Word to live by, Chinese style

[killarney_sailor]

As some of you know, I am writing a book about China. I found this during my reserach and it is very interesting. The current head poo-bah, Hu Jintao, who is retiring this year has focussed a lot, and with little success, on trying to curb some of the excesses in China: greed, materialism, corruption, enormous differences in wealth before rich and poor (worse than US which is interesting for a supposedly socialist country). One aspect of this has been the promulgation of a code of behavior for the people. Its informal name is the 'Eight Honors and Eight shames'. He has focussed on pushing this in two parts of society: schools and within the Communist Party. From these, it is too spread to the rest of the country.


'Eight honors' ... 'Eight shames'
Love the country ... do it no harm.
Serve the people ... never betray them.
Follow science ... discard ignorance.
Be diligent ... not indolent.
Be united, help each other... make no gains at others' expense.
Be honest and trustworthy ... do not sacrifice ethics for profit.
Be disciplined and law-abiding ... not chaotic and lawless.
Live plainly, work hard... do not wallow in luxuries and pleasures.

What do you think? My wife, who is Chinese says it does not have a hope in hell of getting anywhere and that the new guy will try to set his stamp on the country by having his own code.

[WouldaShoulda]

Hope.

Change.

Fairness.

[Sailormon6]

It's too wordy. The same philosophy can be expressed in fewer words.

"Live plainly, work hard... do not wallow in luxuries and pleasures... and keep your mouth shut!"

[PaulfromNWOnt]

A desire to excel is what got us out of the trees. We are designed to progress, most times without regard for anyone but ourselves or our clan.

Hoping for this to have any effect could almost be considered hypocritical if you've ever walked past a beggar without dropping something in his cup. Philosophy won't change reality. A strictly enforced set of regulations along with close monitoring/punishment of corruption would be a good start.

[WouldaShoulda]

Originally Posted by Sailormon6

It's too wordy. The same philosophy can be expressed in fewer words.

"These nice things for your Dear Leaders benefit all. Nice things for you is just being selfish!!"

[RobGallagher]

Originally Posted by killarney_sailor

As some of you know, I am writing a book about China. I found this during my reserach and it is very interesting. The current head poo-bah, Hu Jintao, who is retiring this year has focussed a lot, and with little success, on trying to curb some of the excesses in China: greed, materialism, corruption, enormous differences in wealth before rich and poor (worse than US which is interesting for a supposedly socialist country). One aspect of this has been the promulgation of a code of behavior for the people. Its informal name is the 'Eight Honors and Eight shames'. He has focussed on pushing this in two parts of society: schools and within the Communist Party. From these, it is too spread to the rest of the country.


'Eight honors' ... 'Eight shames'
Love the country ... do it no harm.
Serve the people ... never betray them.
Follow science ... discard ignorance.
Be diligent ... not indolent.
Be united, help each other... make no gains at others' expense.
Be honest and trustworthy ... do not sacrifice ethics for profit.
Be disciplined and law-abiding ... not chaotic and lawless.
Live plainly, work hard... do not wallow in luxuries and pleasures.

What do you think? My wife, who is Chinese says it does not have a hope in hell of getting anywhere and that the new guy will try to set his stamp on the country by having his own code.

Sounds like government droning to me. Could be coming from any politician anywhere.

I take it you have been to china? Most people just want to get by or maybe get ahead, just like anyplace else. Government talking points won't help them much.

When any US president comes up with a new "plan" for America it does not do much for me.

[aeventyr60]

Maybe a better message to the people would be from centuries ago in Sun Tzu's maxim

"KNOW THY ENEMY"

[killarney_sailor]

Originally Posted by RobGallagher

Sounds like government droning to me. Could be coming from any politician anywhere.

I take it you have been to china? Most people just want to get by or maybe get ahead, just like anyplace else. Government talking points won't help them much.

When any US president comes up with a new "plan" for America it does not do much for me.

I agree that these statements could appear just about anywhere. I think it is a Chinese thing to want to expressively state precepts for living from Confucius to Mao's Little Red Book to this.

This set of goals is a response to the problems of China today (economic disparity and corrution mainly) with a touch of communist nostaligia (about being a good person connected to society is more important than getting rich at the expense of society). I doubt anything substantively will come of this and a new guy takes over in the next year or so and he will want to stamp his brand on the country.

If I can hijack the thread I started, I find it interesting how many of the new generation of Chinese leaders have training in engineering and science rather than law or business - ie they are genuine technocrats. After the enormous earthquake in Sichuan, the guy who was sent to organize the response (which was brilliantly well done considering the size of the tragedy) was a geophysicist (and also a top party official). Note, to be fair, these guys have the scientific training but have spent their lives in political leadership roles rather than working in their fields. Still, makes me think that I would like to have more leaders in Canada and the US who did not come from law and business - would give a different perspective. I would have liked to see have seen Colin Powell take a run at politics for example or someone like Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. Actually, it would be a brilliant strategy for Romney to choose Powell for a running mate.

[SloopJonB]

Originally Posted by killarney_sailor

if i can hijack the thread i started, i find it interesting how many of the new generation of chinese leaders have training in engineering and science rather than law or business - ie they are genuine technocrats. After the enormous earthquake in sichuan, the guy who was sent to organize the response (which was brilliantly well done considering the size of the tragedy) was a geophysicist (and also a top party official). Note, to be fair, these guys have the scientific training but have spent their lives in political leadership roles rather than working in their fields. Still, makes me think that i would like to have more leaders in canada and the us who did not come from law and business - would give a different perspective. I would have liked to see have seen colin powell take a run at politics for example or someone like steve jobs or bill gates. Actually, it would be a brilliant strategy for romney to choose powell for a running mate.

Technocracy !!

[chrisncate]

Originally Posted by killarney_sailor

'Eight honors' ... 'Eight shames'
Love the country ... do it no harm.
Serve the people ... never betray them.
Follow science ... discard ignorance.
Be diligent ... not indolent.
Be united, help each other... make no gains at others' expense.
Be honest and trustworthy ... do not sacrifice ethics for profit.
Be disciplined and law-abiding ... not chaotic and lawless.
Live plainly, work hard... do not wallow in luxuries and pleasures.

I like it, and I don't fear things like this. Seems to me no different than us circa 1942 ('cept with a Chinese take on the wording).

What do nations get, a solid 60 to 80 year run before they implode capitalism completely? Where's China now, at about year 25? Must be nice...