Development, measurement, and managerial implications of Chinese values

Abstract This study contributes to the literature by exploring the research gap for a need to better understand what Chinese values are and how they are to be measured. This study used a summative content analysis approach to develop Chinese values. Chinese values are influenced by the great Chinese thinkers. Their ideologies and underlying thoughts could be extracted by referring to literature and primary Chinese ancient texts. This study is rich with details over Chinese values drawn from the major Chinese philosophers. It is also the first Chinese values inventory in which each value presents its corresponding source of a Chinese ancient text. In this study, 50 Chinese Values Inventory (CVI50) and a questionnaire (CVQ50) were developed, in which 38 Chinese values were identified. A four-dimensional value system: personal values, social values, altruistic values, and natural values were empirically supported. This study also provides managerial guidelines for those who are expatriated to work in Chinese societies.


Introduction
With open markets for foreign investments and one-fifth of the world's population, China has become the world's most desirable market and has attracted many multinational enterprises. However, from a Western perspective, China is distinctively different from most other countries (Selmer, 2006), and its culture, institutions, and people appear completely baffling (Chen, 2001a, p. 17). As China emerges among the world's most important states and markets, westerners become more aware of the enormous gulf in its cultural values (Scarborough, 1998). The big challenge for multinational enterprises operating in Chinese societies like mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore is to expatriate managers who are able to adjust their managerial roles to an ABOUT THE AUTHOR Cheng-Liang Yang is an associate professor of Information Management at the University of Tatung. He used to be an education chief and the major general deputy commandant of National Defense Management College, National Defense University. His research interests include manpower planning, organizational diagnosis, human resource management, organizational behavior, habitual domains and system simulation. He got his Ph.D. in business studies from the University of Edinburgh in 1993.

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT
Chinese culture is different from most other countries. If the managers who are expatriated to Chinese societies do not understand Chinese cultural values, they seem unlikely to succeed in these societies. This study's findings provide the expatriated managers with many practical guidelines to get alone with Chinese people. discovering their underlying thoughts by referring to literature and primary Chinese ancient texts. The current study adopted four steps to develop Chinese values. The first step was to choose the great thinkers in ancient China. The second step was to extract the great thinkers' essential thoughts. The third step was to classify these thoughts into Chinese value dimensions. The last step was to develop specific values under these dimensions.
Confucius and Mencius (the second sage after Confucius) undoubtedly are the most two important thinkers in China. Their philosophical system, Confucianism, is the dominant value system in Chinese societies and has been the most powerful influence shaping the Chinese people's lives and conceptions for thousands of years (Bond, 1996;Bond & Hwang, 2008;Hofstede & Bond, 1988;Kim, 2011;Tu, 1996;Warner, 2010). The Analects (論語) is a collection of aphorisms and historical anecdotes embodying the basic values of the Confucian tradition (Watson, 2009). The Mencius (孟子) consists of sayings of Mencius and conversations he had with his contemporaries (Lau, 2003). While the Liji (The Book of Rites, 禮記), which describes ancient rites, social forms and court ceremonies, has significant influence on Chinese history and culture. Particularly, the ideas of Li (propriety, main contents of Liji) became closely associated with human nature, ethics, and social order as the people integrated these ideas into their lives (World Digital Library, 2018). Therefore, the essential thoughts of Confucius and Mencius, or Confucianism, were explored from these three books in this study. Besides Confucianism, Chinese people's lives and behaviors are also influenced by the philosophies of Buddhism and Daoism (Taoism) (Cheng, 2004;Fan, 2000Fan, , 2008Fang, 2003;Redding, 1990). Daoism is a philosophical system mainly based on the teachings of Laozi (老子) and Zhuangzi (莊 子). The thoughts of Laozi and Zhuangzi are presented in the works of Dao De Jing (道德經) (Ames & Hall, 2003) and Zhuangzi (莊子) (Ziportn, 2009) respectively. Therefore, the current study extracted the principal thoughts of Laozi and Zhuangzi from these two works. Mercy, humility, and thrift are the three treasures of Buddhism (Chen, 2001b). Under Buddhism's influences, concepts like tolerance, patience, compassion, mercy, and persistence have become a part of Chinese cultural values (Fan, 2008). These treasures and cultural values are similar to Confucianism's benevolence (Ren, 仁), modesty and complaisance (Cirang, 辭讓), harmony (Hexie, 和諧), and compassion (Ceyin zhi xin, 惻隱之心). Thrift is also emphasized by Laozi (Laozi,. Since Buddhism's values are similar to values of Confucianism and Daoism, they were not discussed in the current study. In addition, Yang Zhu (楊朱) (aka Yangzi, 楊子) and Mo Di (墨翟) (aka Mozi, 墨子) also have great impact on Chinese people's attitudes and behavior. Mencius described that "The words of Yang Zhu and Mo Di fill the country. If you listen to people's discourses throughout it, you will find that they have adopted the views either of Yang or of Mo." (Mencius,. Their thoughts can be found in the works of Liezi (列子) (Chinese Text Project, 2006a) and Mozi (墨子) (Watson, 2003). In short, the current study chose these six great thinkers as the major Chinese Philosophers. Chinese values were identified from their thoughts and extracted from Chinese ancient texts: The Analects, Mengzi, Liji, Dao De Jing, Zhuaugzi, Liezi and Mozi.

