Many writers have stressed theinfluence of China's culture on the way that its organizations are managed .

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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

China’s long history has until very recently been marked by two over-riding

social imperatives. The first imperative concerned the preservation of its integrity in

terms of protecting its immensely long borders and maintaining internal unity. This

justified and reinforced the hierarchical status and centralized powers of the Emperor and

imperial officials. While they normally treated imperial authority with great deference,

the peasantry occasionally revolted against the abuse of this authority, especially when

driven to desperation by famine. The second imperative in fact concerned the need for

communal self-help in the face of recurrent natural disasters, particularly famine and

flood. The precariousness imposed by a combination of threats from natural causes and

arbitrary imperial rule led to a reliance on mutual support within extended family units

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and the local community. This historical legacy helps to account for the paradox

characterizing China today, that high trust is accorded to group members or those with

whom there are special relationships, while others are actively mistrusted.

Chinese culture and tradition is therefore deep rooted and before the nineteenth

century was largely undisturbed by foreign influence. The majority Han people had

managed to absorb foreign invaders, such as the Mongols and the Manchu, into that

culture. Their culture is a strong attribute of Chinese society and its members remain

very self-conscious of it. As Fairbank noted (1987: 367), ‘the influence ...

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