Chapter 2 preface
At the end of 2004, my life in Paris suddenly became idle, and I often went to the theater on the Champs Elysees to watch movies.The most impressive one so far is the German film "Der Untergang" (Der Untergang).For this reason, I also wrote a long film review at that time—maybe because China and Germany have a certain historical similarity. Over the years, the film reviews I wrote were mostly related to Germany intentionally or unintentionally, such as "Goodbye Lenin" ", "Eavesdropping Storm", "The Wave" and so on.I remember that at that time, the film directed by Oliver Sisberg caused a strong response in Europe, and was discussed in the media every day because it "opened the Pandora's Box of re-evaluating Nazis" and reduced Hitler from the devil to man For a "possibly even sympathetic hero".
The details of the film are based on the historian Joachim Fest's "The Last Days of Hitler" (2002) and the memoir "Until the Last Hour" (2002) of Hitler's last female secretary Traudel Junger.Junge was born in Munich in 1920 and was chosen by Hitler as his personal secretary at the age of 22.She served until Hitler committed suicide and recorded Hitler's will, and finally escaped from the bunker with a small team.To the dismay of many, in this typist's memory, Hitler was also an educated, respected, and gentle leader.Before marrying his mistress Eva Braun, Hitler kissed her in public.The great dictator has somewhat of the sentimentality of a poet. No flowers are allowed in his office because they wither and he doesn't like to see dead things.Perhaps, it was obscured by these human characteristics of Hitler that Jonger did not realize that he had been living in a "blind spot" until after the war.
This movie touched me a lot.One is to humanize Hitler.This is also a question I have been thinking about, Hitler is not a devil, just an ordinary person.His evil is the result of the joint efforts of all.No one is born a dictator.Perhaps, only through Hitler who was reduced from the devil to a human in "The Destruction of the Empire", the crazy followers in "Triumph of the Will", and the illiterate but righteous female guard in "The Destruction of the Will", we who live in this world can truly return to the past. Looking at the depths of history, you can appreciate the powerlessness and insignificance of individuals when the crowd is crazy and the huge waves are rushing, and you can appreciate how the times make heroes and dictators.It is precisely based on this understanding that when history turns over this bloody page, when the living people simply drag out a captured Nazi leader in spirit and body, and extradite him from the ruins of history to the square of reality, When he is made to take full responsibility for the mistakes of an era, in my opinion, this is nothing more than finding a "scapegoat" for this criminal history of accomplices.
Unlike scapegoats in the usual sense, the "scapegoats" I'm talking about have indeed done many bad things.However, when it comes to an individual, he is nothing more than an executioner in front of the powerful "general will"—to be precise, the will of some groups—the power possessed by dictators has always been those who are willing to give up their power. Or the rights are conferred by people gathered together.And in the year when he was executed, how many lively noises, how many happy and carnival applause there were in the audience!Many bystanders even donated whetstones, and personally received the blood and flesh handed over by the executioner.In "Triumph of the Will", how fanatically the German people followed their leader and regarded him as the savior who descended from the clouds.It's just that when the tide receded, those people who held flowers and shouted loudly were rarely willing to admit that they had swum naked in it.
Another big touch comes from the end of the film: Mrs. Goebbels poisoned all her six children to death.The reason why she is so vicious is because she firmly believes that without national socialism, human beings have no hope and future, and she cannot let her children live in such a country.
Louis Bollor said, "Politics makes man evil".Politics, however, is not enough to turn evil into a destructive catastrophe.Its other premise is that "ideology makes people stupid".And the core value of this ideology lies in the understanding of the country.Looking back at this period of history in the 20th century, it is not difficult to find that the group of people who were superstitious about Nazism not only slaughtered Jews, Poles, French, and British... When they chose the ideal of Nazism and were willing to die for it At that time, the guillotine for suicide had also been erected.
Die one's life to go to the country in disaster, regard death as home suddenly.
In the article "A Good Woman or a Good Country", I once said that there are two ways for a lustful man to die: one is to die from a woman's sex, and the other is to die from a "national beauty".The so-called "death by a woman" is well-known, and the most famous one is the catchphrase of the lovers - "Die under the peony flower, even a ghost is a romantic".As for "death to the beauty of the country", it is to love the country as a peerless beauty, love it to the point of being intoxicated, die, love it so much that you don't know why, and finally lose your personality and bottom line, and even lose your life.
