Years ago, I took a mandated China Securities Regulatory Commission course to qualify to serve as a director of a PRC publicly listed company. The instructor allowed me to take the course with an interpreter, who happened to be a PRC lawyer specializing in corporate matters.

When test time came, all the board members gathered around the HT Blade conference table. The test was in Chinese. The instructor announced that I could not take the test with my interpreter-lawyer.

In response, I noted that the instructor had permitted me to complete the course with my interpreter-lawyer and asked, “Do you want me to fail the test?” My fellow board members rallied with me, and I prevailed.

Taking the test, my interpreter-lawyer and I discussed every question and prepared “my” answer together. I have no doubt that we chalked a perfect score. When the test results came back, the board chairman, who had no previous accounting, corporate governance (in a legal sense) or financial background, scored higher. When it came to scoring, it seemed the instructor had his own set of alternative facts.

Rather than dwelling on the “unfairness” of the results, it’s more important to note that the Communist Party of China uses numbers with a different intent than most Americans. We expect numbers to measure or quantify. The CPC manipulates numbers to create facades of truth.