The phrase “taking every precaution from the beginning” means to guard against any signs, no matter how small, of an undesirable phenomenon or idea, and prevent such things from growing. It is essential to take timely precautions before something potentially harmful develops into a calamity. Experience shows that a colossal disaster can grow out of a small event, and the degeneration of a person has its origin in his small mistakes at the beginning. Likewise, one ant-hole may lead to the collapse of a thousand-“li” dyke, whereas a high-rise building is constructed of bricks one by one.

Chinese people have the habit of watching pennies. Every bit saved each day will come to an impressive amount over time. They begin the moral education of children in infancy. Chinese medicine puts the emphasis on the treatment of “non-illness” (prevention) rather than the illness itself. Business people, in particular, pay great attention to every complaint from customers because they are fully aware that failure to do so would result in long-entrenched bad practice and thus bring about disaster.