be strongly echoed in Legalist thought.
School of Yin-yang
The School of Naturalists or Yin-yang (陰陽家/阴阳家; Yīnyángjiā; Yin-yang-chia; "School of Yin-Yang") was a Warring States era philosophy that synthesized the concepts of yin-yang and the Five Elements. Zou Yan is considered the founder of this school. Their theories attempted to explain the universe in terms of basic forces in nature: the complementary agents of yin (dark, cold, female, negative) and yang (light, hot, male, positive) and the Five Elements or Five Phases (water, fire, wood, metal, and earth). In its early days, these theories were most strongly associated with the states of Yan and Qi. In later periods, these epistemological theories came to hold significance in both philosophy and popular belief. This school was absorbed into Taoism's alchemic and magical dimensions as well as into the Chinese medical framework. The earliest surviving recordings of this are in the Ma Wang Dui texts and Huang Di Nei Jing.
Logicians
Main article: School of Names
The School of Names or Logicians (名家; Míngjiā; Ming-chia; "School of names") grew out of Mohism, with a philosophy that focused on definition and logic. It is said to have parallels with that of the Ancient Greek sophists or dialecticians. The most notable Logician was Gongsun Longzi.
Other Schools
The Taishigong Zixu (太史公自序) of Shiji (史記/史记) lists the above six major philosophies within the Hundred Schools of Thought. The Yiwenzhi (藝文志/艺文志) of Hanshu (漢書/汉书) adds four more into the Ten Schools (十家; Shijia).
The School of Agriculture (農家/农家; Nongjia) encouraged farming and agriculture and taught farming and cultivation techniques, as they believed that agricultural development was the way to have enough food for the country. For example, Mencius once criticized Xu Xing (許行) for advocating that rulers should work in the fields with their subjects.
The School of Diplomacy or School of Vertical and Horizontal [Alliances] (縱橫家/纵横家; Zonghengjia) specialized in diplomatic politics; Zhang Yi and Su Qin were representative thinkers. This school focused on practical matters instead of any moral principle, so it stressed political and diplomatic tactics, and debate and lobbying skill. Scholars from this school were good orators, debaters and tacticians.
The Miscellaneous School (雜家/杂家; Zajia) integrated teachings from different schools; for instance, Lü Buwei found scholars from different schools to write a book called Lüshi Chunqiu (呂氏春秋) cooperatively. This school tried to integrate the merits of various schools and avoid their perceived flaws.
The School of "Minor-talks" (小說家/小说家; Xiaoshuojia) was not a unique school of thought. Indeed, all the thoughts which was discussed by and originated from non-famous people on the street were included into this school. At that time, there were some government officials responsible for collecting ideas from non-famous people on the street and report to their senior. This was where this school originated from. This also explains its Chinese name, which literally means "school of minor-talks".
Another group is the School of the Military (兵家; Bingjia) that studied warfare and strategy; Sunzi and Sun Bin were influential leaders. However, this school was not one of the "Ten Schools" defined by Hanshu.
Chinese philosophy in the period of Hundred schools of thought (see below) had introduced several options for an ideal society and provided advices for rulers to build a stronger and prosperous nation. As you may aware, the winner was legalist who advised Qin that used tough and strict law to unite the whole China. However, Qin had a short life in history and was replaced by Han which lasted more than 400 years.
In business, would like to be short lived as Qin?
Philosophy let us know the maximum, even though it may not be achievable in reality. It may be harder for people and businesses under the survival line to think about ideal society or business excellence. However, with the progress of society and economic development, more and more will live above survival line and look for better society and business performance. Along the way, we will need to know our target; even it may be a philosophical one and bench mark against it.
For easy discussion, we only concentrate on 4 major philosophies (Confucianism, Daoism, Legalist and Mohism) in the late Zhou period for business excellence.
If we treat an ideal society as business excellence, then the 4 philosophies will provide the following visions:
Confucianism: A gentleman company. People are courteous, trustworthy, well behaved, respect seniors, follow instructions, honest and seek harmony and compromise with others. Employees want to perform well under rules and regulations and carry out duties with socially acceptable moral and ethical standard. Their aim is to be perfect workers with continuous learning.
Daoism: An action-less, natural company. Let things move in their natural path without intervention. Always focus on the weak, lower and unnoticed event, people, and things. Weak things will turn to strength and will change the bad situation to good.
Employees look for individual and spiritual satisfaction.
Legalist: A law enforcement company. Under rules and regulations, all are equal and receive fair treatment. A strict law is good as human beings are bad in nature and the law can prevent bad and unlawful behaviors. Employees know that they have to perform to be recognized and rewarded.
Mohism: A love for all company. Treat everyone with love and love has no distance regardless of whether they are relatives, friends or even enemy. They are willing to sacrifice life to defend the weak from attack. Employees follow the instructions set by leaders and go all out to spread love without fear.
As a leader you may adopt a combination of the above philosophies or at different stage of organisation development implementing different philosophy principles accordingly.
Further to the vision, in today’s management principles, strategic thinking is the use of systematic and rational methods in planning, problem-solving, and decision-making. However, strategic thinking needs to think out of box and imagine of the impossibilities, possibilities, uncertainties and opportunities. Chinese philosophy can be a source of strategic thinking.
