Chapter 4 Chinese people and sauce jars

This article is a speech given at the Confucius Building in New York, USA on August 16, 1981. The topic given to me by the chairman today is "Chinese people and sauce jars". If this is an academic seminar, we must first ask, what is a Chinese person?What is a sauce jar?I guess I won't bring it up anymore because it's a superfluous thing.There is often a phenomenon in the world: if everyone knows something, if you add a definition to it, the content and form of the matter will be blurred, and it will be difficult to understand the truth. Under such circumstances, it is not easy to start a discussion .

I remember a story in which a person asked an eminent monk who had attained enlightenment—Buddhism believes that people are reincarnated, and said: "Since my current life is the reincarnation of my previous life, can I know what kind of person I was in my previous life? I will be reincarnated again in the next life, can you tell me what kind of person I will be reincarnated in the next life?" The eminent monk told him four words: "If you want to know the cause of the past life, you will be the recipient in this life; If you have lived a happy life in this life, you must have been an upright and generous person in your previous life; if you had endless disasters in this life, it means that you must have done evil things in your previous life.This story gives us a lot of inspiration.Ladies and gentlemen present here, if you are a Buddhist, you must be easy to accept. If you are not a Buddhist, of course you do not think that there are past and future lives, but please observe this question and answer philosophically.

I mean, the story reminds us of Chinese culture.Everyone here, no matter what nationality they are, most of them have Chinese ancestry, and this ancestry cannot be changed by any means.The same is true for unhappiness, and the same is true for happiness.The Chinese people we refer to are in a broad sense and do not refer to a specific region, but only to blood. For nearly two hundred years, Chinese people have always had a hope that our country will be strong and that our nation will become the best nation in the world.However, for so many years, we have been weak and we have been discriminated against by outsiders. What is the reason?Of course we ourselves are responsible.However, if you look at it culturally, you will think of the story just mentioned. Why is our country still not strong today?People still suffer from so many disasters?From the powerless ordinary people to the powerful and powerful, everyone has the same direction, the same deep hope, and the same deep frustration.

I remember when I was a child, the teacher said to us: "The hope of the country lies in you." But what about us now?It's time to say to the younger generation: "You are the hope of the country's future." In this way, the responsibility will be pushed down from generation to generation. When will it be pushed?Overseas Chinese are more sensitive to this issue, and expect more attentively.Today our country suffers from such suffering. Apart from our own failure to fulfill our responsibilities, the traditional culture has placed a heavy burden on us. I was at the Boston Museum the day before yesterday, and I saw a display of bound shoes from our grandmother's time.My own experience is that women my age had their feet bound in their day, which sounds unbelievable to you young people now.Why is there such a cruel thing in our culture?As much as half of the Chinese people have been persecuted in this way. Their feet are bound and disabled, and even their bones are broken.In our history, it has been as long as a thousand years.Is there such a barbaric part of our culture?And it is even more allowed to keep it for such a long time. No one says it is against nature and harmful to health. On the contrary, most men still think that binding feet is worthy of praise.And what about the persecution of men?It is the eunuch.According to historical records, before the Song Dynasty, any rich and powerful family could castrate their servants themselves.This kind of thing was not banned until the eleventh century, that is, after the beginning of the Song Dynasty.This situation just shows that there are many irrational elements in our culture.And throughout the course of historical development, the element of irrationality has reached an uncontrollable level.

The culture of any nation is like the Yangtze River, which flows continuously, but because of a long time, many filthy things in the Yangtze River, such as dead fish, dead cats, and dead mice, began to settle, making the water If it cannot flow, it becomes a pool of stagnant water. The more it sinks, the more it rots over time, and it becomes a sauce vat, a sludge pit, sour and smelly. When it comes to sauce jars, young friends may not understand.I grew up in the north, and there are many such things in my hometown. I don't know exactly what ingredients it is made of, but the condiment that you eat roast duck in Chinese restaurants is sauce.The sauce is not smooth, not as surging as the water of the Yellow River coming from the sky.

