Chapter 7 complex

Although the ancestors of the Gu family have lived overseas for many years, they have always adhered to Chinese traditions and kept in mind that they are Chinese.Gu Hongming's father would offer sacrifices to his ancestors every new year. After he worshiped the ancestral tablets, he asked his two sons to kneel down to worship them, and said to them: "Our motherland is far away, but no matter where we are, we cannot Forget that it was the homeland of our ancestors." In 1867, when Gu Hongming, who was only 10 years old, went to England with the Browns, his father burned incense in front of the ancestral tablet and warned him: "Wherever you go, whether you are British, German, or French, don't forget that you are a British, German, or French. , you are Chinese!" His father touched the braids on the back of his head and told him: "First, don't believe in Jesus, and second, don't cut your braids."

In England, when Gu Hongming went out every day, the children on the street always shouted behind him: "Look, the Chinese pig's tail!"Once, when he went to the bathroom in a hotel, he was dragged out by the female administrator and stuffed into the women's bathroom.Even so, he didn't lose the pigtails. Once, Gu Hongming was reading The Times on the tram, and several British people in the same car saw him looking ridiculous and insulted him.Gu ignored it and just turned the newspaper upside down to read it.After seeing this, the British laughed even more and said: "Look, that Chinese kid can't even read characters, so what newspapers do he read!" 26 letters, too simple, if I don't read it backwards, it will be meaningless!"

Brown once said to Gu Hongming: "Do you know that your motherland, China, has been placed on the chopping block, and the vicious invaders are waving their butcher knives, ready to divide and eat it. I hope you can learn both Chinese and Western, and take on the responsibility of enriching and governing the country." , to educate Europe and America." The words of his adoptive father have been engraved in Gu's heart ever since. Gu Hongming complained about Empress Dowager Cixi in private, but tried his best to maintain Cixi's image in front of foreigners.Cixi was considered to be the chief culprit of the Gengzi Change, but Gu tried his best to defend it, respecting Cixi as an outstanding representative of Chinese women, calling her "the flower of Manchurian civilization" and "the flower of Chinese civilization", saying: "If If there is a great woman in the world who has both a noble soul and a pure childlike innocence, it must be the empress dowager who has just passed away."

Once, an Englishman said in front of Gu Hongming: "You Chinese are very smart and have a wonderful memory. Even so, we still think your nation is an inferior nation." Poor Brit, unfortunate enough to have neglected his own upbringing." Gu Hongming tried his best to promote the advantages of China to foreigners.Once, he took his family back to Xiamen for a short stay, and the old foreign lady who was on the same boat asked him: "Mr. Gu, please give me some advice. I am going to Xiamen to recuperate this time. Do you think this place is suitable? Gu immediately replied: "It's very suitable. When I first came to Xiamen, I was recovering from illness. At that time, I couldn't speak a word, and I couldn't walk a step. There were piss and feces everywhere, and flies were flying around. I had to do it all day long." Lying on the bed, I didn’t leave Xiamen until I recovered from my illness.” The old lady asked very happily: “Mr. Gu, how long have you lived in Xiamen?” Gu Jing replied: “I was born in Xiamen.”

Gu Hongming believes that China has always been a free country. There is no religious war in Europe. Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in China have their own freedoms, and they do not invade or interfere with each other. Division of labor and cooperation, each perform their own duties; China has no permanent compulsory conscription, and there is no police; Chinese people have freedom of movement, unlike foreign residences that require documents, and travel with passports; China only has land tax and no poll tax, so the proletarians are easy to survive , revolutions do not break out very often.

At the end of the nineteenth century, the "Yellow Peril Theory" against China became popular in Europe. Kaiser Wilhelm II specially drew a "Yellow Peril Map" and sent it to Russian Tsar Nicholas II, advocating that white Europeans should unite to resist yellow races. invasion.For this reason, Gu Hongming published an article "Civilization and Chaos" in English to refute it.The famous American political commentator Bobo Evans wrote to Koo and said: "I have read every word in your article with great interest, and believe that it is worthwhile to do so. In the end, I am deeply interested in many sided with the Chinese on the issue.”

When Gu Hongming served as Zhang Zhidong's staff, a foreign consultant drafted a document and asked Gu about the usage of a certain English word.Without answering, Gu moved a big and heavy dictionary from the bookshelf, and threw it on the desk of the foreign consultant: "Look it up yourself!" When Zhang Zhidong came to Beijing, Duan Fang acted as governor.It coincided with Empress Dowager Cixi's birthday, and the whole country celebrated together. Duanfang chose the spinning mill as the celebration location, and prepared a house in the factory as the governor's resting place.When Duanfang arrived, there were two foreigners in the waiting room. Duanfang flattered the outsiders and said to Gu Hongming: "I want to talk to them, and you can translate." It is the room prepared by our governor, please get out quickly." The two hurried out.Duan Fang was puzzled when he saw the two of them come out in a panic.The intention of Gu's move is to save the state for China.He believes that these two foreigners of unknown origin are at most ordinary businessmen, and I, the dignified governor of the Qing Dynasty, should not talk to them lightly.

