Chinese virtue

Chapter 44

There is a railway station somewhere in the West, and the very thought of it disgusts people.The reason is that every time a train arrives at this station, the conductor will use that dull voice to announce "5-minute meal time" to passengers, and put up a sign in a conspicuous position, which reads: "If you can use your daily One second, then five minutes is very sufficient." If you want to summarize the differences between Chinese and Western cultures, this simple sentence can be said to be the most accurate and targeted.

If we condense Chinese life into a multiple-choice question, should we live to eat or eat to live?Then they will definitely make a choice without any hesitation. For them, there is no need for hesitation at all.A well-known adage in ancient times once pointed out that the sages did not put their main energy on eating, but on explaining the truth.What we want to explain here is that this sentence comes from ancient times, and it only refers to saints. If there were such people in China, then if you want to know them now, you can only visit the land of the museum. Lazy and pterodactyl like that.Or to be more precise, they can only become a vague consciousness inherited in people's brains, without any other evidence, not even a bone.

Nowadays, Chinese people don't have the slightest interest in those principles. They only care about one issue, and that is "eating".No matter where and when, if you hear a short conversation of Chinese people, and clear out a core content, then the core content is either food or money, and when it comes to money, people only care about how much it can buy food.Eating has become a very serious problem in China, and it is also the only such serious livelihood problem.The other problems are trivial compared with this one.

If you're surprised by this question, it's because you haven't noticed China's huge food-hungry population.No matter what time it is, there are always millions of people in China who never know what it feels like to be full. They have been in severe hunger since birth.Facing the hunger and emaciation that oppresses them all the time, they will definitely regard eating as the most important task.We need not be surprised by this, although this is rarely the case in the West.

We must admit that Western civilization is far behind Chinese civilization in terms of eating.

Regarding eating, the Chinese understand the role of time very well, but we are not like this.

The Chinese are wise enough to point out that it is work, not eating, that needs to be sped up.But on this issue, they did not take into account the feelings of foreigners.Eating has become a very common and reasonable excuse between them, and they can use it to delay all things that can be delayed without any scruples.In the eyes of the Chinese, this excuse has an innate rationality, just like the "I'm going to die" excuse used by a French woman when she can't meet a visitor.For those foreigners who are always thinking wildly and in a hurry when eating, and don't pay attention to eating at all, this special way of eating can be said to be a silent warning.However, if we analyze the living conditions of the people at the bottom of China, then we still cannot conclude that the Chinese diet is worthy of recognition in every aspect. No matter how boastful the advantages and benefits of vegetarianism are, those are empty and abstract of.In the case that the food of ordinary Chinese people has not yet reached a certain level, if we hadn't seen it with our own eyes every day, we would certainly not think that it is necessary to make important changes in their way of eating with large mouthfuls.

In Western society, people are likely to see other people's banquet invitations as a burdensome burden, and don't think about the abundance of food at the banquet, but usually, the food is very abundant and infinitely rich. In words.If you experience it for a long time in China, you can find that in the Chinese way of life, people almost never express reluctance to other people's banquet invitations, but usually appear cheerful for several days in a row.And it can be found that how to get more invitations from others is a deep knowledge.If someone can get invited by others at any time and anywhere, and reach such a high level in eating, then in the eyes of others, he will be a hero, even more admired than those "sages" in ancient times.We may often unconsciously express a kind of jealousy, that is, jealousy of the contentedness that the Chinese show when they go to dinner.They look forward to the feast as children look forward to Christmas.They will enjoy the whole process of the banquet, regardless of the passage of time (whereas Westerners will definitely feel bored).

Not only that, but in the days to come, they will clearly remember the enjoyment and satisfaction at that time, until the glory of this banquet is overshadowed by the glory of another banquet.They look forward to each feast like a dog wagging its tail anxiously anticipating a hunk of bone.In our opinion, when all the guests gather around the Eight Immortals table, and everyone raises their chopsticks high and stops at the same time, that kind of fun has been fully expressed.The host of the banquet is usually very happy, and greets each guest with a big smile, "Come, come, come", and then everyone starts to enjoy themselves.What is certain is that the digestive system will (or should) be pleasurable in its constant motion during this process.If this is the case, then I have to say that the Chinese are closer to the ideal life than we Westerners.

If the Chinese know how to eat and drink, they must also know how to prepare food.Of course, readers, I am not saying that you will definitely agree with Chinese cooking techniques, because I personally don't like it very much.But we have to admit that their cooking skills are far superior to most Westerners in terms of the rough and crude tools they use in the cooking process.It can be seen from "The Analects" that although Confucius was a "sage", he would never abandon that kind of superb cooking technology.He doesn't like to eat the food that is not prepared properly, and we can see from it that if he lived to this day (which is impossible of course) and could go to those places in China we are talking about, it would be very important for the people there. Food, he is also difficult to agree with.When you can use the table, put the food on it and enjoy it, the Chinese understand this, we don't.A Chinese official was invited to a banquet at the British Consulate, and later the official told people that the British "sir" was standing in front of the table with a knife and fork in his hand, and he picked up a large fork in front of him. Just eat a piece of beef.All the servants were around, and so were the guests, watching his every move.However, everyone is not surprised by this, and even praised it, which is really unimaginable.Why did the host perform this in front of the guests? Could there be an explanation for this behavior from his anatomy?Obviously, it is a job that a servant can do better, but the master has to do it when it is not convenient for him. Is this a noble and incomparably great duty that the civilization of the nineteenth century values?Consider the pain we endure, and are often afflicted by those who receive invitations every day, and we know that when a master kills a goose, he often puts the dead goose in the lap of the lady next door, perhaps she Will smile and say it's okay, but is she really not disgusted by it at all?Nothing like this has ever happened in China, and from this alone, we have reason to believe that the Chinese are more civilized than we are in cutting meat, cooking, and eating.

(End of this chapter)