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Like Dr. Ma in Washington, our teachers in Taiwan yielded a wealth of lore on how Chinese think. One morning, I was studying the word duifu, an all-purpose term that means to “deal with,” ”cope,” or “handle.” The teacher asked me how I would “deal with” a Chinese visa applicant who had no chance of getting into the United States. I answered that I would inform him right way, saving him time and effort. The teacher shook his head. The Chinese approach to duifu was completely different. It would involve inviting the applicant to fill out forms and return every few weeks. Each time he returned you would invent a new excuse; the case had to be referred to Washington; word had not yet been received from the State Department, and so on. After several visits, the applicant would realize on his own that he would never get a visa. He would, however, be grateful that you had not “poured cold water on his head.”

“In our society,” I replied, “That’s called ‘giving a person the runaround.’”

The teacher noted with delight this new American slang term, and replied, “Our society has different, indirect ways of ‘dealing with’ people and situations.” Later on when dealing with Chinese, I knew when I was being given the duifu treatment. I also turned the tables, to good effect.

The teachers also taught us the art of yanjiu, which means to study” or “analyze.” In practical terms it means examining from every angle any contemplated action and constantly revisiting your conclusions, right up to the time of the action itself. It could take up to two hours, for example, to decide what to eat or where to stay. Time was plentiful in the Taiwan of the sixties, and everybody seemed to enjoy the process. Later, in the Mainland, I found Chinese just as prone to interminable yanjiu, though for different reasons. Fear of making a mistake rules in a tense, competitive society. Even now, anyone trying to organize a conference, plan an event, or introduce a new policy in China will run into hours, even days of yanjiu and the changes and delays that result from the process. Irritating though it may be to people from the West, I benefited from grasping the practice early on.