Chinese virtue

Chapter 32
From the dialect, you can roughly judge where a person comes from.Country folk are often asked, "Where are you from?" "How far is your home from so-and-so?" and then reassured after making sure he's not lying.Candidates will also be questioned when they enter the "Qing".For example, what is the title of the article?How is the content?How was it done?The examiner hopes to use this method to confirm whether the candidate has taken the test on behalf of the candidate, whether it is a lie, and so on.In China, it is impossible to impersonate someone, because accents vary from place to place, and as long as you speak, you will arouse suspicion.Similarly, it is not easy for a stranger to find someone, and people will think his behavior is very suspicious.As in the previous example, the whole village will not help, and will be suspicious of the purpose of strangers.There were several Chinese people who were in a foreign hospital for long-term treatment. I tried to get other Chinese people to go to them, but I couldn't find them without exception.Sometimes, when a person has the courage to greet a stranger, he will only say his last name, and generally he will not tell others his name.In another example, a messenger went to a small village to find the recipient, but as a result, all the people in the village stayed behind closed doors, and finally there was no clue at all.Just like the previous example of going to another village to find a celebrity, maybe the person they were looking for was only tens of meters away from him, but because they had no clues, they could only return without success.

I have a friend whose neighbor is very rich.Both were former members of a secret sect.When someone asked about my friend, I found out that he and his neighbor grew up together and have been neighbors for more than 60 years, but the two have never had contact.People asked: "Why is this so?" My friend replied: "Because he is old and doesn't like to go out." The man asked again: "Then why don't you go see him? Don't you have a bad relationship?" My friend smiled and shook his head and said, "No, no, the relationship is very good. It's just that he has money and I don't. Fuck him, others will gossip."

Chinese people have an instinct, that is, they don't like to stay in the same room by themselves.The Chinese themselves admit that there will be some suspicion among each other.If a person is left alone in a room, the Chinese will feel restless and will eventually walk into the hallway to show that they did not take other people's things and that they did not bother to do so.They do the same when they visit foreigners.

If a person dies suddenly and inexplicably, the Chinese will display the quality of "suspicion" to the fullest.Especially when the daughter died in her husband's house after she got married.As mentioned in the previous chapter, when the daughter is alive, the parents can take very few protective measures for her, but once the daughter dies for no reason, the parents of the natal family will take the initiative, no longer swallowing their anger as before, but He will puff his chest out and demand compensation from his in-laws.If the in-law's family refuses, the mother's family will sue the yamen, and then fight a boring and lengthy lawsuit.The purpose of the natal family is very simple, first of all, to take revenge on the in-laws who have been suppressing them, so that they can learn a lesson.And the main purpose is to save face.

There is a Chinese proverb: "The melon field does not hold the shoes, and the plums do not have the whole crown."This sentence means that in China, one should be more careful when walking, which is one of the reasons why Chinese people are indifferent.Westerners are different. Chinese people know that disasters come from their mouths, but Westerners obviously don't know this truth.

Chinese mutual suspicion is also reflected in their business activities.Both parties in the business do not trust each other, and a business can only be brokered through an intermediary, because they can only decide how much profit to get by bargaining.If the money is not in hand, the business is not successful.

When encountering a more complicated situation, both parties will write down evidence, because "words are not evidence, words are evidence".

The financial world in China is very disorderly and chaotic.Because neither the bank nor the customers trust each other.The fake foreign currency and fake silver dollar are the most direct evidence of suspicion on both sides.These merchants are shrewd when they want to close a deal, and even shrewder when they want to reject a deal.That one spends money after dark is itself a questionable thing, both Chinese and foreigners.So Chinese merchants always put up signs saying "Closed today, please be early tomorrow". This is a very smart performance, and it is not surprising at all.

Banks are called "qianzhuang" in China, and it's a very cumbersome and complicated system.The famous Italian traveler Marco Polo mentioned in his travel notes that China has been using "silver tickets" for a long time, but the valid geographical area of ​​this kind of silver tickets is not wide, and it can only be circulated in a certain area.If the distance between banks is more than ten miles, this "silver ticket" will lose its effectiveness.

