Chinese virtue

Chapter 49 Parasitic

The word "parasitic" is an ancient word in English, and its original meaning is to base one's own survival on the basis of gaining the benefits of others.At present, this word has derived many usages and has been integrated into the languages ​​of various European countries. What it expresses has become a social reality without time and geographical differences.Parasitic problems can appear anywhere, as long as there is a gap between rich and poor, a gap in status, a gap in power.In Chinese society, there are many reasons that lead to parasitism, and these reasons are full of temptations.However, there are forces in Western society that can contain such evil acts, but China has almost no power.We have learned from repeated observations that the key to analyzing Chinese characteristics lies in the nepotism of Chinese society.And it is this kind of nepotism that provides the most solid foundation for the parasitism in Chinese society.On the other hand, we can only understand why parasitic problems are common in Chinese society from this kind of nepotism.

Everyone should remember that the family in Chinese society is not like the family in our impression. The family in our impression consists of husband, wife and children, while the family in China is inherited from the same ancestor with the same surname. It is composed of a group of people who came down.The inheritance relationship between a certain generation and its ancestors may be interrupted due to social turmoil, but after a family is re-established, new reproduction and diversion will begin again.Let's imagine a family where the father has his own brothers and sisters, the mother has her own brothers and sisters, and then they have five sons and three daughters.After these eight children grow up, their parents will arrange their marriage early, and the five sons will take back their new wives, and then there will be a special place in the house for them to give birth.If a foreigner came to investigate at this time, he would take it for granted that he was investigating six families, but in fact he was wrong, they might still belong to one family.This family with many members and complex relationships will live as before, and all property will be shared. Even if each couple is allocated a small piece of land, they still belong to this big family. The same is true here.

On the basis of the marriage of these eight children, this family has a close relationship with the other eight families, and those eight families have their own network of relationships, which constitutes a big network, and every member of the whole network Relationships will affect the operation of this family to varying degrees.If an important person in this family dies, it will affect every family on this big network through marriage.If a certain family becomes rich and happens to be related to its own family, this wealth will send a shock to the entire circle of relatives, whether established by blood or marriage.Going back to the previous example, after a few years, each of the eight children will have several lively children.In this way, members of a large group of grandchildren enter this ever-expanding cycle.After that, each pair of parents had to plan individually for their children how to earn a living and support their families.If the family is very wealthy, then this problem can be easily solved, but from the large and complex families we have observed, only a small part can do it without relying on external help.If there is indeed an external force involved, but not from the huge kinship network, is it possible?I don't know if anyone has such kindness.

Anglo-Saxons have an independent quality, and a young man who refuses the help of a rich relative so that he goes through life with strong shoulders and a flexible brain.But for this situation, the Chinese simply do not understand.From the perspective of the Anglo-Saxon nation as a whole, this is mainly caused by genetics, but environmental factors also play a role that cannot be ignored.Compared with China, the UK is still a young country, but we should see that it is becoming more difficult for young people in the UK to rely on external forces such as friends to survive independently and live in their own way. And the degree of difficulty increases every decade.But don't worry, the practice is sustainable, and will continue for centuries to come, despite the increasing difficulty.And those excellent colonies of Britain will alleviate this difficulty to a certain extent.Take India as an example. The outstanding people brought by the British Isles have allowed India to continue to prosper for more than a century. Among them, there are many very ambitious British young people in the navy and army.

Those ways of earning a living alone are not open to Chinese young people. Even if they are open, Chinese young people do not have the independent nature of Anglo-Saxon young people, so they cannot use it. Even if they have this nature, Nor can the young Anglo-Saxons do it.This is Chinese society, this is Chinese people, and this cannot be changed.

After British children leave home, they will go to foreign countries and leave their footprints all over the world. This is similar to Robinson Crusoe described by the British writer Daniel Defoe, who has experienced all kinds of difficulties in the world .Then 20 years later, with a wealth of life experience and countless Spanish gold coins, he returned to his hometown.But Chinese children usually have a fixed place to go after they leave home, that is, they run to their relatives, fellow villagers or friends, and then live there until they find a job.Therefore, after the child leaves, the parents and other family members are usually not very anxious. They basically know that they can know where to find him as long as they think about where his uncles, cousins ​​or friends are nearby.

We are thwarted by this widespread parasitism when we teach those Western inventions to the Chinese.The wise Chinese are well aware of the great advantages they can gain from using foreign inventions, but they still have misgivings about it, and with good reason.Those foreigners who came here to spread the achievements of their inventions were completely fattening themselves with the hard-earned money of the people in the colonies, but they did not thoroughly introduce and teach those inventions.In fact, the best way to achieve this is to teach those talented Chinese operators new business management concepts.In fact, the Chinese are very pragmatic, and they probably do not lack management skills. However, in China's environment, no matter how strong a person's management skills are, he will be surrounded by all kinds of relatives who beg for mercy, and they themselves are unwilling to work hard. To get rid of this trouble.Although nepotism and parasitism are very unreasonable, in Chinese officialdom, these phenomena go hand in hand, and Chinese people regard it as a natural thing.If this phenomenon occurs in the management department of a steamship company or a mining factory, it will definitely lead to dissatisfaction among shareholders in the end, and it is not conducive to the promotion of foreign ideas.

