Time is managed differently here. It’s not that the clocks tick faster, or time passes more slowly, but rather the scope of time is stretched to boundaries previously incomprehensible to my Western-timed mind. I’ve had to re-learn how to manage meetings and conferences on China time. Time words like 马上 (immediately) and 一会儿 (in a bit) are not measurable by their literal meanings, but rather by the context in which they are used. Time in China is conditional – always dependent on who, what, where, and why.
Recently, I was invited to speak at a conference in Guilin. Getting signed up to actually speak there was a matter of delicate timing.
I called the conference organizers to register. “We are busy now, we’ll get back to you in a moment.” A week later, no word. They didn’t respond to my calls, even though the registration deadline had passed and I was desperate. My advisor, a college dean, called them on my behalf. “You are a week late to register, but we’ll just register you right now, no problem.”
“When is my conference essay due?” I asked them. “Oh, June 12. By that we mean actually June 5. Or June 7. It depends.”
Two weeks before the conference I asked them when I was scheduled to speak, so I could book plane tickets accordingly. “We don’t have the conference schedule worked out yet, but we’ll let you know immediately.” Immediately. A week later, they sent me an email asking for my flight itinerary. So, apparently I was supposed to book tickets without knowing when I would actually be speaking. I did my best to control my frustration and flow along a different system of timekeeping.
This pattern of flexibility is mimicked in all kinds of astonishingly important decisions – even though it is early June, the students at my school still don’t know exactly when their graduation ceremony will be. Or what about the most important decision of all – China’s leadership turnover, scheduled for some time in November – or is it October? Somewhere around there. In contrast, Election Day in the United States was scheduled for November 6, 2012 years in advance.
Time is money, and also power. The difficulty in nailing down times here stems from Chinese conceptions of certainty and “face.” There is an unwillingness to commit to something unless one is absolutely positive one can deliver – otherwise risking a serious loss of face. Higher status brings flexibility in your time management, because you have a reserve of “face” and authority with which to back up your time bank. Time management here is not just a matter of counting minutes – it requires a delicate understanding of the context you are dealing with, with all the requisite knowledge of culture and history wrapped up in that.
In China, the only things you can count on to be consistently, perfectly on time are the trains.
这里的时间概念是不一样的。这不代表钟表跑得更快，或者时间过得更慢，而时间的观念对于我这个习惯西方时间概念的人来说是根本无法理解的。我必须根据中国的时间概念来重新学习如何安排会议和行程。表示时间的词语，比如说immediately（马上）和in a bit（一会儿）不是用其字面的含义来衡量的，而是根据应用的情况。在中国，时间是附带条件的，根据人物、事件、地点和原因来定义的。最近，我应邀在一个在桂林举行的会议上发言。而究竟何时注册其实是需要把握好时机的。
我打电话给会议举办方询问。“我们现在很忙，我们一会儿给你回复。”一个礼拜过去了，没有消息。他们没有给我回电，尽管报名截止日期已经过了，我感觉非常失望。我的顾问，一个大学校长，帮我给他们打了电话。“你晚了一个星期，不过没关系，我们现在帮你注册，没问题。”
那么我的会议征文应该什么时候交？我问他们。“哦，六月十二号。不过无所谓啦，六月五号或者七号，这要看情况。”
会议前两周我又联系了他们，问我何时要发言，这样我可以订机票。“会议议程还没决定，但是我们会马上通知你。”马上！过了一周，他们写了个电子邮件跟我要飞机航班。所以，似乎我应该在不知道何时发言的情况下先订好机票。
我尽量控制自己的挫折感，尽量入乡随俗，习惯这里的时间观念。
这种不规范的时间管理在很多重要场合都有可能发生。尽管现在是六月初，我学校的学生还是不知道毕业典礼会在何时举行。最重要的决策也是一样，比如中国领导人的换届，预定在十一月份还是十月份举行？反正就是那段时间左右。相比下，美国的选举日是2012年十一月六日，几年前就定好了。
时间是金钱，也是权力。我觉得中国人之所以不能更好地控制时间，是源于他们对面子的重视，他们一般不愿意承诺一件事情，除非有十分的把握可以做到，否则有可能会丢脸。更高的地位使你的时间管理有更大的灵活性，因为你已经有了面子和地位的基础。在这里，时间管理不只是看时间，你需要对整个情况有精巧的了解，对文化和历史知识有很好的认识。
在中国，只有一个时间表你能不断依靠：只有火车才是准时的。