The Art and Science of Chinese Prosperity

CEBU, Philippines - Everywhere the Chinese are always a prominent sector of the community. They own the bigger businesses and most of the prime properties around. Some native Filipinos envy the economic prosperity of their slit-eyed neighbors, feeling that they should be the ones to enjoy the better share of luck in their own land. Yet others look up to the Chinese as a model in their own struggle for a more prosperous life.

In college, most of my friends were Chinese; well, Filipino-Chinese actually. It was not something I planned; neither did it occur to me then that I was more drawn to people who were not of my own race. I had no idea what attracted me to the Chinese, although at the time it didn't seem to be something interesting to find out.

Perhaps it was their being straightforward. I found my Chinese friends to be quite devoid of the ambiguous, overly polite ways of my other friends. Their sense of honesty was raw; they would rather hurt you with the truth than placate your feelings with a fib. With my Chinese friends then, I felt assured to always get a fair deal; I didn't have to worry about being taken in or being afforded undue consideration.

One of my favorite Chinoy classmates was Hanson. This charming six-footer would come to class oftentimes 15-20 minutes late, catching his breath and sweating profusely. "There was nobody to take my place at the store," he'd volunteer to tell me. Either his older brother was stuck up in traffic while delivering orders or his sisters were facilitating the release of some cargo at the port area.

They had a small grocery store along Cebu's Magallanes Street, where all of them siblings took turns in keeping watch of the operations. The place was also their home; they lived upstairs. Their business was almost a round-the-clock undertaking. Even when the store already closed, the family was still at work, going over the day's receipts or repacking certain items for retail, way past midnight.

Their mother was always the first one up in the morning. At around 3 or 4 a.m. she would already be busy in the kitchen preparing breakfast. Their few hires, which were made to live with them (supposedly to earn the workers' loyalty), would follow a few minutes after. But those farm girls from the province would not help in the kitchen; their main assignment was the store area, to prepare it for another day of business.

The father would devote whole days going over the store records, checking inventories, placing orders to replenish stocks, studying which items are selling well and which ones were gathering dust in the shelves. He was the one that budgeted money for paying suppliers and workers, for household needs, and for savings. He would also regularly visit the other stores around, to spy what new, sellable items were there and made sure they had it in their own store right the following day.

Hanson once told me of his father's simple yet very effective technique for saving money. If the old man wanted to have a certain amount as savings by a certain month, he'd count the number of days there were until the set date, and figure out how much he needed to save every day. For example, if wanted to save ten thousand pesos by end of December and it was yet middle of February, he would divide the amount by 315 days and commit to save at least 32 pesos daily. The plain method enabled their father to prepare for the education of all five children, to make periodic repairs of their building, and set aside a little amount for helping relatives and for their own emergency needs.

Another friend, Ken, was rarely seen in class. It was a wonder how he managed to move on every school semester. He was always traveling to the outlying towns. "I'm the one in charge of buying peanuts for the family's small candy business," he told me when I asked about his frequent absence. Their small factory somewhere in the city's San Nicolas district made roasted peanuts coated in caramel. A small packet containing four whole peanuts sold for 50 centavos each. Even at that time, fifty centavos was cheap.

It was hard for me to imagine why such a cheaply product should be taken so seriously. Ken explained that they were selling more than 20 thousand of those peanut packets everyday in the Visayas alone, and they were soon expanding their market to Mindanao. Their net profit per packet was 12 centavos, translating to a total net income of 2,400 pesos a day. That was a staggering amount at a time when a top bank manager was earning only about 10 thousand pesos a month.

The Chinese have very sharp business acumen. To them, the business comes first before anything else. And there's no such thing as a small trade. Big income is attained by pooling together the little returns. They're fine with a small markup in their merchandise; the low prices are sure to keep the customers coming. And, true, Chinese stores are always teeming with shoppers. Their shops may be cramped and warm, but customers don't mind the little discomfort and inconvenience for big savings.

And the Chinese are very frugal. They may display a little extravagance on certain occasions, but their day-to-day life is very down-to-earth. The traditional Chinese meal is very modest. Congee and taosi (salted black peas) are often all there is, with a piece of fruit afterwards. It's not only economical but healthful as well. The meal is light enough to give the body an easy time in digesting, and there's not much extra calories to keep as body fats.

Chinese parents seldom give away things to their children for no reason. The young ones have to earn every dole-out. Hanson got his second-hand Toyota only after he registered the highest sales at their store for ten months straight. And it came with added pressure - he had to do even better for the next ten months, or else he could use the car only on certain days of the week.

Ken had to haggle hard with the peanut growers for the lowest price, in order to raise money for the down payment of a Ford Fiera, his very first car. His father would decide on the buying price per kilo of peanut, and he'd try to bring it down by a few centavos with the growers. It took him about four years to save up the required amount. 

Apparently, the rigid, hands-on training at home prepares each generation of Chinese for business, and for life on their own. Nowadays, it's not only in business where the Chinese are doing very well. Many young Chinese are also excelling in different fields of human endeavor: in technology, in sports, in the arts. And the reason for this new feat is all the same: a dogged sense of dedication and purpose in whatever they do. This is the "science" of their prosperity.

Many people often fail to see this calculating, hardworking and enduring side of the Chinese. They only see the affluence, the accumulated resources - that are, in a way, the "art" part of the collective Chinese image. At times, the Chinese really flaunts it; and why not? It's hard-earned abundance, after all!

Well, yes, the Chinese are also a very superstitious lot. They have rituals for almost every life event. The celebration of the Chinese New Year, for instance, is an elaborate pageantry of customs and traditions meant to bring good luck and ward off misfortune. Curiously, many of the Chinese superstitious beliefs have, in recent years, been touted as actually having scientific basis.

Many non-Chinese people are quick to adopt Chinese superstitions, in the hope of attaining prosperity, too. But that's only half of the story.  They must also emulate the practical traits of the Chinese.

Again, the Chinese prosperity is part art, part science. There's a simple formula to it: Seriously study beforehand every intended undertaking, then work very hard at it, and use up only a part of the earnings. This is yet the most effective prosperity technique the world has ever known.  (FREEMAN)