Post 74 A glance of honour (一顾之荣 yi gu zhi rong)
There was a man who was an expert in judging horses. He was affectionately called Bo Le (伯乐), the name of the star in charge of heavenly horses in ancient Chinese mythology.
Once there was a person who tried to sell his horse at the market but there was no buyer. After failing to strike a deal on three attempts, this person went to see Bo Le for help. He requested Bo Le to just cast a glance at his horse and, before leaving the market, turn back to briefly glance at the horse again. Bo Le followed the instruction of the man. Soon after Bo Le had left, there were many interested buyers who offered to pay ten times more for the horse.
Initially this metaphor was for someone who had gained more status after having some social graces with a famous personality. It is now used to describe the honour of having a distinguished guest gracing an occasion or visiting a place. When a distinguished guest like the Prime Minister visits a school, that school is being honoured by a glance.
21 December 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
A wheeler-dealer
Post 73 To be professional in one’s dealings
A wheeler-dealer is an Informal term for one who bargains shrewdly or advances one's own interests by aggressive or unscrupulous behavior. There is a lack of professionalism in one’s business dealings. Hence a successful sales person always steers clear of the wheeler-dealer mentality.
Fan Li (范蠡) was an ancient Chinese advisor of ministerial rank. He later resigned, renamed himself Tao Zhugong (陶朱公) and became an icon in business management. His book on “Golden Rules of Business Success" (经商宝典) which includes Twelve Business Principles and Twelve Business Pitfalls remains relevant till today.
Tao Zhugong, a tycoon himself, was a man of principle who was against those who wheel and deal in a selfish and unscrupulous way. His first golden rule states that one must have the ability to know people’s character. A wheeler-dealer is easily detectable because he can fix anything for a price.
Tao also gave the advice that one should not give in to herd instinct which is the instinct to think and behave like the majority of people. This herd instinct is common in share markets.
A wheeler-dealer who is over zealous and canny in his business dealings may ruin his character.
14 December 2010
A wheeler-dealer is an Informal term for one who bargains shrewdly or advances one's own interests by aggressive or unscrupulous behavior. There is a lack of professionalism in one’s business dealings. Hence a successful sales person always steers clear of the wheeler-dealer mentality.
Fan Li (范蠡) was an ancient Chinese advisor of ministerial rank. He later resigned, renamed himself Tao Zhugong (陶朱公) and became an icon in business management. His book on “Golden Rules of Business Success" (经商宝典) which includes Twelve Business Principles and Twelve Business Pitfalls remains relevant till today.
Tao Zhugong, a tycoon himself, was a man of principle who was against those who wheel and deal in a selfish and unscrupulous way. His first golden rule states that one must have the ability to know people’s character. A wheeler-dealer is easily detectable because he can fix anything for a price.
Tao also gave the advice that one should not give in to herd instinct which is the instinct to think and behave like the majority of people. This herd instinct is common in share markets.
A wheeler-dealer who is over zealous and canny in his business dealings may ruin his character.
14 December 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
A pipe dream
Post 72 Dream of Southern Branch (南柯一梦)
In the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907), there was a man called Chunyu Fen who became drunk and dozed off under a scholartree on the southern part of his house. He dreamt that he was chosen to marry the princess of the King of the state of Scholartree. He became a governor for twenty years enjoying his glory and riches with his seven children who also did well in life. Unfortunately he lost everything when the King did not trust him anymore.
Chunyu Fen woke up to realize that he just had an illusory joy in his dream. He tried to look for the country he had been in his dream. He found that the so-called state of Scholartree was just an ant hole under the Scholartree on the southern end of his house. It was a pipe dream. What had happened to him in the dream was near impossible to achieve in real life.
One must learn to be positive, realistic and down to earth. It is wishful thinking to assume that one can be successful just by dreaming.
