bodyType

customContents

entityId

printArticlePageQuery

filter

article

body

urlAlias

articleSectionsContent

articleSeoArticle

articleSourceHeaderArticle

contentSchemaRenderContent

contentSubHeadlineContent

contentHeadlineContent

mainImagePrintArticleArticle

authorBlockPrintArticleArticle

contentSponsorTagContent

articlePianoPaywallContent

scmpYoutubeContent

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

query printArticlePageQuery(
  $entityId: String!
  $customContents: [CustomContentInput]
  $bodyType: BodyFormatTypeEnum
) {
  article(filter: {entityId: $entityId}) {
    entityId
    body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
      json
    }
    urlAlias
    ...articleSectionsContent
    ...articleSeoArticle_3o8td4
    ...articleSourceHeaderArticle
    ...contentSchemaRenderContent
    ...contentSubHeadlineContent
    ...contentHeadlineContent
    ...mainImagePrintArticleArticle
    ...authorBlockPrintArticleArticle
    ...contentSponsorTagContent
    ...articlePianoPaywallContent
    ...scmpYoutubeContent
    ...hooksTrackPageViewArticle
    id
  }
}

fragment articlePianoPaywallContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksPaywallPromiseContent
}

fragment articleSectionsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      ...helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection
      ...entityLink
      name
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment articleSeoArticle_3o8td4 on Article {
  ...hooksArticleSeoArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersGetArticleTypeArticle
  entityId
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
  summary {
    text
  }
  subHeadline {
    text
  }
  body(customContents: $customContents, type: $bodyType) {
    text
  }
  keywords
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  topics {
    name
    entityId
    id
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  images {
    style(filter: {style: "768x768"}) {
      url
    }
  }
  readingTime
}

fragment articleSourceHeaderArticle on Article {
  urlAlias
  ...entityLink
}

fragment authorBlockPrintArticleArticle on Article {
  ...defaultArticleDateContent
  ...authorNamesArticle
}

fragment authorNameAuthor on Author {
  ...entityLink
  name
  entityUuid
}

fragment authorNamesArticle on Article {
  authorLocations
  authors {
    entityId
    location
    ...authorNameAuthor
    id
  }
}

fragment blockquoteQuoteContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment contentHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  socialHeadline
  ...contentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
}

fragment contentNewsletterWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
    id
  }
  sections {
    value {
      relatedNewsletters {
        ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
        id
      }
      id
    }
  }
  ... on Article {
    relatedNewsletters {
      ...helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment contentSchemaRenderContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...blockquoteQuoteContent
  ...imageContent
  ...inlineWidgetContent
  ...photoGalleryWidgetContent
  ...scmpYoutubeContent
}

fragment contentShareWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  shortUrl
  socialHeadline
  headline
}

fragment contentSponsorTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersUseContentSponsorContent
}

fragment contentSubHeadlineContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  subHeadline {
    json
  }
  summary {
    json
  }
  ...contentSchemaRenderContent
}

fragment defaultArticleDateContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...hooksArticleDateUtilsContent
}

fragment entityLink on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  __typename
  entityId
  entityUuid
  urlAlias
  urlRedirect {
    toUrl
    id
  }
  application {
    entityId
    id
  }
  ... on Section {
    fullSectionPath {
      entityId
      id
    }
    parentSection
  }
  ...helpersAppBarVariantBase
  ...helpersApplicationBase
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersAppBarVariantBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsLiveArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...helpersSectionContent
  ...helpersStyleSectionContent
}

fragment helpersApplicationBase on BaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias {
  __isBaseWithApplicationAndUrlAlias: __typename
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesPage
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusPage
}

fragment helpersCheckIfNewsSectionInFirstIndexSection on Section {
  name
}

fragment helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle on Article {
  entityId
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  disableOffPlatformContent
  sponsorType
  published
  ...helpersCheckIsPlusArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment helpersCheckIsLiveArticle on Article {
  flattenTypeIds
  liveArticle {
    status
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    paywallTypes {
      entityUuid
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPlusPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle on Article {
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersCheckIsPostiesPage on Page {
  urlAlias
}

fragment helpersCheckIsStyleArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  sections {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersGetArticleTypeArticle on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        entityId
        id
      }
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersMassageToNewsletterItemNewsletter on Newsletter {
  entityId
  name
  alternativeName
  description {
    text
  }
  summary {
    text
  }
  homepageDescription {
    text
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle on Article {
  authors {
    types
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle on Article {
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersStyleSectionContent on Section {
  fullSectionPath {
    entityId
    id
  }
}

fragment helpersUseContentSponsorContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  topics {
    entityId
    sponsor {
      ...sponsorTagSponsor
      name
      type
      id
    }
    id
  }
  ... on Article {
    sponsorType
  }
  ...helpersCheckIsMainTopicContent
}

fragment hooksArticleDateUtilsContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  createdDate
  publishedDate
  updatedDate
}

