Chinese virtue

Chapter 46
The so-called credulity refers to people easily trusting others without sufficient evidence to prove it.The Chinese are often surprisingly ignorant of the importance of evidence.Moreover, the word "evidence" has never appeared in their consciousness, which leads to the fact that Chinese people are often deceived and even suffer great losses on matters that are easy to judge in the eyes of Westerners.Archbishop Whitley believes that the most correct way to avoid credulity or to avoid credulity (the two are usually closely related) is to listen, to only agree with the most convincing evidence, and to make a decision in front of sufficient evidence .And this is exactly what the Chinese lack.To achieve this, the Chinese must discover their own nature in evaluating the value of evidence, and establish correct standards to measure the rationality of evidence.Chinese people often feel at a loss when faced with various phenomena displayed by Western technology, and it feels like floating on an endless sea.We can often see such a situation, the Chinese have seen the capabilities of those machines, but they can't understand the principles, and they can't find evidence to refute the facts before them.

Eight years ago, a staff member of a consulate in Beijing installed a hard spring on his carriage because he couldn't stand the bumps of the carriage, which is often suffered when riding a carriage in Beijing.Someone was lucky enough to understand the principle of this invention, but when he explained it to others, he said that it was just an ornament, and the meaning of this invention was just to add a little color to enrich life.But in fact, the principle is very simple, that is, after the spring is installed, the vehicle can move forward without the mule, and the person does not know it.

Chinese people don't like to travel, and China can't be called a great travel country, whether it's fact or guesswork, the vision of Westerners is obviously wider than that of Chinese.However, the Chinese are very clear in their hearts what those foreigners are traveling for, and they fully accept the result.This leads them to often be gullible.But the same thing can be seen in other peoples. The Western countries generally agree with the question of the unity of nature, no matter how this unity is interpreted.For Chinese intellectuals, however, the question is often vague.The author often meets scholars who have already reached the level of scholars according to the imperial examinations, but they will ask me very seriously: "Does your country have the sun and the moon?" I have also seen some ordinary scholars. More Chinese gathered around the roadside, listening carefully to foreigners introducing foreign crops.When they heard that foreign crops are the same as Chinese ones, except that the stems are above the ground and the fruits are below the ground, they are very satisfied.Westerners have no interest in such things, which are as uninteresting as the depth of the oceans, or the distance of Venus from the Earth.When the British troops were stationed in northern China, a foreign female soldier got on her horse and was seen by a Chinese soldier. This was the first time he saw a foreign woman, so a startling rumor spread: Most Western women Both have only one leg.Even now, some people think this is true.

Regarding the question of why the skin of foreign children is so white, a Chinese woman once believed that it was because mothers licked these children with their tongues every day, just like a mother cat would often lick kittens.Some foreign newspapers have published some cartoons in order to enhance their interest, but the sales of these newspapers in China are very poor.It is said that a wise man once asked a foreign doctor where those winged, tree-dwelling beings came from.The foreign doctor didn't understand at first, but it took a long time to understand that what the man saw was actually a cartoon printed on a matchbox.

In the 70s, there was a beautiful big black dog in the British Consulate in Beijing.When a Chinese person asked about the age of the black dog, the people at the consulate may have jokingly said that the black dog, like those cherished ceramics, was born in In the Ming Dynasty.And after hearing this absurd answer, they believed it, and thought it was absolutely correct, as if they were forced to accept those strange things every day.

The Chinese firmly believe in the existence of places that humans have not personally visited, just like children believe in the existence of fairy tale worlds.They often ask foreigners if they have ever been to Daughter Country. They think Daughter Country is just some strange people with dog heads besides women.A woman happened to see the illustrations in the newspaper, and she happily thought that the illustrations were people from the daughter country.

"That's right, this is a person from the Gobhead Kingdom." A servant opened a basin, saw half a piece of mackerel inside, and was surprised to think that these fish had only one eye.Another older servant said that it was just a former foreign fish.There's also a particular idea, which they got from a book, that somewhere in the world, people have a big hole in their stomachs that goes back and forth.I heard about such a case, a Chinese asked a foreigner who had no sympathy about the situation of such a person, and the foreigner replied with certainty: "There must be such a place." The Chinese asked: "Then Where is it?" The foreigner said, "In China." The Chinese thought it was impossible because he had never heard of it.The foreigner said: "Really? Then you take off your clothes, I tell you where are you?" Then say, "You must have sewed it on."

Just as the credulity of the Chinese is best compared to the large number of spare medicines in various drug transactions, which can cure a certain disease to which people are prone, so credulity can also be used as a weapon against complicated Buddhism and Taoism.It is the extreme play of Chinese credulity that has led to the existence of these sects.Even the most short-sighted person can easily see the final result.

There is indisputable credulity in Western countries too, not because of want of science, but because of its prosperity.To those who have experienced firsthand the whirlwinds and electric effects of evolution, no matter how novel, they are prepared to believe.The "Moon Fraud Case" that once caused a sensation can be used as an example, and it can be properly extended when explaining.Therefore, we should reflect on whether, when we ridicule the credulity of the ignorant Chinese, we ourselves are really smarter about those arts that are strictly judged by sects and have little or no knowledge of the teachings.

When we focus on the communication between Chinese and foreigners, we can easily find that there is one factor that has greatly influenced the credulity of Chinese people, that is, the distinction between good and evil for foreigners in Chinese consciousness standard.After obtaining the approval of the local officials, the two foreigners went to the banks of the Yellow River to explore, but the local Chinese thought that they wanted to use magic to turn such a large place into a projectile, and then fled with them and returned to a distant place— —their own country.In addition, they also believe that human eyes have a special hidden function, just like the selection of raw materials in the process of producing silver, which is the survival of the fittest.Such ideas do not come from reason, so they cannot be negated by rational derivation.

Against such an enemy, reason is as ineffective as firing a cannon at a high wall in the distance in the Scottish fog.The shells of the cannon are undoubtedly very powerful. Under normal circumstances, the thick city walls can be knocked down immediately.But now it was covered with heavy fog. Although the artillery shells could successfully open a path among the surrendered enemies, they couldn't move the fog even an inch. Even if countless warheads were produced, they couldn't dispel the fog.

But if a breeze blows, the fog will clear away immediately.In the same way, the Chinese also need a gust of wind to dispel the fog in people's minds.Of course, only Western Christian civilization can do this.

(End of this chapter)