The interest rate in China is very high, ranging from about 20.00% to 30.00%. This is also a manifestation of the fact that Chinese people do not easily trust others.The purpose of high interest rates is not to obtain much profit, but a kind of "insurance premium" measures.Westerners are not familiar with China's investment methods. This is because Chinese people do not trust each other, not because Westerners have not fully explored the country's culture.There is an old saying in China that goes, "The people cannot stand without trust."According to this sentence, such a lack of trust among the Chinese will eventually cause them to suffer huge losses.

A few years ago, a certain newspaper published a report on the American Chinese community in the newspaper. There are several good examples in it, which can just illustrate the mutual lack of trust in the Chinese chamber of commerce.

This Chamber of Commerce organization is exactly the same as that established by the Chinese in other cities. They have a government and a magistrate, and these magistrates are composed of twelve very famous people.These people locked the city government's money and documents in a large iron safe. In order to avoid accidents, they also hung twelve Chinese-style copper locks on the outside of the safe, which looked very bulky.What's more ironic is that one of the twelve mayors died suddenly, which put these people in an awkward situation, because no one could find the key except him.Even if they find it, no one dares to unlock it for him, because the Chinese always believe that the dead will haunt the person who inherits him, causing his successors to suffer from his same disease.In the end, some special methods were adopted, and the mayor was re-elected, and the money was withdrawn.Through this incident, we can see the characteristics of some Chinese people, such as good organization, business acumen, mutual suspicion, credulity, and contempt for Western civilization. If they used British-style combination locks at that time, this would not have happened. status.

There are also many examples of mutual suspicion in the Chinese government. "Eunuchs" are a typical group in Asia. China has had such personnel since ancient times, who have caused trouble for others and disturbed the court.However, the Qing government took some effective measures to contain these people so that they could no longer harm others like the eunuchs of the previous dynasty.

During Qing rule, the Han Chinese were the losers, while the Manchus conquered China.There will inevitably be some friction and mutual suspicion between the two factions in the government, so some measures can only be taken, such as appointing the officials and adjutants of the six ministries to be Manchus and Hans. This can avoid some unnecessary troubles and let the The "machine" of the state can run smoothly.Similar to this are the inspection authorities, they can also prove this.

Those who are familiar with the internal situation of the Qing government believe that both the social life of ordinary people and the official life of officials are full of mutual suspicion.There is no particular reason for this, but the nature of the Chinese people, and we firmly believe in this point of view.In officialdom, higher-level officials are afraid of competition from lower-level officials, so they are always on guard; and lower-level officials are afraid that higher-level officials will affect their careers, so they are also suspicious.Even the bureaucratic class, the literary class, and ordinary people distrust each other and guard each other.Many semi-political religious groups in China can illustrate this point very profoundly.This mentality of mutual suspicion makes the country a mess like a hornet's nest.Yamens all over the country banned the gathering of some ascetics, such as Lijiao. The members of this church just advocated the prohibition of opium, tobacco and alcohol, and hoped that the yamen could also curb these unhealthy tendencies.But Yamen believes that they have the intention of treason.In fact, Yamen believes that all mysterious religions with "illegal gatherings" have attempts to rebel.Therefore, wanting to feel at ease, the yamen took the simplest way to capture and exile the leaders of these churches, or execute them, so that the yamen no longer had to doubt them.

Because of the characteristic of "suspicion", Chinese people have become more conservative, so they are even less able to accept new things.The Chinese do not understand the significance of the census, and the government's survey will make people suspicious. Even if it is a nominal survey, the Chinese will think that such an act is purposeful.

To prove whether these people really doubted the government's investigation or whether they had ulterior motives, I had to mention an example from a neighboring village.There was a pair of brothers in this village, and one of them suspected that the government was going to forcibly emigrate when he heard that the government was going to conduct a census.There is a custom in this village that one person must be left to guard the ancestral grave. The younger brother felt that he would be forced to relocate, so in order to avoid relocation, he committed suicide immediately.In the end, the government had no choice but to abandon the census.

A large part of the reason why Chinese students studying in the United States are hindered is because of Chinese suspicion and conservatism.China's construction of railways has also been affected by these two characteristics.People always have doubts about the government's policies, which will create great resistance to China's reforms.

More than 30 years ago, someone once proposed the importance of improving coins to a famous Chinese politician, and the politician said after hearing this: "China's coins must never be changed. If currency reform is carried out, people will think that the government wants Profit from it.” In fact, this is indeed the case in China.

(End of this chapter)