Chapter 4 Introduction American Views on the Changes in Chinese History
It is quite difficult to understand ourselves, but it is even more difficult to understand the Chinese people who have a completely different culture and history from us and are far away from us.But we still have to try to understand, perhaps, this understanding has progressed.
Take, for example, the new American religion of human rights, which has more ties to culture than we can imagine.In China, human rights will not become the main teaching unless it becomes a society ruled by law like the United States, but this seems difficult to achieve for a long time.In short, this is because rights and responsibilities are the heritage of Christianity and Confucianism respectively, resulting in a strong contrast between individual struggle and collective cooperation. This contradiction is a legacy of 3,000 years of history and will not be easily eliminated.
For example, when considering criminal motives, American law shows that it attaches importance to individual subjective wishes.Intentional homicide is murder, but accidental or unpremeditated death is charged with homicide and carries a different penalty.In ancient China, however, this was far from the case. Without a criminal motive, it cannot help the criminal reduce his guilt.Take a typical example. In 1821, an American sailor named Terraroa threw a jar from his ship, hitting a woman in a sampan and killing her overboard.In order to continue doing business in Guangzhou, the American businessman handed over the sailor to the Chinese judiciary.In accordance with Chinese law, he was soon hanged.This instance led to the creation of an extraterritorial regime, which was fully articulated in the first Sino-American treaty in 1844.From then until 1943, when this unequal treaty was abolished in 100 years, extraterritorial jurisdiction (or U.S. consulate officials having jurisdiction over the person and property of Americans in China) has always been the central content of various treaties.Not only did it privilege Americans in China, but it also avoided much animosity.
In short, the extraterritoriality enjoyed by the British and Americans in China during the period of imperialist aggression was a concrete manifestation of what we today call human rights.The present and the past are closely linked.In Sino-US relations, there are two main features, that is, the expectation of the United States to obtain huge trade benefits in China has not yet been realized; the dream of the missionaries to pass on the essence of their own culture to the Chinese has not yet been realized. .Christian missionaries have done a lot of important and useful work, but few converts.In Sino-US relations, we have always wanted to express our cultural values, and China has responded with its own values.In order to facilitate us to deal with the rapidly approaching US-China relationship full of unknowns, we should pay attention to the American impressions of China that have been formed and developed in different historical stages.
This impression is of course very unreliable. It was firstly created by those American authorities on China issues, and secondly by those travelers, missionaries, journalists, consuls, businessmen, students and tourists who reported what they saw and heard. formed for their audience.The resulting impression of China is at best like a kaleidoscope, presenting a scene of chaos and change.People often accumulate and weave images of China based on textbooks, memoirs, novels, movies, radio and television, and reviews.Amid all this chaos, every generation of Americans seems to be able to draw a generally accepted point of view, at least among sensible townspeople.Dividing the different stages of the development of these viewpoints may help us further understand China.
The relationship between the United States and China has a history of 200 years. During these 200 years, Americans' understanding of China started from scratch.We were the first to accept the European view of China, the view of the Enlightenment in the 18th century.By the 1790s, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands had established embassies in Beijing. At this time, the impression of the weak United States on China was still affected by the Enlightenment period, although China provided tea for the Boston Tea Party established in 1773: Jesse Showcasing the early missionary's talent for what we now call public relations, he wrote a widely circulated account entitled "A Helpful and Interesting Letter."Jesses paints China in idealized terms that abound in the Confucian classics.The Chinese who provided Jesses with information were full of these beautiful words, and they were all produced in the thought factory of the traditional imperial examination system.The emperor was superhumanly wise and benevolent (except he punished you when you thought wrong), and his subjects were wealthy and happy, with a standard of living comparable to that of Europeans.Enlightenment thinkers wanted to use Jesse's coverage of Chinese ideals to show that you can still be quite civilized without the lessons of literacy.Of course, people's impression of China during the Enlightenment was abstract, mysterious and unreal.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the material civilization of the West had greatly developed, and its contact with China became more direct. From then on, the illusions of Westerners began to be disillusioned. In the 18th century, Europeans poured chamber pots into ditches, while China had the habit of collecting and transporting excrement for fertilizer; but when running water and toilets became popular in Europe, China fell behind.Westerners smell the feces on the streets of Guangzhou directly because of their trade with China.China soon "declined", lacking steam engines, cannons, and other achievements of civilization.Leaving aside judicial reform, police, and hospitals, which are products of Western modernity, the West is already in a leading position in terms of the two major driving forces of modern historical development that China is still pursuing, namely science and nationalism.
Thus, the dreamy China of the eighteenth century was ruthlessly cast a shadow of filth and backwardness, and when the spirit of Protestant revival sent American missionaries to non-religious areas, they declared that industry, democracy and Christianity were the three factors that produced the Western power. big factor.Chinese scholars and officials think they are more reasonable, but have no way of proving it.The strength of the ship is a decisive fact, and the preacher of great moral principles will penetrate everywhere.
