Chinese virtue

Chapter 7 Wasting Time
In today's world, all the developed countries believe in the famous saying "time is money" because modern life is getting more and more complicated while the workload is getting bigger and bigger.During the working period, a worker may face various tasks, and the workload is heavy.If it was in the last century, it would have taken a lot of time to complete these tasks.What caused this change was undoubtedly the widespread use of steam engines and electricity.When this change came, we Anglo-Saxons were already of high quality, so we were not in the least afraid of it.Before that, although our ancestors were idle, they only knew how to eat, drink and have fun all day long, or fought and fought, but their energy was very strong.It is precisely because they maintain strong energy that they can continue to do other things after finishing one thing.

The Chinese are quite different from the Anglo-Saxons in terms of greeting, and the difference is intriguing.For example, when meeting a companion, the Chinese would say: "Have you eaten?" The Anglo-Saxons would say: "Hello, how are things going?" That is to say, in daily life, British People pay attention to doing things, but the Chinese pay attention to eating.It can be seen that the British regard time as money and turn this awareness into a kind of nature.Generally speaking, the British make the most of their time, even the last second.But the Chinese, they seem to be as laid-back as most orientals.In China, a day is only divided into twelve hours, which means that one hour only represents one-twelfth of a day, so the Chinese cannot clearly define time at all.For example, the word "noon" is a general term for the time period from eleven o'clock in the morning to one o'clock in the afternoon, and can refer to any time within this time period.The Chinese once said such a sentence: "When does the moon hang in the sky?" This sentence is somewhat vague. In fact, what the questioner really wants to ask is: "When the moon is on the meridian, what time is it at night?"

In daily life, the timekeeping methods used by the Chinese are also imprecise.For the Chinese, "sunrise" and "sunset" are the most accurate concepts of timing.Although China is a country with a large span of latitude and longitude, they regard "midnight" and "noon" as the same concept.That is to say, for the Chinese, "midnight" does not refer to a certain period of time, it is usually divided by "more", so it is not precise at all.However, the last update is relatively accurate due to its closeness to daylight.When it comes to "more", it is not so precise, even in the city.When we talk about a portable timer, the Chinese have no idea what it is.Some Chinese do have clocks, but most of them don't make full use of them, let alone rely on them to organize their schedules.

The most they can do to the clock is to scrub it every few years before it stops working.

Even this small move is rarely done by the Chinese.Most people determine time by taking advantage of changes in the altitude of the sun.When the weather is fine, they use "one rod per day" and "two rods per day" to time the time; when it is cloudy, they use the changes in the size of the house cat's pupils to time the time.Although such a concept of time is vague, it is enough for their daily life.

The inaccuracy of Chinese timekeeping has affected their effective use of time.The British pastor Sidney Smith divided the world into two types, one is the people before the great disaster, and the other is the people after the great disaster.After the peerless catastrophe, after discovering that human beings cannot live for hundreds or even thousands of years, they learned to make full use of time to adapt to the new environment.On the contrary, the people before the apocalyptic catastrophe did not realize that the age of the long-lived one—the patriarch Methuselah mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible has passed, so they still live as before.The Chinese undoubtedly belonged to the people before the peerless catastrophe.In order to attract customers, teahouse owners often hire some excellent storytellers.When the storyteller tells the story, it reminds people of the long poems of the British "Poet Laureate" Tennyson.The guests changed from batch to batch, but the storyteller was always there.According to people who have been to Thailand, there are some plays in Thailand that last for two months.Although the Chinese drama is not as long as Thailand's, it sometimes lasts for several days.There are some Chinese sideshows that are excellent, not only intelligent, but genuinely funny.However, the terrible thing is that there is a lot of nonsense before each opening, which makes many foreign audiences unbearable and even regret watching the show.Even more frightening is the Chinese banquet, which seems to never stop, and there are more dishes than expected.For the Chinese, this is simply a kind of enjoyment, and some people are even reluctant to leave.However, for any foreigner, doing so is intimidating.There is an old saying in China that goes, "There is no feast that never ends." It seems that the time for entertaining guests like this is too short."Savages" like us hope that the banquet can be dismissed early.On such occasions, however, our hopes are often dashed.

From the day they were born, the Chinese started to do things slowly, as if they were still living before the apocalypse.When they were studying, they stayed in the school from sunrise to sunset, resting only once or twice in between, and eating some food to satisfy their hunger.When someone talks about other education systems, neither teachers nor students know anything.The imperial examination lasted for several days, and the requirements were strict, which brought a lot of inconvenience to the examinees.These sound ridiculous, and there are also great flaws, but candidates are not aware of these.