There is an idea that will naturally arise, that is, those Manchurian officials will definitely be subject to the strictest monitoring while receiving government subsidies. However, judging from many facts, under such severe competition, the Manchurians must not only face A simple contest of the people it conquered. In 1883, the "Beijing News" published an article on the management of yamen. This article was ranked in front of the emperor's accusation of the Eight Banners soldiers' management of the "four major ills". It explained the problem we are discussing very well.This article reads: "It is necessary to prevent Han people from entering the Eight Banners soldiers. In order to prevent Han people from entering the Eight Banners soldiers by deception, they will register at the end of each year to prevent the Han people from excessively consuming military supplies. The current Eight Banners soldiers, Half of them are Han Chinese. They don't know their identity and the situation of Manchu people. This situation is completely caused by those Han minorities. They hold the power of registration and let their sons enter like the sons of widows who are specially cared for. Eight Banners soldiers. They will also bribe officials and take the imperial examinations, as if they are Eight Banners soldiers. There are also many sons of Han officials who have entered the Eight Banners soldiers. If strict cleaning is not carried out, such ills will often appear. "

However, the article does not mention how to clear the registered false names, which also requires people to think about it.

The entire structure of officialdom in China is stark evidence of complex parasitism.The salaries given by the government to officials are very meager, and the work is notorious for being heavy. If there is some extra income, no matter how much it is, they will be oppressed from all directions.A common word for this oppression is "ripping off".On the surface, it seems that it comes from the upper class, and then it is transmitted all the way down, just like the hubs and gears on the machine transmit the vibration to all parts of the machine, until the vibration drives all the parts of the machine, and then there is an appropriate amount of vibration. friction.In any case, these frictions are indispensable for the operation of the machine.

For this point, it can also be expressed by an ironic Chinese saying: "The big fish eats the small fish, the small fish eats dried shrimps, and the dried shrimps eat grass mud." Of course, this situation does not only exist in China. The British writer Swift once Wrote such a poem 150 years ago:

Fleas, say the naturalists,
They have little fleas tormenting them,
There are little fleas biting the little fleas,
So back and forth, even infinity.

If under the pressure of survival, Chinese officials must become parasites, let alone those subordinates who cling to them and follow their footsteps.Although these subordinates are very necessary for the performance of state affairs, such a large number of subordinates not only have no salary to get, but also have to pay for such a position for themselves.How did they pay for the interest formed by these capital and rolling interest?Just ask any Chinese person involved in the lawsuit, and you can easily get the answer.You will first know the specific situation of both parties in the lawsuit, and then you will know how the two parties were "ripped off" during the lawsuit.

It is also possible for people to avoid those lawsuits if they are careful in their own lives.But that kind of parasitic phenomenon will still be imposed on them, that is, to use public affairs as an excuse to forcefully ask for various resources such as vehicles, horses, boats and river repair materials.Like other systems, this method has formed rules and is implemented naturally.

In China's education system, the same parasitic phenomenon exists.The relationship between teachers and students in China is closer than we imagined. If one person was once another's teacher, he has the right to make demands on his students while he is alive.If a teacher got broke, he would go around and "raise" some money from his students, as most teachers did.If this income is not enough, then the teacher will become a poor literati.It's like some monks in the middle ages, once they came across a school, they would stop in order to get some donations.If a teacher teaches two pupils at the same time, or invigilates two persons at the same time, the two persons should take turns to look after him in his poverty, so that this kind of care may not be broken.Parasitism is already very widespread in China, and there are some smart homeless people everywhere, who get involved in a certain incident in the name of making friends, so as to find out what their relatives are called and where they live.Then when you are in trouble, you can go to them, call yourself a friend of their friend, and then get food or accommodation.

In China, people in Buddhism and Taoism are a huge parasitic group. When they deal with people, they rely on human beings' innate worship of faith, so that those shrewd and practical Chinese can help them get relatively easy Even a life of abundance.But one thing to note is that only a few people can have this kind of luck.During the wheat harvest and autumn harvest season, the monks will get some donations. In the rest of the time, the monks will walk around and ask every family in the village they pass to donate some food. If someone dares to refuse, the consequences will be very serious.If the donations from these acts were not enough, all the monks would be paid a lot by performing rituals in the temple on a special day, or at the time of the funeral.Meals are taken care of by the temple, and you can get extra fees.If we compare the life of these thrifty ordinary Chinese with the extravagant life of those monks, we will understand a poet's line: "The mountain temple has not yet risen as an eminent monk, and fame and wealth are not as good as idleness." From here we can also see It can be seen that their laziness does not deserve such fame and wealth.

The last example is the astonishingly large beggar group on the land of China.

The existence of this group has already indicated that China is in critical condition.How to alleviate poverty in Chinese society and completely solve this problem is not suitable for discussion here, and we don't need to be anxious about it all the time.But for a philanthropist or politician, this question is worth pondering.

(End of this chapter)