Chinese virtue

Chapter 4 Thrift
"Frugality" refers to the way of housekeeping, and mainly refers to the ability to properly balance the income and expenditure of family life.

From a conceptual point of view, thrift can be manifested in the following three ways: controlling expenditure, eliminating waste, and choosing a resource allocation method of "low input and high output".By any measure, the Chinese are extremely frugal.

When foreigners travel to China, they will have many impressions of Chinese people, one of which is that Chinese people eat very simple food.Based on what they have seen and heard, they found that most Chinese people only eat rice, millet, beans, vegetables and fish, and the variety of food is quite limited.There are millions of people, but they eat almost all these things, and at most add a little other food.As for meat, you only have the opportunity to eat it during festivals or major events.

Today, Western countries are struggling to achieve the goal of providing nutritious food to the poor at low prices.As for China, in normal years, an adult spends almost two cents a day on food; in times of famine, an adult can live for months on end with only one cent a day. A life of half-cents.As a Westerner, when faced with such a fact, it is inevitable that he will feel a lot of emotion in his heart.Because this shows that Chinese people generally have superb cooking skills.In the eyes of foreigners, Chinese food is so inferior that it is almost unbearable.But the Chinese, they have superb cooking skills and can turn anything into a delicious meal with their hands.This is a fact we cannot deny.When it comes to cooking, Mr. Wingrove Cook believes that the level of the Chinese is higher than that of the British, and second only to the French.As for American cooking, Mr. Cook said little.We are not sure that the cooking skills of Chinese people are lower than those of some countries.However, when it comes to Chinese cooking skills are higher than those of some countries, we can be sure.We have said before that the main food of the Chinese is very simple, and this alone is enough to prove that the Chinese people have a vision comparable to that of a physiologist.

The Chinese are indeed so skilled in cooking that they can cook all kinds of delicious meals even with simple ingredients.This point has been heard even by those who pay little attention to Chinese cooking.

Another thing that is also interesting and easily verifiable, it just hasn't caught our attention yet, is that the Chinese make the most of every ingredient when they cook.

The same is true when they eat. After a meal, there is almost no food left.This condition is common in China, so it is easy to confirm - just look at the physical condition of dogs and cats.The dogs and cats raised by the Chinese mainly feed on the small amount of food left by their owners, so they live very hard and face the threat of death at any time.In those emerging countries, however, the general intemperance of consumption is almost universally known.Take the United States for example, where the living conditions are superior. The resources wasted by its people in one day are enough to improve the hard life of 6000 million Asians.

In China, many people give leftover meals to servants and children.After drinking tea, some people will pour the tea dregs in the cup back into the teapot to make more tea juice.We would be very happy if people could do this.

Another thing that can catch our attention is that the Chinese don't pay much attention to food.This is different from Western countries, where Westerners are generally very particular about diet.In China, almost everything can be eaten.In northern China, people commonly use horses, oxen, donkeys, mules and even camels for work.However, what happened next may make many people think that some of the Chinese people's seemingly frugal practices are not really frugal.Normally, the Chinese will eat these animals soon after they die, regardless of whether they died of old age, disease or accident.From the Chinese point of view, even if livestock die from an infectious disease such as pneumonia, they can still be eaten without being criticized.In fact, they also know that it is not good to eat the meat of dead or sick animals.So, if someone sells this meat, he will keep the price low so that he can sell them as quickly as possible.Although people who buy meat know that this kind of meat is not good for health, they will still buy it and eat it.They thought to themselves: Although these meats may be harmful to the body, but the price is low, it is worth the risk.What's more, even if you eat this kind of meat, you don't necessarily get sick.In China, dead horses, donkeys, and mules are eaten, as are dead dogs and cats.In order to get rid of the harassment of dogs, some villagers poisoned some dogs with poison, and then ate the dead dogs.Once, a few cautious villagers approached the foreign doctor, wanting to know whether this kind of dead dog meat would be dangerous to the human body.At this time, the dead dog has already been cooked.In the end, these few villagers couldn't stand the temptation and ate deliciously.After eating, they were fine!
Another thing that can also show that Chinese people are very frugal is that they will consider how to save firewood when they cook.The fuel used by the Chinese is generally leaves and crop roots, which can be burned quickly, so they are very scarce.In order to cook the food as quickly as possible, the Chinese will try to make the bottom of the pot as thin as possible.Because of this, great care must be taken when cooking with this type of pan.