How greedy Hitler was for national beauty!How conceited!Once this down-and-out painter is in power, he will forcefully practice his idealism with the will of one person, one party, prohibit thoughts, and kill countless people.Not long after fascism came to power, the books of Romain Rolland, Tolstoy, and others including Marx were all taken to the bonfire party, while Hitler’s own book was made of fine-bred German calfskin, and all the text was hand-copied. It is handcrafted from steel.The purpose is not to turn black, rust, or deform for a thousand years, because the Third Reich must last at least a thousand years.Usually the government will issue a white paper, but Hitler issued a "cow paper".In fact, aren't many utopian programs in human history just "cowhide books"?
In the movie "The Destruction of the Empire", when the Soviet army blew up Berlin, Hitler even smiled a little while hiding in the basement.He said to the construction engineer standing next to the sand table of New Berlin: "The flatter Berlin is, the better. Then we will save effort in rebuilding Berlin." In his eyes, transforming the old world is like painting oil on canvas. If not, scrape off the paint and start over.
In 1904, Keynes said: "Democracy is still being tested, but so far it has not incurred disgrace." However, a decade later, when democracy merged with extreme nationalism, "state power" exceeded the original Tragedy will inevitably engulf those who have given it power.In other words, when sovereignty becomes a beast that cannot be tamed, when the state, a human creation, exceeds the scope of a tool and becomes the master of human beings, the last thing we must hear is the blood-curdling cry of the Italian peasant woman-"Run! , the motherland is coming!" (Hobsbawm,)
Of course, the pursuit of the dream country is not the monopoly of the Nazis.From Plato's Utopia, to Tao Yuanming's Peach Blossom Spring, to More's Sun City, everyone has a utopia in their hearts.The only difference is that some people are willing to live for utopia, while others are willing to die for utopia.As for the relationship between totalitarianism and utopia, as Mr. Qin Hui pointed out: the evil does not lie in utopia, but in whether it merges with coercion.
When we re-examine the spiritual history of Chinese people, it is not difficult to find that the "too thick to melt" (Xu Zhimo's words) emotion is first manifested as a kind of family and country sentiment, and then love.Because of the many disasters and disasters in Chinese history, there is boundless sadness behind this kind of family and country feelings.For example, "Business women don't know the hatred of subjugation, but they still sing about flowers in the backyard across the river." (Du Mu, "Parking Qinhuai") "Wandering in the old country, laugh at me passionately, and give birth to flowers early. Life is like a dream, and a bottle of water will return to the river moon." (Su Shi, "Nian Nujiao Chibi Nostalgia") "The country is broken and the mountains and rivers are there, and the city is full of spring vegetation." (Du Fu, "Spring Hope") "Staying in a lonely village does not feel sad, but still thinks about defending Luntai for the country." (Lu You, "A Stormy Day on November 4th")
As for the love between men and women, it is also related to the country in the related rhetoric.For example, "the emperor of the Han Dynasty focused on color and thought about the country, and Yuyu couldn't ask for it for many years." (Bai Juyi,) "There are beauties in the north, peerless and independent. When you look at the city of Qingren, you look at the country of Qingren. Would you rather not know the city and the country? Beautiful women are hard to come by." (Li Yannian, "Beauty Song")
Of course, the "country" here is not a nation-state in the modern sense. Some of them refer to the kingship, some refer to the homeland, and some refer to the horizon of life and the limit that can be reached.As Joseph R. Strayer pointed out, the sign of the emergence of a country is that the rulers of this place begin to distinguish between public and private rights, and begin to use public power to protect private rights and use public power to serve private rights.In the imperial period of China, the power of the emperor was unlimited.
National misfortune word human fortune.After Li Yu, the empress of the Southern Tang Dynasty, was arrested by Song Ting, he wrote many good words, most of which were related to his family and country.For example, in the past forty years, the country has been surrounded by mountains and rivers for three thousand miles. Fengge, Longlou, Lianxiaohan, Yushu and Qiongzhi are used as tobacco. On that day, the Jiaofang still played a farewell song, weeping at the maid." (Li Yu's "Pozhenzi") According to Song history records, Li Yu was poisoned by Song Taizong because he wrote some words of nostalgia for his homeland.Of course, the "homeland" in Li Yu's mind is not only a concept of space, but also a concept of time.Such as his "Midnight Song": "How can life be free from sorrow and hatred? Ecstasy alone has no limit to my love! The dream of the old country returns, and I feel tears. As in a dream.” The old country, this lost paradise, always seemed more real than the present country—not because the state and government were more of a “quick fix” (Henry Thoreau’s words), but Because the motherland is where the spirit is, a place where the soul can be placed and nostalgia can be placed.
