Crossing the River by Feeling for Stones

The Chinese have a phrase: 摸石头过河 (MōShítouGuòhé) which literally translates as "Feel Stones Cross River" and usually is translated as in the title above.  The meaning is to improvise by trial-and-error; to deal with problems as they arise and adjust for problems as they occur. So, imagine going up to a river and deciding you were going to cross it, with no preparation and no forethought. Stick one foot in and see if you can find a stone to stand on.  Once you find one, feel for another.  If you slip and fall, hopefully you don't drown.  If you are in the middle of the river and suddenly run out of stones, tough luck.  The Chinese government itself has, in the past, declared that this would be their policy for dealing with the modernization of China.

This type of thinking is rather foreign for me, even though I have been in China for years.  I am aware of it, I do my best to accept it and go with it, but it is still very difficult for me to deal with.  It just goes against my grain.  For example, I teach at a college in China.  At every place I have taught in China, I have been given the chosen textbooks either the day before class begins or, a few times, weeks after school has started.  When there are school holidays and I want to book tickets for travel, I have to wait until Beijing makes a decision as to exactly which days school will be out.  Beijing contacts my provincial government, who in turn contact the city government who then contact the local education bureau and they then contact the school's president who passes it down the ranks until it reaches me, at the bottom of the totem pole.   Suddenly, the prices of tickets sky rocket and get sold out fast.  My classes and schedule for the school year are always arranged and given to me the evening before school begins.  I asked a Chinese teacher how she deals with this and she quoted the title of this post.  I guess you just deal with it and figure it out last minute.  I could go on and on with examples.

I grew up being taught to "think and plan ahead", "think long-term", "be prepared", etc.  While it is easy for me to point out the negatives of "Crossing the River by Feeling for Stones", I can also see some value to this perspective.  It does eliminate the stress one may feel while preparing and planning; any stress is much more short-lived and occurs "in the moment".  Also, it doesn't appear to bother most Chinese who are simply used to it and know no other way.  The Chinese people, in general, are the most adaptive people I have encountered.  I have found that in the larger, more developed cities, there is slowly becoming more and more tension with this practice.  However, outside of the most developed cities, it seems to just be the way things are.  There is a similar way to say this in Chinese: 顺其自然 (shùnqízìrán) which translates into the more chicken-soupy sounding, "go with the flow".  After all, this is the heart of Daoist philosophy, which was deeply rooted in the Chinese psyche centuries ago.  I guess it is hard to fight centuries of habit.