is far away; and the Chinese are pragmatic but also judge the
government according to Confucian standards of correct practice.
Another example is that the presently unMaoist nationalism based
on a ‘‘harmonious society’’ is a multipolarized world between the
‘‘haves’’ and the ‘‘have nots,’’ the ‘‘connected’’ and the ‘‘not con-
nected,’’ the ‘‘coastal’’ and the ‘‘inland,’’ and the ‘‘employed’’ and the
‘‘unemployed.’’ Westerners sense polarization and disconnects, but the
Chinese sense harmonious progress. It may help Westerners to recall
that China has a long history of obsolete authoritarianism. The central
government has been above the law, and the Chinese people, to
survive, learned to do whatever works regardless of legality and
government oversight. Westerners for hundreds of years have grown
up under a more or less transparent, comprehensively enforced legal
system that included everyone. We cannot understand a society that
historically had one set of laws for common people and another set
for the imperial family. We would do well to reflect on growing up
under a system where most of the necessary economic and political
activities could land us in jail or worse.
One mechanism for dealing with such a social system is to act one
way in public and another way in private. In China the extended
family is the private domain. Only family members are trusted with
inside information, family authority, and the ‘‘backdoor’’ connections
in Sino-Western ventures. In China, Chinese workers look for familiar
family-like relations, but they are pragmatic and adjust. Chinese
college graduates seek advancement in such companies through
progressively more valuable contributions. They are prepared to act
appropriately to succeed, but judge their treatment according to Con-
fucian values. Western managers in these companies need to be trained
appropriately in the development of Chinese managerial talent
and encouraged to follow this training. Multinational corporations
should understand that East is not West and the relevant differences
need to be identified and dealt with in a cooperative manner. As
described inChapter 8, Eastern people do not care to be treated as
second-class citizens in their own country. On the contrary, they
expect to be treated as appropriately different but equal. Organiza-
tions that ignore these conditions will suffer the economic and social
consequences. At present, the companies are not paying much atten-
tion to this wound that bleeds profits, but they shall reap what they
sow in terms of becoming an accepted joint venture in the East.
286 George Bear Graen