As you can surmise, China's "national character" is identified quite differently from that of Japan. Whereas the Japanese character is tied to warrior tradition and seppuku, the Chinese character is tied more to practicality, the very essence of Chinese - pragmatism!
During the period of "Warring States" which began roughly around 500 BC and lasted for a century or so, the art of war was developed to a fine science in China. There were seven states that fought each other during that period, and as you can guess, there was a lot of changing sides, intrigue, betrayals, etc., among the warring states. It was during this period that many of the Chinese folk tales and heroic sagas found their beginning. But, they are quite different from those of Japan and other countries in Asia. One such story, according to some, depicts Chinese "national character" perfectly.
During the "Warring States Period," the State of Chu had a famous archer, supposedly the best in the land among all archers in seven warring states. His fame had spread throughout and he was feared so much that in many cases, battles were settled by merely having him face the best archer of the enemy! There was no need to waste all the manpower by subjecting all the troops to combat, all they had to do was agree with their enemy to have their best archers duel each other, therefore, only two lives would be at stake. This was a perfect illustration of Chinese pragmatism. Why waste all those troops and effort when everything could be settled by just two men?
So it was that the State of Chu that was at war with the neighboring state of Wei decided to sent their archers to face each other in battle. The Emperor of Chu called his archer and ordered him to go and face the enemy archer the following day at an agreed upon time and place. The Emperor told the archer to do battle with the enemy, and that was that!
The top archer of Wei happened to be an old man, an old man who was the teacher of the younger archer of Chu who was considered now to be the best in the land. At one time, the old archer was the best, but not anymore. Sort of like the fastest gun in the West who was no longer the fastest! This presented a dilemma to Chu's top archer. He was very fond of the old man, his teacher. In fact, the old man was like a father to him. He was Chu's archer because Chu's Emperor offered him the most money for his services, otherwise, he probably would have been still together with his old teacher.
The Chu archer could not sleep that night. He thought of his old teacher and just could not even bear the thought of killing his old master. It wasn't that he was "soft," he had killed many enemy, after all, that is how he built his reputation. But to kill his old teacher, that was another story. He struggled and thought about it all night. Next morning as he prepared himself to go to battle, he had decided on his action.
Dressed in full battle regalia, he arrived at the designated location with his orderly. He took his bow and a quiver full of arrows and set out into the open field where he could see his opponent at a great distance, a distance still too far for arrows to reach. He took a position, still too far from target, and fired off his arrows, emptying his quiver. This surprised his orderly, for he was not in range to be effective. But, the archer, after emptying his quiver, turned back and mounted his horse and told his orderly that he had accomplished his mission, he had faced the enemy and had shot off his arrows.
He returned to the palace and reported to the Emperor of Chu. He said that he had done as he was ordered. He had gone to the battle field, faced the enemy archer, and emptied his quiver. Unfortunately, his arrows did not find their mark. The Emperor was perplexed, but didn't do anything because, after all, the archer had followed his orders, and he didn't want to lose the best archer in the land, so he let it go!
The archer's reasoning was that he had done as he was told. The fact that he was out of range was just a technicality, the Emperor did not specify at what distance he was to face the enemy! So, in his mind, he had obeyed the Emperor and carried out his order, but at the same time, he did not kill his teacher, the old master! This, in its basic form, was a demonstration of that Chinese practicality!
A Japanese Samurai, not wanting to kill his former master, would have simply committed seppuku after writing a farewell poem. He could not carry out the order, so he had to take his own life, pure and simple.
An English knight would have struggled with this, then faced his King and would have said something to the effect, "Do as you wish with me, my Lord, but I cannot carry out your order and kill my former master." Depending on the king's mood, he would have either been spared or beheaded!
A Teutonic knight would have gone out and killed his former master, despite the fact that it caused him much anguish and mental sorrow. But he was a knight and orders were orders!
But a Chinese knight (archer), found a solution to the problem, at least to his own satisfaction and peace of mind. It may not appear to be the perfect solution and to some may even seem dishonest, but in his mind, and to the Chinese mind, he had satisfied everyone concerned. It is not only an example of a Chinese practical mind, but also how people think differently, interpret the same things differently. No wonder we have such problems in our foreign affairs!
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