Yes-Man
or No-Man, Determines the Fortune of a Nation Gao Shen
“Nuo” (meaning “yes”)
is the pet word of yes-men, who are obedient to every order and say “nuo, nuo”
to everything. Such people bow and scrape to everybody obsequiously and agree
to everything servilely, never care whether it is right or wrong.
“E,e” (“e” means “speak
frankly”) is used to describe no-men, the opposite of yes-men, who dare to
speak up the truth and to argue when they don’t see eye to eye with others.
A saying was popular
and widespread in the pre-Qin days (that is before 221 B.C.) that “it is better
if there is one no-man who dares to say ‘no’ than there are a thousand yes-men
who always say ‘yes’”. This shows that straightforward argument was respected
then, even there was only a single person fighting a lonely battle. However, as
time went by, fewer and fewer people dared to speak up the truth, and finally
such people reduced to become “rare species”. Many people felt they didn’t have
enough time to curry favor, therefore, how could they have the mind or mood to
speak up the truth? The Analects
recorded Master Confucius’ saying: “A true gentleman is calm and at ease, the
small man is fretful and ill at ease.” Some scholars didn’t follow the master’s
sincere and earnest teaching and thus they failed to live up to be gentlemen.
They were never calm or at ease, and as a result, fret seemed to follow them
all the time like their own shadows.
For many years the
annual sessions of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s
Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) have followed an established practice
of “meetings of solidarity without the least dispute”. In last few years,
things have changed greatly as there have emerged arguments on some issues.
Some representatives and committee members are very outspoken when discussing
state affairs. A number of them even voiced different opinions concerning some “major
policies” of certain governmental departments. There were debates among them
while some of them even challenged certain ministries or commissions of the
State Council. Each voiced his or her own opinion, putting forward various
remarks and suggestions.
As a matter of fact,
it is only fine to hear different opinions and suggestions. There is an essay which
analyses the simplified Chinese character 会 (which means “meeting”)
in this way: Its upper part is the character 人 meaning “people”,
while its lower part is the character 云 meaning “speaking”. Only
in this way can we claim to enjoy a normal political life in a truly democratic
atmosphere, and only in this way can we pool the wisdom of everyone and benefit
our courses.
But the annual
sessions of the NPC and CPPCC at some grass-root levels have become no more
than routines, at which the representatives and committee members shake hands
with each other when coming to the meeting, clap their hands when the meetings
open, raise their hands to show their unanimous support when voting, and wave
their hands to say good-bye to each other when the meetings come to an end.
What good is there for such costly meetings?
A few leaders are
still not used to hearing different opinions raised by those attending such
sessions, especially when heated debates take place. They do not know that true
democratic consultation means letting every one have their say, and that real
wisdom requires one to listen to both sides. True gentlemen remain on good
terms with each other despite their different opinions, and true harmonious
common understanding should be reached through discussion over different
opinions. It would only give people a false impression if there is not the
least challenge or opposition in the whole nation concerning matters however
important or complicated. People in ancient times laid much stress on having
one no-man who dared to speak up the truth rather than having a thousand
yes-men who agreed to everything. This showed their candidness and broad mind.
It is far more significant and valuable when there is even one fearless no-man
who is outspoken and voices his disagreement straightforwardly than there are a
thousand slavishly obedient yes-men who did nothing but curry favor.
（陈德彰
译） |
