Local literature: a powerful tool in your quest of cross cultural management

I have recently discovered a beautiful novel by a Chinese writer called Eileen Chang. It is called “Half a Lifelong Romance”, it dates back to 1948 and it takes place between Shanghai and Nanjing. I particularly enjoyed my reading because I had the feeling that I was touching the essence of the Chinese culture.

While I was focused on the relationship between the two sisters and main characters of the book, Manlu and Manzhen, I have been reminded about the importance of the family and the role of filial piety in all interactions.

And when I was trying to understand the psychology of Shijun, the lover of Manzhen, I realized what it meant to take over the family business in Nanjing in the late forties. The seriousness of the situation and the heaviness on the shoulders of the hero were all familiar to me. I could easily relate the book to a lot of exit interviews that I had in the last 16 years in Hong Kong.

Eileen Chang did the same thing for me than Lin Yutang, another Chinese writer from the XIX century. Both of them helped me a lot to get familiar with the psyche and mindset of my Chinese colleagues and friends.

Cross-cultural management has a lot to do with empathy, respect, tolerance and emotional quotient. You do your own mistakes, you stumble, you accumulate all the “lost in translation” and then you reflect, you learn, you grow.

However, I am not sure that we are taping enough into the fantastic treasure chest that is our local literature. Getting into a novel, understanding its pace, appreciating its poetry is a very good way to get closer to the people you live with.

 After I spent all the week-end with Eileen Chang, I could feel myself more open-minded in my listening of my colleagues, I could relate to some of their difficulties, I was able to reply with more authenticity.

Therefore, this week-end, I will go to Amazon and buy some other novels of Eileen Chiang and Lin Yutang. For the pleasure and the beauty of the Chinese literature but also for the great understanding of my city that it gives me.

For those interested,

Eileen Chang, Half a Lifelong Romance (1948, English: 2016; trans. by Karen S. Kingsbury)

Lin Yutang, (1939) Moment in Peking, The John Day Book Company