What's interesting is that when people look back at the past heaven, you can always hear the bells of the soul, rustling and moving slowly; but when looking forward to the future kingdom, what you can see is often the almighty The expansion of rationality is the destruction and collapse of houses after the fusion of possibility and force.And this is also the biggest lesson that mankind has learned in the twentieth century.Because of this, the world has finally returned from revolution to improvement, from what I call the "bloody twentieth century" to the "sweaty 21st century".
On December 8, 1905, Chen Tianhua, who was famous for "The Alarm Bell" and "Turning Back", jumped into the sea and died in Omori Bay, Tokyo, Japan, protesting the "Rules for Banning Students from the Qing Dynasty Studying in Japan" promulgated by the Japanese Ministry of Education.It is said that Chen Tianhua's purpose was to "awaken his compatriots through death".In fact, even for a wise man like Li Shutong, there is no doubt that there is a contrast in emotional expression between the slight sadness of the homeland and the strong expectation of the future country.Comparing "Who will wield a sword with me" and "Who will rule the roost in the twentieth century?" "Shi" is obviously less "murderous" and more gentle.
In the film "Underground" by the famous director Kusturica, those who climbed out of the cave, after running around, found that Yugoslavia was almost wailing after the disintegration of "My motherland, why is it gone?" It is also memorable. What is new is that in the 1990s, after the disintegration of Yugoslavia, some nostalgic citizens of the former Yugoslavia built a Yugoslav virtual country online, drafted a constitution, and recruited citizens.Thinking about it carefully, who doesn't have a lost paradise or a dream of restoring the country?
When I was young, I loved listening to it, and I was often moved by one of the lyrics - "Ask what love is in the world, and teach life and death to promise each other".Over the years, every time I have seen or heard of people, whether hated, aggressive Nazis, admired patriots, or ordinary citizens, risking their lives for the imagined future of their country , "wielding a sword and wielding a knife", I can't help but feel "asking what a country is in the world, and teaching life and death to agree with each other".
When it comes to dedication, there are not many devotees in Chinese history.The most tragic thing is when the Song Dynasty died.
In 1278, Song Duanzong Zhao Shi died of illness on the way to exile. He was only 11 years old. His younger brother Zhao Bing succeeded to the throne and was known as the last emperor in history. In 1279, the government-in-exile was besieged by the Yuan army in Yashan (now south of Xinhui City, Guangdong Province). Despite tenacious resistance, it was eventually defeated.Lu Xiufu threw the young emperor who was only 8 years old on his back into the sea, and there were hundreds of thousands of people who followed him to die in the sea. "Song History Ji (3)" records the scene at that time in detail: "The army to the middle army will meet at dusk and wind and rain, fog and fog will be everywhere, and they will not be able to distinguish each other at a distance. Shijie and Su Liuyi broke up the dimension and seized Hong Kong with more than ten boats. On the way, Lu Xiufu went to defend the king's boat, the king's boat was big, and the boats were tied together, so he couldn't get out, so he threw his burden into the sea, and the harem and all the officials followed the dead. In seven days, more than 100,000 corpses floated out of the sea." At that time, how is human life different from that of ants?
Petofi's poem says: "Life is precious, but love is more expensive; if it is for freedom, both can be thrown away." Obviously, what Petofi really pursues is "freedom", not "motherland" and "kingdom" .No matter whether the motherland or the kingdom, they are just the shelter in the process of human development. Only life and freedom permeate human beings from beginning to end.If "sacrificing one's life for the motherland" and "sacrificing one's life for the king" only achieve a state of physical and mental enslavement or annihilation, then what is the meaning of this dedication?
