Understanding the Mind of the Chinese: A Historical Perspective

Abstract

In the West, the English language has popularized western management thinking, but the same cannot be said of eastern beliefs and philosophies. Apart from being constrained by the Chinese language that is neither spoken nor written in most parts of the world except Asia, the Orient is often viewed with a tinge of mysticism that made it almost culturally impossible for westerners to perceive. For these reasons, while there are no lack of strategic thinkers and philosophers in the East, their thoughts and philosophies are still not well disseminated let alone popularized throughout the world. With the economic opening of China, an appreciation of its strategic oriental thinking and use of philosophies is of increasing importance for managerial practice. With her rich wealth of history and talents, China has never been short of strategic thinkers and great philosophers. Apart from the eminent military strategist Sun Tzu, there were the eminent philosophers — Confucius (and his disciple, Mencius), and Lao Tzu (and his disciple, Chuang Tzu) — whose teachings have had a tremendous influence on Chinese civilization and culture. Interestingly, these three great Chinese thinkers — namely Sun Tzu, Confucius and Lao Tzu — were all contemporaries in Chinese history some 2500 years ago.