Since fuel is indispensable, the Chinese are extremely frugal in collecting fuel.Some children are still unable to work because of their weak strength, but there is nothing to say about collecting firewood.Every autumn, there are people collecting firewood all over the mountains and plains, and the scene is really spectacular.Where their bamboo rakes passed, not a single piece of dry grass could be seen.Under the command of the adults, the boys came to the woods and beat down all the dead leaves from the branches with sticks.That scene is reminiscent of the scene of harvesting chestnuts.The straw in the field is also the target of the firewood collectors, and they are often picked up before the autumn wind blows.

In China, any housewife knows how to get the most out of fabrics.When making clothes, they will choose methods that save time, effort, and fabric.The clothes made are very simple in terms of pattern and workmanship.In contrast, Western women's clothing is much more luxurious.In the eyes of Chinese women, even a small piece of foreign fabric is very precious, and they will use it again.Of course, after such processing by them, although the clothes made may not look good, they are very practical.As for the methods they use, even those women writers who specialize in "home economics" cannot imagine.A small piece of fabric, if it doesn't work here, will always come in handy in another place.Let's take a piece of rag as an example. Wouldn't it be suitable to use it as a shoe loop?In London or New York, some well-meaning people donate their extra clothes to fellow citizens.One thing that worries them, though, is that the move could make recipients think they are poor.For, if that is the case, the recipient is being harmed as well as being helped.However, if these clothes are donated to the Chinese, then the donor does not have to worry about this.Because, even if these clothes are very different from Chinese clothes in terms of material and style, the Chinese can make the most of them.

When giving gifts to friends, Chinese people often send some calligraphy and paintings simply fixed on silk with threads.The reason why they use thread instead of glue to fix the calligraphy and painting is to allow the recipients to remove the calligraphy and painting conveniently, so that the silk can be used more!
Merchandise retailers are also very frugal, and they don't miss a single detail in their business.For example, a grocery store owner not only knows how many types of matches there are, but also knows how many matches are in each box of matches and the profit of each box of matches.

Even old ledgers can come in handy.The Chinese would use them to paste windows or make lanterns.

Chinese people are willing to endure hunger in order to save money.This shows how frugal they are.From their point of view, it is perfectly natural to do so, and there is nothing wrong with it at all.An example of this can be found in the book "The Cross and the Dragon" by the American missionary Dr. Henry.Dr. Henry called three bearers to carry him twenty-three miles away.The three bearers carried him to his destination on an empty stomach, and then rushed back to his home in Guangzhou for breakfast.They had to walk 23 miles back and forth, half the way with people in their hands, and they were all empty stomachs, just because it cost five cents to eat breakfast out!

Another time, two bearers set out at six o'clock in the morning, carried the sedan chair for 35 miles, and then boarded the boat home.They would rather have an empty stomach than eat, because two large bowls of rice cost three cents.Unfortunately, the ship ran aground again on the way.When they returned to Guangzhou, it was already two o'clock in the afternoon the next day.By this time, thirty hours had passed, and they still hadn't eaten, so they carried a gentleman for 35 miles on an empty stomach.Still, they persisted—they offered to send Dr. Henry and his luggage to Canton, fifteen miles away!

Chinese frugality brings something that pleases Westerners.However, the nature shown by the Chinese in this process, that is, the so-called simplicity, is difficult for us to agree with.

In some parts of China, especially northern China, there are certain months of the year when children run around almost naked—both boys and girls.This phenomenon is really strange.

The reason may be that it is more comfortable not to wear clothes, but the biggest possibility is thrift.China is a big country of unicycles.Almost everywhere you go, you can hear the wheelbarrow creaking, and it's pretty jarring.In fact, just a few drops of oil on the wheelbarrow can eliminate this noise.However, those "nervous" people did not do this, because they thought that oil was more expensive than noise, and it was not cost-effective to use oil to eliminate noise.