When it comes to saving the country and devotion, there is a public case in the period of the Republic of China that has to be mentioned. On April 3, 1933, Dong Shijin, an agronomist, published the article "Using "Unorganized" and "Unmodern" to Compete with Japan" in "Ta Kung Pao", proposing that the whole people mobilize to fight against Japan. Confronting the fact of Japan, "When necessary, we might as well take advantage of the weakness of the people and use the methods used by warlords to squeeze their money and pull their husbands. Anyway, our people are easy to deal with, can endure hardships, and are willing to obey, so we will pull them." They go to the front to die, and give what they have to the army, and they don't complain."Hu Shi was very indignant after reading this passage, and published "My Opinion Is Nothing But That" in the "Independent Review" (No. 46) published on April 16, and made a frank and severe criticism of Dong Wen: "Honestly, Said, I read this kind of discussion, really angry. I want to say to Mr. Dong very sincerely: If this is saving the country, what is subjugation? Who is Mr. Dong's "we"? Is Mr. Dong's "we" One of 'them'? Who is 'them'? Is Mr. Dong one of 'them'? Such a heartless 'us' who is easy to deal with, endures hardships, and is willing to obey 'them' goes to the front line to die '——If this is called 'combat', I would rather subjugate my country than learn this Zhuang language and advocate war!"
Perhaps, as Dong Shijin said, Hu Shi partially misread his original meaning.However, this does not prevent us from analyzing the problem and understanding Hu Shi.It is obvious that here Hu Shi upholds his usual liberal standpoint, that is, one should never let individuals die in vain in the name of collective interests or long-term goals, and one must never resort to any means for a lofty ideal.Hu Shi said: "I extremely admire those heroes who fought desperately for the motherland, but my conscience does not allow me to use my pen to blame everyone for using his blood and flesh to fight against the most brutal and cruel modern weapons. Desperate."
In Hu Shi's view, that kind of long-term plan that ignores the present is also unreliable.As Keynes said, "In the long run, we are all mortal", but we cannot deny the meaning of living in the present just because everyone will die in the future.No one can use some so-called "sacred ideal" to drive others to make more sacrifices through deceit or some kind of violence.
In today's world, the value of individuals is getting more and more attention.People are no longer subjects of the royal family. Similarly, after the notorious twentieth century, countries or governments that were once aggressive and harmful have begun to be persuaded into cages.Human rights and sovereignty, which is more important?In fact, as early as more than 2,000 years ago, Mencius said that "the people are the most important, society is second, and the king is the least".In just ten words, the value orientation of a constitutional country has been laid foreshadowing that "human rights are higher than sovereignty, and sovereignty is higher than political power."
In 1835, Tocqueville, a 30-year-old French youth, published "On American Democracy" (volume 1) after fully examining the American political system.In his view: there are two major nations in the world today, starting from different starting points, but seem to be moving towards the same goal.That's the Russians and the Anglo-Americans.The Americans wrestle with the obstacles nature has set for them, the Russians wrestle with man.One battles wilderness and savagery, the other battles heavily armed civilizations.Heavy sword, or heavy thinking, the distinction between these two countries is also the two concepts that I focus on in the book "Ideological Country": the Republic of Thought and the Republic of Swords.In the novel, Hugo used Govan’s mouth to distinguish between two national forms: “Teacher, this is the difference between the Utopias between the two of us-you want compulsory military service, I want schools; you dream of people becoming soldiers, I dream of people. Be a citizen; you want people to have strength, I want people to have ideas. You want a republic of swords...I want a republic of ideas.” And the real hope of mankind is that, after thousands of years of suffering, finally realize the true Revolution is the transition from a totalitarian society where everyone is a soldier of the state to a civil society of free men united, from a republic of swords to a republic of ideas.
It must be admitted that although China today has not established a republic of ideas, it is no longer a republic of swords.Although in extreme times, this country used to be like a Spartan barracks, children took up guns.And when we look back at the thousands of years of Chinese history, it is full of swords and weapons.As Tang Degang said, in China's long history, "foreign aggression" is often accidental, while "internal strife" is mostly "inevitable" in history.The most painful memory in this regard is the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement.Regrettably, due to the limitations of the times and researchers, the historical details of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom’s murders were ignored by Luo Ergang and his colleagues. However, the historians Qian Mu and Hu Shi had quite similar views—the Hong Yang regime was a traitor to Confucius and Mencius. An evil regime that violates Chinese orthodoxy.
