Chinese virtue

Chapter 9
When foreigners learn Chinese, as long as they can express their own thoughts, they will find that Chinese people have an obvious characteristic, that is, it is easy to misunderstand others.When a foreigner speaks Chinese, if he cannot be understood, he will feel pain and surprise.Next, he will work harder to learn Chinese, and he will learn Chinese for several years. Only after this can he have the confidence to communicate with the public, and then discuss those complicated topics with others.If the other party has never had contact with foreigners, then he will feel very painful when talking with the other party in Chinese.Because the other party obviously couldn't understand and was unwilling to understand what he said.When he was talking, the other party didn't pay attention or want to pay attention to what he was saying, and would only interrupt him with the words "I don't understand what you are saying".When he said this, the other party was full of superiority and smile, as if he was just a deaf person trying to speak well.In addition, the other party seems to be saying: "Who can understand what you say? You are not born to speak Chinese. Although it is a bit unfortunate, it is not your fault. However, you still have to accept this reality and stop Make things difficult for us with words we don’t understand.” In such a situation, he could no longer calm down and said angrily, “Can you understand what I’m saying now?” The other party replied: “No, I’ll listen to you.” don't know."

Another situation is that even though the Chinese can understand the Chinese spoken by foreigners, they cannot fully understand the meaning of foreigners because they do not pay attention to certain details.Take the word "foreigner in China" as an example. If it is supported by a large number of words such as "under this condition", "conditional" and "based on this understanding", it can express many meanings.However, these words are superfluous to Chinese people, unlike foreigners who think they are necessary.

In addition, foreigners are used to using and paying attention to tense, but Chinese are different.

The most important thing Chinese people pay attention to is to prevent disputes over money.From the Chinese point of view, spending money to buy things is as indispensable to foreigners as military supplies, and it is even the main responsibility of foreigners.This situation can be summed up in a future perfect tense: "You will get the money after the work is done." However, there is no tense in Chinese, so where is the future perfect tense?The Chinese speak very simply, that is, "work and get money".They only have money in their hearts, but they don't have the concept of tense.Therefore, once a foreigner asks a Chinese to help with something, the Chinese hope to get money immediately so that they can fill their stomachs.The implication seems to be that they can only have food if they help foreigners.Therefore, we need to remind everyone repeatedly that when doing business in China, you must not have disputes over money.Details that are generally difficult to explain, such as who to give the money to, how much to give, and whether to give silver ingots or copper coins, must be clearly stated.If you are given silver ingots, you should also explain the fineness and weight; if you are given copper coins, you should also explain how many copper coins each string is made of.When signing a contract with a builder, dealer or ship owner, the responsibilities of the other party and the terms to be performed by both parties must be clearly and specifically stated in advance.Otherwise, things will be very troublesome.

In China, people have become accustomed to "self-inflicted suffering".A foreigner wants to go to a certain place, so he hires a Chinese coachman, but the other party refuses later, and sends the employer to the destination as agreed in advance.At this time, the coachman was as stubborn as his mule.The mule was resting comfortably on the muddy road, no matter how hard the coachman whipped it, it would not get up.Finally, the coachman was exhausted, and the mule still didn't get up, as if the coachman just whipped it just to tickle it.This scene reminds us of the British critic De Quincey's evaluation of the Chinese - as stubborn as mules.This evaluation is really harsh!In fact, the Chinese are not like mules, because mules are persistent, but the coachman is not.

Along the way, the coachman defied his employer openly.His employer warned him that if he continued to behave, he would never get paid for the drinks.The coachman did not heed the employer's warning, and said that he did not think much of the money, but when he reached his destination, he prostrated himself on the ground and begged the employer to give him money.Therefore, when a traveler hires a coachman or a boatman, he should carefully write down a written note to avoid any trouble in the future.

The Chinese are very cautious in dealing with the world, as evidenced by the famous saying "Speak first".

However, this is not the case.For example, even if you set up written documents with your heart, there may still be disputes in the future.When this happens, foreigners find that there are many reasons, one of which is money.The illiterate peon can gain an advantage through misunderstanding, as can the educated intellectual in much the same way.To the Chinese, misunderstanding is as quick and natural as wind blowing through cracks and water flowing into holes.The Anglo-Saxons gradually adapted to this "talent" of the Chinese, and even "carried forward" it.The ancient Persians learned to draw the longbow and tell the truth, and the Anglo-Saxons were influenced by the ancient Persians, and treated their enemies as sincerely and justly as they treated their friends.For the Chinese, this Anglo-Saxon trait is as useful as a Jewish habit.Speaking of the habit of the Jews, during the tense period of war, even in the face of invasion by the Roman army led by the general Titus, the Jews would stop military operations every seven days.This habit of the Jews provided convenience for the Romans to attack.Likewise, the fact that the Anglo-Saxons were so indistinguishable from friend and foe also gave the Chinese an advantage.