As a result, stagnant water is not smooth, coupled with evaporation, the concentration of precipitation is increased and thickened.Our culture, our so-called premortal cause, is like this. The most representative of this characteristic in Chinese culture is "official circles".In the past, the purpose of intellectuals' reading was to become an official.This invisible and intangible "field" is formed by the imperial examination system. Once scholars enter the officialdom, they will become in opposition to the folks.The only goal of scholars under that system is to be an official. The so-called book has its own beauty, and the book has its own golden house.You can be an official by studying, and you can have beautiful women and money if you are an official.In the past, it was said that the number one scholar comes out of every profession, but in fact, except for the number one scholar among the scholars, the others are still worthless craftsmen.At that time, there were many systems for people of other classes, and they were not allowed to wear certain kinds of clothes or ride certain types of vehicles.Everything in feudal society is based on the interests of officials.The feudal society has controlled China for such a long time, with such great influence and power, the economic changes have been relatively small, but politically it has kept us in the culture of sauce vats for a long time. For the interests of the interests, make our sauce jar culture deeper and thicker.

In this long-term situation where the sauce is at the bottom of the tank, we Chinese become selfish and suspicious.Although I came to the United States for a short trip, from what I have seen, I feel that Americans are friendlier, happier, and often smile.I once saw their children in Chinese friends’ homes. Although they were very happy, they seldom smiled. Is it possible that our Chinese facial muscles are different?Or is our nation too gloomy? Due to the lack of vitality of the nation, have we ever thought that we should take responsibility for such a character?Chinese people compete with each other and never cooperate with each other.This reminds me of a Japanese detective chief who trained his detectives to ask his subordinates to suspect that everyone he saw was a thief.This kind of psychological state is good for training criminal police, but Chinese people generally have this kind of similar situation in their hearts: Does the other party want to get some benefits from me?Suspicion and fear among each other are formed, and this kind of suspicion and fear makes the Chinese people a mess.

We are such a big country with resources and a population of 800 million or 1 billion. If we can work together, how can our situation in Asia be inferior to that of Japan? Due to the death of the long-term autocratic and feudal social system, Chinese people have been soyed in this sauce vat for too long. Our thoughts, judgments, and vision are all polluted by the sauce vat, and we cannot escape the scope of the sauce vat.Over the years, most of us have lost the ability to distinguish right from wrong, lack of moral courage, and can only react to emotions and intuitions in everything, and can no longer think.All behavioral values ​​are based on the moral and political standards in the saucepan.Therefore, there is no right and wrong, no right or wrong.In such an environment, there is little understanding and analysis of things.After a long period of perfunctory perfunctory, a general retribution finally came, that is, the "Opium War".

The Opium War was an intrusion of foreign cultures. For the Chinese, it was a "national humiliation commemoration", but from another perspective, it might not be a great awakening.Japan's observation of some things seems to be different from ours.In the 18th century, the United States sank two Japanese ships and opened the door to Japan. The Japanese believed that this incident was of great benefit to them, and they regarded a humiliation as a kind of spiritual stimulation. In fact, we should be grateful for the Opium War. If there was no Opium War, what would be the situation now?At least everyone here may still have a braid on their head, women still have their feet bound, and everyone is still wearing long robes and mantles. They sit in a sedan chair for two people on land and a small sampan on water.If the Opium War had happened 300 years earlier, maybe China had changed earlier, and if it had happened 1,000 years ago, the whole history would have been completely different.So I think this "National Humiliation Commemoration" is actually a strong impact on our sauce vat culture. Without this impact, the Chinese people have been deeply buried in the bottom of the sauce vat, and they may eventually suffocate to death.

The Opium War was a cross-cutting of foreign culture.Western modern civilization, as far as ancient China is concerned, should be cut in as early as possible.This big impact is undoubtedly a severe challenge to history and culture. It has brought us a new material civilization and a new spiritual civilization. The so-called material civilization, such as Western modernized airplanes, cannons, automobiles, subways, etc., we Chinese suddenly see such a new world outside, there are so many things that are different from us, so that we have a new understanding of material civilization .Speaking of spiritual civilization, Western political and academic thoughts have also given us many new ideas and inspirations.In the past, we didn't know that there was democracy, freedom, human rights, and the rule of law, all of which were products transplanted from the West.

