Mutual Misunderstanding: Mandarins, Cadres, Taipans and Traders

An observer who visits China and has studied her past will note how the anxious debate over the placement for a dinner party attended by ranking Communist Party members demonstrates a Confucian view of hierarchy, that a kindly teacher may exude Mencius, and a clerk in the visa section of any Chinese embassy may be a Legalist. It is harder to define Taoism; someone once said it was best exemplified by watching three Chinese, of equal rank, inviting each other to pass through a swing door. More generalizations to be argued include the contention that in Chinese eyes there are five distinct categories of foreigner involved with China. First are the ‘lao pengyou/old friends’, often businessmen who have a long and satisfactory relationship with the Chinese and who are liked, trusted and respected. The highest level they can reach is to become a Friend of China, and the Chinese will tell them when they have done so. Then, entirely different, there are the China watchers, a fairly large corpus of journalists, writers and academics who investigate and analyse the Chinese scene. Their standing in Chinese official eyes mainly relates to what they write and some are often unpopular. Previously, China watchers known to be hostile were not allowed into China, save for brief, carefully controlled visits; now they travel relatively freely.