第十讲：中人民的个性特征

Lecture 10: Differences between Chinese Culture and American Culture

10.1. Features of Chinese Culture

(1）political system: long-standing feudalist imperial highly centralized governance.

(2). national composition: relatively single-nationality state with the overwhelming population of Han nationality Chinese.

(3). Ideological Source: Confucianism（Benevolence, Righteousness, propriety, knowledge sincerity），national belief and practice in “Official Standard”, obedience to the authorities at all levels.

(4). Social state: national unification, political harmony, social stability，collectivism or group psychology in terms of ideological and intellectual conformity, behavioral agreement in daily life and in workplaces, even in customs and conventions as a result of national unicity（民族单一性），i.e. the nationality.

(5). National character: lack of the spirit of criticism, of individualism, of adventure and creativity. National servility.

(6). Life philosophy: pursuit of simple, safe, peaceful family life based on family-tie-orientated harmony. The happiness and bliss are acquired from the intrinsic other than from extrinsic.

10.2. Chinese Character

10.2.1 Mellowness (老成温厚)

“Character” is a typical English word. Apart from the English, few nations have laid such stress on character in their ideal of education and manhood as the Chinese.(出英国人之外，很少有哪个国家像中国人这样重视性格的培养。) The Chinese seem to be so preoccupied with it that in their whole philosophy they have not been able to think of anything else. Today devoid of any extra-mundane interests（即对世俗的欲望不存在任何非分的妄想）, and without any getting involved in any religious clap-trap( 奢谈)，this ideal of building of character has ,through the influence of their literature, theatre, and proverbs, permeated to the lowest peasant, and provided him with a philosophy of life. But while the English word “character” suggests strength, courage” ,“guts” (有种) and looking merely glum(郁闷) in moments of anger or disappointment, the Chinese word for “character ” brings to us the vision of mature man of mellow temperament an equanimity（镇静）of mind under all circumstances, with a complete understanding not only of himself but of his fellowmen. A mellow understanding of life and of human nature is, and always has been, the Chinese ideal of character, and from that understanding other qualities are derived, such as pacifism, contentment, calm and strength of endurance which distinguish the Chinese character.

If we review the Chinese race and try to picture their national characteristics, we shall probably find the following traits of character: (1)sanity（稳健）

(2) simplicity（单纯）

(3) love of peace（酷爱自然）

(4) patience（忍耐）

(5) indifference（消极避世）

(6) old roguery（超脱老猾）

(7) fecundity（多生多育）

(8) industry（勤劳）

(9) frugality（节俭）

(10) love of family life（热爱家庭生活）

(11) pacifism（和平主义）

(12) contentment（知足常乐）

(13) humor（幽默滑稽）

(14) conservatism（因循守旧）

(15) sensuality (耽于声色)

They are, on the whole, simple great qualities that would adorn any nation. Some of these characters are vices rather than virtues, and others are neutral qualities; they are the weakness as well as the strength of the Chinese nation. Too much mental sanity often clips (cut)imagination of its wings and deprives the race of its moments of blissful madness; pacifism can become a vice of cowardice; patience, again, may bring about morbid tolerance of evil; conservatism may at times be a mere synonym for sloth and laziness, and fecundity may be a racial virtue but an individual vice(多生多育对于民族可能是美德，但对个人来讲却又可能是恶习)。

But all these qualities may be summed in the word mellowness . They are passive qualities, suggestive of calm and passive strength rather than of youthful vigor and romance. They suggest the qualities of a civilization built for strength and endurance rather than for progress and conquest.

10.2.2．Patience (遇事忍耐)

We have many Chinese sayings about the goodness of patience, such as, “A man who cannot tolerate small ills can never accomplish great things”(小不忍则乱

大谋), “If one can put up with the one day’s anger, he can be free of troubles for one hundred days” (忍得一日之气，免除百日之忧), “Peaceableness brings good luck”(和气生财).

“Let us take three worst and most striking characteristics, patience, indifference and old roguery, and see how they arose. I believe that these are effects of culture and environment and hence are not necessarily a part of the Chinese mental make-up. They are here today because for thousands of years we have been living under certain cultural and social influences. The natural inference is that when these influences are removed, the qualities will also correspondingly diminish or disappear. The quality of patience is the result of racial adjustment to condition where overpopulation and economic pressure leave very little elbow room(自由活动的空间) for people to move about and is, in particular, a result of family system, which is a miniature of Chinese society. Indifference is largely due to the lack of legal protection and constitutional guarantee for personal liberty. Old roguery is due, for lack of a better word, to the Taoist view of life”（林语堂《My Country And My People》p.42-45）.