Although China's numerical management has always been a mess, future generations can still find some clues about how many people died in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement.According to the comparison of some historical data, there are mainly two views.The first point of view is based on the number of household registrations recorded in the "Household List" before and after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It is believed that from 1851 to 1864, China's population dropped sharply by 40%, with an absolute loss of 100 million; the second point of view is that the population before the war Comparing the data with the 1911 Xuantong census data, it is believed that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War directly caused at least 54 million excess deaths in the five provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Hubei. , Fujian, Sichuan and other provinces caused population losses, then the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom War brought at least 100 million population losses to China, and directly caused an excess of 70 million deaths.Both sets of figures are appalling enough.As we all know, in the Second World War, the total number of people who died in the world was only 70 million.
On the National Day of 2008, "Southern Weekend" invited some friends from home and abroad, hoping that everyone could answer the following questions based on their experiences over the years, including: What have you done to the country?What has the country done for you?What else can you do for the country?What else can the state do for you?
Readers who understand my writing position and value orientation will know that I just use this opportunity to reiterate my understanding of the relationship between individuals, society and the country.
What is politics for?What is the country for?When it comes to the understanding of the country, the most quoted is probably the sentence in the inaugural speech of US President Kennedy: "Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country." Just when people spread and praised Kennedy's patriotism with full enthusiasm, Friedman, a famous economist who is a citizen of the United States, was very disapproving of it.
In Friedman's view, in essence, the government is still just a means, a tool.Government is neither a person who brings us favors and gifts, nor is it a master or god to whom we blindly worship and serve.Therefore, Friedman said: "He recognizes no goal of the state except the agreed goal for which the citizens are each serving; any ideal.” Otherwise, this inversion of individual and state functions will inevitably corrode the foundation of a country’s freedom.
In fact, none of these questions, in Friedman's view, even needs to be answered, because "a free man asks neither what his country can do for him nor what he can do for him." What can our country do. Instead, we will ask, 'What can my countrymen and I, through government, do.' in order to fulfill our individual responsibilities to achieve our individual goals and aspirations, the most important of which is: to protect our freedom of".
This is not difficult to understand, just like when we buy a knife from the market, whether we use it to kill, defend ourselves or commit suicide, the knife does not matter, the key lies in ourselves.It is also for this reason that Lincoln said, "There is such a government as there are people."
Regarding the relationship between the state and society, long before Friedman, the Spanish scholar Ortega Gasset had already issued a warning in the book "The Rebellion of the Masses" (1930): the modern state as an artificial thing may Beyond the scope of human control, it has become a huge machine that can control everything.
The greater danger to civilization, according to Gasset, is the intervention of the state, its supplantation of all spontaneous social forces, since this is tantamount to canceling the spontaneity of history which, in the long run, sustains, nourishes and drives the human race. It is this spontaneity that is destiny.When this spontaneity is interrupted by state intervention, no new seeds can bear fruit.Society has to exist for the state, and the individual will have to exist for the machinery of government.In this way, in order to meet its own needs, the state has implemented further bureaucratization of human life.Tightening the screws of the bureaucratic machinery is tantamount to transforming society into a barracks, what I call a republic of swords.
It is conceivable that if Gasset's prophecy could have been taken seriously by Europe and the world at that time, the history of the twentieth century might have been rewritten.At that time, fascist forces were on the rise in various countries.Not to mention that in the United States, which has a strong tradition of individualism, in the 1930s, some people began to shout "America lacks a Mussolini". Printed pictures of Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini.At that time, there was a trend of thought, "Democratic politics is always messy and inefficient, and dictatorship is strong and powerful, so dictatorship is the direction. He, including Zhang Xueliang, traveled to Europe once. After returning, he believed that China would still implement fascism. "(He Zhaowu,).Prior to this, when the "Second Revolution" failed in 1913, Sun Yat-sen also attributed the failure of the "Second Revolution" to the fact that "we Chinese" had too much freedom. Teachers, gradually opened the precedent of "ruling the country by the party" and "one-party dictatorship" in China.In other words, the later dictatorship of the Kuomintang began with the judgment that "Chinese people have too much freedom".Looking back at this period of history today, the failure of the "Second Revolution" was definitely not due to the fact that the Chinese people had too much freedom. Some historians even believed that Sun Yat-sen made the wrong choice between "challenging Yuan with the hammer" and "challenging Yuan with the sword" and was too superstitious. violent revolution.
