Chapter 53 Chinese and Chinese

Yu Ming A good translation has recently been published: "Chinese Language and Chinese Language" by Gao Benhan.Mr. Gaobenham [2] is a Swede, his real name is Karlgren.Why is his "name" high?That is undoubtedly because of Chinese.He has indeed made great contributions to Chinese philology. However, he seems to have studied the Chinese more, so he worships classical Chinese and Chinese characters, thinking that they are indispensable to the Chinese. He said: "Recently—according to Gao's book, it was published in London in 1923—certain newspapers have tried the vernacular, but without much success; I think this is a satire to them that they cannot understand classical Chinese newspapers!"

"There are many actors in Western countries. In their performances, they can almost insert a lot of 'jokes' at any time, and there are also many authors who quote books indiscriminately; but everyone thinks this is an inferior flavor. This is just the opposite in China. It is a place where sublime elegance is expressed and exquisite art is expressed." "The ambiguity of the Chinese language, the Chinese not only do not feel difficulties because of it, but are willing to cultivate it." But Mr. Gao himself was fed up with the insults: "The author of this book talks to the dear Chinese, and he understands very well what is said to him; but when they talk to each other, he hardly understands a word." This is naturally those "dear Chinese" who are "satisfying" that he does not understand the words of the upper class, because "a foreigner who comes to China, as long as he pays attention to it, he can feel that although he himself is familiar with the language of ordinary people, Still inexplicable for upper-class conversation."

So he said: "Chinese characters are like a beautiful and lovely lady, while Western characters are like a useful but not beautiful handmaid." The "exquisite skill" of the beautiful and lovely but useless lady lies in the ambiguity of "gathering".This makes the first-class scholars in the West, at best, no more than ordinary people in China, and they have no hope of climbing into the upper class.In this way, we "victory spiritually".In order to maintain this victory, there must be a sublime and refined vocabulary, and it must be rich!The May 4th vernacular movement "didn't have much success" probably because the upper class was afraid of being ridiculed that they didn't understand classical Chinese.

Although, "This is right and wrong, and that is also right and wrong"-we'd better be vague.Otherwise, it will be difficult to feel. October twenty-fifth. [1] This article was first published on October 28, 1933 in "Shenbao·Free Talk".According to this article was written by Qu Qiubai, please refer to the note [1] on page 47 of this volume. [2] Bernhard Karlgren (Bernhard Karlgren, 1889-1978) Swedish Sinologist.From 1909 to 1912, he lived in China and studied Chinese phonology.His book "Chinese Language and Chinese Language" was published in England in 1923; it was later translated by Zhang Shilu and published by the Commercial Press in 1931.