Sichuan Province - Mount Qingcheng 青城山

Next to Chengdu lies Mount Qingcheng, one of the birthplaces of Taoism (Daoism), China’s only indigenous religion. It is still a religious center sprinkled with caves and shrines venerated by Taosits. Founded in AD 143 in Mount Qingcheng, Taoism has developed into an important religion in Southeast Asia, exerting tremendous influence there. For ordinary tourists, Mount Qingcheng is an ideal summer resort. The four-hour trek to its summit, 1,600 meters above sea level, is a pleasant trip. Sixteen kilometers from Dujiangyan city, Mount Qingcheng has been known since ancient times as “the most tranquil place under heaven青城天下幽.” Reaching the mountain on an early spring or summer morning, the tourist will find it shrouded in mist, which moistens stone steps rising up towards the summit. Forests of pine, Chinese fir, cypress and all kinds of fragrant undergrowth make up a deep green world. The only sounds the tourist hears are birds, waterfalls and the tourists’ footsteps. Chinese hermits and men of letters have long cherished the perfect sense of peace there. There are four famous Taoist mountains such as Mount Qingcheng in Sichuan Province四川省的青城山,Mount Longhu in Jiangxi Province江西省的龙虎山, Mount Wudang in Hubei Province湖北省的武当山 and Mount Laoshan in Shandong Province山东省的崂山. UNESCO inscribed the Mount Qingcheng-Dujiangyan Irrigation Project on the World Heritage List in 2000.

Concept of Wu Wei 老子的“无为”观念

Lao Tse’s concept of wu wei forms the cornerstone of Taoist management philosophy. Although wu wei is frequently rendered in English as “do nothing,” its actual meaning is more complex than this ambiguous and paradoxical translation might suggest. In its own, the Chinese character wu means “does not exist” but, combine with wei, it acts as a negative prescription. The full meaning of wei is more problematic, but modern scholars commonly take it to convey “purpose,” “for the sake of,” or “to act.” Together, these two characters form a phrase more aptly translated as “to act without purposive action.” “Doing nothing” should not be understood as an invitation to inertia or passivity. Instead, in the context of managerial leadership, wu wei means exerting the minimum amount of managerial interference on the individual to encourage greater discretionary participation by the individual. The goal of Taoist management practice is to create an environment most conducive to the individual’s quest for personal fulfillment and, thereby enhancing productivity and efficiency. In the mid-18th century, the French physician and economic thinker Francios Quesnay translated Lao Tse’s idea of wu wei into a concept of laissez-faire, which greatly inspired Adam Smith, who later established the principles of modern free-market economies. Taoism “is essentially a philosophy of laissez-faire, of management by non-intervention, of accepting everything as it is.” Under the influence of these classical values, people tend to adopt a conciliatory approach in resolving differences and conflicts. Conflicts are simply undesirable. This differs sharply from the confrontational style in Western management.

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