How to limit power?Friedman believes that the best way is to decentralize power, and the advantage of the federal system in the United States is that it not only allows people to participate in elections, but also allows them to choose their own lives in different states.A few years ago, I mentioned in my article that China should not only have a market economy, but also have "market politics".What I call "market politics" also includes voting with hands as well as voting with feet.The former is democracy, the latter is freedom.In other words, democracy and freedom are the two cornerstones of "market politics".In an era when the state overwhelms society, citizens are not only deprived of the right to vote with their hands, but also the right to vote with their feet.Thirty years ago, when the stagnant China started again, who can say that the subsequent achievements were not achieved because people continued to redeem their rights to move freely and change jobs?
No one can always make the right choice. If democratic elections in the political sense mean that citizens can "choose by choosing relief" in terms of time, then free movement in the sense of life also means that people can "choose through choice" in terms of geography. Relief Options".And this kind of openness in time and geography is exactly what a modern country should have.
As Montesquieu said, "Where there is commerce, there is virtue."To be precise, where there is a market and fair competition, there is virtue; and only where there is market politics, there will be political virtue.Regardless of the rise of a big country or a small country, the first is the rise of national rights, including the right to choose.After all, the state is not an end, but only a means for citizens to maximize their rights.
My life is full of adventures.When I was ignorantly looking for the former residence of Romain Rolland on the streets of the French town of Clermont West, the first passer-by I asked was the cousin of Roland’s servant, and it was she who brought me to my cousin Madame Buda home. (Xiong Peiyun, "Looking for Romain Rolland") Another year, when I was traveling with a group and arrived in San Marino inadvertently, in the hotel where I stayed, the "landlord" who "received" me first turned out to be the "President" of San Marino, GF Terenzi gentlemen.
At that time, Mr. Terenzi was inviting the small and medium-sized business owners of the country to have dinner. For some reason, he ran to the front desk of the hotel to chat, and the first thing he said when he saw me was "Are you Han?"Then he told me that he knew China very well, and that both Li Xiannian and Jiang Zemin had met him.After knowing that I was a reporter, Mr. Terenzi took me to the dining room and made an appointment to accept my exclusive interview the next morning.It was on this occasion that I first learned about the world's smallest, oldest, and least likely to be subverted republic.
This was a hasty interview, and I knew next to nothing about this country.I didn't prepare at all, and I didn't bring a computer to check the information with me.When I went out to meet the locals at night, I happened to meet a Fujianese who smuggled into San Marino, and spent the rest of the time with him in the bar, "the homeland is unbearable to look back on", and he also knew little about this country.
Peach blossoms are always found when lost.Through the interview on the second day and some materials later, I began to like this country, and I was even more surprised that there is such a "miniature" and my "political peach blossom garden" in the world.
There are nine political parties in San Marino, and two consuls with equal powers are elected by the Grand Council in April and October each year.They are not only heads of state, but also heads of government and parliament. They serve for half a year and cannot be re-elected. They can be re-elected after three years.In other words, San Marino can produce 4 heads of state every year.If the 60-year period is used as a cycle, and re-election obstacles are not considered, theoretically, a person can have 240 chances to be elected as the head of state in a lifetime.There are 60 members of parliament, and they are elected every five years. On average, there are 720 chances in 60 years.It is also political rights. Compared with other countries in the world, San Marino has the highest "gold content".
Westerners often say, "Small is beautiful" (small is beautiful).The Chinese often talk about "the rise of great powers", but in fact small countries can also be great and rise.The most meaningful set of data is: 8 of the 10 richest (per capita) countries in the world are small countries; of the 10 cleanest countries selected by Transparency International, the top 8 are all small countries; the United Nations Human Development Index Of the top 20 countries, 13 are small countries... Specifically, San Marino, in this small country with an area of only over 60 square kilometers, had a population of 28,880 in 2005, of which 24,649 were San Marino citizens. The entire population is only equivalent to that of China The size of a slightly larger community.But economically, according to a set of data in 2002, the per capita GDP in 2001 reached US$34,600, more than 30 times higher than that of China.This is a country with no railways, airports, ports, or even traffic lights, but with an average of two cars per capita.All citizens enjoy public medical care, and a 16-year compulsory education system for primary and secondary schools is implemented.Even such a small country is divided into 9 municipalities.The members of the government are appointed by the Grand Council, there is no prime minister, and the foreign minister acts as the prime minister.You can criticize this country for being unambitious, for not producing nuclear warheads, weapons that kill human beings, to defend the country, let alone seek the "rise of great powers", but here people live and work in peace and contentment, and everyone's life is as heavy as Mount Titano.
