Abstract

Editor's: In this essay, author Li Qiao first briefly introduces the calligraphy Nande hutu and its author, Zheng Banqiao. Further, through analysis of the different components of the postscript of the calligraphy, he elaborates on two common interpretations of the saying, that is an active and enterprising and a passive, “muddling through” interpretation. The author argues that because the contemporary interpretations contain much of the passive, “take-it-easy” component, it is very popular nowadays.The essay dates from 1986, which was a period of previously rarely seen press freedom. As such, it is representative for the many articles on Nande hutu in the 1980s that were critical of the “unethical” use of this philosophy of life following the economic reforms, especially among shrewd officials and businessmen, but also among philosophers, namely as a “philosophy of the opportunist.”