fragment hooksArticleSeoArticle on Article {
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsPostMagazineArticle
  ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  ...hooksContentHeadlineTagContent
  ...helpersCheckIsAmpEnabledArticle
  entityId
  headline
  socialHeadline
  types {
    value {
      entityId
      id
    }
  }
  authors {
    entityId
    id
  }
  images {
    generic_og: style(filter: {style: "og_image_scmp_generic"}) {
      url
    }
    styles(filter: {styles: ["og_image_posties_article", "og_postmag", "og_image_style", "og_image_scmp_analysis", "og_image_scmp_explainer", "og_image_scmp_editorial", "og_image_scmp_fact_check", "og_image_scmp_debate", "og_image_scmp_live", "og_image_scmp_obituary", "og_image_scmp_opinion", "og_image_scmp_review", "og_image_scmp_series", "og_image_scmp_generic"]}) {
      url
      style
    }
    type
  }
  urlAlias
}

fragment hooksContentHeadlineTagContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ... on Article {
    types {
      value {
        name
        entityId
        description {
          text
        }
        id
      }
    }
    ...helpersCheckIsStyleArticle
  }
  flag
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  ...hooksContentHelperContent
}

fragment hooksContentHelperContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...helpersSanitizeArticleTypeEntityIdsArticle
  ...helpersSanitizeAuthorTypesArticle
  ...helpersSanitizedAuthorEntityIdsArticle
  flag
}

fragment hooksPaywallPromiseContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  ...helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle
}

fragment hooksTrackPageViewArticle on Article {
  entityId
  publishedDate
  headline
  sections {
    value {
      name
      id
    }
  }
  urlAlias
  authors {
    name
    id
  }
  entityUuid
}

fragment imageContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  headline
  ...checkersCheckContentContainsStarlingImageContent
}

fragment inlineWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...contentNewsletterWidgetContent
}

fragment mainImagePrintArticleArticle on Article {
  images {
    title
    url
    isSlideshow
    size_652x446: style(filter: {style: "652x446"}) {
      url
    }
  }
}

fragment photoGalleryDialogContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  __typename
  ...contentShareWidgetContent
}

fragment photoGalleryWidgetContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  ...photoGalleryDialogContent
}

fragment scmpYoutubeContent on Content {
  __isContent: __typename
  entityId
  urlAlias
  publishedDate
}

fragment sponsorTagSponsor on Sponsor {
  name
  type
  images {
    url
  }
}


sections

types

disableOffPlatformContent

sponsorType

published

headline

socialHeadline

authors

images

publishedDate

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

keywords

topics

readingTime

authorLocations

entityUuid

Diego Gilardoni

There is only one thing more staggering than China’s mind-blowing economic metamorphosis in the past few decades. It is the still widespread ignorance about China among Western political and business elites. We live in a multipolar and complex world, in which China is becoming an indispensable player, but too many still think through a Western-centric and simplistic mental framework that is still rooted in the 20th century and therefore does not meet today’s challenges.
China’s increasing clout on the global stage is met with a combination of fascination, awe, concern and sometimes outright fear, and rare are those who make a serious effort to understand China and try to see the world through its cultural prism. This is a serious mistake, because understanding Chinese culture has become indispensable for anyone interested in making sense of a hyper-complex world where China plays an increasingly crucial role.
Why the world has to study Chinese history, and how China views history
Learning about Chinese cultural values is not just paramount to understanding the reasons behind China’s behaviour; the West could actually learn a great deal from China, whose system of thinking is, at least to some extent, better prepared to tackle the challenges of our “age of complexity”.
Confucius said that real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance
For example, while in the West a short-termist mentality prevails that is the root of both economic and political ills (from the financial crisis of 2008 to the transformation of democracies into inefficient “vetocracies”), Chinese culture is oriented to the longer term. Holding a long-term perspective allows you to have a clearer perspective on things, therefore reducing the risk of rushing into decisions without considering the wider context.
The long-term orientation of China is reinforced by the Daoist principle, according to which the only unchanging law of the universe is constant change. For the Chinese, things will always change and what is bad today could turn out to be good, just as much as a loss could turn out to be a gain in the future. This is why in China it’s always the context that matters.
In 2017, don’t leave home without the I Ching

The five main projects of the Belt and Road Initiative: A visual explainer
All of this plays out in the global success of many Chinese companies that are able to integrate in a pragmatic way their short-term objectives into a long-term strategy. But maybe the best example of Chinese long-term orientation is the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s vision for a new Silk Road that, if successful, is set to reshape global trade in the coming decades. An economic and geostrategic project of such historical proportions could not have been devised by a Western government used to focusing more on the next elections than on the next generations.
A second aspect of China’s culture that differentiates it radically from the West is the way the Western mind focuses on things while the Chinese mind focuses on relations between things. In the Western tradition, we are used to thinking analytically: in order to make sense of the whole, we need first to analyse the parts separately. The Chinese way is completely different. The Chinese think holistically, meaning they don’t separate the parts from the whole, because the whole is not made of the combination of the parts but of the relations between them.