From ideal society as a way to business excellence, we can also envisage the business planning and strategies that the 4 major Chinese philosophies will suggest:
Confucianism: Learning and education. No matter human nature is good or bad, self study, education and training can help a person to improve and upgrade to the highest level, so do the company. Company and employees trust each other in delivering the jobs and achieve a common target.
Daoism: Simplicity and reduction. Emphasis is on individual motivation, satisfaction and enrichment. Company will not influence individual decision. Individual takes their own, easy and simple way to carry out their work. Along the way, employees discard the old and leaned knowledge and see things as simplicity.
Legalist: Performance base. Employees will get rewards for their performance. Regardless of status, as far as one makes contributions to the company, he will be rewarded. Employees are motivated to use all means to achieve their target, including knowing that they may die in service.
Mohism: Universal and equal love. Without thinking one’s ability, in the name of love for all people, employees will perform their duty accordingly. They care very little about themselves but will follow the instruction of their leaders. They are not concern about the reward but are motivated to move forward even if it is an impossible mission.
As a company, you may want your employees to behave like a legalist or even better like a Mohism, never considering reward. However, when we are moving up to the higher economic level, we are searching for self actualisations rather than basic needs.
An organisation or business will need to know what Chinese philosophical strategies to engage so as to achieve excellent result.
Hundred Schools of Thought from wikipedia
The Hundred Schools of Thought (simplified Chinese: 诸子百家; traditional Chinese: 諸子百家; pinyin: zhūzǐ bǎijiā; Wade–Giles: chu-tzu pai-chia; literally "all philosophers hundred schools") were philosophers and schools that flourished from 770 to 221 BC, an era of great cultural and intellectual expansion in China. Even though this period - known in its earlier part as the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period (春秋戰國時代/春秋战国时代) - in its latter part was fraught with chaos and bloody battles, it is also known as the Golden Age of Chinese philosophy because a broad range of thoughts and ideas were developed and discussed freely. This phenomenon has been called the Contention of a Hundred Schools of Thought (百家爭鳴/百家争鸣; bǎijiā zhēngmíng; pai-chia cheng-ming; "hundred schools contend"). The thoughts and ideas discussed and refined during this period have profoundly influenced lifestyles and social consciousness up to the present day in East Asian countries. The intellectual society of this era was characterized by itinerant scholars, who were often employed by various state rulers as advisers on the methods of government, war, and diplomacy. This period ended with the rise of the Qin dynasty and the subsequent purge of dissent.
Confucianism and its derivatives
Main article: Confucianism
Confucianism (儒家; Rújiā; Ju-chia; "School of scholars") is the body of thought that arguably had the most enduring effects on Chinese life. Its written legacy lies in the Confucian Classics, which later became the foundation of traditional society. Confucius (551–479 BC), or Kongzi "Master Kong", looked back to the early days of the Zhou dynasty for an ideal socio-political order. He believed that the only effective system of government necessitated prescribed relationships for each individual: "Let the ruler be a ruler and the subject a subject". Furthermore, he contended that a king must be virtuous in order to rule properly. To Confucius, the functions of government and social stratification were facts of life to be sustained by ethical values; thus his ideal human was the junzi, which is translated as "gentleman" or "superior person".
Mencius (371–289 BC), or Mengzi, formulated his teachings directly in response to Confucius.
The effect of the combined work of Confucius, the codifier and interpreter of a system of relationships based on ethical behavior, and Mencius, the synthesizer and developer of applied Confucianist thought, was to provide traditional Chinese society with a comprehensive framework by which to order virtually every aspect of life.
There were many accretions to the body of Confucian thought, both immediately and over the millennia, from within and without the Confucian school. Interpretations adapted to contemporary society allowed for flexibility within Confucianism, while the fundamental system of modeled behavior from ancient texts formed its philosophical core.
Diametrically opposed to Mencius, in regards to human nature (性), was the interpretation of Xunzi (c. 300–237 BC), another Confucian follower. Xunzi preached that man is not innately good; he asserted that goodness is attainable only through training one's desires and conduct.
Legalism
Main article: Legalism (Chinese philosophy)
The School of Law or Legalism (法家; Fǎjiā; Fa-chia; "School of law") doctrine was formulated by Han Feizi (d. 233 BC) and Li Si (d. 208 BC), who maintained that human nature was incorrigibly selfish; accordingly, the only way to preserve the social order was to impose discipline from above, and to see to a strict enforcement of laws. The Legalists exalted the state above all, seeking its prosperity and martial prowess over the welfare of the common people.
Legalism greatly influenced the philosophical basis for the imperial form of government. During the Han Dynasty, the most practical elements of Confucianism and Legalism were taken to form a sort of synthesis, marking the creation of a new form of government that would remain largely intact until the late 19th century.
Taoism
Main article: Taoism
Philosophical Taoism or Daoism (道家; Dàojiā; Tao-chia; "School of the Way") developed into the second most significant stream of Chinese thought. Its formulation is often attributed to the legendary sage Laozi ("Old Master"), who is said to predate Confucius, and Zhuangzi (369–286 BC). The focus of Taoism is on the individual within the natural realm rather than the individual within society; accordingly, the goal of life for each individual is seeking to adjust oneself and adapting to the rhythm of the natural (and the supernatural) world, to follow the Way (tao) of the universe, and to live in harmony. In many ways the opposite of rigid Confucian morality, Taoism was for many of its adherents a complement to their ordered daily lives. A scholar serving as an official would usually follow Confucian teachings, but at leisure or in retirement might seek harmony with nature as a Taoist recluse.
