The true secret of Chinese success is neither feng shui nor zodiac

A man’s fortune must first be changed from within.   — Ancient Chinese proverb

Chinese New Year falls on February 3 and so begins the Year of the Rabbit. Holiday or not, according to government edict this quintessentially Asian festival has been celebrated in the Philippines longer than the Gregorian calendar’s Jan. 1, which the Westerners only brought here in the 16th century.

We ethnic Chinese have been coming, trading and living peacefully here in the Philippines at least half a millennium earlier than the first Spaniards who just “discovered” these isles for the west in 1521.

For the information of politicians who are still undecided on the future Philippine fate of this biggest of all Asian festivals, the Chinese Lunar New Year or Spring Festival is a big official non-working holiday in various non-Chinese societies from Vietnam (where it is called “Tet”), Malaysia, Singapore, Muslim-majority Indonesia and South Korea.

My paternal ancestors first sailed to Manila two centuries ago and have been celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year quietly as a family tradition for two centuries here, like the Jews did in medieval Europe for their Hanukkah “Festival of Lights.”

In those times, Spanish colonial authorities suppressed Chinese culture and imposed racist policies against the Chinese minority, such as imposing the highest taxes for full-blooded Chinese whom they called “Sangley,” then lesser but still higher taxes than other peoples in our isles for any half-Chinese mestizo or mestizo de Sangley.

In Mandarin Chinese, the traditional greeting is Gong Xi Fa Cai (pronounced as “Kong Si Fa Chay” and literally meaning “Congratulations and prosperity”). In the Hokkien, Min-nan or southern Fujian province dialect of most ethnic Chinese in the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan (which the local Taiwanese claim to be “Taiwanese”), this is Kiong Hee Huat-Chai.

A lot of Philippine companies annually copy advertisements from Hong Kong or by celebrities like Jackie Chan who says, “Gong Hei Fat Choi,” which is actually the Cantonese dialect version. This is like using the Waray dialect for advertisements in the predominantly Ilocano-speaking Filipino communities in Hawaii.

Jia Kho Is More Powerful Than Chinese Zodiac Or Feng Shui

The real Mulan: Hua Mulan loved her ailing father so much that she disguised herself as a man and secretly took his place in the Emperor’s forced military conscription.

Among the many misconceptions about Chinese culture or the so-called “secrets” to Chinese success here or abroad are various superstitious practices that lots of people claim as the ancient Chinese tradition of feng shui or geomancy.

These theatrical performances by people with outrageous claims and costumes on TV every Chinese New Year are entertaining but some are outright disgusting. Many of these hilarious, uncouth and kitschy peddlers of pseudo-Chinese superstitions and fake fortunetellers do not reflect authentic Chinese culture, which is the world’s oldest continuous civilization.

Some geomancy practices dating back thousands of years are logically, intellectually and ecologically valid and even wise, but I believe other coarser superstitious beliefs were concocted to cater to the unlettered peasants of China before and shockingly being commercially used nowadays to cash in as well and to simplistically explain the phenomenon of Chinese success.

Recently, at a special preview of the exciting and very well-made Chinese movie Mulan at the Shang Cineplex of Shangri-la Plaza Mall, I was rivetted and moved by this ancient saga of xiao sun or filial piety as well as sacrifice of self for the common good or national welfare.

This kick-ass movie version of 2009 starring the talented China actress Vicky Zhao and directed by Jingle Ma Cho Sing is totally different from the feel-good cartoon flick Mulan by Walt Disney and which had our very own talented Lea Salonga singing songs.