“Perhaps had our capacity for sufferance been smaller, our sufferings would also be less. As it is , this capacity for putting up with insults has been ennobled by the name of patience, and deliberately inculcated as a cardinal virtue by Confucian ethic”. (或许我们对苦难的承受力小一些，我们的苦难就会少一些。然而这种对污辱的承受力被赋予了忍耐的美名，又被儒家伦理学谆谆教诲为做人最重要的品德（ibid, p. 46)

10.2.3．Indifference (消极避世)

But if Chinese people are unique in their patience, they are more justly famous for their indifference. There is no more significant contrast than that between the parting instruction of Tom Brown’s mother , in the English classic Tom Brown’s

School-Days, (英文经典小说《汤姆布朗的学生时代》) to “hold his head high and answer straight ”, and the traditional parting instruction of the Chinese mother

that her son should “ not meddle with public affairs” (少管闲事).

10.2.4. Old roguery (超脱老滑)

An old rogue is a man who has seen a lot of life, and who is materialistic, and nonchalant, and skeptical of progress. At its best old roguery gives us mellowness and good temper, which in old men make many girls prefer them for husbands. For if life is worth anything, it is that it teaches a lesson of kindliness. The Chinese people have arrived at this point of view, not by having found religious sanction(认可) for it, but from a profound observation and a knowledge of the vicissitudes of life（“一位超脱老猾者是有很多生活阅历的人，他是实利主义者，麻木不仁，对进步持怀疑态度。超脱老猾的最大优点是能使人老成持重，性格温和。持这种性格的老年人也往往能使很多女孩子倾倒，从而被选做丈夫。因为假如生活能给人们什么的话，那就该是和蔼温良。中国人总结出这条经验，并不是因为他们为之找到了宗教的认可，而是因为深切的观察了生活，体会到了人生的沉浮”）.Typical of this extremely shrewd philosophy is the following famous dialogue of two poet-monks of the Tang Dynasty:

Once Hanshan asked Shihteh: “If one slanders me, indults me，sneers at me, despises me, injures me, hates me, and deceives me, what should I do?” Shihteh replied: ‘Only bear with him, yield to him, let him, avoid him, endure him, respect him, and ignore him. After a few years, you just look at him.”（ “一日，寒山谓拾

得：“今有人侮我，冷笑笑我，藐视我，毁我伤我，嫌恶恨我，诡谲欺我，则奈何？”拾得曰：“子但忍受之，依他，让他，苦苦耐他，装聋作哑，漠然置他。冷眼观之，看他如何结

局。”）

The typical ideas are :

⑴.“By losing that pawn, one wins the whole game.”(丢一卒而胜全局)

⑵.“Of all the thirty-six alternatives, running away is the best. ”（三十六计走为上）

⑶. “A true hero never incurs present risk”（好汉不吃眼前亏）

⑷. “Taking a step backwards in your thought.”（退一步海阔天空）

⑸. “Great things can be reduced into small things, and small things can be reduced into nothing .”(大事化小，小事化了)

⑹. “One bid is not so good as one pass ” (多一事不如少一事)

At its worst, this old roguery, which is the highest product of Chinese intelligence, works against idealism and action. It shatters all desires for reform, laughs at the futility of human effort and renders the Chinese people incapable of idealism and action. It has a strange way of reducing all human activities to the level of the alimentary canal and other simple biologic needs. Mencius was a great rogue when he declared the chief desires of mankind to be food and women, or alimentation and reproduction. (“超脱老猾是中国人聪明才智的结晶，它的最大缺点是与理想主义和行动主义相抗衡。它击碎了人们任何改革的欲望，它嘲笑人类的一切努力，

认为它徒劳无益。它使中国人失了理想，不去行动。它能神奇地将人们的活动到消化道以及其他简单的生活需求水平上。孟子是一个伟大的超脱老猾者，他宣扬人类的愿望是吃喝与女人，或者说滋养与繁殖。”) ( ibid, p.53)

10.2.5．Pacifism (和平主义)

For the Chinese are a hard-boiled(不动感情的) lot. There is no nonsense about them; they do not live in order to die, as the Christians pretend to do, nor do they seek for a Utopia on earth, as many seers（先知） of the West do. They just want to order（整理，驾驭） this life on earth, which they know to be full of pain and sorrow, so that they may work peaceably, endure nobly, and live happily. Of the noble virtues of the West, of nobility(豪爽), ambition（雄心）, zeal for reform（改革热情）, public spirit（参与精神）, sense for adventure(冒险意识) and heroic courage（英雄胆识）, the Chinese are devoid. They cannot be interested in climbing Mont Blanc （勃朗峰，法国东部山峰）or in exploring the North Pole. But they are tremendously interested in this commonplace world, and they have an indomitable patience, an indefatigable industry, a sense of duty, a level-headed common sense, cheerfulness, humor, tolerance, pacifism, and unequalled genius for finding happiness in hard environments which we call contentment ____qualities that make this commonplace life enjoyable to them. And chief of these are pacifism and tolerance, which are the mark of a mellow culture, and which seem to be lacking in modern Europe.

