The Art of Warning (1)—People Float the Boat

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series The Art of Warning.
A year ago on Round and Square (12 August 2012)—Rural Religion in China-8

Two years ago on Round and Square (12 August 2011)—R.G. Collingwood and Historical Re-enactment

[a] One Perspective RF

We're ready to get underway in earnest with the actual "case studies" that will give you at least a hint of what reading the Comprehensive Mirror is like. When the book is out, a companion volume of case studies (like these, but expanded) will give readers not only the argument, but something to chew on from the actual text, as well. And let's not kid ourselves. A full translation of the Comprehensive Mirror is not just around the corner. These "cases" will be straightforward and rather unadorned in terms of explanation. I am interested in comments about how the actual memorials quoted in the Comprehensive Mirror connect with your understanding of the key lessons—roles, hierarchy, and remonstrance. Think of them as memos...to the emperor. These writers were "the emperor's teacher(s)." 

In this series, I will do most of my own translations, but with one twist. In many posts, I plan to quote from the fabulous partial translation by the peerless scholar Achilles Fang (1910-1995). It "only" covers about fifty years of the Comprehensive Mirror's 1,362-year narrative, but it is a brilliant work of historiography, and I want to honor Professor Fang. I will include references for those translations, because at least that book is available in some college and university libraries. I will also quote from translations done by Rafe de Crespigny (1936-) about thirty years ago (covering another fifty or so years of the text). Those are even harder to find, but at least they are "out there." After some time acknowledging and quoting from the work of these venerable scholars, we will set our little boat out onto the full text of the Comprehensive Mirror, and I will show you some of the fascinating caves and inlets from Chinese history along the way. 

[b] This boat won't float...RF

1—People Float the Boat

Let's start simple, as we say back home. Businesses need customers and governments need "the people." To be sure, the world of the Comprehensive Mirror has a rather one-dimensional view of these "people," but there is still a good deal that we can learn about "their" power to create blockbuster films, landslide elections, spectacularly successful new products, and even the Arab Spring. The people. The clear perspective of the Comprehensive Mirror—at least one of them—is that they are always "in the mix," and organizations ignore them at their peril. 

Sound familiar? The customer is always...[your answer here].

          The zhongshu shilang, Wang Ji of Donglai, sent up a memorial, saying

          "Your minister has heard that people of antiquity took water to be like the 

          people, saying 'Water is that which transports boats, but is also that which 

          overturns them.'  Yan Yuan once said: 'As for Dong Yezi's riding, his horse's 

          strength is completely exhausted yet he urged it on without cease—disaster 

          and defeat awaits him.'  At present the public labor is bitterly difficult, with 

          men and women widely separated.  I wish for your majesty to deeply ponder 

          Dong Yezi's flaws, and to watch out for the illustration of the boat and water.   

          Then you will cease galloping hurriedly to the point of utter exhaustion and 

          using the people's strength to the point of grave difficulty...

          The emperor did not heed any of these recommendations.[1] 

Don't ride your horse until it drops (unless you have just been bitten by a rattlesnake and have little other choice). Even then, it's not the poor horse's fault (and you'll probably lose an arm in the end). If none of this makes sense, please consult that other fine management book, True Grit.

In short, unlike the emperor in this example, heed the recommendations.

[c] Nowhere...fast RF

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Notes

[1] Sima Guang, Zizhi tongjian (Zhonghua shuju, 1956), [73] 2309–2310. This is also translated in Achlles Fang, The Chronicle of Three Kingdoms I (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1952), 317-318.

Bibliography

Achilles Fang, editor. The Chronicle of Three Kingdoms I. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1952.
Sima Guang 司馬光. Zizhi tongjian 資治通鑑 [The Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Ruling]. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju 北京: 中华书局, 1956.