Chapter 5 4. First Contact with Western Civilization

However, going to school did no harm to me personally.What you have to learn in school can be picked up with very little effort.I am grateful to St. John for teaching me to speak English.Second, St. John's taught me to run and play baseball, so I developed my breasts; if I had gone to another college at that time, I probably wouldn't have had the opportunity.This is one item earned.As for the missing item, I have to say that it completely stopped my interest in Chinese and made me forget to use Chinese brushes.Later, it was not until I graduated and immersed in the old learning atmosphere of the old capital that I started to hold a brush again, write Chinese characters, and read Chinese.Comparing the pros and cons, we feel that St. John has a special influence on me, which will deeply affect my future development, that is, it taught me to have basic sympathy for Western civilization and ordinary Western life.From this point of view, it may be beneficial for me to stop reading Chinese completely when I am an adult.That allowed me to establish a solid foundation for believing in Western life, and made me feel that the various legends preserved in my hometown were a kind of mystery.So when I returned from overseas and was engaged in the work of rediscovering my homeland, it occurred to me that I had just ventured into an unknown new land, in which everything was like that of a child in fantasyland. New, tense, and fun.At the same time, this basic Western concept has enabled me to have an objective and outside-the-box attitude towards our own appreciation and criticism of our own civilization after returning from overseas.Reflecting on myself, I believe that my mind is a Western product, but my heart is Chinese.

My basic attitude toward Western civilization was not taught by books, but by Dr. F. L. Hawkspott, the rector of St. John's, and a few other better professors; gentleman.The ones who are most inspiring to me are two foreign women, one is Dr. Hua's wife, that is, Ms. Li Shoushan (Mrs. Harmy, then Miss. Deprey). She is my first English teacher. soul too.The second is Mrs. P. W. Pitcher, the wife of the president of Xunyuan Academy. She is a quiet old-fashioned American woman.It wasn't Spencer's philosophy or E. A. Poe's novels that completely captivated me, but the benevolent tones of these two ladies.In my impressionable youth, my vulnerability to female sensibility was inevitable.The English spoken by these two ladies is indeed very beautiful to my ears, better than the native languages ​​I have always heard.I love this Western life, the life of some missionaries in St. John's—a life of love, of sincerity, and of truth.

My first contact with Western life was in Xiamen.All I remember are the missionaries and the battleships, two men who took turns intimidating and encouraging me.Influenced by church schools since I was a child, I naturally always stand on the Christian point of view. I have never doubted that the two are related. It was not until later that I realized the truth.When I was a barefoot boy, I stared at the beauty and majesty of the US Navy's warships in Xiamen in 1905, and I could only admire and admire them.We are all afraid of foreigners.They can be divided into three categories: the white clothes of the missionaries, which are clean and clean; the drunken sailors singing and screaming in the streets of Gulangyu Island, which often make us panic; the third is foreign businessmen, wearing white caps , Sitting in a four-person sedan chair, you can kick or punch our barefoot urchins at will.

However, their brass band is really sweet to listen to.There is a sports field in Gulangyu Island. The green grass in the field is so beautiful that we have never seen it before.Every time there is a battleship entrance, its brass band is invited to play there, while foreign ladies and gentlemen--I hope they are gentlemen--play tennis, drink tea and eat ice cream, while the Chinese small Zai's clothes are more clean than most Chinese people.Every time the urchins in our street peep through the gaps, they only have admiration and admiration in their hearts.However, my most horrifying experience in middle school was when foreigners had a big dance in their club one day.This is a strange thing that has never been heard in Gulangyu Island. From this, it has been passed down from generation to generation. It is known from far and near that foreign men and women are half-naked, cuddling each other, obscene and shameless, and acting like a stranger.We didn't believe it at first, but it was confirmed by several people who peeked from outside the gate facing the street.I am one of them, and the impact of its ugly appearance on me is really horrifying and terrifying.This was just the beginning of the horror and weirdness of foreigners; then the action movie came, and the fuss continued.By now, I'm tired of watching it, and ready to believe the worst of these strange foreigners.