Chapter 78 Thought

After entering Nanyang Public School, Jiang Menglin always felt indescribable joy whenever he found that Chinese and Western views on certain issues were very similar, or even identical.When discrepancies are found, they are studied to try to find out why.Unknowingly, he made a comparative study of Eastern and Western standards of moral behavior.From then on, he began to have a more definite, more precise, and more confident view of how to conduct himself in the world. Jiang Menglin went to study in the United States on a large and luxurious ship.The thing that surprised him most on the boat was the dancing. It was the first time he saw men and women cuddling each other and dancing, and he found it very unpleasant.After watching it a few times, I slowly began to appreciate the beauty of the dance.

When the ship arrived in San Francisco, a port doctor came on board to check the health. He checked the eyes of the Chinese students very carefully, lest someone might suffer from trachoma.Jiang Menglin's first impression when he went ashore was the state power reflected by immigration officials and police.But in China, the sky was high and the emperor was far away, so he seldom felt the constraints of state power.Jiang Menglin suddenly felt that although the United States is a republic, the American people seem to have less personal freedom than the Chinese people who are autocratic, which baffles him.

When he first arrived in the United States, Jiang Menglin studied at the University of California in Berkeley.There are many lifelike statues of nude males on the Saser Gate on the campus of the school, which caused protests from the parents of many female students.A professor of ethics said: "Let female students see more nude pictures of men, which can correct their coy habits." There are also nude statues of Greek goddesses in the library reading room, but the parents of male students have never criticized them. .When Jiang Menglin saw these sculptures for the first time, he was very puzzled, wondering "why the school authorities put these 'obscene' things in the source of wisdom".Later, he guessed, the school probably wanted to instill the concept of "a perfect mind in a perfect body".

There are many fraternities and sororities represented by Greek letters near UC.Later, someone asked Jiang Menglin to be a guest in a certain fraternity, but there was a condition attached—Jiang must vote for members of the fraternity to serve as class chairmen and other staff.After Jiang Menglin arrived at the Brotherhood, he was treated extremely hospitablely.When the voting was held the next day, in order to protect the reputation of the Chinese people, Jiang naturally voted in a single circle. At the same time, he was very happy that he had made several friends in this election.Shortly after the election, a campfire was held in the school, and Jiang met one of his classmates who had been gifted with his vote under the light of the fire.But to his surprise, this classmate actually treated him like a passerby, and the intimacy before the election disappeared.From then on, Jiang Menglin no longer exchanged votes for hospitality, and at the same time, he did not vote again in school elections.

During the 9 years of studying in the United States, Jiang Menglin deeply realized: "The deeper the understanding of the native culture, the easier it is to understand the Western culture." When he was in the United States, Jiang Menglin liked to use Chinese standards to measure American things.After returning from his studies, he began to use American standards to measure Chinese things.He said that he was "sometimes more likely to use a mixed scale, a scale that is neither Chinese nor Western, Chinese and Western, or somewhere in between." After returning from studying in the United States, Jiang Menglin sympathized with the rickshaw drivers. He felt that they were panting and sweating for a dozen copper coins. Especially in summer, when the scorching sun burned their backs, it was even more horrible.His American standards told him it was inhumane.Sometimes seeing some beast-like foreigners kicking and scolding rickshaw drivers like dogs, Jiang Menglin was even more enthusiastic, and wanted to go up and fight against injustices, and kick these beasts in clothes a few times.But when he thought of supporting their extraterritorial rights, he had no choice but to suppress his anger, reminding himself of the old saying that "a little intolerance can lead to great conspiracy".So, his American standard ridiculed him as a "coward!" His Chinese standard advised him to "be patient."Chinese standards make him feel that everyone should take less rickshaws and more buses and trams, but if so, how will these poor rickshaw drivers make a living?Back in the country farming?Impossible, they are originally rural surplus labor.There are only three paths before them: the strong will become robbers, the weak will become thieves, and the weaker will become beggars.So what to do?Let them tow the rickshaw!After going around in circles for a long time, Jiang Menglin found that the result of his thinking was still back to the old place.

Jiang Menglin and his brother went back to their hometown by boat, and the vendors brought bananas, apples and pears to sell on the boat.My brother wants to buy some spoiled fruit because it is cheaper.Jiang Menglin hurriedly stopped him: "No, the money to buy fruit is saved, but the money to see a doctor is more." The elder brother laughed and said, "I have been eating rotten pears and apples for several years, but the rotten taste is better. I I’ve never had anything wrong with eating it.” He casually picked up a big, red apple that was partially rotten, bit off the rotten part, and dropped the rest.Jiang Menglin shrugged his shoulders, and his brother looked up to the sky and laughed.

Dewey, Hu Shi and Jiang Menglin once went to the West Mountain of Beiping to play. They accidentally saw a dung beetle pushing a small mud ball up the hillside.It pushes first with its front legs, then with its hind legs, then with its side legs.The mud ball rolled up little by little, and suddenly rolled back to the original place when it was almost at the top, while the dung beetle clung to the mud ball and rolled downhill.It started all over again, pushing the mud uphill again, only to fail again.It tries one after another, but fails one after another.Both Hu Shi and Jiang said that its perseverance is really admirable.Dewey said that its perseverance is commendable, but its stupidity is pitiful.

In his later years, when Jiang Menglin recalled Peking University and Hu Shi, Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren and others, he said modestly: "Some people say that Peking University is like Liang Shanbo, and I say that then I am a useless Song Jiang who has nothing but knows a little bit about everything. .Because I know some history of the development of modern literature and art. When I have a little spare time, I also read their works and listen to their discussions. There is an old saying that "the family is close to the thoroughfare, and you can learn a lot without asking". I have been in college for many years. You know a little about all kinds of knowledge, but you are always broad but not specialized, that’s the reason.”

At the age of seventy-five, Jiang Menglin told his cousin Song Yuelun that he read more books and did less writing in his life, but he also had his own ideological system in terms of academic research. Although his idea of ​​land reform was originally inspired by Toynbee, But the foundation is entirely Confucianism represented by Confucius and Mencius.Therefore, he planned to work for the Agricultural Rehabilitation Association for another five years. When he was eighty years old, he would devote himself to writing and record his life's ideological system.However, he died of liver cancer before he was eighty years old.

In his later years, Jiang Menglin planned to write a "History of Modern Chinese Thought", with the thoughts of Liang Qichao, Cai Yuanpei, Wu Zhihui, and Hu Shi as the backbone of the book.Unfortunately, he only finished writing Wu Zhihui's part before passing away.Similarly, only a small part of his "New Wave" has been completed.