Although the legacy of China’s planned economy is fading rapidly, you may still encounter workers and managers who have found it difficult and/or contrary to their own interests to sever all ties with the precepts of a centrally managed economic system.

At its worst, the Chinese economic system from the 1950’s until well into the 1990’s gave incentives to do one’s own job only – the confines of which could be quite narrow in a country of underemployed such as China – and to never take responsibility for or assist with any other task, even though it might require the most minor output of energy.

One common example of this mindset is in the service industry where workers may have been reluctant to sell you something, find you a room, etc because, under the terms of a centrally planned and managed economy, it made no difference whether they did or not. Furthermore, if they did decide to help you, it will only mean additional work for them.

In a similar way, you may encounter service people determined to do their job by adhering to incomprehensible rules that seem designed to inconvenience everyone rather than produce any positive outcome. Again, this is the legacy of a time when the purpose of many jobs was to keep people busy, rather than encourage creativity and productivity.

Repeated political campaigns such as the Cultural Revolution have also influenced attitudes to responsibility. During these campaigns, being the responsible party could attract undeserved condemnation of an individual and possibly his/her family and friends as well. For this reason, avoiding responsibility became nothing more than a sensible self-preservation tactic.

Finally, the majority of Chinese workers, regardless of whether they worked in state-owned enterprises or had transitioned to some form of private employment, were dependent on their workplace (or ‘danwei’), not only for their salary, but often for the payment of utilities and other household expenses, as well as the location and type of housing in which they could live – in short, many of the things that make life livable.

Under these circumstances, a worker’s goal was to secure as many benefits, and as much power, authority and status as possible, whilst avoiding unnecessary responsibility.