From Jan. 27 to Feb. 1 at Shangri-la Plaza Mall in Mandaluyong, Mulan is one of the must-see Chinese-language movies with English subtitles at the annual Spring Film Festival project organized by Ateneo de Manila University’s Ricardo Leong Center for Chinese Studies, the multi-awarded Ateneo Celadon organization (of which this writer was founder and first president), Shangri-la Plaza Mall (which used to be led by Philippine STAR columnist and now PCGG’s incorruptible head Dean Andy Bautista), the Confucius Institute and Credit Suisse. Philanthropists Ricardo Leong and Dr. Rosita Lim Leong are the parents-in-law of JG Summit Holdings president Lance Y. Gokongwei.

Other interesting movies at this festival include Queen of Cooking directed by Han Wanfeng, which is about a rural girl with a failed romance who dreams of becoming a Chinese cuisine chef; Forever Enthralled directed by the award-winning Chen Kaige about the turbulent and colorful life of Beijing opera star Mei Lanfang and co-starring the world-famous actress Zhang Ziyi; and Grand River directed by Gao Feng about idealistic young men in the start of Communist China who struggled to develop that vast country’s less developed northwest region near the Tarim River.

The Chinese movie version and the Disney cartoon version of the fascinating life of heroine Hua Mulan revolve around basically the same plot — about a young woman who loved her ailing father so much that she disguised herself as a man and secretly took his place in the Emperor’s forced military conscription to valiantly fight against foreign invaders in warfare.

All Chinese kids worldwide study the life of Hua Mulan not only in history books, but also through ancient poetry passed on through the centuries. In 2008, during a trip to China, I detoured to Bozhou City in Anhui province to visit the birthplace of Hua Mulan and also the hometown of Three Kingdoms Era warlord General Cao Cao (pronounced as “Zhao Zhao”).

The Mulan movie is highly recommended for all people who wish to relax and be entertained by a touching, intelligent and action-packed film that could partly explain some of the real secrets behind Chinese success — the Confucian concept of sacrificing self interest for the common good or the public welfare, either in patriotism or civic service, also the most sacred Confucian value of filial piety called xiao-sun in Mandarin or hau-sun in Hokkien.

Filial piety in the Chinese psyche is not just total obedience of parents and elders, but also reverence for and doing exceedingly well in our lives to forever honor our ancestors.

One of the lessons from the Mulan movie that could explain the phenomenon of Chinese success, which definitely is not due to ancient Chinese zodiac signs or feng shui, is that concept of chi ku or, translated literally into English, the ability to “eat bitterness.” In our Hokkien dialect, this is called jia kho. The exceptionally driven Mulan of history and of the movie personified that spirit of chi ku. 

In the Jan. 8 column of Nicolas D. Kristof in the New York Times, entitled “China Rises and Checkmates,” he attributes this age-old Chinese tradition of willingness to endure “eating bitterness” through hard work, discipline, perseverance, frugality and nonstop education as one real key to Chinese success in business, sports, the arts and other fields.

Kristof wrote: “Cynics sometimes suggest that China’s rise as a world power is largely a matter of government manipulation of currency rates and trade rules, and there’s no doubt that there’s plenty of rigging or cheating going on in every sphere. But China has also done an extraordinarily good job of investing in its people and in spreading opportunity across the country. Moreover, perhaps as a legacy of Confucianism, its citizens have shown a passion for education and self-improvement — along with remarkable capacity for discipline and hard work, what the Chinese call chi ku, or “eating bitterness.”

Sadly for the Philippine economy, many of the descendants of frugal, hardworking, disciplined and tough-minded Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs have become too effete, self-indulgent, confused and spoiled brats, overly Westernized in mindset to the point of having been de-culturalized of our forebears’ traditional Confucian values.

It is not only true that many non-Chinese are befuddled by and cannot understand the true secrets to Chinese success here and abroad, not a few people of my generation and even those younger of our ethnic Chinese minority — who despite going to the best schools here or in the West — also tragically no longer remember how our penniless immigrant ancestors painstakingly earned success through decades of blood, sweat and tears, though years of guts, grit and jia kho.

* * *

Send feedback to willsoonflourish@gmail.com, Facebook or Twitter WilsonLeeFlores.