Difference

“The other way is to close down all teams that are not making money, with an aim to focus our effort on expanding the high flyer.” Mr. Greene said triumphantly.

Franz bite hard on his lips, so much so it bled. Yes, painful. My god, it’s not a dream!

“Sir, that’s not quite possible. We are running a department store. How could we tell our customers that we do not sell toys or lap top computers?” Albert raised his hand and said. He was the head of the toy corner. Franz nodded with approval.

“How couldn’t we?” The CEO sneered, “We are here to make money, not to take care of all the wish of everyone. It is the responsibility of our Minister of Commerce to make sure there are toy or computer stores around so that the need of London citizens are satisfied.

Franz was puzzled. The old Tobias Greene seemed entirely logical, but Franz didn’t feel right. If Debenham & Freebody sells nothing but women’s fashion and accessories, he could not imagine how this so-called department store is different from Esprit or Giordano.

Help

Franz shivered. He felt something was going to happen.

In a lightning speed Mr. Greene went through a handful of slides. The message was simple and clear: some are doing better than the others. Or, as Vilfredo Pareto predicted, 80% of the store’s profit came from 20% of the teams.

The CEO paused for a moment, cleared his throat, and then went on, “Guys, I’m sure the situation is obvious. Women’s fashion and cosmetics are making a good fortune, while toys and electronics aren’t getting anywhere. The problem is: What are we going to do about them? You know, there are two choices.”

Franz gasped. He fancied a good number of people in the room did the same.

“First, we can put more resource and effort to help the teams that are not doing so well…”

An uncomfortable silence filled the air.

“… but this is not the most cost-effective way of using our resources.”

Meeting

Franz took a deep breath before he pushed open the door of the conference room. There were already a few people sitting by the table, but, thank goodness, he was not late - and their CEO had not arrived.

After taking a seat as far from everyone as possible, Franz’s mind began wandering. He was summoned to this meeting no earlier than yesterday, and had no idea what is the purpose of gathering all team managers. He joined Debenham & Freebody for nearly 15 years and had served three CEOs, but he could not remember a single managerial meeting being held in this department store.

But, true, they had a new CEO now.

*******************
Franz’s daydreaming broke off when the door of the conference room sprang open and Mr. Tobias Greene – the new CEO – appeared.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I call you all to come to discuss a serious matter,” the CEO said when he swiftly moved to the center of the room and settle himself in the most comfortable chair, “We shall go through the sales of each and every team.”

(To be continued.)

Excess

While talking about the population growth of the Qing empire, some simple arithmetic may skip your eyes.

It goes like this: By growing Champa rice, the productivity of farmland doubled. In other words, twice as many people could be fed - but the number of farmer needed remained the same. What happened to the people in excess?

In other words, how did they make a living?

Simple. By industry.

That's why the handicraft industry of the Qing empire, notably porcelain and textiles, had such an explosive development during that time. Thanks to Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan, international trade became a booming business, and there was no shortage of overseas market. Silk, china and tea were all in great demand by the Europeans, and, since Chinese people didn't quite need any imported goods, the Qing empire was running an astronomical surplus for some decades.

Of course, the wind changed when tea and opium were extensively planted in India - the latter served no purpose except being exported to China for the exchange of silver.

And the rest is history.

Growth

I must say I should not be too excited with the historical record of China population, which you could easily find in the Wikipedia.

In short, the population of China fluctuated but remained around 50 to 100 million from the Tang (唐) dynasty to the beginning of the Qing (清) empire, but it shot up  in the subsequent 150 years and reached 400 million when Daoguang (道光) began his reign.

The obvious problem is why. In addition to the long period of stable society, most western scholars believe it was the result of introducing new crops from the Americas, including peanuts, potatoes and maize. Of course, as Chinese, we know these plants play relatively minor roles in our ordinary diet, and the extensive agricultural use of Champa rice (占城稻) was probably the main reason. This crop originates from Vietnam and was first sent to the Sung (宋) Emperor as a tribute gift from the Champa state of Vietnam. After centuries of adaptation and modification, Champa rice was gaining popularity amongst farmers because it is quick-maturing, drought resistant, and can allow two (occasionally three) harvests each year.

In other words, more land could be used for agricultural purpose, and the productivity doubles for any fixed area of farmland.

PS. The crops from the Americas, nevertheless, do play important roles. Potatoes and maize could grow in arid plateau and rugged mountains - places where rice could not survive. Peanuts, by the very nature of nitrogen fixing, greatly enriches the protein content of the ecosystem.

Weapon

My recent bedtime reading is Strategy, Tactics, and Weapons of the Medieval China (戰略戰術兵器事典：中國中古篇) .

Seriously this is not a book but, rather, a collection of monographs on the history of military science of China - by several Japanese scholars. I found it in Eslite during a trip to Taiwan last year and, as a lover of both weapons and history, it was impossible to resist the temptation of buying it.

Like all multi-author texts, some chapters are brilliantly written with gems here and there, while others are practically intellectual plagiarism. A considerable length of the book is used to discuss and compare the cavalry and infantry systems of the Middle Kingdom and Turks and Mongols. In my opinion, however, the most interesting piece of information appears towards the end of the book, in a table which summarized the population of the whole China at each dynasty.

Why should Japanese scholars have such a keen interest on all these?

Another

"A new church? Yes and no," the mayor tried to be evasive, "The problem is, Father, you have always been so placid and nothing seems to have been done."

"Alas, not competent in anything but competent in not having anything, not skillful in talking but skillful in not talking (無能事而能無事,不擅言而擅不言)," Father Brown murmured.

L apparently did catch what the priest said, "No, that's not what we ordinary people expect. The world has changed. After all, the church has received an astronomical funding from the village bursary. We need to see some work being done - for the hibernating Satan or whatever!"

"And therefore you ask someone to set up a new church. Is that what you mean?"

"That is certainly one option." A voice appeared behind Father Brown and L.

The two men turned to the voice. Professor Y was standing at the door.

The alternative scientist moved forward and continued, "You see? We know everything about devil and exorcism. All we need is money from the village coffers. If Mr. Mayor could redirect his budget for the church to me, I could either take over this church or set up a new one and get everything done."

The priest gasped, "My god. Is that the reason for you to appear in this village from the very beginning?"