Author: ArthurHendersonSmith
Publishing House: People's Daily Publishing House
Release date: 20 10 September 1.
ISBN:97875 1 150 1400
Format: 16
Pricing: 36.00 Yuan Author: (America) Ming Enpu Translator: Xu Xiaomin
Ming Enpu, an American congregational missionary, whose Chinese name is Ming Enpu. 1845 was born in Connecticut, USA, and graduated from Bitter University at the age of 22. From 65438 to 0872, he was sent to China by the American congregation and his wife. He has preached in Tianjin, Shandong, Hebei and other places, engaged in missionary, disaster relief, medical care, charity, education and other activities, and concurrently served as a reporter of Zilin West Newspaper in Shanghai. He lived in China for more than 50 years and became a famous expert on China. His works have a great influence on western society.
China's Character (Chinese Characters) is recognized as the earliest and most detailed work on China's national character in the world. It has been translated into French, German, Japanese and other languages, making Smith famous internationally. The first chapter to save face
The second chapter is frugal
Chapter III Diligence and Prosperity
Chapter IV Observance of Etiquette
Chapter V Ignoring Time
Chapter VI Ignoring Accuracy
Chapter 7 is easy to be misunderstood.
Chapter VIII Beating around the bush
Chapter 9 Soft and stubborn
Chapter 10 Mental confusion
Chapter 11 Nerve numbness
Chapter XII contempt for foreigners
Chapter XIII Lack of public interest above all else
Chapter 14 conformism
Chapter 15 Ignoring Comfort
Chapter 16 Strong vitality
Chapter 17 Perseverance in adversity
Chapter 18 Happiness lies in contentment
Chapter 19 Filial piety first
Chapter 20 Kindness and Kindness
Chapter 2 1 lack of compassion
Chapter XXII Social Disputes
Chapter 23 * * * Law-abiding
Chapter XXIV Mutual Suspicion
Chapter 25 Lack of good faith
Chapter 26 Multiple beliefs
Chapter 27 China's reality and current affairs are unhurried.
the first paragraph
From the different uses of the word "nerve", we can see a very meaningful side of modern civilization. The original meaning of this word is "nervous, powerful, strong and energetic". The extended meaning of the word we often encounter today is "suffering from neurasthenia or nervous system diseases, being too nervous, excitable and sick". Various technical terms used to describe different stages of neurological diseases sound as familiar as today's daily language. Modern civilization undoubtedly makes people too nervous, and nervous system diseases are more common than in the last century.
But what we are talking about now is not those who suffer from nervous system diseases, but ordinary westerners. These people are not sick and in poor health. On the contrary, they often remind themselves in various ways that the nervous system is the most important part of the whole body. So, we are talking about those who are "too nervous", and we know that this also includes.
Including all our readers. For Anglo-Saxons, people who lived in the age of steam engine and electric power must have different degrees of nervousness. Our times are changing with each passing day. It's rush hour. I don't even have time to eat, and my nerves have been in a state of high tension. The consequences can be imagined.
Nowadays, businessmen have an anxious look (at least those who do business in western countries). They seem to be expecting a telegram that is related to their fate all the time-in fact, they often do. Our mental state is unconsciously reflected in various behaviors. We are fidgeting and fidgeting. As I spoke, I fiddled with my pencil, as if I should write something now, or it would be too late. We rubbed our hands as if we were going to do something important that required all our energy. We fiddled with our thumbs and turned our heads as fast as wild animals, as if we were worried about something dangerous and were ignored. We always have a feeling that we should do something now. In this way, we must finish several other urgent things at hand as soon as possible, and then immediately put ourselves into that thing. Excessive nervous tension will not only lead to diseases such as "piano spasm", "keyboard spasm" and "writing spasm", but also lead to systemic tension. No matter the length of time or the effectiveness of rest, our sleep is not as good as before. Birds chirping in the tree. A ray of light in our dark room, the sound of the breeze blowing the shutters, the sound of talking, etc., will all interrupt our sleep wearily, and once this happens, we will never be able to sleep again. We have no leisure to arrange our daily life. As a result, we have no real rest. There is a saying today that bankers can only succeed if they sleep with their banks in their arms. It can be seen that when shareholders make profits, it is the day when bankers are unlucky.
After we describe the facts that westerners are familiar with in their daily life, if a westerner begins to understand China people, he will surely see or feel a strong contrast. In China, it is not uncommon to do anatomical research on the dead. Of course it has been done. However, we have never heard that the nervous tissue of "black hair" is essentially different from that of white people. Compared with westerners, China's nerve tissue is just like what geometricians say. Is "similar"; However, their nervousness is obviously quite different from what we are familiar with.
For a China person, no matter how long he stays in a position, there seems to be no special difference. He can write all day like a robot. If he is a craftsman, he can stand in one place from morning till night, knitting, playing gold foil or doing other things every day. There is no change, and obviously no change is needed at all. Similarly, students in China have been confined to a certain place for a long time, without rest or change; If this were in the west, it would definitely drive primary school students crazy. Our children are active almost at birth. On the contrary, China babies lie quietly in their arms like clay bodhisattvas. When they are a little older, children in the west will do all kinds of antics with monkeys, while children in China often sit, stand or squat for a long time.