Mohism
Main article: Mohism
Mohism or Moism (墨家; Mòjiā; Mo-chia; "School of Mo") was developed by followers of Mozi (also referred to as Mo Di; 470–c.391 BC). Though the school did not survive through the Qin Dynasty, Mohism was seen as a major rival of Confucianism in the period of the Hundred Schools of Thought. Its philosophy rested on the idea of universal love: Mozi believed that "everyone is equal before heaven", and that people should seek to imitate heaven by engaging in the practice of collective love. His epistemology can be regarded as primitive materialist empiricism; he believed that human cognition ought to be based on one's perceptions – one's sensory experiences, such as sight and hearing – instead of imagination or internal logic, elements founded on the human capacity for abstraction.
Mozi advocated frugality, condemning the Confucian emphasis on ritual and music, which he denounced as extravagant. He regarded offensive warfare as wasteful and advocated pacifism or at the most, defensive fortification. The achievement of social goals, according to Mozi, necessitated the unity of thought and action. His political philosophy bears a resemblance to divine-rule monarchy: the population ought always to obey its leaders, as its leaders ought always to follow the will of heaven. Mohism might be argued to have elements of meritocracy: Mozi contended that rulers should appoint officials by virtue of their ability instead of their family connections. Although popular faith in Mohism had declined by the end of the Qin Dynasty, its views are said to be strongly echoed in Legalist thought.
School of Yin-yang
The School of Naturalists or Yin-yang (陰陽家/阴阳家; Yīnyángjiā; Yin-yang-chia; "School of Yin-Yang") was a Warring States era philosophy that synthesized the concepts of yin-yang and the Five Elements. Zou Yan is considered the founder of this school. Their theories attempted to explain the universe in terms of basic forces in nature: the complementary agents of yin (dark, cold, female, negative) and yang (light, hot, male, positive) and the Five Elements or Five Phases (water, fire, wood, metal, and earth). In its early days, these theories were most strongly associated with the states of Yan and Qi. In later periods, these epistemological theories came to hold significance in both philosophy and popular belief. This school was absorbed into Taoism's alchemic and magical dimensions as well as into the Chinese medical framework. The earliest surviving recordings of this are in the Ma Wang Dui texts and Huang Di Nei Jing.
Logicians
Main article: School of Names
The School of Names or Logicians (名家; Míngjiā; Ming-chia; "School of names") grew out of Mohism, with a philosophy that focused on definition and logic. It is said to have parallels with that of the Ancient Greek sophists or dialecticians. The most notable Logician was Gongsun Longzi.
Other Schools
The Taishigong Zixu (太史公自序) of Shiji (史記/史记) lists the above six major philosophies within the Hundred Schools of Thought. The Yiwenzhi (藝文志/艺文志) of Hanshu (漢書/汉书) adds four more into the Ten Schools (十家; Shijia).
The School of Agriculture (農家/农家; Nongjia) encouraged farming and agriculture and taught farming and cultivation techniques, as they believed that agricultural development was the way to have enough food for the country. For example, Mencius once criticized Xu Xing (許行) for advocating that rulers should work in the fields with their subjects.
The School of Diplomacy or School of Vertical and Horizontal [Alliances] (縱橫家/纵横家; Zonghengjia) specialized in diplomatic politics; Zhang Yi and Su Qin were representative thinkers. This school focused on practical matters instead of any moral principle, so it stressed political and diplomatic tactics, and debate and lobbying skill. Scholars from this school were good orators, debaters and tacticians.
The Miscellaneous School (雜家/杂家; Zajia) integrated teachings from different schools; for instance, Lü Buwei found scholars from different schools to write a book called Lüshi Chunqiu (呂氏春秋) cooperatively. This school tried to integrate the merits of various schools and avoid their perceived flaws.
The School of "Minor-talks" (小說家/小说家; Xiaoshuojia) was not a unique school of thought. Indeed, all the thoughts which was discussed by and originated from non-famous people on the street were included into this school. At that time, there were some government officials responsible for collecting ideas from non-famous people on the street and report to their senior. This was where this school originated from. This also explains its Chinese name, which literally means "school of minor-talks".
Another group is the School of the Military (兵家; Bingjia) that studied warfare and strategy; Sunzi and Sun Bin were influential leaders. However, this school was not one of the "Ten Schools" defined by Hanshu.
Wednesday 17 November 2010
Change, Unchanged and Simplicity
The progress of mankind takes a long time to advance. So do the development of culture and wisdom. The Book of Change (Yi Jing 易经) was first written in symbol or sign language before the invention and finalisation of Chinese characteristics. It only uses 2 simple signs: __ and - - . From these, they develop into a collection and explanation of happenings between the environment and mankind in the world.
By the time the Book was written by Zhou Wenwang （周文王）in early Zhuo dynasty, it had already had in existence for several thousand years. Several hundred years later, near the end of Zhou dynasty, Confucius and his followers provided explanations (Yi Zhuan 易传) to the Book so that people can have a better understand of Yi Jing and the meaning of the simple descriptions written by Zhou Wenwang in Yi Jing.
Wisdom is not and cannot be created overnight. It takes few thousand years for civilization to progress. Hence, it will come to a stage, with the support of environment (spring-autumn and warring periods), that a breakthrough would take place: Hundred schools of thought. The past wisdom before and during Zhou dynasty had finally put into many debates among different scholars, in search of better and meaningful life as well as the right way of government.