In the 1860 years before 100, Westerners dealt with Chinese people, and thus fully realized that Chinese people are easy to misunderstand others. After 1860, the Chinese still misunderstood others.The main thing foreigners face when interacting with Chinese people is trying to justify themselves, because Chinese people often misunderstand foreigners.Although there are some exceptions, the idea that foreigners will never break their promises is still firmly rooted in the hearts of Chinese people.Similarly, these Chinese also believe that foreigners will do things fairly and justly. Although some foreigners will not keep their promises, the Chinese don't care.It is precisely because Chinese people have such views on foreigners that they have ways to deal with even stubborn foreigners.Let's take a look at the following dialogue, which reflects exactly this situation. "Did you say that?" "No, no, I didn't say that." "But you did, and we can all testify, do you think we're all fools? Anyway, pay, This is what you said." On this issue, Chinese and foreigners have argued more than a thousand times.But the truth is, foreigners have really paid for it.In fact, the Chinese know it very well, but they also know that foreigners will definitely pay again in order to show their honesty and fairness, so there are the above arguments.There are three more examples below. Let us take a look at how the Chinese use various means for their goals, and two of them successfully achieved their goals.

I believe that many experienced readers will find that there are some examples of misunderstandings happening around them almost every day.For example, you want a beautiful lawn, so you hire a coolie and hope that he will help you clean up the weeds in the yard, leaving only tender grass.

But when you come back, you find that this idiot has uprooted all the grass on the ground, and told you in all seriousness that this is the only way to clean it up.He doesn't understand what you mean at all.

For another example, you want your chef to go to a distant vegetable market to buy a chicken and a fish and come back. After you sat at home and waited for a long time, the chef came back with a chicken and three big geese.

If you ask him why, he will definitely answer that you asked him to buy it.This also shows that the Chinese did not understand what you said.

Or maybe you want your servant to deliver a very important letter to the French consulate before the mailroom closes.You will find that he comes back with the letter after only a while, and when you ask him why, he will tell you that they will not accept it.In the end, you will find that the reason why the other party refused to accept it was because he sent the letter to the Belgian embassy.Not only that, but because of the time he wasted on the road, the delivery of the letter was delayed and things were delayed.These examples all show that he did not understand what you said.

Chinese people are very easy to misunderstand foreigners. The experience of a friend of mine is the best example of this.Once, my friend visited a Chinese bank, and he had a very good relationship with the boss of the bank, so we talked a lot.When they talked about a fire nearby, my friend said, "Oh, I'm so glad the fire didn't get here, thank God." The boss immediately said angrily, "What are you doing?" You can talk like that! It’s really rude!” It wasn’t until later that my friend realized that the bank boss had interpreted his words as “if the fire was bigger, the bank might burn down”.Even if this kind of remark is said in a celebratory tone, it is very taboo for the Chinese.

There was once a foreigner who came to Beijing and saw a camel caravan while resting on the road, and one of the camels was still in its infancy.So he called the coachman and said, "If you see my little son when you go home again, let him come and have a look at this little camel. I think he will be very happy." After a long time, the coachman Just like the bank president mentioned in the previous example, after thinking for a long time, he said: "Even if you bought this little camel, you would not keep it. It will definitely die in the end."

I once attended a Chinese worship service, and I still remember the preacher telling the story of Naaman.He described the scene when Naaman, the commander of the king of Aram, came to Elisha's door and sent someone to call the door.In order to be able to describe in detail, the preacher added a lot of expressions, and tried his best to imitate the appearance of those followers shouting: "Open the door! The gatekeeper, Alan's army commander has arrived!" Just after finishing this sentence, the preacher was surprised It was discovered that a gentleman sitting in the back row suddenly disappeared, as if he had been shot.It was only later that people found out that this person was the doorman of the church. He didn't pay attention to the previous content, so when he suddenly heard someone ask him to open the door, he ran out suddenly, intending to open the door for Na'aman.

Like the example above, a missionary who was earning his living in China was misunderstood in this way.At that time, in order to impress the audience, he used a slide projector to show a very large parasite.When the parasite was successfully magnified to the length of a crocodile, an audience member whispered to those nearby: "Look, foreign lice are this big."

(End of this chapter)