These civilizing characteristics have been amazingly similar in all the periods of Chinese history. We are suggesting that they influence similarly the behaviour of today's elites, most notably managers and business people. In this paper, we propose that there is a key, based on history, that can help decode the behaviour of business elites in China. The key proposed here is built from the facts of the historical novel, Three Kingdoms, written in the 14th century by Luo Guanzhong. The novel and the history it tells have been and still remain a major socializing instrument of all the elite groups in China. It is hard to imagine that a person in China, whether young or old, poor or wealthy, more or less educated, does not know the protagonists and the multiples battles of that troubled period in the history of China.
在中国历史的各个时期,这些文化特质都呈现出惊人的相似性。我们认为这些文化特质也同样的影响了今天社会精英人士的行为,尤其是经理人和商务人士。本文提出以历史为基础的一个关键因素可以帮助我们解密中国高端商务人士的行为。此处所提出的关键因素来源于历史小说《三国演义》,作者为14世纪的罗贯中。这本小说所描写的及历史所反映的仍然是中国精英阶层的主要社会组成部分。在中国,不管一个人年龄大小,财富多少,教育高低,如果不知道中国历史上三国时期的主要人物和著名的战役,那是不可想象的。
As suggested earlier, all the Chinese leaders regularly refer to events or lessons described in the novel. It is no surprise that rulers would make interpretations of the novel events that favoured their goals and projects. For example, Cao Cao, the king and great strategist of the Wei kingdom was considered during the communist period a poor example to give to the young. In contrast, Zhuge Liang's loyalty and dedication were seen as representative of Chinese spirit, and a model to follow. Today, references to characters of the novel are common and the art of war is widely seen as being better described by the Three Kingdoms text than by the book of the famous Sun Tzu3.
如前文所述,所有的中国领导者都会经常引用小说中描写的事件或教训。统治者为了有利于他们的目标和工程,对于小说事件进行阐释,这一点没什么好惊讶的。例如,曹操,魏国皇帝,伟大的战略家,在共产主义时期被当做一个坏的例子教授给年轻人。相反,诸葛亮的忠诚和奉献则被看做是中华民族精神的代表,作为楷模被学习。今天,《三国演义》中对于人物和对于战争的艺术的描写比著名的《孙子兵法》更好,也被人引用的更多。
This paper is divided into six parts. In the first, we present the history of the Three Kingdoms, and discuss its importance for China. In the second part, we provide the readers with some methodological considerations to help them assess the value of our conclusions. In the third part, we analyze roles, values and norms of behaviour of the key characters and highlight how they are being used by today's leadership. In the fourth part, we describe and discuss the importance of a group, critical for the management of things, the advisors to the kings. In the fifth part we discuss more general questions such as conditions of success in the conduct of war or in competitive rivalry. Finally, in the last part, we evoke the consequences of these arguments for research about China and business relations in China.
本文分为六部分。第一部分,提出三国演义的的历史依据,讨论其对中国的重要性。在第二部分,我们提供给读者一些方法论的思考以帮助读者来评估我们结论的价值。在第三部分,我们分析主要人物的角色,价值观及行为准则;并且重点强调这些观点和准则如何在今天的领导力中加以运用。在第四部分,我们描述和讨论集团的重要性,批判性的管理及对领导者的进言。在第五部分,我们讨论了更多一般性的问题,诸如战争中取胜的条件,或者如何打败对手。最后,在最后一部分,我们引出这些争论的影响来研究中国和中国商业关系。