The Book of Change provides predictions on possible happenings in the world. It describes the relationship between environment and human beings. The changes in environment have its pattern and are represented by Sky (天tian) and Earth (地di). Hence, no matter it is earth quake, flood, drought, or hurricane, it has a principle of operations. It is like a cycle, just like the rotating of spring, autumn, summer and winter.
Man, in between of Sky and Earth, seeks to live with the environment in harmony. The environment takes its own path and way and has no concern about the living things in the world. Man in this case has to adjust to the changes, to enjoy or suffer from the happenings in the environment. This may also explain why in the process of Chinese civilization, Chinese seek peace and harmony with the environment. There is no destruction to environment, such as industrial revolution.
Perhaps, the Book of Change is not a proper name. The Yi in Yi Jing has 3 meanings: Change, Unchanged and Simplicity. Change means man and living things need to make changes to the changes of Sky and Earth, for example coping with disasters. The disaster itself is another change. Unchanged refers to the permanent principle or pattern of the movement of Sky and Earth or the basic value for human beings, for example, the rise of sun and moon, to be a kind person (向善). Simplicity means the origin of all the happenings in the universe; for example, God is the creator of all mankind.
The Book of Change has great influence on Chinese people, from one dynasty to another dynasty and from one generation to another generation. In philosophy, the Hundred Schools of Thought and other philosophical developments in all the dynasties have their origin traced back to Yi Jing. For religions, Daoism, Buddhism and other local Chinese religions were greatly influenced by Yi Jing. The most interesting part of all may be fortune telling. Fengshui 风水and others can also be traced back to Yi Jing. One important contribution or use of Yi Jing is to use the Book of Change to predict the future. Hence, it is able to tell the fortune of a person.
In management, change management is an important subject for leadership development. However, it should also include unchanged considerations and factors.
Every change in situation, for example, a new recruit, new equipment, will result to an improved or bad overall performance. Simplicity is another area that management is looking forward to improve performance, how to cut down the bureaucracy, how to have faster and direct feedback etc.
By the time the Book was written by Zhou Wenwang （周文王）in early Zhuo dynasty, it had already had in existence for several thousand years. Several hundred years later, near the end of Zhou dynasty, Confucius and his followers provided explanations (Yi Zhuan 易传) to the Book so that people can have a better understand of Yi Jing and the meaning of the simple descriptions written by Zhou Wenwang in Yi Jing.
Wisdom is not and cannot be created overnight. It takes few thousand years for civilization to progress. Hence, it will come to a stage, with the support of environment (spring-autumn and warring periods), that a breakthrough would take place: Hundred schools of thought. The past wisdom before and during Zhou dynasty had finally put into many debates among different scholars, in search of better and meaningful life as well as the right way of government.
The Book of Change provides predictions on possible happenings in the world. It describes the relationship between environment and human beings. The changes in environment have its pattern and are represented by Sky (天tian) and Earth (地di). Hence, no matter it is earth quake, flood, drought, or hurricane, it has a principle of operations. It is like a cycle, just like the rotating of spring, autumn, summer and winter.
Man, in between of Sky and Earth, seeks to live with the environment in harmony. The environment takes its own path and way and has no concern about the living things in the world. Man in this case has to adjust to the changes, to enjoy or suffer from the happenings in the environment. This may also explain why in the process of Chinese civilization, Chinese seek peace and harmony with the environment. There is no destruction to environment, such as industrial revolution.
Perhaps, the Book of Change is not a proper name. The Yi in Yi Jing has 3 meanings: Change, Unchanged and Simplicity. Change means man and living things need to make changes to the changes of Sky and Earth, for example coping with disasters. The disaster itself is another change. Unchanged refers to the permanent principle or pattern of the movement of Sky and Earth or the basic value for human beings, for example, the rise of sun and moon, to be a kind person (向善). Simplicity means the origin of all the happenings in the universe; for example, God is the creator of all mankind.
The Book of Change has great influence on Chinese people, from one dynasty to another dynasty and from one generation to another generation. In philosophy, the Hundred Schools of Thought and other philosophical developments in all the dynasties have their origin traced back to Yi Jing. For religions, Daoism, Buddhism and other local Chinese religions were greatly influenced by Yi Jing. The most interesting part of all may be fortune telling. Fengshui 风水and others can also be traced back to Yi Jing. One important contribution or use of Yi Jing is to use the Book of Change to predict the future. Hence, it is able to tell the fortune of a person.
In management, change management is an important subject for leadership development. However, it should also include unchanged considerations and factors.
Every change in situation, for example, a new recruit, new equipment, will result to an improved or bad overall performance. Simplicity is another area that management is looking forward to improve performance, how to cut down the bureaucracy, how to have faster and direct feedback etc.
Monday 15 November 2010
Dynasty as management learning
In the long history of China, there were up and down of Chinese dynasties. Some were very impressive like Han and Tang. These dynasties were considered the strongest and richest country in the world. Even in such a strong dynasty, they also faced economic downturn, and with several bad managements, the dynasty ended and was overthrown by another new dynasty.
For “weak” dynasty, like Song, they also had their moments of glory. In turn of economic achievements, cultural developments, Song has her place in history.
So what do they tell us? And what can we learn from them?
Chinese historians have categorized Chinese history into 3 periods:
Ancient China: period before 1840 (the start of the Opium war).