7 December 2010
In the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907), there was a man called Chunyu Fen who became drunk and dozed off under a scholartree on the southern part of his house. He dreamt that he was chosen to marry the princess of the King of the state of Scholartree. He became a governor for twenty years enjoying his glory and riches with his seven children who also did well in life. Unfortunately he lost everything when the King did not trust him anymore.
Chunyu Fen woke up to realize that he just had an illusory joy in his dream. He tried to look for the country he had been in his dream. He found that the so-called state of Scholartree was just an ant hole under the Scholartree on the southern end of his house. It was a pipe dream. What had happened to him in the dream was near impossible to achieve in real life.
One must learn to be positive, realistic and down to earth. It is wishful thinking to assume that one can be successful just by dreaming.
7 December 2010
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Learning is the only way up
Post 71 Digital devices – a double-edged sword
Thomas L. Friedman wrote on 24 November 2010 that the most frightening news published in the Times on Sunday (21 Nov) was an article about how American kids are stepping up their use of digital devices. The following excerpt may be the epitome of many teenagers around the world:
“Allison Miller, 14, sends and receives 27,000 texts in a month, her fingers clicking at a blistering pace as she carries on as many as seven text conversations at a time. She texts between classes,......... while being driven to and from school and, often, while studying. But this proficiency comes at a cost: She blames multitasking for the three B’s on her recent progress report…. ”
I have seen many students who play video games, watch film shows, and texting during their waking hours every day when they should be concentrating on their studies. They do poorly in their examinations as the logical consequences of being off-tangent. They then make use of the defense mechanism of escapism by wasting more time on digital devices because they know they cannot not cope with their school work anymore. These students who lack good parenting and motivation to study pay heavily the price of not learning seriously when they fail in university entrance examinations.
The zeal in learning to acquire knowledge and critical thinking is the only way up in this competitive world flattened by globalization.
30 November 2010
Thomas L. Friedman wrote on 24 November 2010 that the most frightening news published in the Times on Sunday (21 Nov) was an article about how American kids are stepping up their use of digital devices. The following excerpt may be the epitome of many teenagers around the world:
“Allison Miller, 14, sends and receives 27,000 texts in a month, her fingers clicking at a blistering pace as she carries on as many as seven text conversations at a time. She texts between classes,......... while being driven to and from school and, often, while studying. But this proficiency comes at a cost: She blames multitasking for the three B’s on her recent progress report…. ”
I have seen many students who play video games, watch film shows, and texting during their waking hours every day when they should be concentrating on their studies. They do poorly in their examinations as the logical consequences of being off-tangent. They then make use of the defense mechanism of escapism by wasting more time on digital devices because they know they cannot not cope with their school work anymore. These students who lack good parenting and motivation to study pay heavily the price of not learning seriously when they fail in university entrance examinations.
The zeal in learning to acquire knowledge and critical thinking is the only way up in this competitive world flattened by globalization.
30 November 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
One good deed is not enough
Post 70 For one swallow does not make a spring
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He said, "For one swallow does not make a spring, nor does one sunny day." A swallow is a bird which makes its appearance during spring and migrates to warmer places in winter. This proverb means that one event does not mean that others will follow.
One cannot draw a valid conclusion from one instance. For example winning one game does not mean that one will win the tournament; a good deed done by an unethical person may not make him virtuous. In another aspect, one should not be over-excited over one’s little success but to make sure of one’s continued accomplishment.
Winston Churchill said: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Our initial success in any endeavour should motivate us to strive further for a purposeful and continuous habit of success. Always remember that one swallow does not make a summer, nor does one sunny day.
23 November 2010
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He said, "For one swallow does not make a spring, nor does one sunny day." A swallow is a bird which makes its appearance during spring and migrates to warmer places in winter. This proverb means that one event does not mean that others will follow.
One cannot draw a valid conclusion from one instance. For example winning one game does not mean that one will win the tournament; a good deed done by an unethical person may not make him virtuous. In another aspect, one should not be over-excited over one’s little success but to make sure of one’s continued accomplishment.