This difference in thinking patterns is reflected very clearly in the difference between Western and Chinese medicine. The latter treats a disease by regulating the whole body and not just a single part of it, because any problem in a specific part of the body is considered to be a local reflection of imbalance of the whole body.
Medicine aside, this approach can be very useful in trying to make sense of the complexity of our world, where all the global issues of our era (whether economic, social, cultural, military or natural) are interconnected and can’t therefore be analysed independently from each other without running the risk of missing an important part of the “big picture”.
Unfortunately in the West, many political and business leaders are facing the challenges of the future with an intellectual toolbox of the past
Another central characteristic of Chinese culture is the synthetic integration of opposites and contradictions. In China, as the saying goes, if a statement is true, its opposite can also be true. This makes no sense to the binary logic of Western thought, based on the principle of non-contradiction, according to which if A is true and B is the opposite of A, then B must inevitably be false. It does not work this way for the Chinese, who are influenced by the Daoist principle of “yin and yang” that says that all things are inseparable from their opposites; both A and B, despite being opposites, can be true.
While Westerners see two (apparently) opposite concepts as irreconcilable, the Chinese see them both as part of something bigger and therefore can synthesise them into a new concept. The best example of this mental pattern comes from the Chinese language itself, where the word for “crisis” is the combination of the words “danger” and “opportunity”. By being comfortable with ambiguity, the Chinese can therefore merge two opposite perspectives and create a new one.
Science or divination? How an ancient system of Chinese thought may hold answers in our age of uncertainty

We can see this cultural attribute playing out in some political concepts developed in the past few decades, such as “one country, two systems” and the “socialist market economy”. For many Westerners, these concepts would be considered nothing less than illogical oxymorons, but for the Chinese they simply reflect a holistic and dialectic integration of opposites that open the way to a new and original perspective on things; a perspective that is not based on an abstract and dogmatic analysis of reality but on pragmatic adaptation to a specific context. The Chinese don’t think in terms of “or” but rather “and”: not “state or market” but “state and market”, not “competition or cooperation” but “competition and cooperation”.
In the West, most politicians still think dogmatically in terms of irreconcilable opposites; they are incapable of developing a new perspective on reality and this is why they are losing ground.
In the past 15 years, the world has changed dramatically and the changes to come (as a result of shifts in the geo-economic balance and the advent of disruptive technologies) will require the right mental framework from global business and political leaders. Unfortunately in the West, many political and business leaders are facing the challenges of the future with an intellectual toolbox of the past.
China’s road or the Western way: whose economic development model will prevail?

To be a global leader today, one needs to develop a global mindset. Developing a global mindset means combining different perspectives and, through a creative synthesis, integrating them into a new one. A new perspective can help us untangle the complexity of our world and find new solutions to new problems. Western leaders need to understand that learning from Chinese culture can only be beneficial and open up new frontiers and opportunities.
Confucius said that real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance. It is time for Western political and business leaders to acknowledge their own ignorance and do something about it.
Diego Gilardoni is the author of Decoding China and an international consultant and speaker specialised in global business


Learning from China: three lessons for the ignorant West

It is time for Western political and business leaders to acknowledge their own ignorance and do something about it. Illustration: Craig Stephens

This photo taken on August 7, 2017 shows a patient receiving acupuncture treatment at a hospital in Shenyang in China's northeastern Liaoning province. Acupuncture is a crucial component of traditional Chinese medicine, used on treating a wide range of diseases. / AFP PHOTO / STR / China OUT

(170809) -- KUANTAN, Aug. 9, 2017 (Xinhua) -- People pose with a train model of the East Coast Rail Link project during the ground breaking ceremony in Kuantan, Malaysia, on Aug. 9, 2017. A mega railway to be built by China was officially launched on Wednesday in the Malaysian city of Kuantan, a milestone for China-Malaysia ties as China pushed forward the Belt and Road Initiative. (Xinhua/Chong Voon Chung) (dtf)

(170806) -- XIAMEN, Aug. 6, 2017 (Xinhua) -- Residents chat at the Lujiang Old Theater Cultural Park in Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province, Aug. 5, 2017. Hundreds of streets and alleys here present the charm of southern Fujian. According to China's Belt and Road Initiative blueprint, Xiamen, the beautiful seaside city, is set to become the strategic pivot city of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, and it will hold the ninth BRICS Summit in September.  (Xinhua/Song Weiwei) (lx)

In this Aug. 21, 2017, photo, neon signs, two at left, mixing with other LED signs are seen at a down town street in Hong Kong. For Hong Kong's famed neon lights, the future looks dim. Neon-lit signs were once ubiquitous here, illuminating city streets with their soft, warm glow and giving the dynamic Asian city a signature look to match its postwar economic boom. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

Opinion

Comment

Diego Gilardoni says after years of ignorance, the Western political and business elite need to understand that some Chinese cultural traits – such as longer-term, holistic thinking – can help open new frontiers and opportunities


After years of ignorance, it’s time for Western political and business elites to understand that learning from Chinese culture can open new frontiers and opportunities