Near Modern China: between 1840 and 1919 – the May 4 movements.
Modern China: After 1919, especially 1921 the establishment year of Chinese Communists’ Party. However, it can also be 1911, the end of Qing dynasty and the formation of Republic of China.
However, many historians also like to arrange Chinese history according to dynasty. Hence, the History Timeline of China can be divided into:
Dates Dynasty
ca. 2000-1500 B.C. Xia
1700-1027 B.C. Shang
1027-771 B.C. Western Zhou
770-221 B.C. Eastern Zhou
770-476 B.C. -- Spring and Autumn period
475-221 B.C. -- Warring States period
221-207 B.C. Qin
206 B.C.-A.D. 9 Western Han
A.D. 9-24 Xin (Wang Mang interregnum)
A.D. 25-220 Eastern Han
A.D. 220-280 Three Kingdoms
220-265 -- Wei
221-263 -- Shu
229-280 -- Wu
A.D. 265-316 Western Jin
A.D. 317-420 Eastern Jin
A.D. 420-588 Southern and Northern Dynasties
420-588 Southern Dynasties
420-478 -- Song
479-501 -- Qi
502-556 -- Liang
557-588 -- Chen
386-588 Northern Dynasties
386-533 -- Northern Wei
534-549 -- Eastern Wei
535-557 -- Western Wei
550-577 -- Northern Qi
557-588 -- Northern Zhou
A.D. 581-617 Sui
A.D. 618-907 Tang
A.D. 907-960 Five Dynasties
907-923 -- Later Liang
923-936 -- Later Tang
936-946 -- Later Jin
947-950 -- Later Han
951-960 -- Later Zhou
A.D. 907-979 Ten Kingdoms
A.D. 960-1279 Song
960-1127 -- Northern Song
1127-1279 -- Southern Song
A.D. 916-1125 Liao
A.D. 1038-1227 Western Xia
A.D. 1115-1234 Jin
A.D. 1279-1368 Yuan
A.D. 1368-1644 Ming
A.D. 1644-1911 Qing
A.D. 1911-1949 Republic of China (in mainland China)
A.D. 1949- Republic of China (in Taiwan)
A.D. 1949- People's Republic of China
Source: http://www-chaos.umd.edu/history/time_line.html
Many critics have complained about learning from the Chinese past. In 1919, the May-4movement blamed the backwardness to the Chinese traditions. They even campaigned to abandon the past and learn totally from the west. This is why May 4 also called new cultural movement. Many Chinese believed that Chinese traditions and practices had prevented the advancement and modernization of China. During the Cultural Revolution in 1960s and 1970s, Chinese traditions, religions and customs, especially, Confucianism were again under attack even though it was politically motivated.
So, what is the point of learning from the past? The past traditions based on the dynasty system are different from our modern social and political structure. The old practices, beliefs, and values are irrelevant to our modern time. Is it true?
However, there are some fundamental practices and human nature that can not be changed or comprised. The experiences gained from the past traditions can server as a reminder to us, such as:
- To educate people to be good citizens and make contributions to society. (Providing learning and development opportunities for the workforce is an important human resources strategy).
- To bring good life to the people. (Providing workplace safety, harmony and healthy can retain stay and improve productivity).
- To administrate and manage the government effectively. (Business excellence is what business organizations want to achieve)
Regardless of the capitalism, socialism or communism, we cannot ignore the presence of people, management of people, organization, control, planning and leading.
Hence, the past experience and knowledge from the traditional wisdom can help us to address the management problems of today. The case studies from past dynasties can serve as a reminder and learning tool. It may even be better than present day case studies that were built on assumptions.
Leading
The founders of each dynasty were always skilled leaders and military commanders.
Without leadership quality, how can they unite the whole China?
Planning
Dynasty founders always had long term planning to keep and maintain their dynasty for their next generations. Without planning, can dynasties last for more then hundred years?
Organizing
Dynasties were able to organize their administration of government with the help of scholars and military leaders. Without organizing skill, how can dynasty govern and collect taxes from the people?
Controlling
The Emperors used their authority and power to control their servants and regional leaders. There were also proper reporting systems. Without control mechanism, how can dynasty function effectively?
We can learn from both the success and failed practices of past dynasties and avoid being making the same mistakes. We also need to realize the different historical backgrounds that were no more possible or relevant to our current situations. We need t makes changes and proper alignment to fix the past to the present.
For “weak” dynasty, like Song, they also had their moments of glory. In turn of economic achievements, cultural developments, Song has her place in history.
So what do they tell us? And what can we learn from them?
Chinese historians have categorized Chinese history into 3 periods:
Ancient China: period before 1840 (the start of the Opium war).
Near Modern China: between 1840 and 1919 – the May 4 movements.
Modern China: After 1919, especially 1921 the establishment year of Chinese Communists’ Party. However, it can also be 1911, the end of Qing dynasty and the formation of Republic of China.