In the first half of the 19th century, Westerners were disappointed by their contacts with China.At that time, Wells Williams, a missionary and printer, wrote a very valuable book "China" that comprehensively introduced China, subtitled "Geography, Politics, Education, Social Life of the Chinese Empire and Its Subjects" and Religion", in two volumes (published in 1848). In 1883, an updated version was published, and the subtitle was changed to "Geography, Politics, Literature, Social Life, Art and History of the Chinese Empire and Its Subjects".This widely circulated work is the pioneering work of area studies, which emphasizes the need to study a different culture as a whole from all angles.Language, history, society and culture cannot be separated when describing China.This comprehensive study is called Sinology. The book "China" summarizes two things: one is the research on the conditions of China's coastal areas by the pioneers of British and American missionaries, which mainly comes from the publication "China Treasure House" published by missionaries in Macau and Guangzhou after 1832; , Williams describes the problems that existed in China before it came into the modern world. These problems convinced him and his readers that the Chinese needed not only the steam engine and the material civilization of the West, but also the spiritual teachings of Jesus Christ. Here, We can see the typical expansion model of American Christianity: "We have what they lack, and we give them what they lack, so that they will follow us and pursue our ideals." By the 1980s, We Americans are still trying to get the Chinese to accept not only our science and technology, including social sciences, but also our human rights-focused individualism.Obviously, although we have made progress, we still haven't got rid of the values expressed in Williams' book "China" and the attitude towards China it contains.In short, in the eyes of Americans, China's history has great inheritance in terms of cultural values.
Following Williams' treatise on China in 1848, many books on China appeared, including Kenneth Scott Latoret's The Chinese: History and Culture, published in 1934.There are many such treatises, too numerous to enumerate.In the era of La Torret, the study of Chinese classical culture and history produced many academic achievements.The contrast between China's ancient glory and modern decline is very strong, and this phenomenon still exists today.Thankfully, it was the British, not us, who consolidated our extraterritoriality with gunboats, and the British kept us out of their opium trade from India to China.The records of history make us feel that we are still very kind.We feel that we have a mild "special relationship" with China, but we don't realize that China's strategy is to develop a special relationship with all foreign aggressors.
The disillusionment of Chinese in the West in the 19th century is amply illustrated in another widely circulated work titled The Characteristics of the Chinese.The author, Reverend Arthur Smith, lived in rural Shandong for many years. He tried to Christianize China from the bottom up. He also carefully observed the customs in rural China. "Characteristics of the Chinese" is a set of essays written by the author in the 1880s and published in 1894. It gives an excellent description of Chinese life from the perspective of the American middle class.The book marked the beginning of a new period; it enumerated many striking social differences that became the basis for subsequent sociological analysis.Smith focuses on the social differences of "poverty" and "social harmony".Sociological research in China began in the early 20th century.At this time, the study of the Chinese Empire had a certain foundation.Through a series of wars, the Westerners further expanded the privileges they obtained under unequal treaties.By the 20th century, the laws guaranteeing these privileges were a labyrinth of labyrinths. H. B. Moss, in his History of International Relations of the Chinese Empire, volume one published in 1910 and volumes two and three in 1918, restated the origins of these privileges.As a customs commissioner for the Chinese government, Moss has worked in China for 33 years and has extensive knowledge of the lives of Chinese officials.He outlined the process by which foreign countries established privileges in China, which facilitated the study of unequal treaties (ending in 1943).Americans can at any time form their own opinions from established patterns, as recent history can illustrate.
Take the Boxer Rebellion against imperialism in 1900 as an example, which caused the most serious hostage crisis in the 19th century.During that hot, long summer, the fanatical Boxers, with the support of the Qing government, besieged 475 foreign civilians, 450 soldiers from eight countries, about 3,000 Chinese Christians, and 150 racehorses (shortly , the horses are eaten).Because the European countries are united with each other and can tolerate each other's imperialist behavior, there is no danger of annihilation among the military powers.The Russians captured Manchuria, and the Japanese did not intervene in Russian actions until after the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, when the Japanese drove the Russians out of Manchuria.Since then, the Japanese have joined the whites on the international stage.After the armies of the eight major nations rescued the foreign missions in Beijing, the Boxers retreated to the countryside, while the Qing government remained in place to keep China peaceful and thus facilitate foreign trade. In the impression of Americans, China in 1900 was dirty and barbaric. Compared with the European civilization that had not yet entered the First World War, it was far from it.
However, it is absurd that it was the crisis of 1900 that led to the emergence of the "open door" policy of the United States, which not only allowed the United States to enter China on the basis of "equal interests", but also gave China the opportunity develop into a modern nation-state. In the first half of the 20th century, America's impression of China was barbarism, backwardness intertwined with nationalism's striving towards modernization.In 1911, 10 years after the Boxer crisis, the establishment of the Chinese Republic was generally welcomed by Americans, who believed that China would become a Christian republic like our own.We deplore the melee of warlords in China, and at the same time, we support 12 Christian colleges in China.We very much support China against Japanese aggression.When the Japanese tried to consolidate their special status in China and surpass other Western empires through the "Twenty-One" in 1915, American public opinion sided with China. At the end of World War I in 1919, Japan regained Shandong from Germany.We reject this treaty.During the 30 years from then until 1949, we supported the Republic of China against Japanese aggression more and more strongly.However, the vacillation of America's political attitude towards China continues to influence Americans' views on China.