In the brochure that Mr. Terenzi sent me, there is a very intriguing sentence: "San Marino has always had a sufficient supply of soldiers." There is no official newspaper here, only several irregular publications sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and different political parties, but I can imagine , In such a beautiful country, there is no need to instill any patriotism. Once foreign enemies invade, the citizens of the country will rise up and resist.
Whether I was walking in the narrow streets of San Marino back then, or sitting alone in a bookstore at the moment, San Marino is a country that moved me very much and I will never forget it.It is said that in 301 A.D., in order to escape the persecution of the Roman emperor, a Christian stonemason led a group of stonemasons to escape from the area controlled by the Roman emperor. On the top of Mount Titano, a "mason commune" composed of free people was established, and on this basis, it gradually grew into a free country.Napoleon swept across the European continent. Although he crossed the Alps, he did not climb Mount Titano. Instead, he recognized the sovereignty of this country in 1797 - because Napoleon was impressed by the spirit of freedom of the oldest republic in the world. There was a sense of awe.San Marino did not expand its territory in space like ancient Rome, but it won in time.
I often wonder why in Chinese history, when many people who dared to start businesses in Nanyang received unfair treatment or were killed outside, the reaction of the Chinese emperor was usually that the subjects left the country and deserved to die?Why did the people of all countries enjoy unprecedented and unprecedented freedom during the Spring and Autumn Period when politics was relaxed and states were established?Why can a group of people who fled from the Apennine Peninsula have their own country for generations?Between the country and freedom, between the country and society, where do people go?If the country is rich and the people are poor, "you want cannons but not butter", what does the rise of a great power mean to the people?
That autumn, I stood on the top of Mount Titano and looked around this small country with a population of less than 30,000 but which claimed to have "sufficient military resources". I understood the glory of the local residents voting with their feet and hands, and for the first time Once I truly realized the meaning of the country to the citizens, and understood why Franklin said, "Where there is freedom, there is my motherland."
I was pleasantly surprised by my choice back then. Whether it was quitting my first job or going abroad for the first time, my life and thinking became extremely bright overnight.I always thought that the biggest gain I gained during the years of studying and interviewing in Europe was to clarify my understanding of the country and society.Most of the scattered writing during this period revolves around the relationship between the state and society.And these thoughts have become important materials when I start to sort out in the future.
At the beginning of 2009, a book called "The Book" was hyped up.Because of the invitation of friends from the media in Beijing, I also wrote several critical articles.To be honest, I have no critical interest in this kind of book that talks big in a "Chinese" tone.On the one hand, I think the most important thing in China at the moment is to let the people talk about their specific unhappiness, instead of talking about the unhappiness of some non-existent countries.It should be common knowledge that the state is just a tool, it has no emotional capacity.So I wrote the comment "Tell me why I'm unhappy", I believe many readers feel the same way.On the other hand, I have already done enough analysis in the forthcoming book on the problems that China needs to solve the most, what kind of growth has been harvested in these years and what kind of historical context it has, so I don’t want to go into details.For a person like me who enjoys the joy of thinking every day, repeating my point of view to persuade others is a very painful thing.What's more, your heart is like a mirror, knowing that people may just be doing a nationalist business.
As early as a few years ago, I asked a question on the website of Thinking Country - what is a person?As we all know, in the past, most Chinese people lived in the unit system and unit culture.When strangers meet or do something, they will inevitably be asked "what unit are you in".Since everyone is always asked "what unit are you in", why not just spend a little more time answering it well?