Seventh paragraph
In the eyes of China people, it is unnecessary to exercise muscles. They don't understand why foreigners like to go out for a walk. As for risking your life, it is even more difficult to understand. Playing softball after me is like a game of "hounds chasing rabbits". A teacher in Guangzhou saw a foreign women playing tennis and asked her servant, "How much does it cost for her to run around like this?" If you tell him "no money", he won't believe it at all. In the eyes of China people, if they have the ability to hire coolies, why do they have to do something for themselves? He doesn't understand at all; If someone says this is good, then he doesn't understand.
As far as sleeping is concerned, people in China are different from those in West Renye Fang. Generally speaking, he can sleep anywhere. The interference that kept us awake at all didn't work on him. Bricks are used as pillows, beds made of grass stalks, dirt or vines, and you can sleep soundly when you lie on them. Nothing else matters. When he sleeps, he doesn't need to be dark in the room or quiet. "The baby cries in the middle of the night" and cries whenever he likes, which won't wake him up at all. In some areas, for two hours in the afternoon in summer, everyone instinctively lies down and sleeps (like a wintering bear), which is very regular, no matter where. In the two hours in the afternoon of this season, the whole world is as quiet as two o'clock after midnight. No matter where you sleep, whether you are at work or someone else. Lying on a tricycle, my head hangs down like a spider, my mouth is wide open, and flies fly in and out from my mouth; If we take this sleeping ability as the standard and recruit people after passing the examination, it will be easy to recruit millions-no, tens of millions-of such people in China.
In addition, what we can definitely see is that China people don't seem to pay attention to breathing air, and there is no place for air circulation, unless a typhoon blows off the roof, or a famine forces the owner of the house to tear down the house and sell the wood. We often hear that people in China live in an overcrowded environment. However, people in China think this is normal and there seems to be nothing inconvenient. Even if there is any inconvenience, there is nothing to mention. If they are as excitable as the Anglo-Saxons, then they will be as unfortunate as we usually think.
People in China are not too nervous, but they can tolerate physical pain. Anyone who knows something about the operation in China Hospital knows that patients in China often don't flinch in the face of pain, and some of the pain may make us foreign strong men flinch. This topic can easily be developed into a paper. But we must put it aside and listen to what George Eliot said in a letter: "The highest inspiration and choice is to endure the pain without anesthetic." She must have said this because she was angered by theological remarks that she was not interested in. If she is right, then there is no doubt that most people in China make their inspiration and choices credible.
Elizabeth barret browning once said, "If you don't feel the same way, it will only lead to misunderstanding." Undoubtedly, this is only for people with sensitive brains like this famous poetess. Westerners don't like being seen by others, especially when they are doing a difficult thing. However, China people may be willing to do their job well while others are watching. In places where foreigners don't often go, our arrival will attract a large group of China people to stare at us with curious eyes, which will make us feel bored at once. In fact, they just look at us without any emotion, not to hurt us, but we often complain that if we don't disperse them, we will "go crazy". For China people, this instinctive feeling of westerners is completely incomprehensible. He doesn't care how many people are watching him, when and how long; If someone expresses a strong dislike for others' watching, then he will naturally suspect that there must be something wrong with that person.
Paragraph 12
Westerners need to be quiet not only when they sleep, but also when they are sick. If he has never asked for this before, then he is sick now and can ask not to be disturbed by noise; Friends, nurses and doctors will cooperate with each other to ensure that this is the most important condition for curing the disease. If the patient's illness is incurable, then the patient is in the most peaceful environment. The biggest difference between China people's habits and foreigners' lies in how to treat patients. As soon as the news of someone's illness spread, interference from all directions was imposed on the patient; And the more serious the illness, the more interference. At this point, no one expects silence; Strangely, no one asked for silence. Therefore, many guests who come to visit patients need warm greeting and hospitality. Some people cry for fear that the patient is dying, especially monks, nuns and other exorcists make a scene. For most westerners, it is better to die than to see such a scene. The famous French lady said to the visitor, "She is dying. Please forgive me for not interrupting." Westerners have no objection to this. In China, there will never be such forgiveness, and even if there is, it will not be accepted.
In this disturbing world, people everywhere will feel worried and anxious. The people of China are not only affected by these evils like other nationalities, but also more deeply. In many areas, their social living conditions make a considerable number of people always struggle to death. As long as the rain decreases slightly,
Thousands of people will go hungry; As long as the rain increases slightly, the flood will destroy their homes. It is difficult for China people to escape the entanglement of lawsuits; Once you go to court, even if you are completely innocent, you can't escape bankruptcy. These disasters are not just talk, but also feel coming. For us, the most terrible thing is waiting for an inevitable disaster to bring terrible consequences. Faced with this kind of disaster, China people may "bear it helplessly" because it is inevitable, which is one of the most remarkable characteristics of this nation. Those who witnessed millions of people silently dying of hunger during the famine years can understand the meaning. To fully understand China people, we must see them, but no matter how much we see, it is difficult for westerners to really understand them, just as it is difficult for China people to really understand the concepts of individual freedom and social freedom inherited and developed by Anglo-Saxons.
No matter from which angle we look at Chinese people, we will find that China people will always be a mystery. We will continue to understand them until we finally believe that they are "nervous" compared with us. How this complicated statement will affect the future relationship between this nation and ours-this influence is likely to increase with the passage of time-we don't want to take the liberty to guess, but at least we believe in the universal law of survival of the fittest. In the competition for survival in the 20th century, are the most adaptable people "too nervous" Europeans or tireless and unhurried China people?