Chinese value dimensions
The personal values are basic convictions about personal desires that are worth pursuing within a life. They are self-centered, concerning what personal desires should be satisfied. Fame and Fortune (Mingli, 名利) are Chinese people's desires which are expected to be satisfied. These thoughts can be found in Yangzi's doctrines of Guiji (cherishing oneself) and Wei wo (for selfinterest), and Confucius's Fu (riches, 富) and Gui (honors, 貴). Yangzi suggested that one should follow one's nature and behave according to one's interests (Ivanhoe & Van Norden, 2005, p. 369). For example, Mencius said: "Yangzi advocates Wei wo; if prompted to pluck a hair from his body to benefit the world, he would not do it." (Mencius,. Yangzi also asserted that one should enjoy one's life as one is alive. He further indicated that if we own a gorgeous mansion, beautiful clothes, delicious food, and a charming lady, why should we pursue other things (Lie Yu Kou,? Even Confucius also recognized that riches and honors are what men desire (Confucius,. In contrast to fame and fortune (Mingli), Daoism emphasized the thought of contentment (Zhizu, 知足), that is having few desires and satisfying the current situation. For example, Laozi indicated that one should uphold the plain and simple and reduce selfishness and lust (Laozi,. Confucius also stressed the importance of thrift. He said "Extravagance leads to arrogance and thrift to meanness. It is better to be mean than to be arrogant." (Confucius,. These thoughts also influence Chinese people's attitudes of pursuing personal desires.
The social values are basic convictions about maintaining relationships with others. They are society-centered, focusing on harmonious interpersonal relationships. These values were summed up from Confucianism's Wu lun and two virtues of Wu chang, i.e. propriety (Li, 禮) and trustworthiness (Xin, 信), and from Mohism's Jiao xiang li. Chinese people are very concerned with how to build and maintain good relationships with others. These relationships are affected by Confucianism's Wu lun (Bond & Hwang, 2008), that is, relationships of the ruler to subjects, father to son, husband to wife, elder brother to younger brother, and friend to friend (Dai Sheng, 206 BC-8a AD). The relationships within the Wu lun are mutual and one should properly behave according to one's relational position. These properly mutual behaviors have been described in The Book of Rites (Liji, 禮記). For example, the ruler is benevolent to the subjects, and the subjects are loyal to the ruler; the father is loving to his son, and the son is filial to his father; the elder brother takes care of his younger brother, and the young respects his elder (Dai Sheng 206 BC-8b AD). For achieving harmonious interpersonal relationships, the individuals should also keep virtues of Li and Xin in mind. Li is to not go beyond the rules (Dai Sheng,. In other words, the individuals should abide by the role expectation in the Wu lun; otherwise, it will violate Li. Moreover, reciprocity (Baoda, 報答) is an important manner to express Li in Chinese social life. Liji (The Book of Rites) describes: "what the rule of Li is that reciprocity; giving a favor and nothing comes in return, that is contrary to Li; receiving a favor and nothing gives in return, that also is contrary to Li." (Dai Sheng, 206 BC-8d AD). On the other hand, Mohism's Jiao xiang li (reciprocal favor) is similar to the concept of Baoda. Mozi proposed that if you love others then others will love you; if you do favors for others, then others will repay you. He also indicated that if the ruler sincerely desires an orderly nation and dislikes chaos, he should employ Jianai (universal love) and Jiao xiang li (Mozi,. The virtue of Xin (trustworthiness) is also important for building and maintaining good interpersonal relationships. For example, Confucius stressed that one cannot live without Xin (Confucius,. Communication between friends should be built on Xin (Mencius,.