Once, Gu Hongming was watching a movie in the cinema and found that the matches had been used up when he wanted to smoke.He recognized a Scot sitting in front of him, and tapped the man's bare head with a pipe more than a foot long and his hands with long nails, and said calmly, "Light it!" The Scot was terrified. I didn't know who Gu was, so I quickly took out a match and lit Gu's smoking pot with fear. Gu Hongming attended the Washington meeting on behalf of the Beiyang government.At a certain reception, an American woman sat next to Gu Hongming. She looked at this strange Chinese old man and couldn't find a topic for a while.When serving the soup, she couldn't help learning the English accent of Chinatown, and asked Gu word by word: "likke soupee?" (Do you like this soup?) Gu nodded and smiled politely.The American woman thought that Gu could not even understand the simplest English, so she ignored him.After drinking for three rounds, Gu got up and delivered a speech in fluent and elegant English, which amazed the audience.Gu sat down after speaking, imitating the tone of the lady, and asked in a low voice: "likke speechee?" (Did you like my speech?)

The foreign professors at Peking University have always been highly respected, but Gu Hongming never took them seriously.One day, a newly hired British professor went to the faculty lounge and saw a rustic old man with a small braid sitting on the sofa, so he asked another foreign professor sitting next to him: "How about this?" Who is it?" Another foreign professor whispered: "Professor Gu." The British professor had never heard of it, so he looked at Gu curiously, and couldn't help laughing.Gu didn't mind, and slowly asked the British professors in English for their names and which subjects they taught.The English professor replied, "He teaches literature." After hearing this, Gu immediately started talking to him in Latin.Gu lowered his head, looked at him from the top of his dark crystal glasses and said, "You teach Western literature, how can you be so ignorant of Latin?" The British professor was embarrassed.

Wang Kunlun recalled that one day there were two foreign female teachers walking behind Gu Hongming. They saw Gu wearing a long robe, long braids, and a melon cap. They thought he couldn't understand English, so they laughed at him in English.When he was about to reach the steps at the entrance of the Red Chamber, Gu turned his head and said to the two female teachers in English, "You haven't finished talking yet!" Then he spoke a long string of Latin, which made the two female teachers very embarrassed. Gu Hongming is very well-known in the West and is almost synonymous with Chinese culture and Chinese civilization. In 1921, when the famous British writer Maugham traveled to China, he wanted to visit Gu Hongming and asked a compatriot from a British foreign company to intercede on his behalf, but there was no response for several days.Maugham hurriedly asked the person he entrusted, and the person replied that he had written a note asking Gu to come and see him, but for some reason he hadn't seen Gu's shadow.When Maugham heard this, he knew something bad about this person, so he hurriedly wrote a short letter and sent it respectfully, expressing his admiration and begging to see him, so Gu agreed to meet him.After meeting, Gu said bluntly: "Your compatriots think that the Chinese are either coolies or compradors. As long as we wave, we must come." Maugham was very embarrassed and speechless.

During this meeting, Maugham was ridiculed by Gu Ji.Before leaving, Gu gave him two poems. Later, Maugham asked someone to translate them and found out that they were two poems for prostitutes.Maugham couldn't laugh or cry. Although Gu Hongming is proficient in many foreign languages, he generally does not use English or other foreign languages ​​when talking with Chinese people, so as to show that he has forgotten his ancestors. Wang Senran once watched Mei Lanfang's "A Dream in the Garden" with Gu Hongming at the True Light Theater.Gu has never been interested in Chinese drama, and he has dismissed all the actors, but he admires Mei very much, and frequently tells his colleagues that Mei has a beautiful figure and a graceful voice, which cannot be achieved in European and American dramas. . Gu Hongming's family enshrines the ancestral tablets all the year round, and sacrifices are made every year and festival. The names of his sons are also arranged according to the genealogy.Gu said: "My surname is 'Gu'. Examining the origin of my surname, my ancestors must have been criminals ('Gu' means 'crime' in Chinese). But this is not enough to be ashamed. Really shameful!" Zhou Junliang said: "Rather than saying that he (Gu Hongming) has 'national self-esteem', it would be more appropriate to say that he has 'national pride', or to call it 'national arrogance' in the name of Buddhist scriptures."