When the Kuomintang led by Chiang Kai-shek established the Nanking Government (1928-1937), foreigners in China and abroad had high hopes that it would solve some of the pressing problems facing them.Unfortunately, when the Kuomintang came to power, it turned against its ally, the Chinese Communist Party, killing those communists who were captured in the cities, and driving survivors like Mao Zedong into the wilderness. In 1931, the Japanese militaristic aggression led to the final militarization of China, thereby suppressing the social revolution.
However, the revolutionary intellectuals living among the peasants produced a huge explosion.When Pearl Buck's best-selling book "Fertile Soil" (1931 edition) introduced the American public to Chinese peasants, Mao and his comrades were contemplating how to mobilize the peasants to serve the political struggle.Edgar Snow, a young journalist from Kansas City, recorded Mao's story in his book "Red Star Over China" (1937 edition).
But the United States has spread the butter of its bread on the side of the KMT.We dealt with Chiang Kai-shek even though the returns he gave us were small compared to our investment.By the 1940s we were dismayed by the apparent inability of Chiang and the Kuomintang to hold off the Communist onslaught.
At the same time, the Chinese Communist Party's Yan'an period in the Second World War left a good impression on foreign observers, and many experts on China regarded Yan'an as a hope for development.But Americans were soon disillusioned when they saw that China appeared to be part of what Mr. Dulles called "authoritarian, godless communism" in a worldwide conspiracy orchestrated by Moscow.We have no peasants, so we believe that only Moscow, the stronghold of anti-Christianity, can launch such a large-scale movement.In the eyes of Americans, the Cold War period can also be said to be a stage of totalitarianism. In the 1950s, some people lamented that the Chinese Communist Party had tortured and killed so many enemies, while others praised it for eradicating the dregs for social development, liberating farmers, and restoring order.
In the 1970s, China and the United States began to restore diplomatic relations, and the good impression China left on foreign observers was quickly replaced by a bad impression as we learned about the horrific atrocities of the Cultural Revolution. In 1979, Sino-US relations were normalized, the era of Mao Zedong was over, and China entered a new era: Americans had hope for the People's Republic of China as before, and there was a wave of tourism to China.
One can notice how certain events in China have had an impact on the moral patterns that embody our cultural values.American attitudes toward the Chinese have been firmly bound by wave values since our non-compliance with mutual immigration treaties and the expulsion of the Chinese in the 1880s.
One thing we know is that the Chinese people today treat us with a greater sense of justice than we treat them.Isn't that the case?Take the abortion controversy as an example: in order to avoid starvation caused by the rapid increase in the number of people in China (by 2000, China's population will reach 1.24 billion), China is trying to reduce the birth rate to only one child per couple, hoping to reduce the birth rate to 1.7%, although this will still increase the number of people per day, because there are too many young people, but it will eventually stabilize the population from multiplying like cancer cells: what else can the Chinese do?One of the means of this effort is the practice of abortion.
But the Chinese found their American friends in the midst of a new religious cult and adoration of the newborn (regardless of the mother).This worship has the same meaning as the conception of the Holy Spirit.The Chinese heard about this divine conception in the 19th century, but they didn't accept it. What can the Chinese get from this sincere sense of justice in the United States?
We can only hope that extremists in our two countries do not forcefully deprive women of the life rights they choose.Extremists in China want to force women to have abortions, and extremists in the US want to force women not to.These extremists have something in common, and will no doubt fight each other to defend their respective although opposite but quite similar principles. Americans emphasize that babies are sacred and inviolable before they are born, while Chinese emphasize that personal interests must be fully obeyed. social needs.The women were at a loss.
Many other culture clashes will be mentioned in later chapters of this book.Both parties should carefully study each other's history and find out the root cause of each other's astray.At the same time, the moderates who make up the majority in both countries still need to coexist peacefully.
How to deal with two different cultures, I think there is a guiding principle worth mentioning.When we Americans analyze revolutions in other countries, we often overlook a fundamental factor, namely, the ideals or dreams of leaders, which leaders often use to motivate their followers.The Chinese revolution was driven by these two dreams: one was that the patriots wanted to see a new China standing proudly among the nations of the world; social differences.In the course of the revolution, the two dreams competed for attention.
For most Americans, the dream of a powerful modern materialistic nation of the first kind is more acceptable than the social dream of the second.No doubt this is because we have largely realized the first dream, while the latter have seldom been seen as an urgent problem to be solved.How to make many Chinese peasants share the benefits of cultural life and public services with highly educated upper-class people?The Chinese have a stronger cultural identity than other nationalities, but in order to achieve this grand goal, they must create new social values and a new political system.Mao Zedong, who fought like a dragon, took this as his goal.The reformers led by Deng Xiaoping also had the same purpose, but in a more practical and flexible form.In the following research, these characteristics will be fully explained.
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