However, many historians also like to arrange Chinese history according to dynasty. Hence, the History Timeline of China can be divided into:
Dates Dynasty
ca. 2000-1500 B.C. Xia
1700-1027 B.C. Shang
1027-771 B.C. Western Zhou
770-221 B.C. Eastern Zhou
770-476 B.C. -- Spring and Autumn period
475-221 B.C. -- Warring States period
221-207 B.C. Qin
206 B.C.-A.D. 9 Western Han
A.D. 9-24 Xin (Wang Mang interregnum)
A.D. 25-220 Eastern Han
A.D. 220-280 Three Kingdoms
220-265 -- Wei
221-263 -- Shu
229-280 -- Wu
A.D. 265-316 Western Jin
A.D. 317-420 Eastern Jin
A.D. 420-588 Southern and Northern Dynasties
420-588 Southern Dynasties
420-478 -- Song
479-501 -- Qi
502-556 -- Liang
557-588 -- Chen
386-588 Northern Dynasties
386-533 -- Northern Wei
534-549 -- Eastern Wei
535-557 -- Western Wei
550-577 -- Northern Qi
557-588 -- Northern Zhou
A.D. 581-617 Sui
A.D. 618-907 Tang
A.D. 907-960 Five Dynasties
907-923 -- Later Liang
923-936 -- Later Tang
936-946 -- Later Jin
947-950 -- Later Han
951-960 -- Later Zhou
A.D. 907-979 Ten Kingdoms
A.D. 960-1279 Song
960-1127 -- Northern Song
1127-1279 -- Southern Song
A.D. 916-1125 Liao
A.D. 1038-1227 Western Xia
A.D. 1115-1234 Jin
A.D. 1279-1368 Yuan
A.D. 1368-1644 Ming
A.D. 1644-1911 Qing
A.D. 1911-1949 Republic of China (in mainland China)
A.D. 1949- Republic of China (in Taiwan)
A.D. 1949- People's Republic of China
Source: http://www-chaos.umd.edu/history/time_line.html
Many critics have complained about learning from the Chinese past. In 1919, the May-4movement blamed the backwardness to the Chinese traditions. They even campaigned to abandon the past and learn totally from the west. This is why May 4 also called new cultural movement. Many Chinese believed that Chinese traditions and practices had prevented the advancement and modernization of China. During the Cultural Revolution in 1960s and 1970s, Chinese traditions, religions and customs, especially, Confucianism were again under attack even though it was politically motivated.
So, what is the point of learning from the past? The past traditions based on the dynasty system are different from our modern social and political structure. The old practices, beliefs, and values are irrelevant to our modern time. Is it true?
However, there are some fundamental practices and human nature that can not be changed or comprised. The experiences gained from the past traditions can server as a reminder to us, such as:
- To educate people to be good citizens and make contributions to society. (Providing learning and development opportunities for the workforce is an important human resources strategy).
- To bring good life to the people. (Providing workplace safety, harmony and healthy can retain stay and improve productivity).
- To administrate and manage the government effectively. (Business excellence is what business organizations want to achieve)
Regardless of the capitalism, socialism or communism, we cannot ignore the presence of people, management of people, organization, control, planning and leading.
Hence, the past experience and knowledge from the traditional wisdom can help us to address the management problems of today. The case studies from past dynasties can serve as a reminder and learning tool. It may even be better than present day case studies that were built on assumptions.
Leading
The founders of each dynasty were always skilled leaders and military commanders.
Without leadership quality, how can they unite the whole China?
Planning
Dynasty founders always had long term planning to keep and maintain their dynasty for their next generations. Without planning, can dynasties last for more then hundred years?
Organizing
Dynasties were able to organize their administration of government with the help of scholars and military leaders. Without organizing skill, how can dynasty govern and collect taxes from the people?
Controlling
The Emperors used their authority and power to control their servants and regional leaders. There were also proper reporting systems. Without control mechanism, how can dynasty function effectively?
We can learn from both the success and failed practices of past dynasties and avoid being making the same mistakes. We also need to realize the different historical backgrounds that were no more possible or relevant to our current situations. We need t makes changes and proper alignment to fix the past to the present.
Thursday 11 November 2010
Practical management wisdom of ancient Chinese
The most well known and popular ancient Chinese book for management could be “Sun Zi – the Art of War” 孙子兵法. It is widely used not only for business but also for military education as it is one of the “must read” books at West point, USA.
If one only knows the Art of War and has no knowledge about other ancient Chinese philosophies, he or she is like a blind touching an elephant and trying to estimate the size of the elephant. According to Shima Qian’s “Shi Ji” (The Record of Great Historian in Han Dynasty), Sun Zi is not listed as the top 6 philosophy groups (Confucianism, Legalism, Daoism, Mohism, Ying-Yang and Logicians) in the Hundred Schools of Thought. However, it was mentioned as one of the top 10 philosophy groups. There is also a saying; Sun Zi got his war theories and principles from Laozi – the master of Dao philosophy.
If we dated back our modernization to Industrial Revolution, then the western modern management and business practice can also be traced back to 18th century. However, in pursuit of market, profit, economies of scale, the modern management principles (leading planning, organizing and controlling) and decision makings are unable to move away from these objectives. Because of this narrow view, it is no surprise that we only concentrate on Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1764), as a productivity tool. And few can remember another Adam Smith book entitled Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759).
Long ago, Adam Smith had reminded us about the negative effect of commercialisation, capitalism and economic development. As you may have notice, Moral sentiments was published first before the Wealth of Nations. We seem to look at business excellence and development from the up side down perspective.
The world is changing and moving rapidly in the age of information technology. But no matter what we are heading, we cannot ignore the fundamentals and traditions as mentioned in Moral sentiments or even to ancient European and Asian philosophers. This leads to the recent surge of ancient philosophies in Christian, Islamic, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Jain and Humanist traditions. Yale University is currently engaging in a project and will hold a global conference in 2013 on practical wisdom for management from ancient spiritual and philosophical traditions.