Men trained by this educational system create spiritual results reminiscent of their educational experiences.The Chinese language is basically the same as the language before the peerless catastrophe.The time it takes to master this language is as long as the life of the patriarch Methuselah who lived for nearly 1000 years in the Bible.In other words, the ancient Chinese, like the ancient Romans, realized that without consciously learning their own language, they would never be able to speak or write anything of value.The history of the Chinese also stayed before the peerless catastrophe, because it not only originated from the era of chaos, but also mixed with many backward concepts.Although the long river of Chinese history flows forward slowly, in addition to tall trees growing on both banks, it is also covered with countless dead grasses and broken branches.This kind of history can only be written and read by people who do not know how to cherish time.All of this is so complicated that only people with such a big "belly" like the Chinese can hold it.

The fact that the Chinese do not know how to cherish time can also be reflected in the intensity of their hard work.We have already said that the intensity of industry of the Chinese is markedly different from that of the Anglo-Saxons.

Some foreigners have built houses in China, so they have the opportunity to contact Chinese contractors and workers.However, since then, there have been very few foreigners who are willing to build a house again.

Because Chinese contractors and workers always arrive late and leave early, and they often stop to drink tea while working.They carried small sacks to the distant lime pits to carry mortar, so that they only carried a few quarts of mortar at a time for a long distance.It would be at least three times as efficient to use wheelbarrows to carry the plaster, but they didn't care about that.When it rains, even if it rains a little, they will all stop working.Doing things like this is naturally half the effort.

However, such situations are common, so it is difficult to estimate the average daily workload of this group of people.

It is said that a foreigner hired a carpenter to nail laths for him, but he thought the carpenter was too slow, so he started to do it himself while the carpenter was eating, and even finished the work of four carpenters in half a day.

For Chinese workers, even small tasks such as repairing tools can be exhausting.If they use foreign tools, they will not cherish them at all.Even if the tools broke for no apparent reason, they wouldn't fix them because they believe in the adage "It's none of your business, hang on high."When they set up scaffolding, they first set up a few wooden stakes by the wall, and then tied the thin sticks to the wooden stakes with ropes, and that was the end of the job.Problems can arise every day throughout the project.Those previous experiences seemed to be of no use to them at all.As for building materials such as sand, lime, and mud, none of them are qualified.To this foreigner, he was almost alone.Gulliver, the main character in the outstanding British travel novel "Gulliver's Travels", came to the Lilliputian country and was dragged to the ground by the little people with countless thin ropes, and there was nothing he could do.The situation of this foreigner is similar to that of Gulliver.A Guangdong contractor once made a promise, but later he took opium, and his money was squandered, and his promise disappeared in smoke.The employer endured the foreman again and again, and finally couldn't bear it any longer, so he called the foreman and told him all the mistakes he had made: "You already know the size of the glass, and you have also made three glass sizes yourself. I have measured every window several times, but none of the windows that were made work. And the door you made didn't have a little glue on it, so it couldn't close at all. You cut corners when laying the floor, and used some short and Knotted material, the floor is in a mess." The mild-mannered contractor seemed hurt when he heard the employer scolding him like this. He looked at the employer and protested mildly: "Don't do this, don't do this! As a gentleman, you should not speak like this."

In the eyes of the Chinese, the Anglo-Saxons are impatient, which they cannot understand or explain clearly.We are as upset when they say we are impatient as we are when we say they are dishonest, and we should be aware of that.

However, no matter how hard you try, it is impossible to quickly make the Chinese realize the importance of time.A postman is said to have spent days delivering a parcel full of foreign mail twelve miles away, because his donkey fell ill on the way and had to stop to rest!China's telegraph system is also very chaotic, and mistakes are often made when sending telegrams.

Chinese people don't pay attention to grasping the time when they come to visit.In western countries, there is a time limit for visiting other people's homes, and guests generally do not exceed this limit.However, there is no time limit when Chinese people go to visit others. They will keep talking, even if they are exhausted, they will not stop until the host says they will stay overnight.The same is true when Chinese people visit foreigners, they do not realize how precious time is.When they arrived at a foreigner's house, they sat for at least an hour without talking a few words.Even if there is nothing to talk about, they are unwilling to leave.

There was an excellent pastor who used the phrase "I want to see whoever wants to see me" as his motto.If he stayed in China for a while, maybe he would not think so, and would even adopt the approach of a certain priest.After receiving several Chinese visits, the clergyman wrote a striking motto and hung it in the room: "May God bless those who come to go away!" The meaning of this sentence is straightforward enough, but due to the Human nature loves to misunderstand people, so they can't figure out what the master means.The people who came to visit were often silent, and the silence lasted for a long time. Even the most patient Europeans might not be able to bear it.Once they open their mouths, the theme is generally asking for something.If only all foreigners could be like the late doctor McKenzie.This doctor received many Chinese guests during his lifetime, and found that they came one after another, and then sat down and did not leave, making it impossible for him to treat patients quietly.Faced with this situation, he said to them: "I still have something urgent to do, so I can't accompany you, please forgive me. Please go easy!"

The doctor was able to get out of trouble simply because he spoke as innocently and bluntly as a Chinese student.Chinese students often like to show off their newly learned English in front of the teacher, so they say: "Open the door! Go out! (Open the door! Go out!)" and the teacher is at a loss.

(End of this chapter)