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Xi Jinping

[ by Charles Cameron — Xi Jinping quotes an unnamed “ancient Chinese military strategist” and I respond with Laozi — this one’s for Raff Pantucci ]
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According to Reuters today, Xi used his quote (above, top) in a speech in 2000, while governor of Fujian province. If anyone can identify the “ancient Chinese military strategist” and reference the original source of Xi‘s quote, I’d appreciate a heads up. My version of the Laozi is from Ursula le Guin‘s translation, chapter 43.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 26th, 2012 at 12:32 am and is filed under Charles Cameron, china, strategist, strategy, tao. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

2 Responses to “Xi Jinping”

  1. Charles Cameron Says:
    November 26th, 2012 at 1:15 am

    Raff Pantucci has very kindly informed me that Xi Jinping’s interview is available in English here, where the passage in question reads:

    But as the old Master Guan said: Do not try to do the impossible, do not strive for the unobtainable, do not rest on the transient, do not do what cannot be repeated.

    The accompanying footnote identifies Master Guan thus:

    Guanzi (also known as Guan Zhong) about 720-645 bC. High Ranking civil servant and reformer in the stat of Qi.

    Raff also points out that “the version Reuters uses is from the original Chinese”.
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    Appreciated!

  2. Raff Says:
    November 26th, 2012 at 1:27 am

    Always a pleasure! 

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