The discovery of Americas and the emergency of USA as an economic superpower have changed the world and make people in full confidence of business excellence in profit maximization. However, with hyperinflation, great depression in 1930s, and several financial crises in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, no wonder we have to cast doubts on free economy, especially the emphasis on profit over value. In years to come, the American influence in business will have to be reduced and a multi-player business environment will emerge. This will lead to inputs and considerations of the ancient spiritual and philosophies.
The rapid economic development in China has seen besides creating wealth, also witnessing the surge of the interest of Jing Dian (经典) learning. Chinese businessmen and government officials are spending high fees attending Jing dian courses by Peking University, Fudan universities etc. On 30 June 2010, Peking University announced the founding of a Confucianism Research Institute to promote academic studies about traditional culture and explore the contemporary significance of Confucian studies. This low profile and small scale project is approaching the Chinese traditions in a deeper way rather than the popular and better known Confucius Institutes sponsored by Chinese government.
However, we cannot ignore the significance of the Research Institute (or other similar researches in other Chinese philosophies, especially Daoism and Buddhism). The long term effect has yet to be known. On the other way, to a lesser extent, some Chinese businessmen and officials have even gone one step further to learn and practice the stricter teaching of Chinese Buddhism, Confucius, Daoism, etc. and apply these principles in their daily life and business practices.
How can we learn from the past, from the past wisdom of great Chinese traditions?
Geoffrey James in his book, “Success Secrets from Silicon Valley – How to make your teams more effective”, has divided business organizations into traditional and Silicon Valley businesses. The Silicon Valley mindset are Business is an ecosystem, not a battlefield; Corporations are communities, not machines; Management is service, not control; Employees are peers, not children; Motivate with vision, not fear; Change is growth, not pain; Computers are servants, not masters; Work is play, not toil.
Doing the thing right? Traditional business model is adopting the practices of industrial revolution and placing market, productivity, efficiency and profit ahead of environment, communities and humanity. They just want to improve their existing operating system, keep doing and perfecting the same old things.
Doing the right thing? Silicon Valley business emphasizes more on harmony in development, sustainable development, slower growth and corporate social responsibility.
This approach is closer to the practical wisdom of ancient traditions.
If one only knows the Art of War and has no knowledge about other ancient Chinese philosophies, he or she is like a blind touching an elephant and trying to estimate the size of the elephant. According to Shima Qian’s “Shi Ji” (The Record of Great Historian in Han Dynasty), Sun Zi is not listed as the top 6 philosophy groups (Confucianism, Legalism, Daoism, Mohism, Ying-Yang and Logicians) in the Hundred Schools of Thought. However, it was mentioned as one of the top 10 philosophy groups. There is also a saying; Sun Zi got his war theories and principles from Laozi – the master of Dao philosophy.
If we dated back our modernization to Industrial Revolution, then the western modern management and business practice can also be traced back to 18th century. However, in pursuit of market, profit, economies of scale, the modern management principles (leading planning, organizing and controlling) and decision makings are unable to move away from these objectives. Because of this narrow view, it is no surprise that we only concentrate on Adam Smith’s An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1764), as a productivity tool. And few can remember another Adam Smith book entitled Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759).
Long ago, Adam Smith had reminded us about the negative effect of commercialisation, capitalism and economic development. As you may have notice, Moral sentiments was published first before the Wealth of Nations. We seem to look at business excellence and development from the up side down perspective.
The world is changing and moving rapidly in the age of information technology. But no matter what we are heading, we cannot ignore the fundamentals and traditions as mentioned in Moral sentiments or even to ancient European and Asian philosophers. This leads to the recent surge of ancient philosophies in Christian, Islamic, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Jain and Humanist traditions. Yale University is currently engaging in a project and will hold a global conference in 2013 on practical wisdom for management from ancient spiritual and philosophical traditions.
The discovery of Americas and the emergency of USA as an economic superpower have changed the world and make people in full confidence of business excellence in profit maximization. However, with hyperinflation, great depression in 1930s, and several financial crises in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, no wonder we have to cast doubts on free economy, especially the emphasis on profit over value. In years to come, the American influence in business will have to be reduced and a multi-player business environment will emerge. This will lead to inputs and considerations of the ancient spiritual and philosophies.
The rapid economic development in China has seen besides creating wealth, also witnessing the surge of the interest of Jing Dian (经典) learning. Chinese businessmen and government officials are spending high fees attending Jing dian courses by Peking University, Fudan universities etc. On 30 June 2010, Peking University announced the founding of a Confucianism Research Institute to promote academic studies about traditional culture and explore the contemporary significance of Confucian studies. This low profile and small scale project is approaching the Chinese traditions in a deeper way rather than the popular and better known Confucius Institutes sponsored by Chinese government.
However, we cannot ignore the significance of the Research Institute (or other similar researches in other Chinese philosophies, especially Daoism and Buddhism). The long term effect has yet to be known. On the other way, to a lesser extent, some Chinese businessmen and officials have even gone one step further to learn and practice the stricter teaching of Chinese Buddhism, Confucius, Daoism, etc. and apply these principles in their daily life and business practices.
How can we learn from the past, from the past wisdom of great Chinese traditions?
