How to understand China in one word
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the age of belief, it was the age of unbelief, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything ahead of us, we had nothing ahead of us, we were all going straight to Heaven, we were all going straight to the other side… .
Extracts from A Tale of Two Cities (1859) by Charles Dickens
If you are asked to use one word to describe China, what word would you use? “Undemocratic” because both Facebook and YouTube are blocked in China? “Prosperous” because you have seen the towering skyscrapers and high-speed trains that fly in China? “Inhumane” because you have seen the report of the Yuling Dog Meat Festival? “Rich” because he’s seen crazy Chinese buyers of luxury goods in major cities around the world? None of the above could generalize to China so easily, but a safe and secure way to describe China is that everything in China is in transformation, which means that nothing in China is complete or perfected yet, nor has anything started yet.
1. From lack of creativity to full creativity/From uniformity to diversity
Suppose there are ten Chinese-made phones with the same inches but different brands on the table, it’s easy to think that they are just different models under one brand, because they have almost the same looks, functions and specifications. Almost every new change in a new iPhone can invite numerous designs copied in the Chinese phone industry, Chinese manufacturers don’t even have to think, they just copy their industry leader. The origin of the lack of creativity of the Chinese people actually goes back to the ancient Chinese imperial exams in which the essays were framed around a rigid and artificial structure. This kind of unnecessarily uniform education system has a far-reaching effect on the current Gaokao (China National Higher Education Entrance Examination), leading to a lack of focus on teaching critical thinking and ignoring emotions, values and student personalities. As a result, Chinese students or vendors tend to focus only on how they can imitate their counterparts, so they can achieve the same grades or earnings. However, with the rapid development of the Chinese economy and society, Chinese people are turning their attention to awakening people’s individuality and personality, for example, people are praised for being who they are, expressing what they think and do what they like rather than merely according to common expectations. So are Chinese products, the world is witnessing waves after waves of technological innovation in Chinese industry, which is why Chinese companies, including tech giants like Huawei, are attaching more and more importance to intellectual property.
2. From driven by money to driven by ideals
The Chinese people are more or less regarded as a faithless nation, as generation after generation of people are taught to believe in socialism and Marxism and regard religious beliefs as superstitious. But do the Chinese really have no faith and have nothing in their minds to rely on? Not exactly, the Chinese root their actions and words in money, family ties and human connection (Guanxi). Although these concepts are not written in the country’s textbooks, all Chinese are consciously or unconsciously enacting these essentials in their lives. The first questions that come to people’s minds when talking about a certain profession are: Does it make you a lot of money? Do you have a tall family member or friend who deals with that business? The answers to these questions usually determine how likely it is that someone can earn respect and achieve success. People care less about the contribution that a certain profession makes to other people and more about what that profession can gain for the family and for themselves financially and respectfully. However, despite the complete opposite, the Chinese are also changing, more and more people are dedicated to solving virtual problems and creating something truly revolutionary for humanity. Examples include Jack Ma who completely changed the way people do business and shop, Pony Ma who changed the way Chinese people connect with each other, etc. The Chinese discover that they are too focused on material gain and begin to shift their attention to improving the environment, science, ways of doing things, and social welfare.
3. From non-professional to professional
Commercial lies are not lies. But sometimes Chinese businessmen tend to abuse this way of communication in business, they are inclined to think that they can do everything possible to achieve big business, because they believe that anything that can be done is not bad, as long as it does not be criminalized. easily. Some are admired by many others because they can make huge fortunes even by ripping off their buyers or avoiding taxes in some “clever” way. They believe that the person who makes the most money is the real winner. Indeed, their way of doing business will certainly not fit in the world outside of China, that is one of the reasons why many global giant companies find China a very difficult market to fit into, such as Amazon, eBay, Yahoo or even Google. Fortunately, as noted at the beginning of this analysis, nothing in China is perfect yet, but China is also undergoing significant changes in the way of doing business, with more and more companies discovering the long-term advantages of ensuring transparency, professionalism, good quality , good service and integrity. Take Alibaba as an example, Jack Ma’s team is vigorously striving to remove counterfeit products from Taobao, though the effectiveness is another matter for discussion.