Classic Stories of the Lüshi Chunqiu

Author: Wang Weibin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-11-01
Features: As everyone knows, the Lüshi Chunqiu provided ideological weapons for Qin Shi Huang to unify the empire and govern the state. But do you know that factors such as leadership, organization, communication, coordination, and motivation, which influence the management process, are interpreted in the Lüshi Chunqiu as "Dao, Tian, Di, Jiang, Fa," while some modern management models are reflected through the governance ideas and methods of feudal rulers and officials. It can be said that their management wisdom is interconnected, with the only difference being who is interpreting it and in what mindset. The Lüshi Chunqiu is a "Lüshi interpretation" of traditional Chinese management thought and models. If modern managers read it with this mindset, they are bound to find treasures rather than return empty-handed. This book offers a management reading method for the Lüshi Chunqiu's "treasure chest strategies."
[Preface] The "Lüshi Interpretation" of Management Wisdom
In June 2004, Jack Welch came to Beijing for a series of dialogues with Chinese managers. Through this ideological exchange, Chinese managers learned a great deal and reflected deeply. In fact, Welch's visit to Beijing can be seen as a climax of the ongoing movement in China's management circles to "pay homage to the masters." At one time, Peter Drucker, Michael Porter, Tom Peters, and Gary Hamel—these luminous names built a world of wisdom where Chinese managers underwent spiritual. However, while people were willing to pay as much as 30,000 yuan for a diamond VIP package to engage in dialogues with masters like Welch who spoke English, who noticed the absurdity and strangeness of it all?
During a lecture for psychology students at a university, an American psychologist introduced a German teacher from another school, describing him as a renowned chemist from Germany. In the experiment, the psychologist first showed the students a bottle containing distilled water, telling them it was water. Then, he handed the bottle to the "chemist" from abroad. The chemist turned around with great solemnity, faced the students, and shook the bottle. He claimed it contained a newly discovered chemical substance with a certain odor, asking the students to raise their hands when they smelled it. Most students raised their hands. The bottle remained the same, the water was still the same, but most students claimed to have smelled the odor. This may be the current state of China's management circles. Why don't they take a closer look at the familiar bottle? Or, when learning Western management ideas, why don't modern Chinese managers draw on traditional management thoughts from our Taoist, Confucian, Mohist, Military, and Legalist cultures? Perhaps it is because there were too many great masters and schools in ancient China, and they often contradicted each other, making it difficult for people to discover certain consistent management ideas.
Fortunately, there is a book that can solve this problem—the Lüshi Chunqiu. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, schools like Confucianism, Mohism, Taoism, Legalism, and others each had their own policies and governance philosophies. Confucianism emphasized benevolence and righteousness, advocating for ritual governance; Taoism spoke of tranquility and the "" (non-action) principle; Mohism advocated for universal love and non-aggression; and Legalism took law, technique, and power as the path to governance. They either criticized the flaws of other schools or defended their own doctrines. The only exception was the (syncretic school), which did not "form its own independent doctrine" but instead integrated the strengths of various schools, absorbing some of their ideas to varying degrees. Each school had its own characteristics and strengths, but the syncretic school did not overly focus on the contradictions and conflicts between different schools' doctrines, instead fully embracing diverse opinions to create a management philosophy that was both intellectually inclusive and practically viable.
The Lüshi Chunqiu was just such a syncretic work that synthesized the thoughts of various schools at the time. Because of this, starting with the Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), it was listed alongside the Book of Changes (Zhouyi), the Spring and Autumn Annals (Chunqiu), and the Discourses of the States (Guoyu), considered a "path of the sages' righteous anger." Even in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Gao You called it "superior to all the Hundred Schools of Thought."
Through thousands of years of change, people and society have evolved, and the practical problems faced by managers have also differed greatly from the past. Management theories and methods have changed, but some things remain inevitable and natural—the fundamental essence and essence of management have not changed as much as people imagine. Many of the difficulties managers encounter in their daily lives and work can be found in traditional Chinese wisdom—it is a way for managers to view and solve problems. In fact, this is exactly the case. In the Lüshi Chunqiu, factors such as leadership, organization, communication, coordination, and motivation, which affect the management process, are interpreted as "Dao, Tian, Di, Jiang, Fa," while some modern management models are reflected through the governance ideas and methods of feudal rulers and officials. From any perspective, the Lüshi Chunqiu offers significant insights into management decisions, managers' self-cultivation, and the art of using people. It can be said that management wisdom is universal, regardless of east or west, with the only difference being who is interpreting it and in what mindset. The Lüshi Chunqiu can be a "Lüshi interpretation" of traditional Chinese management thought and models, as well as a dialogue with the sages of the Spring and Autumn period about management wisdom. If modern managers read it with this mindset, they are bound to find treasures rather than return empty-handed.