Chapter 16 From taking pictures of children

Because I have not had children for a long time, someone once said that this is the retribution of my bad behavior, and that the species will be extinct.When the landlady hated me, she would not allow her children to play with me, calling it "give him a deserted place, so deserted that he would die!" But now I have a child, although it is hard to say whether I can raise it or not , but at present he has finally been able to say something and express his own opinion.But it’s okay if he doesn’t talk, but when he talks, it makes me feel that he is also my enemy. He was sometimes very dissatisfied with me. Once, he said to me in person: "I'm a father, it's even better..." It was even close to "reactionary", and he once gave me a severe criticism: "This kind of father , what daddy!?"

I don't believe his words.When I was a son, I pretended to be a good father in the future. When I had a son, I had already forgotten all the previous declarations.Besides, my father, who I thought was not so bad, even though I sometimes scolded and even beat me, actually loved him.So he is healthy, lively, playful, and not oppressed.If it is really a "what father", would he dare to make such a reactionary declaration face to face? But his health and liveliness sometimes made him suffer. After the September 18th incident, he was mistaken for a Japanese child by his compatriots, scolded several times, and was beaten once—naturally, it was not serious.Here I would like to add a word that is not very comfortable to say or listen to: In the past year or so, such a thing has not happened once.

If children in China and Japan are wearing western clothes, it is really difficult to tell them apart.But some of us here have a wrong quick judgment: those who are gentle and elegant, who don’t talk much, don’t laugh or move a lot are Chinese children; But strangely, I once took a photo of him in a Japanese photo studio, his face was naughty, and he really looked like a Japanese child; later, I took a photo of him in a Chinese photo studio, with similar clothes, but his appearance Very restrained and docile, he is a real Chinese kid. For this matter, I once thought about it. The big reason for this difference lies in the photographer.The standing or sitting posture he instructed was different for the photographers of the two countries. After standing still, he opened his eyes and took the opportunity to capture what he thought was the best moment of appearance.Children are placed under the lens of the camera, and their expressions are always changing, sometimes lively, sometimes naughty, sometimes docile, sometimes cautious, sometimes bored, sometimes suspicious, sometimes fearless, sometimes tired...Those who capture the moments of gentleness and restraint are Chinese child faces; those that capture lively or naughty moments are like Japanese child faces.

Kindness and the like are not evil.But as it develops, being docile in all things is by no means a virtue, perhaps downright useless. The words of "father" and seniors must be listened to, but they must also be reasonable.If there is a child who thinks he is inferior in everything, bows and retreats; or smiles, but is always scheming in the back, I would rather hear the straightforwardness of calling me "something" to my face, and hope that he himself is a thing. However, the general trend in China is only towards the docile side—the “quiet” side, with low brows and pleasing eyes, and only being obsequious is considered a good boy, which is called “interesting”.Lively, healthy, tenacious, with chest up and head up... Anything that belongs to "movement" will inevitably be shaken by some people, and even called it "foreign style".And because of being invaded for many years, they became enemies with this "foreign style"; further, they deliberately contradicted this "foreign style": they were active, but I sat in meditation; I prefer long gowns; they pay attention to hygiene, and I prefer to eat flies; they are healthy, but I prefer to be sick... This is to preserve the inherent Chinese culture, this is patriotism, and this is not slavery.

In fact, from my point of view, many of the so-called "foreign flavors" have advantages and are inherent in the nature of Chinese people, but due to the suppression of previous dynasties, they have shrunk down, and now even I am baffled. Gave it to foreigners.This must be brought back—restored—naturally, a careful choice must be made. Even if it is not inherent in China, as long as it is an advantage, we should learn from it.Even if that teacher is our enemy, we should learn from him.Here I want to point out that Japan, which everyone is not happy to talk about now, can imitate and create less, which is despised by many Chinese commentators. However, just look at their publications and industrial products, and they are not Chinese. As soon as we reach it, we know that "being able to imitate" is by no means a disadvantage, and we should learn from "being able to imitate". Wouldn't it be better to "imitate" and then create?Otherwise, it is nothing more than a "die with hatred" (2).

Here I would like to add a statement that seems superfluous: I believe that my proposition is definitely not "instigated by the imperialists" [3] to lure the Chinese into slavery; There is no hindrance to actually being a slave.August 7th. CC [1] This article was originally published in the fourth issue of the fortnightly "New Language" magazine on August 20, 1934, signed by Runiu. [2] "Death with hatred" refers to Kongzi's resentment of injustice and his refusal to carry out actual reform work.See "Hot Wind · Die with Resentment Sixty-two".

[3] "Instigated by the imperialists" On July 25, 1934, the author published the article "A joke is only a joke (Part 1)" in "Shenzhen Free Talk", criticizing certain excuses at that time People who oppose Europeanized syntax and attack vernacular Chinese; on August 7, Wen Gongzhi published an open letter to the author in the same journal, saying that he advocated the adoption of Europeanized syntax because he was "instigated by the imperialists."Please refer to the appendix of the article "Lace Literature·A joke is only a joke (Part 1)".