Winston Churchill said: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” Our initial success in any endeavour should motivate us to strive further for a purposeful and continuous habit of success. Always remember that one swallow does not make a summer, nor does one sunny day.
23 November 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
The learning of dialects
Post 69 Mother-tongue
There was a piece of news in the Chinese daily saying that an expert in Hakka or Kejia dialect(客家方言) from Taiwan would be in Malaysia conducting Hakka lessons for young Malaysians who are from the Hakka clan in China. This is to ensure that the younger generation would not lose touch of their mother-tongue in a distant land.
Kejia dialect is one of the main sub-divisions of the Chinese language spoken widely in southern China by the Hakka people and their descendants throughout Taiwan, Southeast Asia and around the world.
John Milton (1608–1674) was the English poet in favour of elevating the status of English language and to phase off Latin which was an Italian language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Latin is deemed to be a very difficult language to learn.
Richard Mulcaster (1531-1611), the High Master of St Paul's School in 1596, started a movement in making English as the language of learning in the English-speaking world; his love for the language led him to say:
“I love Rome, but London better, I favour Italy, but England more, I honour Latin, but worship English.”
16 November 2010
(9 November 2010- on vacation)
There was a piece of news in the Chinese daily saying that an expert in Hakka or Kejia dialect(客家方言) from Taiwan would be in Malaysia conducting Hakka lessons for young Malaysians who are from the Hakka clan in China. This is to ensure that the younger generation would not lose touch of their mother-tongue in a distant land.
Kejia dialect is one of the main sub-divisions of the Chinese language spoken widely in southern China by the Hakka people and their descendants throughout Taiwan, Southeast Asia and around the world.
John Milton (1608–1674) was the English poet in favour of elevating the status of English language and to phase off Latin which was an Italian language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Latin is deemed to be a very difficult language to learn.
Richard Mulcaster (1531-1611), the High Master of St Paul's School in 1596, started a movement in making English as the language of learning in the English-speaking world; his love for the language led him to say:
“I love Rome, but London better, I favour Italy, but England more, I honour Latin, but worship English.”
16 November 2010
(9 November 2010- on vacation)
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Silly talks
Post 68 A fool telling about his dream
Sun Yun of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) wrote in his 'Random Talks' the following amusing story:
A rich family had a dull-witted son. One morning when he got out of his bed, with eyes still heavy with sleep, he saw a maid who had gone into the room to look for something. He then caught hold of her hand and asked, “Did you see me in your dream last night?” The maid was puzzled at his question and answered, “No, I didn’t.”
He was very angry and retorted at her, “I am very sure that I saw you in my dream. How dare you tell me such a lie?” He then rushed to his mother and, holding on to the hem of her mother’s coat, yelled, “The maid must be punished. I definitely saw her in my dream, and yet she denied it. She has the intention to cheat on her master. This is ridiculous!”
In reality there are many people in the society who are like the foolish son talking nonsense. They promise their followers the earth or the moon in order to get what they want, but often fail to keep those promises.
2 November 2010
Sun Yun of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) wrote in his 'Random Talks' the following amusing story:
A rich family had a dull-witted son. One morning when he got out of his bed, with eyes still heavy with sleep, he saw a maid who had gone into the room to look for something. He then caught hold of her hand and asked, “Did you see me in your dream last night?” The maid was puzzled at his question and answered, “No, I didn’t.”
He was very angry and retorted at her, “I am very sure that I saw you in my dream. How dare you tell me such a lie?” He then rushed to his mother and, holding on to the hem of her mother’s coat, yelled, “The maid must be punished. I definitely saw her in my dream, and yet she denied it. She has the intention to cheat on her master. This is ridiculous!”
In reality there are many people in the society who are like the foolish son talking nonsense. They promise their followers the earth or the moon in order to get what they want, but often fail to keep those promises.
2 November 2010
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