The altruistic values are basic convictions about the fulfillment of one's humanity. They are human beings-centered, emphasizing the quality of being kind, thoughtful, and sympathetic toward others, and showing unselfish concern for the welfare of others. These values were summarized from Confucianism's benevolence (Ren, 仁), righteousness (Yi, 義), wisdom (Zhi, 智), which were the three virtues of the Wu chang, and Datong shijie and from Mohism's Jianai and Fei gong. Confucius defined Ren as the prime virtue of an individual being a human (Dai Sheng, 206 BC-8a AD). He further indicated that loving others is Ren (Confucius,; if given the choice between life and Ren, one should sacrifice one's life and choose Ren (Confucius,. The meaning of Mohism's Jianai is similar to Ren. Mozi suggested that everybody in the world loves universally, and loving others as loving one's self leads to an orderly world (Mozi,. Yi is the accordance of actions with what is right (Dai Sheng, 206 BC-8a AD). It stems from the feeling of shame and dislike (Mencius,. Particularly, when we see gain, we should think whether it is righteous or not (Confucius,. Zhi (wisdom) refers to the ability to judge what is right or wrong, good or evil. For Confucius, having Ren requires developing and then using an ability to make good judgments in nuanced contexts (Koehn, 2013). In other words, Confucius stressed the importance of wisdom because it will affect an individual's ability to practice Ren. For example, Confucius indicated that "the neighborhood is excellent for having Ren; if a man selects a place without Ren to reside, how can he be wise?" (Confucius,. He also proclaimed that the wise man can practice Ren because he knows the advantages of Ren (Confucius,. The Confucius's ultimate goal was to realize Datong shijie. In this case, an ideal society has been realized, people treat all things in the world in terms of equity, righteousness, and public interests; people value trustworthiness and cultivate harmony with each other, and nations get along peacefully (Dai Sheng, 206 BC-8e AD). The concept of Mozi's Fei gong is somewhat similar to Datong shiji. Mozi advocated Fei gon to avert wars among nations because the wars are the great calamities in the world (Mozi,.
Natural values are basic convictions about the relationships between human beings and nature. They are nature-centered, emphasizing harmonious integration between mankind and nature. These values stemmed from Daoism's main thoughts of Ziran (naturalness), Wuwei (non-action) and Tien ren heyi (harmony between human beings and nature). Ziran means something like spontaneous "self-unfolding" (Parkes, 2012). It refers to both the phenomenon of natural happening of a thing and the inherent ability and capacity of a thing that sustains such a phenomenon (Cheng, 2004). Wuwei does not mean doing nothing. It means doing the thing that does not violate nature. It is an activity that does not disrupt the spontaneous unfolding of natural forces and phenomena (Parkes, 2012). Tien ren heyi means human beings and nature are integrated and get along harmoniously. This doctrine is derived from Yin (feminine elements: negative, weak, water, night, moon, earth, female, etc., 陰) and Yang (masculine elements: positive, strong, fire, day, sun, heaven, man, etc., 陽). Daoism believes that everything has two sides, Yin and Yang, and they are interacted forming a harmonious integral (Laozi,. This doctrine also can be found in the Zhuangzi's teachings. For example, Zhuangzi said: "Heaven, Earth, and I were produced together, and all things and I are one." (Zhuangzi,. These three thoughts compose the main components of Daoism and influence Chinese people's attitudes and behavior toward nature.

Specific values under value dimensions
After classifying the great Chinese philosophers' thoughts or virtues into four value dimensions, the next step was to develop specific values under these dimensions. By referring to primary Chinese ancient texts, an inventory with 50 Chinese values (CVI50) and their text sources were constructed (see Appendix 1 in English and Appendix 2 in Chinese). The examples of specific values for each value dimension are described as follows.
Personal values comprised Mingli and Zhizu. Nine specific values were included in personal values (see Appendix 1 values 1 to 9). An example value was "hedonism," which was derived from Yangzi's teaching "What is the end of our life? What can make us happy? It is only for beautiful clothes, delicious food, sweet music and a charming lady." (Lie Yu Kou,. Another example value "having a sense of contentment" was derived from the teaching of Laozi's "There is no calamity greater than to be discontented with one's lot; no fault greater than the wish to be getting. Therefore the sufficiency of contentment is an enduring and unchanging sufficiency." (Laozi,. Other example text source for thrift value is "I have three precious things which I prize and hold fast. The first is gentleness; the second is economy (thrift); and the third is shrinking from taking precedence of others." (Laozi,.
