ABSTRACT
This chapter summarises the basic principles, teachings or doctrines on talent identification, attraction and retention in Chinese tradition. It highlights the major differences between Chinese and Western human resource management (HRM) practices and explores some important characteristics of Chinese HRM. The war for talent has become the nature of competition for human resources since foreign businesses began to gain a foothold in China. HRM as part of corporate management and organisation follows strategy which is influenced, among other factors, by national culture, particularly cognition. Humanism is at the heart of Chinese tradition in terms of talent management. In China's political sphere, emphasis has always been placed on people, who are considered the foundation of the nation. The effectiveness of utilising talent lies in three words: position, trust and appropriateness. The selection and promotion of senior executive positions are based on a system of separation of powers, under which nomination, approval and veto are independent of one another.
