It is said, and not without reason, that the Chinese invented everything. Fireworks, gunpowder, paper, ink, the seismograph and the wheelbarrow are all well-known brain children of Chinese ingenuity. Even golf, it was recently suggested, may have been a Chinese original, too. There is apparently a Ming Dynasty painting entitled "The Autumn Banquet" that shows well-dressed officials using clubs to hit a small white ball into holes in a manicured green as well as a 13th Century text entitled Wan Jing in which the rules of chuiwan (literally "hit ball" in Chinese) are laid out.
　Based on the stories of the Sage Emperors of High Antiquity, namely Yao, Shun and Yu, and their ideas of what comprises good rulership, the Chinese can also lay claim to the invention of the 12-step program so popular in contemporary American self-help culture.
　The 12 Steps, as I see them, are as follows (in order of ascending importance with 11 and 12 being the most important of all):
The 12 Steps to Excellence in Rulership:

1. Honor your ancestors through well-organized and executed ritual and ceremony.
2. Honor your parents.
3. Keep the seat of your power in one place.
4. Cultivate the land and your subjects.
5. Be frugal: Do not use the taxpayers' money to build a fine palace for yourself.
6. Avoid excessive drinking.
7. Avoid infatuation with members of the opposite sex.
8. Do not throw your queen over for a concubine.
9. Seek advisors in remote areas among the common people.
   
10. Listen to your advisors.
    
11. Remember that the throne is not a personal possession.
    
12. Rule by illustrious example.

　An effective ruler in Ancient China adhered to a strict code that governed morality not just for himself but for his subjects too. If he followed the 12 Steps fastidiously, his government would run so smoothly it would appear as if there was no government at all.
　It was Yao, the legendary(1) first emperor of China who identified this as the pinnacle of governmental success. The story goes something like this: Yao, in the time-honored traditions of gods across cultural boundaries, disguises himself to walk unrecognized among his people in order to see how they are doing. During his journey, he comes upon a man with a belly like a drum, beating said belly, singing and stamping up and down in his fields. Yao asks the man if he knows who the ruler of the realm is and the man sings him a song that indicates to Yao that he neither knows nor cares, really, who's in charge; he's doing just fine, thank you very much: he has work, he has food, he has the sun in the morning and the moon at night. Being the sage king that he is, rather than beheading the man for disrespect and, possibly,treason, Yao understands that this indicates that his, Yao's, method of ruling is, in fact, perfect: Yao's is an exemplary model of the way to run a state. Yao embodies the very essence of Step 12.
　Similarly, Yao embraced Step 11: he did not leave his throne to his son. Instead, Yao gave it to Shun, a man of exceptional(2) – some might say obsessive – filial piety (Step 2). Yao also tested Shun's ability to run his household – and, by extension, his ability to run a state – by giving him his two daughters, Ehuang and Nuying, as brides. Shun showed great respect for his wives (Step 8) and thus Yao made him emperor
　And Shun's appointed successor was not his son but Yu who came to be known as Yu the Great, an emperor cited for his embodiment of Step 5: frugality.
Over the centuries, those who have followed the Ancient Chinese 12 Step Program have enjoyed reigns of unsurpassed morality, prosperity and peace that are even today remembered with reverence:
　Emperor Wu Ding, perhaps the most illustrious of the Shang Dynasty monarchs, followed Steps 10 and 11 devotedly. When the face of a man who he understood should be his chief advisor came to him in a dream, he searched the country high and low until he found the slave laborer Fu Yue and immediately asked him to be his prime minister.
　Hou Ji, the founder of the Zhou Dynasty is essentially the creator of Step 4. His name even means Duke Millet and his legend includes the fact that even as a toddler he was out there planting grain.
　Conversely, those who did not follow the 12-step program, were routed and lost power:
　King Zhou, the final wicked ruler of the Shang, violated Step 7, losing his head over a woman and then literally losing
his head.
　King Jie whose spectacular disregard for Step 5 resulted in his abusing the state treasury to create of lakes of wine and mountains of grain for carnal amusement.
　In conclusion, I submit that these examples, and others, show that the 12 Step Program is, indeed, a Chinese invention and that the 12 Steps to Excellence in Rulership is an idea that has been time-tested and one whose time has come again.