Social values consisted of Li, Jiao xiang li, Xin, and Wu lun. Jiao xiang li (reciprocal favor) was one of the manners of Li (propriety), therefore it was considered together with Li. There were 21 specific values included in social values (see Appendix 1 values 10 to 30). A sample value was "harmony," which was derived from "In practicing the rules of propriety, harmony is to be prized." (Confucius,. Guanxi (relationships) and Mianzi (face) were also included in social values. Wu lun not only established social rules and hierarchical power structure, but also formed factional networks, which led to the value of guanxi (Lin, 2011). Guanxi refers to any type of interpersonal connections which could be used to do something that is good for oneself if necessary. Mianzi came from Wu lun for achieving filial piety. Mianzi is an indigenous concept in Chinese culture. It refers to an individual's ego or prestige in front of the public which the individual strives to obtain from others. This value was derived from Confucius' teaching "When we have established our character by the practice of the Dao (right course), so as to make our name famous in future ages and thereby glorify our parents, this is the end of filial piety." (Confucius,.
Altruistic values involved Ren, Yi, Zhi, Datong shijie, Jianai and Fei gong. Since the meanings of Jianai (universal love) and Fei gong (non-attack) were similar to Ren (benevolence) and Datong shijie (great union of the world) respectively, they were considered together with Ren and Datong shijie. Sixteen specific values were considered in altruistic values (see Appendix 1 values 31 to 46). For example, the value "compassion" was derived from "The feeling of compassion is the origin of benevolence." (Mencius,. Another example was "averting wars." This value stemmed from "If the rulers and the gentleman of the world wage wars frequently, this is the great disaster in the world." (Mozi,.
Natural values comprised the main thoughts of Daoism: Ziran (naturalness), Wuwei (non-action), and Tien ren heyi (harmony between human beings and nature). These thoughts show the concept of harmonious integration (Hexie Tongyi, 和諧統一) between mankind and nature, that is mankind should follow natural law and accord rather conquer nature. From this concept, four values were derived: respect everything, harmony between human beings and nature, protect the environment, and non-action (see Appendix 1 values 47 to 50). A sample text source for the respect everything value is "When we look at things in the light of the Dao, they are neither noble nor mean." (Zhuangzi,. The protecting environment value was found in the text "Man follows the law of the Earth; the Earth follows the law of Heaven; Heaven follows the law of the Dao; the Dao follows the law of naturalness." (Laozi,. The thought of Wuwei refers to avoiding doing things that violate nature. A sample text source for the value of Wuwei is "The Dao does not do things that violate nature, and so there is nothing which it does not do." (Laozi,.

Measure and sample
A deductive approach was used to generate items (Hinkin, 1998). This approach included a thorough review of the literature and Chinese ancient texts to develop theoretical definitions of the Chinese value constructs. These definitions were used as a guide for the development of items. For example, the value construct Yi (righteousness) has the meanings of "behave righteously," "the feeling of shame and dislike," "seeking righteousness over gain", and "sacrifice one's life for choosing righteousness." Each meaning represents a value under the corresponding value construct (see Appendix 1). Each Chinese value in CVI50 was written in a simple sentence so that respondents can easily capture the meaning of the value. For example: "The feeling of shame and dislike as one is doing wrong is very important to him/her." describes a person who cherishes the value of "the feeling of shame and dislike" (i.e. value 36 in Appendix 1). Respondents were asked to indicate "how much like you is this person?" on a 5-point scale. Where a score of 1 meant "totally unlike me" (suggesting this value is not important at all to you) and a score of 5 meant "totally like me" (suggesting this value is very important to you). This approach of comparing others to self rather directly asked respondents "how important is this value to you?" to avoid a self-presentation problem was adopted from Schwartz (Schwartz, 2003, p. 299). The current study's survey was conducted in Taiwan for those aged above 15. Before the formal questionnaire was released, a panel of 10 people (including 2 undergraduates, 2 postgraduates, 2 professors, 2 working people, and 2 retirees) was invited for a pre-test to ensure that the questions (items) were well understood and that the items under their corresponding value construct were adequate. Since each item was supported by its Chinese ancient text source and all the panelists agreed the adequacy of the items associated with their construct, the instrument has content validity (Cooper & Schindler, 2014). After some vague wording and phrases were corrected, the formal questionnaire (Chinese version, see Appendix 4) was placed on a website which was linked to one of the most popular network forums: PTT in Taiwan. This forum has 150 thousand people online at peak hours. The formal questionnaire (English version), Chinese Values Questionnaire with 50 items (CVQ50), is presented in Appendix 3. Since older people may have less access to the internet, paper questionnaires were distributed to them through one private financial company and one public utility company. The total numbers of respondents were 564, in which 400 were from the website and 164 were from the two companies. Of the sample, 53% of the respondents were female and 47% were male. As for age, 33.3% of the sample were between 16 and 30 years old; 41.7% between the ages of 31 and 50; 25% of the sample were greater than or equal to 51 years old.
