China Pragmatism

Gengzhen, Xi’an, China.

I was wedged tightly into the back corner of the bus, which showed little sign of slowing as my destination hurtled toward us. Not knowing when it might next stop and realizing that I might soon be very lost indeed, I started to panic. In desperation I grabbed the arm of the woman sitting next to me and pointed out through the window, as unambiguous as I could be that I needed to get off the bus, now.

The response was immediate: she raised her fist and gave the ceiling of the bus such a thump that there was no chance the driver would not hear it. Taking me by the hand she carved a path through what seemed an immovable crowd of people, before snapping something to the driver, who immediately brought the vehicle to a halt—not at a bus stop, but on the hard shoulder of the freeway. Unperturbed and still grasping my hand in hers, my guardian angel hopped down the stairs, practically high-jumping over the tall roadside barriers in her business skirt to lead me across three lanes of fast-moving traffic. Depositing me at my intended stop, she gave a curt nod, turned heel, and marched back onto the freeway to make the return journey and flag down the next bus.

This was one of my many encounters with hardheaded Chinese pragmatism: a deeply practical approach to getting the job done that you can find across China’s politics, business culture, religious tradition, education system, and economy, which is now the second largest in the world.

“It doesn’t matter whether a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice.” That quote, or some version of the same thought, is one of the most famous sayings of former Chinese premier Deng Xiaoping, who as leader of the People’s Republic from 1978 to 1987 was the primary architect behind the opening up of the Chinese economy, laying the foundations for the global powerhouse that it has since become. Deng’s words, from one of the most prominent exemplars of Chinese pragmatism, capture a mind-set and approach that focus rigorously on the ends, without worrying too much about the means.

When it comes to politics, pragmatism means China does not generally let the concerns and protests of outsiders get in the way of doing what it believes is in its own best interest. Whether censoring large parts of the internet or tightening its control over nominally independent Hong Kong, the Chinese approach has been to carve its own path and pursue its own interest, however much others might disagree with or deplore its actions.

Deng’s famous sayings follow in a long tradition of Chinese political, social, economic, and military thought that is steeped in pragmatism. Confucianism, rather than being a religion that directly instructs, is a system of thought that encourages people to think and behave ethically, and which leans more toward pragmatism than ideology. “I have no course for which I am predetermined, and no course against which I am predetermined,” Confucius writes in one of the tracts attributed to him.

This approach informs many aspects of Chinese life today. Practices that might be deprecated from a moral or ethical standpoint in some countries are readily embraced here as an everyday reality of doing business and getting on. One survey found 35 percent of Chinese companies saying they paid bribes or made gifts as a regular occurrence, while cash payments to doctors in advance of a major medical procedure are also common, though this practice was officially banned in 2014.

The Chinese way is not to wring hands over the technicalities and the broader implications, but to take the clearest course of action to get a desired result and fast. Faced with a rapidly growing population in the late 1970s, Deng’s government introduced a one-child policy, which remained in place until 2013, and has been blamed for the widespread infanticide of baby girls. More recently, current President Xi Jinping has circumvented the political constraints on his long-term plan for China’s development by simply abolishing the two-term limit on premierships, potentially allowing him to rule indefinitely.

You might, very reasonably, be robustly opposed to some aspects of current Chinese government policy, but in broader Chinese culture there is something important to be learned—how pragmatism can help us all to steer a steady course in the face of change, when surrounded by forces that threaten to blow us off track.