Although there was a Chinese saying in the past, "human life is a matter of nature", in fact, whether human life is a matter of nature depends on who happens to it?If it happened to me and I wanted to kill a person, of course it would be a matter of course.But what does human life matter if the murderer is someone powerful?So it still depends on who is involved.The ancient sages also said that "the people are the most important, and the king is the least." This is just an ideal, which has never been realized in China.In the previous feudal era, when one dynasty ended and another dynasty was changed, the system did not change.Overthrowing the previous dynasty and establishing a new dynasty, the only way to show that he is different from the old dynasty is to burn the house, burn down the palaces and palaces built by the previous dynasty, and rebuild a new one by himself to show that he is different from the previous dynasty.The reason why they burned the houses of the previous dynasty was that the previous dynasty practiced tyranny and their own government was benevolent, so the "benevolent government" wanted to burn the houses of "tyranny".Generation after generation in this way, they cannot achieve any new achievements in politics and ideology, but only burn houses to express differences.This makes China, an ancient country, have not left a few ancient buildings for thousands of years. In China's political and ideological system, there are also some ideals, which are close to those of the West, such as the words "the prince breaks the law and commits the same crime as the common people", but these are just hopes and fantasies.In fact, this is impossible. Princes will never commit the same crimes as ordinary people. Chinese people have never known about democracy, freedom, and the rule of law. Although some people said before that we also have freedom and can scold the emperor, but we The freedom of the people is extremely limited, and within the scope allowed by the ruler, there is a little freedom.The people may scold the emperor, but they have to do so secretly.The scope of freedom is very narrow. Of course, there is freedom to think wildly, but concepts such as democracy and the rule of law are completely absent. The Chinese nation is one of the greatest nations in the world. Of course, we have to think so emotionally, otherwise it will be difficult to live.But there is another great nation in the world, the Anglo-Saxons.This nation has established a steel frame for world civilization, such as their parliamentary system, election system, judicial independence, judicial jury system, etc., and established a good structure for human society. This is its greatest contribution to civilization. It is also one of the reasons why Western society can move towards reasonable and fair politics.In any case, no matter how wasteful the election is, it is better than a mountain of murder and a river of blood.For some good things in the West, we must have the courage to accept them.Some people say that elections in the West are not elections for talents, but elections for money, and this kind of money is not affordable by ordinary people. Even so, wasting money is better than wasting heads. All good things must be fought for by ourselves, not like God’s Garden of Eden, where everything has already been arranged.Because Chinese people have lived in sauce jars for a long time, they naturally develop a kind of carefree mentality. On the one hand, they are arrogant and show off, and on the other hand, they are inferior and selfish.I remember seeing a movie before, but I forgot the name of the movie. A noblewoman, she is beautiful, luxurious, and admired by others on one side, but she is lewd, shameless, and obscene on the other side. She can't unite these dual personalities. Later, the psychiatrist finally made her face the reality, and she had to commit suicide.When we review our medical records, do we dare to face reality?Use a healthy mind to deal with our own problems? We should learn to introspect. Chinese people are often not used to rational introspection, but emotional introspection.For example, when a husband and wife quarrel, the husband tells his wife, "You are not good to me."The wife threw the food on the table and said, "Why did I treat you badly? I treated you badly, and I still cook for you?" This gesture is a kind of unfriendly expression. reflect. Since the intrusion of Western culture, China has undergone changes in political thinking, but also in moral concepts.In the past, it was common for husbands to beat their wives, but now you want to beat them, try it!Fortunately for young friends, some degenerate cultures in the tradition have been eliminated a lot, not only politically and morally, but also in all cultural fields, such as art, poetry, literature, drama, and dance. change and be affected. When it comes to Western culture and Western civilization, some people will label it as "worshiping the foreign and fawning on the foreign".What do I think is wrong with Chongyang?Their etiquette is indeed better than our rudeness, and their guns are indeed better than our bows and arrows.If among friends, one is better than oneself in terms of learning and morality, why can't one worship him?Chinese people do not have the courage to praise others, but they have the courage to attack others.Because our soy sauce jar culture is extensive and profound, it makes the Chinese "juvenile over the Huaihe River will be trifoliate".When the oranges grow in the original place, they are big and sweet, but when they are transplanted to another place, they become small and sour.I have a friend. He is Mr. Sun Guanhan who has been rescuing me during my ten years in prison. He once brought Chinese cabbage seeds from Shandong Province to Pittsburgh to grow, but the vegetables he grew were not the original ones at all. But the Japanese have a certain ability to learn what they look like, while the Chinese learn what they don’t look like.The spirit of the Japanese is amazing. He can learn from others and learn exactly the same.The Chinese will only find excuses and use "not in line with national conditions" as a shield to give us a good reason to refuse.Before