Stuck in the Middle Kingdom with you

The word zhongguo means China, but its direct translation means middle nation, or as locals say, Middle Kingdom. The Chinese have always believed they were in the center of everything and for the next few weeks they are. More than 1 million foreign guests are rolling into Beijing this week and will witness China's coming of age.

China's great leap forward into the 21st century is one of history's great ironies. Some time in the latter part of the next decade this socialist state will overtake capitalist America to become the world's richest nation. According to the OECD, China's purchasing power parity will be $30 trillion by 2020, ahead of the US's $28 trillion.

Scottish right-wing economist, Adam Smith, must be rolling in his grave.

But is this really a miracle? It was bound to happen sooner or later. For 18 of the last 20 centuries China was always the world's wealthiest state.

My favorite Chinese riches are not material, and I value China's unique mindset the most. The nation's psyche is based on many types of age-old philosophies and legendary stories.

Radio story telling is still popular here and you may hear your cabbie listening to a chapter from Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The driver could easily quote a line from the 500-year-old story.

While English-speakers will say, "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence", Chine

se will say "the food in another man's bowl is always better than mine".

It's worth digging a little deeper into this Chinese psyche. An important chapter unfolded about 500 BC, when philosophy flourished, as it did in Greece and India.

The Hundred Schools of Thought period was time of big ideas, which are applicable even today. And you can pick the idea that best suits you.

I like to use many different schools of thought when I stay in hotels around China.

When my original booking was lost I think along Taoist lines. They believed in "The Way" so I consider my hotel mishap was always predestined. When I'm redirected to a new hotel, I score a room with a lovely view over a park (also predestined). I also could become a little Mohist and focus on the power of nature.

And sometimes there is a stalemate and nothing can be resolved. In this situation I become a follower of Sun Zi, who developed military strategy.

His Art of War was used by Mao Zedong's Red Army and also by today's Fortune 500 executives.

Of the 36 strategies, Sun said his last suggestion was the best. "If all else fails, escape."

When I come across misunderstandings and frustrations in Beijing, I take a deep breath, smile at the folly of things, and walk away. There are too many flowers blooming in Beijing now to focus on the weeds.