The current study used Cronbach's alpha and Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to confirm that the items used to measure their corresponding theoretical dimension were adequate. LISREL software was used to conduct CFA. Convergent validities and discriminant validities were adopted to validate the construct validities of the dimensions of altruistic values, social values, personal values, and natural values. Convergent validities of these value dimensions were assessed by examining factor loadings in the measurement model, which specified how measured variables (i.e. items or values in the CVQ50) came together to represent their corresponding constructs (value dimensions). If all of the construct's corresponding items' factor loadings are greater than or equal to 0.5, the construct is considered having convergent validity (Hair, Black, Babin, & Anderson, 2010, p. 686). Discriminant validities of the constructs (value dimensions) were evaluated by observing the confidence interval of paired correlations among the constructs (i.e. the paired correlation estimate plus/minus twice the standard error of the estimate). If the value 1 or −1 is not included within the computed confidence interval, the discriminant validity is supported (Torkzadeh, Koufteros, & Pflughoeft, 2003, p. 266), showing that the paired constructs are distinct and not highly correlated. In order to test whether the instrument CVQ50 can be applied to other samples, configural invariance test, i.e. the same basic factor structure exists in all of the groups (Hair et al., 2010, p. 745), was conducted. For achieving this purpose, 4 samples were established. Sample 1 and sample 2 were established by splitting the total 564 respondents randomly into two groups, in which each group comprised of 282 respondents. Meanwhile, males and females were categorized, respectively, into sample 3, with 265 respondents, and sample 4, with 299 respondents. It must be shown that each group model meets appropriate levels of model fit and construct validity (Hair et al., 2010, p. 745). The detail results were presented in the following results section.

Results
The α coefficients of the dimensions (constructs) of personal values, social values, altruistic values, and natural values in CVQ50 were 0.734, 0.923, 0.903, and 0.858, respectively (see Table 1), showing each dimension had good reliability. The Goodness-of-Fit indices for the overall measurement model of the CVQ50 were: χ 2 /df = 7223.81/1169 = 6.179, CFI = 0.94, RMSEA = 0.096, SRMR = 0.077. The estimates of χ 2 /df and RMSEA were over the guidelines of 5 and 0.07, and CFI and SRMR were below the guidelines of 0.92 and 0.08, respectively (Hair et al., 2010, p. 654). In general, the model fit of CVQ50 was acceptable but still can be improved. Meanwhile, 12 items' factor loadings in CVQ50 were below 0.5 (see Table 1), indicating that these items did not converge on their corresponding latent constructs (Hair et al., 2010, p. 686). Therefore, to achieve convergent validity, 3, 4, and 5 Chinese values were dropped from the value dimensions of altruistic values, The Goodness-of-Fit indices for the overall measurement model of the CVQ38 were: χ 2 /df = 3023.83/659 = 4.59, CFI = 0.97, RMSEA = 0.08, SRMR = 0.055. These indices showed the CVQ38 had good model fit. The coefficients of α for the dimensions of personal values, social values, altruistic values, and natural values were 0.764, 0.929, 0.899, and 0.858, respectively (see Table 1 numbers in brackets), showing each value dimension had good construct reliability. Meanwhile, the factor loading estimates ranged from 0.53 to 0.82 (see Table 1 numbers in brackets). All exceeded the threshold of 0.5 and were highly significant at p < 0.001. This indicated that the measured Chinese values were strongly related to their associated value dimensions and showed these dimensions had good convergent validities (Hair et al., 2010, p. 686). Regarding discriminant validity, all the confidence intervals of paired correlations among Chinese value dimensions did not include 1 or −1, showing that these value dimensions were distinct and not highly correlated (see Table 2). Taken together, the evidence supported the CVQ38 had good construct reliability and construct validity.

Discussion
The comparisons of the current study's CVI50 to the Chinese Culture Connection's CVS and Fan's CCVs are summarized in Table 3. It can be seen from Table 3 that all the values in the CVS and CCVs can be included in the CVI50. However, some personal values stemmed from Yangzi's and Confucius's teachings in the CVI50 such as fame, status, material enjoyment, hedonism, and health were overlooked by the CVS. The natural values in the CVI50 emphasized by the Daoism such as respect everything, harmony       3,4,5,9) and altruistic values (value 32, 33, 34, 38, 41, 44) in the CVI50 were neglected in the CCVs. The natural values of the "respect everything" and "protect environment" were ignored by the CCVs. As to the value dimensions in the CVI50, they were extracted from the great Chinese thinkers' essential thoughts and then classified into four Chinese value dimensions. In other words, these classifications are theory-driven rather than empirics-driven like the CVS and arbitrary classifications like the CCVs. Therefore, the Chinese values in the CVI50 developed by using this approach are more systematic and comprehensive than the values in the CVS and CCVs.