the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese visited the Chinese navy and saw our soldiers drying their clothes on the cannons, so they decided that this kind of army could not fight.We don't intend to establish a modern concept at all, and everything we don't want to do, including removing the clothes drying on the cannon, is also pushed as "not in line with the national conditions." For example, the traffic problem in Taipei, which was originally the simplest thing, has not been solved for many years.I think that if a "heavy penalty" is imposed on those who violate the rules, it will be fine after a few times.But some people suggested that they should be taught "comity", thinking that comity is suitable for our national conditions.We have been courteous for too long, and we have been pitted too deeply. When will we be courteous again?We set up a "zebra crossing" for pedestrians to cross the road. The "zebra crossing" was originally intended to protect pedestrians, but many people died on the "zebra crossing".A friend of mine was driving recklessly in Taipei. When he came to the United States, he often received a ticket, which made him dizzy and had to pay more attention.Just like traffic rules, such a simple thing, China also has it, but it is immediately distorted.When talking about the strengths of other countries, some people cry out that they "worship foreign countries and fawn on foreign countries".In fact, the United States, France, Britain, and Japan, if they are good, we should learn from them; if they are bad, we should not learn from them, it's as simple and clear as that! An American wrote a book "Can Japan?Why can't we? ", no one said that this professor worships foreigners.It can be seen from this that the soy sauce jar culture is too deep and too thick, which has made the Chinese lose the ability to digest and absorb, and only indulge in their own emotions.A friend often honked the horn suddenly when driving. I asked him why, and he joked: "It means that I have not forgotten my roots!" We hope that we have enough intelligence to recognize our shortcomings, produce a thinking generation, and be able to judge And the ability to distinguish right from wrong can make our sauce jars become thinner and thinner, and even become a jar of clear water, or a vast ocean. Chinese people are very emotional and have strong subjective concepts. They always use the appearance we see as the judgment standard for their understanding of things.We need to develop a comprehensive and holistic concept of seeing things.Discovering many things from different angles is more complete than exploring from one angle.The shortest straight line between two points is in physics; in the course of life, the shortest distance is often a curve.Therefore, becoming a qualified connoisseur should be our goal.Only a society with appreciation ability can improve people's discrimination of good and bad things.I have seen the performance of Jiang Miaoxiang, an old dramatist before. He is over sixty years old, and his face is wrinkled and wrinkled, which is simply unsightly.However, this has no effect on his artistic achievements.When he sang "Little Cowherd", you completely forgot his old image.Only when everyone has the ability to appreciate and distinguish, will the evil disappear.It seems that when my paintings are put together with Van Gogh's paintings, no one can tell them apart. Instead, they say: "My paintings are the same as Van Gogh's paintings!" Not enough quality artwork. Although China is a big country, the Chinese people are not tolerant enough and have a small mind.The day before yesterday I took a flight at Kennedy Airport and took a nap on the plane for an hour. When I woke up, the plane was still not flying. After inquiring, I found out that they were on strike.I was surprised to find that the order of the passengers was very good, and everyone talked and laughed freely. If this happened in our country, the situation might be different.Passengers must run to quarrel: "Why haven't you taken off yet? What's the matter? Don't you have enough to eat? What's the strike? Are you still selling tickets for the strike?" They see it from another angle: If I were the navigator, maybe I would also participate strike.From this, we can also see the tolerance of the so-called big citizens. The United States is a very inclusive country. It not only tolerates so many skin colors and races, but also tolerates different languages ​​and customs, and even tolerates the roughness of our Chinese people. . This kind of demeanor shows the inclusiveness of a big country. When Reagan and Carter debated on TV, they expressed their political opinions and did not make crude attacks.Reagan did not say that you have been president for several years, and you only know how to appoint private individuals!Carter also did not say, you have no political experience, how well do you govern this country?Both sides have shown excellent grace, which is a high degree of democratic quality. I'm not interested in politics, and I don't particularly encourage everyone to participate in politics, but if you are interested in participating, you should participate, because politics is too important.No matter what you do, if a law is promulgated, not only money will not be guaranteed, but also freedom and life will not be guaranteed. But we don't need everyone to participate, as long as we have the ability to appreciate.This kind of appreciation is not only in politics, literature, and art, even in painting, the level of appreciation determines everything.Those who are not qualified, like me, have to hide their clumsiness, only dare to paint secretly, and dare not take it out, otherwise others will immediately see the superiority and say, "What are you painting? How dare you teach others?" With the ability to truly appreciate, there will be good and bad standards in society, so that we will not be sloppy in everything, everyone will be fooled, there will be no distinction between clear and dirty, high and low, and hinder our development. and progress. These opinions of mine are my personal impressions, and I would like to discuss them with you, and I would like to ask you for your advice, and thank you very much.