People often asked me, why are you Andy so interested in conducting lessons on the 3 Kingdoms? What is so beneficial in knowing China's history 1,800 years ago? I am not in the military, and nor am I in business. What good is there for me to understand the 3 Kingdoms?
Today the world has moved beyond judging a book by its cover. We judge a person's success or failure based on achievements.
If a trainer did not get many people in his lessons, we say this trainer is either no good or not successful. If a businessman hardly makes good profits, we don't bother about him. We don't know people that we cannot see their achievements.
If a restaurant has a Michelin star, we say that is a good restaurant. If a salesperson breaks sales records, we say he is a great salesperson. Scholars are people who do very well in the academy. In Marvel heroes movies, the superhero is the one that can beat all the bad guys.
In short, we champion the heroes. Heroes are people who are successful.
But the world is very different in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. People including Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang are considered heroes when they are actually failures in their achievements. Both did not unite China and instead were the first to lose their Kingdom to the Wei Kingdom. They also died early. The one that united China is the Sima family when they established the Jin Dynasty in the year 280. Yet no one who knows The Three Kingdoms considers the Sima family as heroes.
What criteria did The 3 Kingdoms use in determining who are the heroes? In The 3 Kingdoms, we don't judge by their achievements but by their virtues. How did they behave as a person? Are they good people? Are they honest? Honor their word? Put others' interests above their own? Kind to people? Never take advantage of others? Never take what is not given? Tried their best against all odds?
I Andy Ng feel that if we all know the 3 Kingdoms, we would be better people. The world would be a better place. Instead of forwarding news on The Taiwan Straits, USA guns killing their own people and internal wars in Iraq, I prefer to continue doing what I am best at: teaching the 3 Kingdoms. Because I want us to know what is considered a real success. Thanks for reading this article.
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