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Power and organisation

Zichan

Standing on the rule

Zichan (Spring and Autumn · Zheng · d. 522 BC) — Standing on the rule.

Power and organisationPre-Qin and classicalStanding on the rule

What actually happened?

In his first year running Zheng, the people sang a song against Zichan: take away my clothes and cap, carve my fields into groups of five households, and whoever kills Zichan, I will join him. In the third year the words changed: if I have sons, Zichan teaches them; if I have fields, Zichan feeds them; if Zichan dies, who will take his place?

Speak from the other side's own rule

At Pingqiu, Jin wanted little Zheng to pay tribute at a marquis's rate. He did not open with hardship. He set out the Zhou schedule of tribute by rank, then said Zheng could not meet that figure. The other side can dispute your hardship, but it is hard to deny its own rule.

Given a big-client price, you show the price list they quote to firms your size before you state your budget.

The first price is every later price

Han Xuanzi wanted a jade ring and others urged giving it. Zichan counted the future: if a great state's envoys get whatever they ask for, nothing is left to give later, and a yes followed by a no offends more than a no at the start. He refused the way the thing was asked for, not Jin.

A client gets one free feature from you in the first quarter; by the next, as far as he is concerned, it is in the contract.

Firm outside because something is done inside

He reorganised the fields and the taxes; for a year the people cursed him and by the third they hoped he would not die. A small state's chief minister could argue until dark in front of Jin because there were people at home on his side.

Before you bargain with the people above you, check you hold one finished result they can see.

How do I use it today?

Pick one condition you will negotiate next week and write two lines: the rule the other side already accepts; and, if I give way this once, what reason I will have to refuse next time. If you cannot write the second line, do not give way yet.

Deep read

From Noon to DuskWhen they price you like a big player, find the rule they already acceptJin wanted little Zheng to pay tribute at a duke's rate, and he argued from midday until darkThe Ring He Would Not GiveWhen they ask for little, remember that the first yes sets the price of every later oneA Jin envoy wanted one jade ring, and he refused, then cited an oath both sides had sworn

Read alongside

Thomas SchellingBoth write about the weaker party in a negotiation. Schelling teaches you to tie your own hands so the other side knows you cannot retreat; Zichan ties nothing, he finds the rule the other side has already accepted so it cannot call him wrong. One works by commitment, the other by the opponent's own words. Lin XiangruBoth held out for a small state against a great one. Lin Xiangru did it with nerve in a single confrontation in front of the king of Qin; Zichan did it with an old rule and a day-long argument. One is a moment, the other is an afternoon.

Further

Yan Ying Lin Xiangru Strategies of the Warring States Guan Zhong

Lines to keep

Yield once and refuse once, and the offence is worse.