10.2.6．Contentment (知足常乐)

Travelers in China, especially those wayward travelers who go through the seldom visited parts of the Chinese inland, are equally amazed at the low standard of living of the Chinese toiling masses and at their cheerfulness and contentment under such conditions. Even in the famine-stricken provinces, like Shanxi(陕西), this spirit of contentment generally prevails in all except extreme cases, and some Shanxi farmers probably can still even now. Now a lot of so-called misery of the Chinese people is due undoubtedly to the application of a warped (扭曲的) European standard, the standard which cannot conceive any man being happy unless he is living in an overheated apartment and owns a radio. If this standard were correct, there should have been no happy person in the world before 1850., and there should be more happy people in the United States than in gemutliches Bavaria(舒适的巴伐利亚)，where there are very few rotating，adjustable，collapsible and reversible barber chairs, and certainly very few switches and buttons. There are still fewer switches and buttons in the Chinese countryside, although in progressive Shanghai the old-fashioned barber chair that is a real chair, and that one can still find on King’s Way in London or in Montmartre in Paris today.

For myself, I am inclined to think that the man who sits on a chair that is a real chair, and sleeps on a bed that is a real bed(and not a daytime sofa) is a happier man. The standard that measures a man’s civilization by the number of mechanical buttons he presses in a day must, therefore, be a false standard, and a lot of this so-called mystery of Chinese contentment is of the Westerner’s own making.

10.2.7．Humor (幽默滑稽)

Humor is a state of mind. More than that, it is a point of view, a way of looking at life. The flower of humor blooms whenever in the course of development of a nation there is an exuberance of intellect able to flay (痛斥)its own ideals, for humor is nothing but intellect slashing（鞭打，痛斥）at itself. In any period of history, when mankind was able to perceive its own futility（）, its own smallness（渺小）, and its own follies and inconsistence, a humorist appeared, like Zhuangzi of China, Omar Khayyam of Persia（波斯的奥玛. 开阳，波斯诗人及天文学家）, and Aristophanes of Greece. Athens would be infinitely poorer had there been no Aristophanes（阿里斯多芬，雅典诗人和喜剧作家）, and the Chinese intellectual heritage would be infinitely less rich had there been no Zhuangzi.（“幽默是一种心态。进而言之是一种观点，一种对人生的看法。一个民族在其发展过程中，只要才能与理智横溢到足以痛斥自己的理想，幽默之花就会盛开，因为所为幽默只是才能对自我进行的鞭打而已。历史上的任何时期，人类一旦能够认识到自己的和渺小，愚蠢与矛盾，就会有幽默者产生。比如中国的庄子，波斯的奥玛.开阳，希腊的阿里斯多芬。没有阿里斯多芬，雅典人精神上当贫乏得多；没有庄子，中国人聪明才智遗产也会逊色不少。”）

For humor is, as I said, a point of view, a way of looking at life. Life is huge farce, and we human beings are mere puppets in it.(生活是一场大闹剧，个人不过是其中的玩偶.) The man who takes life too seriously, who obeys library reading-room rules too honestly，who actually keeps off the lawn because merely a signboard says so, always makes a fool of himself and is usually subjected to laughter from his older colleagues, and since laughter is contagious, very soon becomes a humorist, too.(如在中国葬礼与婚礼的喧哗嬉戏程度，称为“红白喜事”，庄子亡妻之后的“鼓盆而歌”，孔乙己的“儿打老子”等)。

10.2.8．Conservatism (因循守旧)

“The Chinese are by nature a proud race___ excusably so, when one considers the whole course of their history except the last hundred years.… Most important, however, is the fact that Chinese do not want to change….Meanwhile, the large majority of the people will keep in their old ruts, (墨守陈规) not by any conscious conviction but by a kind of racial instinct. I feel the racial tradition is so strong that its fundamental pattern of life will always remain. Even if a cataclysmic upheaval like a communistic regime should come, the old tradition of individuality, toleration, moderation and common sense will break Communism and change it beyond recognition, rather than Communism with its socialistic, impersonal and rigoristic outlook break the old tradition. It must be so”.

