What redeemed the life of a rice farmer， however， was the nature of that work. It was meaningful. First of all there was a clear relationship in rice farming between effort and reward. The harder you work a rice field， the more it yields. Second， it’s complex. The rice farmer isn’t simply planting in the Spring and harvesting in the Fall. He or she is effectively a small businessman， 3)juggling a family workforce， 4)hedging uncertainty through seed selection， building and managing a sophisticated irrigation system， coordinating the complex process of harvesting the first crop while simultaneously preparing the second crop.
And， most of all， it’s autonomous. The thing about wet rice farming is not only that you need phenomenal amounts of labor， but it’s very exacting. You have to care. It really matters the field is perfectly leveled before you flood it. It really matters the water is in the field for just the right amount of time. There’s a big difference between lining up the seedlings at exactly the right distance and doing it sloppily. You’re controlling all the inputs in a very direct way.
Chinese proverbs are striking in their belief that hard work， 5)shrewd planning and self-reliance or cooperation with a small group will， in time， bring 6)recompense. Most telling of all； “No one， who can rise before dawn 360 days， fails to make his family rich.”
Rise before dawn？ Three hundred and sixty days a year？ This is not， of course， an unfamiliar observation about Asian culture. Go to a college campus and students will say that the Asian students are overwhelmingly the ones studying at the library long after everyone else has left.
But a belief in work is， in fact， a thing of beauty. Virtually every success story we’ve seen in this book so far involves someone or some group working harder than their peers. Working really hard is what successful people do， and the genius of the culture formed in the rice paddies is that hard work gave those in the fields a way to find meaning in the midst of great hardship and poverty. That lesson has served Asians well in many endeavors.