China as the World’s Largest Racist State: Arthur H. Smith, Clan Society, and Why There Is “No Word for Liar”

Drawing on the nineteenth-century observations of American missionary Arthur H. Smith, Sekihei argues that China is the world’s largest racist state, built on closed “zongzu” clans and modern “quanzi” circles that sharply divide insiders from outsiders. Within the clan, virtues like benevolence, righteousness, and trust function, but outside it—in politics, public life, and international relations—lying, bribery, and betrayal are tolerated as long as they benefit the group. This long-standing structure, inherited over three to four millennia and embodied today by the Chinese Communist Party itself, explains why China feels no moral constraint in deceiving the world over issues like the Wuhan virus. The essay warns that Japan must understand these behavioral principles, avoid naïve trust, and maintain a posture of “respect but keep at a distance” toward China to avoid inevitable misfortune.

China Is the World’s Largest Racist State
As Arthur H. Smith Explains —
[Sekihei] Then and Now… In China There Is No Word for “Liar”
May 15, 2024

August 9, 2020
The following is from the special supplement to the September issue of the monthly magazine WiLL.
China Is the World’s Largest Racist State
As Arthur H. Smith Explains —
[Sekihei] Then and Now… In China There Is No Word for “Liar”
China, which is scheming to shift responsibility for the Wuhan virus onto others.
Behavior that under normal circumstances we would call “brazen and shameless” has, in China, long been something “perfectly ordinary”…
Drawing on the work of the American missionary Arthur H. Smith, who analyzed the Chinese in the latter half of the nineteenth century, I will introduce characteristics of the Chinese that have remained unchanged from then until now.
(Originally published in the June 2020 issue of WiLL.)

The social organization called “zongzu.”
Seen in this way, the behavioral principles of the Chinese that Smith observed are in fact very accurate, and we can see that they have not changed at all even today.
However, we must keep in mind that Smith was always observing and pointing things out from the outside—from the perspective of Western society.
Naturally, Smith could not grasp the internal circumstances of Chinese society.
If we look at Chinese society from the inside, another side emerges.
From ancient times China has valued above all a social organization called “zongzu,” or clan.
The home where my father was born also belonged to one such clan, the “Shi” clan.
Three hundred years ago, the ancestors of the Shi clan drifted into Sichuan Province from a certain place, formed families there, and caused their descendants to flourish.
By my grandfather’s generation, there were hundreds of Shi households living in several villages within the same region.
When a clan becomes large, it can, in some cases, reach the size of several thousand households.
They build an ancestral temple (ancestral hall) to worship the ancestors of the clan, and this becomes the base of their ancestor worship.
At the same time, it is also a place where all the members of the clan gather and deepen their sense of solidarity.
Within the clan, a person who enjoys great respect becomes the clan head and leads the clan.
The larger the clan grows, the greater its financial resources become, and these are used, for example, to cover the educational expenses of the children within the clan.
In an age without compulsory education, when there was no school system, the clan took responsibility for the children’s education.
They would invite teachers who could teach writing, open a small private school, and provide basic education to the children.
In addition, the clan would sometimes take in orphans whose parents had died early and look after them.
At times there would also be trials.
If someone within the clan committed a crime and was arrested, he would be brought to the ancestral hall and a verdict would be passed.
Within the clan, the Chinese trust one another, mutually help one another, care for one another, and strengthen their sense of solidarity.
For that reason, they cannot tell lies.
From birth to death they live within the clan, so if someone lies even once, they lose everyone’s trust and their place within the group is taken away.
Sometimes there are disputes or quarrels within the clan, but in such cases the clan head serves as mediator and settles things peacefully.
In other words, the five constant virtues—benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faith—are alive and well within the clan.
However, once they step outside this clan, the world instantly turns into one of jackals and wolves.
They do not trust political authority, social institutions, or anything public at all.
They think that it is fine to lie and that there is no problem in committing crimes.
No, to go even further, if someone commits an offense outside the clan, the entire clan will do everything in its power to protect that person.
For that reason, a public spirit is never cultivated.
The “public” exists within the clan, and nowhere outside it.
It is only natural that Chinese officials are universally corrupt.
Why is this so?
Because in order to become an official one must pass the imperial civil service examinations.
The clan spares no effort as a whole in providing education so that someone from the clan can pass these examinations.
Therefore, if even one person passes the examinations and becomes an official, he has a duty to cause the clan to prosper.
However, with an official’s salary alone, he cannot make the entire clan prosper.
In that case, there is no path other than to accept bribes and line his own pockets.
From the clan’s point of view, because the clan prospers through the taking of bribes, it is cause for boundless rejoicing.
An official who is honest and uncorrupted is not welcomed at all by his clan.
Since he brings no benefit, the only thing to do is to drive him out (laughs).
Smith was not able to see through to this reality of the Chinese.
There is, however, an unavoidable side to this.
He could never have imagined that the Chinese lived in such narrow little worlds.

Keep them at arm’s length.
In fact, this social organization called “zongzu” has declined in the cities, except in some rural areas, but it lives on today in a different form.
So in what form does it exist now?
It is called “quanzi.”
The word means “circle,” and through this kind of community they have created a sort of quasi-family system.
For example, the director of the public security bureau, the head of the tax office, a judge, local business owners, and so on, ten to twenty people will form a “quanzi” and protect their own interests.
Within this group, business owners are free to evade taxes as much as they like.
That is because the head of the tax office will turn a blind eye.
The director of the public security bureau is also part of the group, so for minor crimes they will not make any arrests.
Of course, those who have money regularly hand bribes to the public security director and the head of the tax office.
In short, within a “quanzi” it is as if they are outside the reach of the law.
Why is China so cruel and so irresponsible toward the international community?
The simple answer is that they regard all countries other than China as being outside their “quanzi.”
To put it more bluntly, they do not regard others as being people on the same level as themselves.
Therefore, they do not mind in the least committing whatever evil acts they wish toward the world.
Deceiving others is only natural.
They will never admit their mistakes.
Their purpose is to make their “quanzi” prosper.
Naturally, even within China there are many different “quanzi.”
The Chinese Communist Party can also be regarded as one “quanzi.”
This is the essence of Chinese society.
In their relationships with successive conquerors, the “zongzu” and “quanzi” that the Chinese devised in order to protect themselves from oppression and tyranny are social systems that have continued for three to four thousand years.
Thus the Chinese will remain forever cold toward the world outside.
Smith left behind words that are almost prophetic.
“The Chinese are to us more or less a mystery, and they are certain to remain a mystery. (omission) As to how the coming conflict between their race and ours (which seems likely to grow ever more intense as the years go by) will relate to this significant proposition, I shall not venture here to predict. In general terms we believe in the survival of the fittest. Which, then, is better fitted to survive in the conflicts of the twentieth century—the ‘nervous’ European, or the tireless, persistent Chinese who penetrates everywhere?”
That struggle has been carried over into the twenty-first century today.
If Japan gets too close to China, it will inevitably meet with misfortune.
Having lost the world’s trust through the recent Wuhan virus, China may very well come crying to Japan.
In fact, it has already begun trying to curry favor through things like masks.
But we must never trust China lightly.
Look at the characteristics of the Chinese people listed above.
They put on a sweet face, and once they have used you as much as they can, they suddenly turn cold.
It is essential that we deeply understand and grasp these behavioral principles of the Chinese people and, on that basis, respect them but keep them at arm’s length.
(Originally published in the June 2020 issue of WiLL.)