The Schwartz theory of basic human values is currently one of the best theoretically and empirically grounded theories of values (Cieciuch & Davidov, 2012). The theory identifies 10 basic human values: self-direction, stimulation, hedonism, achievement, power, security, conformity, tradition, benevolence, and universalism (Schwartz, 2012). Schwartz, Melech, Lehmann, Burgess, and Harris (2001) developed the 40-item Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ-40) to measure these values. The differences between the CVI50 and PVQ-40 are summarized as the following. (1) In terms of openness to change, the CVI50 is less inclined to emphasize creativity than the PVQ-40 (values of self-direction and stimulation). There are no creativity values in the CVI50. In Chinese culture, the family is the prototype of all social organizations (Hofstede & Bond, 1988); children should learn to restrain themselves and to overcome their individuality so as to maintain the harmony in the family (Hofstede & Bond, 1988). Therefore, conformity (not going beyond the rules, loyalty to superiors, piety to parents, and deference to elders) seems to be more appreciated than creativity in Chinese societies. (2) In terms of what personal desires should be satisfied (personal values), the CVI50 emphasizes contentment values (having a sense of contentment, thrift, having few desires, health). Nonetheless, the PVQ-40 emphasizes the values of hedonism, achievement, and power. In other words, Chinese people seem to pay more attention to spiritual life than to material life. This is influenced by the teachings of Daoism and Confucianism. (3) In terms of maintaining relationships with others (social values), the CVI50 emphasizes the values of Wu lun (Five Cardinal Relationships), harmony, reciprocity, modesty and complaisance, trustworthiness, sincerity, benefit without strife against others, moderation, quanxi (relationships), mianzi (face). The PVQ40 emphasizes the values of harmony, humble and modest, loyalty to friends. Wu lun, reciprocity, benefits without strife against others, moderation, quanxi and mianzi seem to play important roles in Chinese societies. However, these values seem to be less important in Western culture. (4) In terms of the fulfillment of one's humanity (altruistic values), the CVI50 emphasizes the values of Ren (benevolence), Yi (righteousness), Zhi (wisdom) and Datong shijie (great union of the world). The PVQ40 emphasizes the values of benevolence and universalism, which comprise helping others, responding to the needs of others, forgiving people, listening to people, equality and justice. The contents of the altruistic values in the CVI50 are more comprehensive than those in the PVQ40. Kindness, compassion, behave righteously, the feeling of shame and dislike, seeking righteousness over gain, the feeling of right and wrong, education, self-cultivation, a world at peace, and all people are sufficiently cared for are the main contents of altruistic values in the CVI50. (5) In terms of the relationships between human beings and nature (natural values), the PVQ40 emphasizes the values of looking after the environment and should not change the nature. The CVI50 takes a broader view in the natural values than the PVQ40. The CVI50 emphasizes not only protecting the environment but also respecting everything, harmony between human beings and nature, and Wuwei (non-action, i.e. it is an activity that does not disrupt the spontaneous unfolding of natural forces and phenomena).
To sum up, the current study contributes to the literature in several ways. First, although some studies have explored the contents of Chinese values, few studies have justified the content's validity from a theoretical framework (Chan, 2009). The current study is, to my knowledge, the first one using a theory-driven approach to develop Chinese people's values. The method section in the current study is rich with details over Chinese values drawn from the major Chinese philosophers.
It is also the first Chinese values inventory in which each value presents its corresponding source of a Chinese ancient text (see Appendix 1). The current study constructed a four-dimensional value system. This value system gradually expanded concerning scope from self-centered, social-centered, human beings-centered to nature-centered, and was empirically supported by using CFA in Chinese context in Taiwan. The current study provides Chinese value studies a new way of value classification.
Second, most values studies were from Western perspectives, therefore some specific Chinese values were missing from Western value instruments such as the 40-item Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ-40, Schwartz et al., 2001). The current study established new instruments, CVQ50, and CVQ38, for measuring Chinese values, which complement the previous studies that few Chinese perspectives were included in the value inventories.