(“同时，大多数中国人仍然将墨守陈规，这当然不是出于自觉地信仰而是出于一种民族本能。我觉得中华民族的传统势力是如此之强，人们的基本生活方式将会永远存在。即使发生主义掌权这样巨大的社会变革，中国人的那些性格特征：宽容、折中、中庸等古老的传统将会毁掉主义，把它改头换面。而主义那种社会的、不受制于个人感情影响的、严格的世界观则很难毁掉这个传统，情况一定是会这样的。”) （ibid，p. 74-75）

（9）Collectivism/group psychology ( The typical example is “If everybody does that ,so do I ”. Nobody would like to take the initial when confronted with trouble, danger or offence in daily life.“集体主义” /“集体行为”，或“从众心理”,不敢为人先，唯恐被“打出头鸟”。)

（10）Egoism/ self-protection , e.g.（ “Every man for himself and the devil

take the hindmost ”(人不为己，天诛地灭) .Sweep one’s snow in the front of his house, but no need to bother the neighbor’s frost on top of the tiles.“各自打扫门前雪，休管他人瓦上霜”。The exuberant grass abound in the doorway seems to be a good luck, but an unwanted thistle and thorns.(门庭生瑞草，好事不如无).

（11）being mortally afraid of death（Better a bad life than a good death（“好死不如赖活着”）

10.2．Features of American Culture

（1）Political System：democratic republic with democratic election system and the separation of three powers.（see, lecture 9.）

（2）national composition: cultural melting-pot

（3）Ideological Source:：Christianity

（4）Social state: independent ideas, less family-tie-centered relationship, but more individual-oriented, louse interpersonal relationship, including friendship.（“A hedge between keeps friendship green”君子之交淡如水）（.5）Life philosophy: live for the moment, “Seize the Hour Seize the Day.”

10.2.1．American Core Values核心价值观

（1）Freedom of speech言论自由

（2）．Freedom of religion信仰自由

（3）．Freedom from want远离贫穷的自由

（4）Freedom from fear远离恐惧的自由(Four Freedoms 《论四大自由》State of the Union Message(国情咨文)by Franklin. Delano .Roosevelt, on June 6,1941)

（5）Freedom to be one’s best实现自我价值的自由(by Seymour St. John)

10.2.2．American Character

(1)．Emphasis on Individual Freedom (强调个人自由，的象征)

In America thought, the needs of the individual are more significant than those of the groups. This is the crux of American Character.(e.g. Eisenhower inspect the navy fleet.) This emphasis has roots going back to the founding of America. The first 13 states started as a group of breakaway colonies that wanted nothing but more to do with being controlled by another country. The early arrivals came mostly from England in 1620 searching for economic opportunities and religious freedom. Over 150 years, more and more immigrants came from European nations with the desires for better life and antipathy with laws and governments.

(2).The spirit of adventure, creativity and encourage inventions.( part of which is meant for overseas invasion and expansion for the new scientific discovered products.)

(3)．Criticizing authority (敢于批判权威）

Westerners, and particularly Americans, take pleasure in not only criticize authority, but also ridiculing their leaders. Newspapers print unflattering cartoons, radio and TV shows broadcast scathing (严厉的)editorials and the internet is a hotbed of faultfinding. No one is immune from these attacks. Elected officials, company CEOs and even one’s boss are fair game. The anti-control philosophy of the country’s forefathers certainly play a role in this reaction to authority that dictates, “no one is better than me.”

With this sort of attitude about power, however, it is nearly impossible for a dictatorial type of leadership to surface in American politics, business and in the workplace. Consensus building and a decision-making process that is open to discussion and review are the norm in day-to-day affairs. Needless to say, getting things done may be slowed and large scale operations can suffer costly delays, but these are checks on power that constantly review the best way to proceed in bringing an idea to fruition.(e.g. The construction of Diana’s monument in Paris. )

(4). Low Level of Tolerance(容忍度低)

Americans have a low tolerance for services they feel to be inadequate, inefficient, and wasteful. They are demanding the best in government and private services. Corporate and government leaders, teachers, doctors, police officials, salespeople and even garbage collectors are all expected to deliver goods and services. Provision of services includes not only quality but also efficiency and

friendliness. If Americans think service is too slow or that the one providing the personal service has an attitude of unfriendliness, they will either vigorously complain or simple cease treading with that provider and go to another. Customers and business people alike in America often use the popular phrase, “The customer is always right”. Everyone knows that in a market-driven economy，following the tenets of this phrase is just plain good business. Typical examples are :

·requesting customers to leave the store at the exact hour of closing.

