Every country has a signature mindset. America has individualism. Germany has precision.

China?

China has speed — a very particular kind of speed that baffles most foreigners, often referred to as “China speed.”

If you’ve been perplexed by how your counterparts in China can be so agile and pivot from failure so quickly, then it’s time to study the origins of China’s particular type of speed.

And no, this isn’t about Xi Zhongxun, the father of Xi Jinping, championing Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the early 1980s, or about the provincial experiments that helped build China’s rise. Instead, it’s about what happened on the volleyball court during that same period, when China’s women’s national team shocked the world.

They weren’t the tallest team.
They weren’t the strongest team.

Still, China’s women’s volleyball team became a national symbol of pride, winning five consecutive world titles between 1981 and 1986 — including the World Cup, the World Championship, and the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984.

But how did they accomplish this, and why does it matter today for understanding China?

The answer lies in three simple words: 短、平、快 — short, flat, fast.

What began as a tactical innovation on the court — short sets close to the net, flat trajectories that left defenders no time to adjust, and lightning-fast spikes — became something far larger. It became a story about how to win when you lack size, strength, or an inherited advantage. It became a lesson in timing, adaptability, and collective intuition.

And eventually, it evolved into a cultural mindset — one that now shapes how business, entrepreneurship, and everyday decision-making work across China.

Because “China speed” isn’t just fast. It’s a particular kind of speed: short cycles, flat structures, and fast execution.

To understand modern China, you have to understand the psychology behind those three characters — 短、平、快 — and the worldview they represent.

Let’s break them down.

短 (duǎn) — Short

Short means short cycles, short feedback loops, and short distances between idea and execution. Chinese teams don’t wait for perfect information. They learn by doing. They improve by shipping. Speed comes from keeping the cycle tight.

平 (píng) — Flat

Flat means minimizing friction — lower cost, leaner hierarchy, simpler processes. Chinese entrepreneurs strip away anything that slows momentum. Flat systems make teams nimble and decisions fast.

快 (kuài) — Fast

Fast is the outcome. Once an opportunity appears, action follows immediately. Fast isn’t reckless; it’s iterative. Move, adjust, move again.

These three concepts — 短、平、快 — became the rhythm of China’s rise. Not because China copied Silicon Valley, but because it operated from a different philosophy: advantage comes from motion, not deliberation.

And that’s the real lesson for anyone doing business in China today.

You cannot outrun China. But you can effectively manage, compete, and even outmaneuver them if you understand how they think and why they move the way they do.

Short cycles.
Flat structures.
Fast execution.

This is China’s playbook.

And once you see it and begin to understand the mindset behind it, their behaviors won’t seem so mindboggling. 

Don’t just bear witness to how they act. Instead, empathize with how they think and feel.

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