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.

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.