Third, the current study's finding of the altruistic values adds a new perspective in cultural values literature. The finding of the altruistic values reflects the importance of these virtues in Chinese culture and suggests that Chinese people love peace and possess humane spirit. This perspective is in line with a previous study (Majie, 2002, p. 37). This finding also has been foreseen by the joint declaration of 74 Nobel laureates meeting in Paris in 1988, which stated if human beings want to live in peace and prosperity in the twenty-first century, they must look back 2,500 years and seek the wisdom of Confucius (Zhang & Li, 2000). This wisdom relating to peace is the Confucius notions of Ren, Yi and Datong shijie, which constitute the core contents of the altruistic values. Moreover, the current study also supplements previous cultural values studies, in which most of them only stressed the importance of harmonious interpersonal relationships in Chinese culture (named social values in the current study), and pay little attention to the altruistic values (e.g. Bond, 1996;Bond & Hwang, 2008;Hwang, 1987;Zhang et al., 2005). The finding of the altruistic values helps westerners develop a better understanding that Chinese people are not only relational beings (Bond & Hwang, 2008, p. 215) but also peace lovers and enthusiasts of helping others.
Fourth, the current study provides a new exploration about what traditional Chinese values are less important in the contemporary Chinese societies. The results showed that factor loadings of 12 values were less than 0.5 in the CVQ50, which indicated a low correlation between these values and their associated value dimensions. Therefore, we could pay little attention to these values. Some less important values are worth discussing further. For example, "submission to husband" (value 23) was a traditional value in Chinese society. Women were expected to stay home and take care of household duties. However, the expected role for women in modern Chinese society may be different. Women are expected to work for subsidizing the family's economy. The household duties are commonly shared between wife and husband today. The modern Chinese women seek out higher education more readily than before and are more susceptible to the Western feminist movement. Therefore, it is not surprising that the value of submission to husband is less important in contemporary Chinese society in Taiwan. Considering the personal values, 5 fame and fortune values were dropped from the CVQ50, namely fame, wealth, status, material enjoyment, and hedonism. The remaining values in the personal values were contentment values, which included having a sense of contentment, thrift, having few desires, and health. Our sample seems to indicate that in terms of personal values, Chinese people were more likely to express concern on having few desires and being satisfied to the current situation than on pursuing one's fame and fortune. This viewpoint was also supported from the results of smaller means for fame and fortune values and larger means for contentment values (see Table 1, for instance, the mean of status value was only 2.99). The importance of contentment values for Chinese people is in line with previous Chinese values studies (e.g. Fan, 2000;The Chinese Culture Connection, 1987). Moreover, values of "face" (Mianzi, 面子) and "relationships" (Quanxi, 關係) were shown less important in the current study. This result is contradictory to some previous studies which stressed the importance of these values in Chinese society (Ang & Leong, 2000;Chang, 2012;Hwang, 1987;Lin, 2011). The rationale for the contradiction could be that the concept of law-abiding is already common in Taiwan. Matters must be dealt with under the law. There is little room for manipulating "face" and "relationships" to get extra benefits for most people. Therefore, "face" and "relationships" no longer are crucial in the current society in Taiwan. The decreasing importance of "face" is also found in the Chinese values study in Singapore (Yin, 2003).
Fifth, emphasizing education is Chinese tradition (Gu, 2014, p. 87) and is also supported in the current study. The traditional Imperial Examinations System in Chinese dynasties did not consider the examinee's family background (Gu, 2014, p. 87). To participate in the examinations was a good way for ordinary people to change their life. As one passed the examinations one can be appointed to be an official and honors could follow. The Confucian teaching that he who studies well should apply himself to be an official for benefiting society (學而優則仕) (Confucius, was rooted in the mind of ancient Chinese people. This teaching nowadays still influences the Chinese attitude toward education. Family remains a core value in the greater Chinese context. The success of children's education not only honors the family but also enables parents to get financial support when they are old.

Implications
Values are used to characterize cultural groups, societies, and individuals, and to explain motivational bases of attitudes and behavior (Schwartz, 2012). Anyone who are expatriated to Chinese societies, works, or negotiates with Chinese people should be familiar with their values. Some of the suggestions and practical guidelines for management are as follows: (1) Communication should be done in a tactful way rather than in directness. Harmony and moderation guide how Chinese people interact with each other. They talk in a mild and indirect manner to avoid extremes and hurting the feelings of others. Please be patient when negotiating with Chinese people, because you may not initially understand their main purpose or motives.
(2) Rewards given to the group should be done so mindfully and additional rewards given to distinguished individuals should be done so privately as to avoid "becoming the bird out of the group." Chinese people are more inclined to conform to social norms; they tend to suppress themselves from performing prominently, and to do as the others do to avoid being supplanted by their colleagues. These conformal attitudes are in accord with a Chinese saying: "The gun shoots the bird out of the group." Egalitarian rewards should be applied and incentives should be given collectively to keep a harmonious working environment. If individuals have distinguishing contributions to their organizations, the reward is given solely to confirm their contributions and not to cause jealousy from other employees. Additional rewards should be paid privately to lower their pressure to be a peers' target.
