Country Driving [180]
Lots of people say your life is hard,
But you smile and say that as long as you have us, you’re never sad…
Little Long kept his diary in a spiral notebook. It also contained a copy of a long letter he had written to a former girlfriend, as well as pages on which he had practiced writing the Latin alphabet, in an attempt at self-education. Throughout the notebook he had copied aphorisms and mottos, some of which also appeared on his dormitory wall. In big characters above his bed was the phrase: “Find Success Immediately.” Another wall read: “Face the Future Directly.” And he also inscribed the title of one of his self-help books: “Square and Round.”
Like many young people in factory towns, Little Long was a great consumer of inspirational literature. One of his favorites was Square and Round, a best-seller in China that explains how to function in modern society. The title comes from a traditional phrase—squareness represents a person’s internal integrity, whereas roundness is the external flexibility necessary to deal with other people. The author adapts this classical notion to the intense competitiveness of today’s boomtown society, with unsettling conclusions: much of the book describes how to lie profitably, manipulate co-workers, and generally behave like a post-Communist Machiavelli. There’s a section on the best way to request something from a boss (first, ask for something unrealistic, so the rejection creates a sense of obligation). Another chapter tells how to cry effectively in front of a superior (don’t overdo it). There’s advice on how to keep friendship in perspective. (“If you and your best friend get along very well, then you are true friends for now. But if there is one million dollars’ worth of business to be done, and if you don’t kick him aside or he doesn’t kick you aside, then you have mental problems.”)
In addition to Square and Round, Little Long often turned to a Chinese copy of The Harvard MBA Comprehensive Volume of How to Conduct Yourself in Society. “I’m not mature enough,” he told me. “Somebody as young as me needs help, and this book can provide it. If I have some kind of problem, I don’t have anybody that I can talk to—I’m lonely in that way. But books like this give me ideas about how to handle situations.” He also relied on A Treasured Book for Success in Life, and another one of his favorites was A Collection of the Classics. This book features foreign-themed stories, and Little Long was particularly impressed by a chapter about John D. Rockefeller. According to Collection of the Classics, the oil tycoon took his lunch every day at the same local restaurant, where he always left a one-dollar tip. After a period of weeks the waiter finally said, “If I were you, I wouldn’t be so miserly as to give such a small tip.” Rockefeller shot back, “Because of such thinking, you’re only a waiter.” The Collection of the Classics concludes with a moral: “A great many people can’t become rich, and a major reason is that they spend money freely.” Another chapter features Jesus Christ, although this particular parable isn’t one that appears in the Bible. In the Chinese book, a man who tries to help others only makes things worse, and finally Jesus tells him to cut it out. That’s the Messiah’s message—accept the world as it is. “In our real world, we often think about the best way to act, but the reality and our desires are often at odds,” explains the moral. “We must believe that accepting what we have is the best arrangement for us.”
Little Long had a naturally sweet disposition, and from this odd cocktail of books he drew a lesson of equanimity. That was the most important thing he learned from all the great teachers: Confucius and Jesus, Rockefeller and Mao. “I want to be persistent,” he told me. “I don’t want things to frustrate me or make me angry.” He wrote his