·dispatching its plain-clothed anti-theft security personnel to follow shoppers around the store.

·asking credit applicants for several pieces of identification.

·treating rudely those customers returning unsatisfactory merchandise .

(《美国文化教程》，p. 75-76)

(5).Advocate Competition (崇尚竞争)

Competition is engraved in the American Spirit as the way of life. From a young age, children are indoctrinated in the fundamentals of being competitive. This competitive behavior is part of national psyche where children are taught that to lose is not acceptable; to come in second place is not the best way to live. The

outgrowth(result) of this learning is evident in test taking, sports, video games, job searches , college entrance efforts, and even in dating.

(5.1). Sports as a form of competition（体育竞技）

The American mindset practically views sports and competition as synonymous .

(5.2.)Materialism as a form of competition(物质竞争)

Just like people throughout the world, Americans consider competing for wealth to be one of the most important life tasks that they must undertake. In 1950s, the popular phrase “Keeping up with Joneses(与人攀比) ”, was the battle cry of those who wanted to have a better life and belongs than their neighbors .

(5.3.)．Risk-taking and competition(冒险竞争)

Americans will engage in extraordinary and risky efforts to be successful，which is certainly part of the American spirit. Americans quit lucrative jobs in search of a more preferred employment, move to other cities, states, or countries to find a better life, change careers at middle age. One research article reports that the average American will move approximately 22 times in a life time and this risk taking behavior is part of the reason people move so much.

(6)．Views on Friendship（朋友观）

·Americans are easy-going and friendly in general, and particularly on the streets when pedestrians lost their way as the average Americans move 22 times in a lifetime.

· But this kind of easy-going and friendly style are superficial and not lasting friendship in a sense that can be compared with that of the Chinese people.

·The Spirit of independence and self-fought. Americans tend not to want to be dependent upon their friends and do not want their friends to depend on them in terms of decision-making of personal affairs, “Go Dutch ” when eat out.

·They do not “Poke One’s Nose Into Others’ Business ”, i.e. gossiping.

·They reply on advertising on mass media other than Word of Mouth Marketing in consumption versus friends’ recommendation in China.

·Friends play a lesser role in influencing how Americans feel about themselves ,which is versus Chinese “Fear of Incurring gossiping by other people” in China.(人言可畏)

(7). Views on Success（成功观）

What Americans perceive as success is more internally than externally., i.e., in many other cultures, the family and the closely-knit society defines what individual will do with his or her life and, if that goal is reached , the person is considered a

success. Americans rarely solicit the advice of their parents in selecting a career, a marriage partner or even a place to live. Likewise, after the age of 25, Americans do not seek financial and indefinite assistance from their parents as they pursue target of success. Americans tend not to look to family tradition and support as they pursue their life direction. The typical sayings to reject the family influence is :

·“I do not care who my grandfather was, but I do care who my grandfather’s grandson is”.

·You need to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps(靠自己取得成功).

·Where there is a will there is a way.

·A quitter never wins.

·The Lord helps whose who help themselves.

Americans tend to endow greatness and superhuman attributes especially to those men and women who came from humble roots and were not born into wealth, fame and power.

(8). Views on Law and Fairness（公平观）

American judicial system draws heavily from the English Common Law(习惯法). The legal system uses a widely known idiom, “Justice is blind”(法律是公正的), and graphically represents the practice of law with a statue of a woman who id

blind-folded and holding a scale with each side perfectly balanced. The meaning of these two representations is that justice will always be fair and that no outside influences will corrupt the administration of justice.

While Americans often take issue with justice of court decisions, they depend heavily on the legal system to make sure their society keeps functioning. The common expression , ‘No one is above the law” is often uttered to remind others that if they start a conflict with them they will haul them into court by either having them arrested on criminal charges or by filing a civil suit to collect monetary damages. Americans revel in hearing of large cash awards from court that go to fellow Americans who have been injured by a government or an errant corporation.

There is a downside to the easy access that Americans have to the court system, though. Some people take advantage of this system that is intended to protect the rights of everyone. There are those who have exploited the system, and because the monetary rewards can be so abundant, have succeeded in changing forever how Americans view errors. As part of the American character, significant numbers of people now view the committing of errors as not their fault and tend to blame others for their errors instead of themselves. It is almost as though the nation’s motto has become, “It is not my fault”. If any injury occurs it is nearly always the fault of someone else. (e.g. The spilled hot coffee. Ibid ,p. 94)

(9). Views on Diversity of Nationalities

America is well-known for its melting-pot, so they can unusually tolerate than any others nations in the world the life styles, customs and conventions, different cuisines, religious beliefs and ideologies, etc.