Geoffrey James in his book, “Success Secrets from Silicon Valley – How to make your teams more effective”, has divided business organizations into traditional and Silicon Valley businesses. The Silicon Valley mindset are Business is an ecosystem, not a battlefield; Corporations are communities, not machines; Management is service, not control; Employees are peers, not children; Motivate with vision, not fear; Change is growth, not pain; Computers are servants, not masters; Work is play, not toil.
Doing the thing right? Traditional business model is adopting the practices of industrial revolution and placing market, productivity, efficiency and profit ahead of environment, communities and humanity. They just want to improve their existing operating system, keep doing and perfecting the same old things.
Doing the right thing? Silicon Valley business emphasizes more on harmony in development, sustainable development, slower growth and corporate social responsibility.
This approach is closer to the practical wisdom of ancient traditions.
Sunday 7 November 2010
Knowledge and intelligence
In the book of “The Analects” (论语) written by Confucius's pupils after his death, there are some interesting discussions about knowledge and intelligence.
In the chapter of Wei Zheng (为政, the practice of government), it describes the relationship between knowledge and honesty as:
“知之为知之，不知为不知，是知也。“
“You know mean you know, don’t know mean don’ know. This is called understanding.”
Knowledge is objective understanding, i.e. knowledge can be divided and categorised into many different fields. However, intelligence is subjective application of our acquired knowledge. To distinguish knowledge and intelligence, we have to use the guideline of honesty. What we know is limited to what we learn and we should not pretend we know the unknown. Only with honesty, we can move forward to study, to learn and to make decision correctly.
The action to acknowledge that we don’t know or don’t understand the situation is expressed by honesty. However, one will need the gut to admit that we don’t know the unknown.
Man has to refresh, to find out the known and unknown and than progress to practice the correct way (行) of learning. This is called “知行合一zhi xing he yi” knowing (the information/knowledge) and practising (using intelligence to make decision) in one harmony. And this is the gateway to transform knowledge into intelligence.
In the knowledge economy, the danger is information overloaded. There are too many information, and it can true, half true and not true. A decision based on wrong or incomplete information will certainly lead to bad decision. Therefore, we have admitted our ignorance as the first step towards the correct way of studying.
The same chapter (Wei Zheng) further explains that to understand the current/new event, one will have to recall the past knowledge:
“温故而知新， 可以为师“
“Refresh old memory/knowledge so as to understand the new happening. By doing so, one can be a (master) teacher. “
The accumulation and progress of our intelligence is based on our ability to recall, refresh and understand old knowledge. Take the nature for example, it is so complicated and confusing and human beings are so afraid of it. However, through experience, observation, and analysis, we can summary the pattern of changes and come out logical rules and principles to predict the future happening.
This results to “one know what is happening in advance” “先见之明 xian jian zhi ming”. Every generation has its trend. What is fashion now may not be considered as trendy or modern in future. Observation of past happenings will lead to our understanding of the future happenings.
The real innovation, in fact, is originated from our tradition. The further we trace our tradition; the chances of us creating innovation are higher. However, any deep understanding of tradition must have rich inner knowledge of the past; again it will have to involve group and team work to build up the “tradition” knowledge. Innovation, hence, is a combination of individual intelligence.
In the chapter of Wei Zheng (为政, the practice of government), it describes the relationship between knowledge and honesty as:
“知之为知之，不知为不知，是知也。“
“You know mean you know, don’t know mean don’ know. This is called understanding.”
Knowledge is objective understanding, i.e. knowledge can be divided and categorised into many different fields. However, intelligence is subjective application of our acquired knowledge. To distinguish knowledge and intelligence, we have to use the guideline of honesty. What we know is limited to what we learn and we should not pretend we know the unknown. Only with honesty, we can move forward to study, to learn and to make decision correctly.
The action to acknowledge that we don’t know or don’t understand the situation is expressed by honesty. However, one will need the gut to admit that we don’t know the unknown.
Man has to refresh, to find out the known and unknown and than progress to practice the correct way (行) of learning. This is called “知行合一zhi xing he yi” knowing (the information/knowledge) and practising (using intelligence to make decision) in one harmony. And this is the gateway to transform knowledge into intelligence.
In the knowledge economy, the danger is information overloaded. There are too many information, and it can true, half true and not true. A decision based on wrong or incomplete information will certainly lead to bad decision. Therefore, we have admitted our ignorance as the first step towards the correct way of studying.
The same chapter (Wei Zheng) further explains that to understand the current/new event, one will have to recall the past knowledge:
“温故而知新， 可以为师“
“Refresh old memory/knowledge so as to understand the new happening. By doing so, one can be a (master) teacher. “
The accumulation and progress of our intelligence is based on our ability to recall, refresh and understand old knowledge. Take the nature for example, it is so complicated and confusing and human beings are so afraid of it. However, through experience, observation, and analysis, we can summary the pattern of changes and come out logical rules and principles to predict the future happening.
This results to “one know what is happening in advance” “先见之明 xian jian zhi ming”. Every generation has its trend. What is fashion now may not be considered as trendy or modern in future. Observation of past happenings will lead to our understanding of the future happenings.
The real innovation, in fact, is originated from our tradition. The further we trace our tradition; the chances of us creating innovation are higher. However, any deep understanding of tradition must have rich inner knowledge of the past; again it will have to involve group and team work to build up the “tradition” knowledge. Innovation, hence, is a combination of individual intelligence.
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