The third virtue is endurance of hardship (keku), which focuses on over-
coming difficulties and obstacles one is bound to encounter in learning. Re-
spondents referred to three kinds of difficulties: (a) physical drudgery and
poverty, (b) difficult knowledge and learning tasks, and (c) lack of natural
ability. First, physical drudgery and poverty are considered hardships be-
cause they have been an unavoidable living condition throughout Chinese
history. Even though life standards have been improved in recent decades, in
much of China, physical labor and poverty remain the harsh reality for many.
Furthermore, difficulty in understanding particular academic concepts is a
routine encounter for any learner. Finally, respondents were very clear about
individual differences in their natural capacity and acknowledged the impact
of such differences on people’s learning. However, there was also consensus
that these obstacles are not reasons for not learning. Instead, model learners
developed the virtue of endurance of hardship, which they believe would en-
able them to face and combat these hardships. Thus, in terms of poverty, “her
family was poor, and she couldn’t go to school cause they needed her to work
in the fields. But she’d learned words from kids who went to school. It was
hard, but she learned many Chinese characters that way.” For difficult learn-
ing tasks, “no difficulty can scare him away. He’d do everything humanly
possible to endure hardship.” Finally, for less natural ability, “she has no
choice but to force herself to spend more time studying than others; yes, using
her strengths (spending more time) she can make up for her weakness.”
The fourth virtue is perseverance (hengxin) that addresses a general atti-
tude toward learning and behavioral tendency in a person’s life course. The
importance of perseverance is due to the belief that there is no shortcut to
learning. Knowledge does not come about overnight, but through a bit-by-
bit, accumulative process over a long period of time, a process fraught with
obstacles and distractions. Perseverance is believed potent in helping a person
stay on the task from the beginning to the very end no matter how long it
takes. It is a virtue required to achieve any serious learning (Huang & Peng,
1992; Lee, 1996; Li, 2001, Liu 1973). One respondent wrote that “poverty
cannot block his learning. As long as he still breathes, he will continue. As
long as he has enough food, he will not give up because learning is part of his
belief system.”
The final virtue is concentration (zhuanxin). Concentration reminds one of
the concept of mindfulness or being engrossed in something that can refer to
specific tasks. However, concentration in Chinese is used more often to de-
scribe a general learning behavior, not necessarily related to specific tasks.
Concentration emphasizes studying with consistent focus and dedication
without ever swerving from it. It also includes earnestness, carefulness, and
thoroughness of learning. Concentration is believed to be an essential quality
of the learner because this disposition would allow the full engagement of
406 LI AND FISCHER