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238 DIMENSIONS OF NATIONAL CULTURES

known as the Golden Rule, but without the double not. Confucius pre-
scribes a basic human benevolence toward others, but it does not go as
far as the Christian injunction to love one’s enemies. Geert heard the
Confucian comment that if one should love one’s enemies, what would
remain for one’s friends?
4. Virtue with regard to one’s tasks in life consists of trying to acquire skills and
education, working hard, not spending more than necessary, being patient,
and persevering. Conspicuous consumption is taboo, as is losing one’s
temper. Everything should be done with moderation, a rule that was
also formulated by Socrates. Value 1, “persistence,” and value 2, “thrift,”

closely fit this principle. So from the eight values found related to the

fourth CVS dimension, the first four, all on one side, directly resonate
with Confucius’s principles. Values five to eight include the importance

of “reciprocation of greetings, favors, and gifts” and “protecting one’s
face,” behaviors well recognizable in a Chinese environment but not
specifically Confucian. The concepts “respect for tradition” and “per-

sonal steadiness and stability” are not even specifi cally Chinese.

The fourth CVS dimension is not “Confucianism” per se. Some very
Confucian values were not related to the dimension—for example, “fi lial
piety,” which in the CVS was associated with collectivism. And a non-
Confucian country like India also scored quite high on the dimension.
At this point let us stop a moment and recall how this group of eight
values (four on each side) was created:

■ The Chinese scholars who designed the CVS questionnaire chose
to include them. Considering these values relevant was a matter of
Chinese judgment. Some other values embraced in the Western-
conceived IBM dimensions, in particular those related to uncertainty

avoidance, were not included in the CVS. This does not mean that
they did not make sense in China: for example, uncertainty avoid-
ance accounts for striking differences between Chinese and Japanese
culture.
■ The scores on each of these eight values, produced by students from
twenty-three countries and averaged by country, ranked the coun-
tries in a similar way (which means these values formed a cross-
national dimension together). Combining the eight values into a