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It was the opinion of one of the great thinkers of the 20th century， Lin Yutang， that China was ruled ultimately by what he called a triad of forces – face， fate and favor. His book“My Country and My People，” published in 1936， discusses these issues of course from the perspective of that volatile period， but I believe his comments still have a huge relevance for China today. “The more things change， the more they stay the same” is a clichéfor a good reason.

In last month’s article， I discussed face， and the extraordinary extent to which it impacts on events in China from top to bottom. The next is fatalism， a topic on which the cliché has always been that Chinese people accept the status quo as being fate， until they are pushed to the wall and have no other choice but to respond.

Lin takes the view that “Fatalism is not only a Chinese mental habit， it is part of the conscious Confucian tradition. So closely related is this belief in fate connected with the Doctrine of Social Status that we have such current phrases as “keep your own status and resign yourself to heaven’s will，” and“let heaven and fate have their way.”

In China today， I constantly hear the phrase mei banfa – nothing to be done about it. This often comes up when discussing， for instance， China’s environment or political issues. It means： “things are as they are， and there’s no way I can influence the course of events， so I may as well not bother myself about it.”

As Lin points out： “This doctrine of fatalism is a great source of personal strength and contentment， and accounts for the placidity of Chinese souls.”

My approach is sometimes to disa- gree and say it （whatever the topic is） is not necessary mei banfa， and to take that attitude makes it less likely that there ever would be a “banfa”， a solution， a means or changing the situation. But then， I am not Chinese.

But I also doubt the idea that Chinese are categorically passive in the face of fate. My observation would be that the Indian approach， for instance， is far more to accept fate as unchangeable than is true in Chinese culture.

I once wrote most of a book about Chinese fortune-telling， and maybe one day I’ll finish it （only if I am fated to do so， of course）. My conclusion was the Chinese people see fate ultimately as something that can be manipulated. Hence the use of black goldfish and mirrors to deflect evil force flows and pandering to dead ancestors to get their cooperation in improving things back here on Earth. The whole assumption of fengshui and other similar underpinnings of Chines culture is that the future is not set in stone， and that we have the ability to change the course of events， if we can only read the signs correctly and take corrective action.

“The redeeming feature， as has been said， is the absence of caste and aristocracy in China，” writes Lin. “We Chinese believe that every dog has his day， and ‘heaven’s way always goes round.’ If a man has ability， steadiness and ambition， he can always rise and climb high. Who can tell？”

This is indeed one of the saving graces of Chinese culture – no caste system. All Chinese people respect power and accept that power is there to be used.（The best riposte for taxi drivers who rail against corruption amongst officials is to ask， “What would you do if you were an official？” The answer invariably is， “Probably the same.”）. If there was ever a sense of a reduction in the fluidity of Chinese society， that would not be conducive to harmony.