There are various answers on the Internet, including "thinking unit", "rights unit", "earning unit", "consumption unit", "living unit" and so on.当说，这个问题本无所谓标准答案。然而，在我看来，以上回答均限于从政治学或社会学意义上阐述人的功用，而没有从哲学意义上触摸到人的本质。我以为，一个人若要真正解放自己的心灵，就必须在时间与空间上对人之内涵拨云见日，而我关于“人是什么单位”的回答则是“人是时间单位”。
事实上，这些年有个问题一直在困扰我，甚至让我痛苦不堪，即“我死以后，谁计算时间”？是钟表？是日月星辰？还是对时间感觉各异的人？若都不是，当一个人失去了对时间的感知，那死后的世界他将如何丈量？在此，暂且搁置这个近乎无解的问题，留给有心的读者去思考。在本文中我只负责陈述自己对“人是时间单位”的理解。
为什么介绍思想家胡适时，会在他的名字后面加上一段时间——胡适（1891～1962年）？道理很简单，人是生命，有生卒年月，人归根到底是一段时间。我们在时间中获得生命。没有时间，就没有生命。
那么，胡适是不是地理（空间）单位呢？no.胡适生于绩溪，长在上海，学在美国，死在台湾。显然，我们不能在“思想家胡适”后面加上“绩溪－上海－美国－台北”这样一条地理尾巴。因为这些标注既不完整也不准确。一方面，它会遗漏其他许多地理信息；另一方面，这任何地方都不属于胡适。真正属于他的只有他曾经生活过的72年光阴。
理解人是时间单位，而非空间单位，更不是属于某个单位的单位十分重要。承认“我即单位”“我是时间单位”“我是时间的尺度”，在此基础上，我们关于生命意义的挖掘，将不再是忠诚于某个地理与环境，而是忠诚于我们自己的一生（这段时间）——正是通过这段时间我们参与并见证一个时代。一个人应该站在自己的生命本身，站在一个时代的立场上表达自己的心声，而非生在中国便只为中国人表达，生在美国便只为美国人说话。君不见，人类历史上那些真正留下丰功伟绩并且值得后世怀念者，其所创造的价值多是具有“划时代意义”，而非“划地理意义”“划种族意义”或者“划单位意义”。
那些真正推动人类进步者，因为将自己归属于时间而拥有属于自己的一生。人首先应该爱的是时间，其次才可能是空间。时间之爱是面向个体的，是绝对的，那是我们唯一的存在；而空间之爱则是相对的，是面向公众的，是通过物质或精神的契约才得以实现的。一个人，如果生于猪圈，便说自己“热爱猪圈”，这种“爱猪圈主义”显然不是一种高尚的情感。必要的时候，我们甚至可以断定这是一种“以空间之名限制或屠杀时间”、灭绝人类未来与希望的庸俗情感。是故，我愿意以更广阔的视角将我所热爱之国视为时间之国，一种立于时间维度上的精神与思想之国，而非空间意义上的逆来顺受或与生俱来的“嫁鸡随鸡”式的地理之爱。
做一个在时间里耕耘的人远比为空间疲于奔命可靠得多。回顾历史，多少国家因为对空间的迷信（比如罗马、苏联）而丢失时间——美国将来又会怎样？其实，人亦如此，无论占有多少疆土与财富，如果不能在时间上做自己的主人，其所拥有的仍不过是贫困的一生。真正的强者是能够把握自己时间的人，是做时间之王，而非做空间之王（或者奴仆），因为只有这样的时候，他才可能是自由的。
正是基于上述思考，我在2007年《新京报》的新春社论中写下这样一段话：“如果说中国是我们地理上的故乡，那么这个时代就是我们时间上的故土。如果说我们精神的疆土就是国家的疆土，那么我们生命所创造的价值就是时代的价值。不管我们正见证着怎样的繁华与荣耀，经历过怎样的忧惧与坎坷，我们所处的这个时代是我们一生的机遇。我们手握的时间与生命，正如我们所拥有的智力与权利，都是我们一生的资本。”（《走在雪地上，走在时间里》）
人是时间单位而非地理单位，而且必先站在时间的角度来思考问题，我们才有条件回到人与历史本身。我以“把一生当做自己的远大前程”警省自己，其实这句话同样适合劝诫一个国家。我自知我最真实的居所是时间，而非空间，这也是我为什么愿意站在个体权利与生命的角度而非空洞的国家利益的角度思考中国命运之缘由。
所有真心关注中国命运者，理应回到每一位国民的具体命运中来。当“重新发现社会”之旅程又一次铺开，让我们从空间回到时间，从国家的命运回到个体的命运，让时间站在我们一边。
April 2009
本文曾刊于2009年10月4日《南方都市报》，原题为《问世间国为何物》