Made in Macao | Borrowing East wind for the CCI

Jenny Lao-Phillips

These days an ancient Chinese quote keeps resonating in my mind: 萬慤얇備 怜퓐東風 (Everything is ready, except for the East wind). This is a famous quote from the most intelligent strategist in Chinese history, Zhuge Liang 諸모좋 of the Shu kingdom, during the Three Kingdoms period. Those who have read one of the most popular Chinese classic novels, “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” by Luo Guanzhong, or studied the history of the Three Kingdoms, or watched any of the related movies or TV programs, or played any of the many video games based on the Three Kingdoms period will surely know who Zhuge Liang is. Even as a child I wrote about Zhuge Liang, my favorite historical figure. So, who is Zhuge Liang, and how did the saying of the East wind come into being?

Zhuge Liang was counsellor and strategist to one of the three lords of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei. During the Warring Period, Zhuge Liang more than once came up with strategies that won battles and established Liu Bei, who was then a small lord, as one of the three kings of the time.

One of Zhuge Liang’s most famous wars was the Battle of Chibi, or the Battle of Red Cliffs. Liu Bei joined forces with Sun Quan (the strongest lord at the time), to battle against the ambitious CaoCao. At the time, the Liu-Sun alliance had the advantage of their naval forces, while Cao Cao’s soldiers were not good fighting at sea. Sun Quan’s strategist Zhou Yu devised a plan, to send a spy to get CaoCao to tie all his battle ships together to create a large platform, so that his soldiers would not suffer from sea sickness. Then Zhou Yu sent another spy pretending to have stolen food from the Liu-Sun alliance to offer to CaoCao. But the shiploads of food were actually oil. Their plan was to burn down the ships of CaoCao’s navy.

Unfortunately, the wind was blowing northwest, and the fire would have headed towards the alliance. That was when Zhuge Liang expressed what was to become one of his greatest quote of all time “everything is ready, except for the East wind.” For those who know the story, Zhuge Liang set up an altar to borrow the East wind from the gods. The truth was that he studied the astronomical phenomenon for days and knew that the East wind was coming. In the end, the Liu-Sun alliance won the battle, and Zhuge Liang’s phrase has since been used to refer to situations when everything is set and ready, but missing an important element.

Recently I thought often of this phrase when I was reviewing my graduate students’ research on Macao’s Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI). Whether the government’s policy of developing the CCI in Macao is a solution for industry and economic diversification, or for opening up a new market for tourism, we can see that many resources have been invested. With the rapid economic development in Macao, the basic needs of our citizens should have been covered. People are moving up the needs hierarchy. In terms of the local society, the government support, and the development of talent, we may conclude that Macao is ready for the development of creative industries. But while the noise is loud, there is still something lacking that allows artists or creative professionals to make a living here. What is this East wind that is lacking? Perhaps it is the marketing of individual artists? Or local movies?

Anyway, from my point of view, we seem to have everything that is needed for a strong CCI. Perhaps now, we need to wait for the East wind.