When the Japanese live abroad, they will specify in the rental contract how much hot water must be supplied every day, because the Japanese are used to taking hot baths.There are also bathhouses in China, but most Chinese people have never been to a bathhouse, and some people don’t even know what a bathhouse is like.When a Chinese mother was dusting her child with a broom, a foreign woman happened to pass by.The foreign woman was very curious, so she asked, "Do you bathe your child every day?" The Chinese mother said angrily, "Bathe him every day? Since the day he was born, I haven't bathed him once!"

To the average Chinese, even if a soap retailer advertised that it was "cheaper than dirt," they wouldn't think much of it.

In the eyes of the Italians, the British are "soap wasters".And in the eyes of the Chinese, maybe all foreigners are as wasteful of soap as the British.Of course, the Chinese also use soap to wash their clothes.However, they seldom use soap, and the amount they use each time is unimaginably small, and the washed clothes naturally cannot meet our cleanliness standards.It's not all about thrift that they do.Because there are still some Chinese people who are born in poverty, but they still love cleanliness just like us.

Since frugality is the instinct of the Chinese, when buying tools in China, generally you can’t buy finished products, you can only buy semi-finished products, and then do things like handles by yourself.Generally speaking, semi-finished products are cheaper than finished products.Because of this, it is difficult to buy finished products in China.

Frugality can be materialistic.For example, in many people's homes, you may see a small hole in the wall between two adjacent rooms. This small hole is used to put a lamp, so that the dim light can shine at the same time. Two rooms up.Examples of this frugality are also common in Chinese crafts such as weaving, pottery, metalworking, and ivory carving.For us, it's more appropriate to say that these craftsmanship represent frugality than technical excellence.The methods employed by the Chinese are not the best when it comes to this type of work.We can undoubtedly invent many methods and make each method more effective.However, when it comes to how to make material irrelevant, we are in no way comparable to the Chinese.The Chinese seem to be omnipotent, but at the same time they seem to be incapable of everything.The same is true of most of the things they make, whether they are simple or complex.For example, the Chinese can build a small cast iron stove in a small yard without hesitation.The small cast-iron stove is built with a pile of mud bricks and can be built in an hour, but on the surface it looks like a solid and beautiful stove, although it is not efficient, it is cheap and easy to use .

Even when doing big things, the Chinese will consider material frugality.To prove this point, you can take a look at the typical case of transporting a large amount of tribute grain to Beijing.The process of transporting tribute grain can be said to be orderly, but it can also be said to be clueless.When a large amount of tribute grain was transported from Tianjin to Tongzhou, Beijing, the piles of grain needed to be unloaded, weighed and moved, but a large number of coolies were responsible for completing this task.A grain trader in the West was very surprised when he saw it, because in his opinion, such a heavy work should be done by machinery.It is no wonder that the merchant was so surprised, because the tools used by the coolies were only a pair of hands, a small box shaped like a truncated cone, with a volume of about one bushel, and a variety of reed mats.The coolies first spread the reed mat on the ground, then poured the grain on the reed mat, and then weighed the grain bit by bit.The food after weighing will be transported away, and finally the reed mat will be removed.The bare riverbanks are back to normal again.

To operate a tobacco plantation in the Americas, building a tobacco leaf drying shed is the biggest expenditure, because it needs to be built long and delicate.However, in China's tobacco gardens, this expenditure does not require much money, because their tobacco drying sheds are mainly built with thatch.After the shed is dismantled, the materials used to build the shed can still be used as fuel.When picking tobacco leaves, people will also remove the petioles, because the petioles are thick and hard, and can be tied in a row with straw ropes and hung up like clothes.Using this method to dry tobacco leaves is really simple and effective.

There are other examples that can also reflect the social reality in China.These instances are easy to spot as long as you observe carefully.Among these cases, the following one is the most typical: an old Chinese woman walked to her relatives' house hobblingly, just to save money for her family to carry her coffin after her death, because the relative's house was closer to the ancestral grave!

(End of this chapter)