A little-known jewel of Chinese wisdom that is opening doors to great opportunity

Lao ZiChina has a historical tradition of great old sages. However, they generally weren’t characterized by the flowing silk robes and serene walled gardens that the Western mind imagines. Instead, art and history always depict them as wearing tattered rags and living in mountain caves, cold and poor. Lao Zi, Ji Gong, Zhuang Zi, and the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove are all models for this stereotype. They were men who “Saw the Tao,” and realized that because entropy was inherent in all things, poverty was the only “sustainable” lifestyle that could be proposed. In this philosophy, therefore, the building of palaces and the ruling of nations was pointless – unless one realized that they are pointless, at which point they become great fun!

“The Barefooted Man is Not Afraid of the Mud”

– Shandong folk saying

There’s a story behind this old proverb. “There once was a beggar who stole from a prince. The prince chased him, but the beggar fled into a filthy pigsty, making it impossible for the prince to follow. Why? Because the prince was wearing shoes!”

I’ve often asked Chinese businessmen why they’re not afraid of the law, and they always respond that they’re not afraid because they’ve already experienced the worst that could happen! In a single generation, the Chinese businessman has been through massive famine, two wars, incredible social upheaval, and a Cultural Revolution. He already knows what it feels like to be cold and hungry, and he knows that if it happens again, he can survive. He has nothing to lose, and everything to gain.

It’s this determination that gives Chinese their incredible business confidence. From high school drop-out Li Ka-shing who became the wealthiest person of East Asian descent, to the young men caught supplementing milk with melamine in 2008, Chinese poor have been taught to take great risks.

“To become full one must be hollow. To be clothed in tatters, one must be renewed. Those who have little may get more, but those who have much will always be perplexed.”

- Tao Te Ching 22

For this reason, there is no mystery to the reason why the West is getting pushed around in international forums and treaties. China has ignored half of the WTO requirements that were supposedly “prerequisites” for entry. Copenhagen was steam-rolled under a Chinese agenda. China will gladly accept an invitation to the International Security Council, but will “heroically resist outside interference in matters of national sovereignty” when it comes to questions of human rights. In everything from trade embargoes and currency manipulation to illegal shipments of goods through third countries, anything goes.

Individually and collectively, China is prepared to take the risk of getting in trouble because it sees itself as “the poor man” in the Shandong proverb. They’re not afraid of the consequences, because the consequences couldn’t possibly be worse than where they’ve come from. And the consequence of not breaking the rules could even be worse.

打不败穷困，打不平贫穷 - “You can’t beat poverty – and the poor can’t be beaten.”