(3) Employee recognition programs are worth developing. Regarding reward systems, it is not necessary to only use tangible rewards as payoffs for superior performance. The intangible or intrinsic rewards such as oral encouragement and position titles can be used as well because Chinese people seem to pay more attention to intangible praise than to material enjoyment.
(4) Paternalistic leadership style, i.e. combining strong discipline and authority with fatherly benevolence and moral integrity, can be applied in most Chinese organizations. The patriarchal thought derives from the asymmetric relationship Chinese values, Five Cardinal Relationships. The expatriate managers of the multinational enterprises in Chinese societies are expected by their Chinese subordinates to demonstrate concern and support not only on their job but also to their family. The managers should act as a patriarch or matriarch and treat employees and partners as though they are members of a large family.
(5) Reciprocal favors are as important as receiving favors from others. If someone does you a favor, it is impolite to give nothing in return. The favors may include not only tangibles like gifts or money but may also include intangibles such as services, consolation, encouragement, or spiritual support. The Chinese ancient text Shijing (The Book of Poetry) says: "when a peach is thrown to us, we would return with a prune." (Chinese Text Project, 2006b). For example, if the expatriate manager attends his/her Chinese subordinate son's wedding party or family's celebrations, the subordinate will reciprocate to the manager with more loyalty, and may be more inclined to give extra effort at work.
(6) Yiqi (義氣, brotherhood spirit) is the foundation of building long-term interests. Yiqi derives from the Chinese value Yi (righteousness), one of the main components of the altruistic values. Yiqi has the meaning that if friends encounter difficulties, one is willing to do his/her best to help them no matter what, regardless of the potential benefits or not from his/her action. When the employees are in a big trouble, the managers should give help in these times without hopes of getting back benefits immediately from them. If the organization encounters difficulties one day, the employees will do their best to overcome these difficulties eventually.
(7) Education is emphasized by most Chinese people. Training programs may be greatly appreciated by employees. Whether there is an opportunity for growth is one of the main considerations for applicants to choose a particular organization.
(8) Bai matou (拜碼頭, visiting key persons) is a good way to build guanxi (relationships) with key people. Those who expatriated in Chinese societies are recommended to Bai matou during their first inaugurated month. There is a Chinese saying: "Face to face meeting builds 30% of good relationship." To visit key persons, including employees, customers, suppliers, and officers, at the beginning of your inauguration will give them a feeling of being emphasized and respected. Although guanxi is less important in the current society in Taiwan, these key persons may still be able to assist when needed.
(9) Set collaborative goals rather than individual goals. The values of "benefit without strife against others" and Wuwei (non-action), which derive from the teachings of Daoism, make Chinese employees more satisfied from contribution to a group than from individual task competition. Therefore, the organizational goals set for the whole team may be better than for individual team members.
(10) Specific duty should be assigned to each member of a team to avoid social loafing. The values of "benefit without strife against others" and Wuwei (non-action) are somewhat similar to the belief of fatalism which make Chinese people incline to have an external locus of control. The Chinese employees are more likely to attribute their failure or success to external or environmental factors such as other people, timing, fate, luck, or divine intervention. They favor working together but tend to take less responsibility for their actions. Even if colleagues have social loafing behavior, they will not blame their colleagues in person to maintain a harmonious relationship with each other. But they may have some complaints behind their colleagues' backs. Therefore, it is necessary to assign clear and specific duty to each employee to ensure everyone is doing their part to contribute to the project.
(11) Win-Win strategy is better than zero-sum game. Since Chinese people emphasize altruistic values, compromise with your competitors does not mean you have lost, in contrast, they also can make concessions to you. Win-Win strategy is more likely to succeed in Chinese societies. Our bodies-to every hair and bit of skin-are received by us from our parents, and we must not presume to injure or wound them. This is the beginning of filial piety. What the rule of propriety is that reciprocity; giving a favor and nothing comes in return, that is contrary to propriety; receiving a favor and nothing gives in return, that also is contrary to propriety. The man of benevolent virtue, wishing to be established himself, seeks also to establish others; wishing to be enlarged himself, he seeks also to enlarge others. ( 48 It is very important to him/her that mankind and nature are integrated, and that everything should follow natural law to get along harmoniously together.

Conclusion and future directions
49 To not destroy and pollute the environment, and loving the earth are very important to him/her. 50 Following the principle of natural operation and not doing things that violate nature are very important to him/her. Note: * Twelve items (items: 2, 8, 11, 22, 30, and 36 to 42) were dropped from the CVQ50. The questionnaire of the remaining 38 items in the CVQ50 was named CVQ38.