羅素論中國人的性格- The Chinese Character, by Bertrand Russell

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羅素論中國人的性格- The Chinese Character, by Bertrand Russell(冗長的翻譯；2016.3.15)


There is a theory among Occidentals that the Chinaman is inscrutable, full of secret thoughts, and impossible for us to understand. It may be that a greater experience of China would have brought me to share this opinion; but I could see nothing to support it during the time when I was working in that country. I talked to the Chinese as I should have talked to English people, and they answered me much as English people would have answered a Chinese whom they considered educated and not wholly unintelligent. I do not believe in the myth of the "Subtle Oriental": I am convinced that in a game of mutual deception an Englishman or American can beat a Chinese nine times out of ten. But as many comparatively poor Chinese have dealings with rich white men, the game is often played only on one side. Then, no doubt, the white man is deceived and swindled; but not more than a Chinese mandarin would be in London.西方人中間有一種論調：中國人不可思議，滿腦子的神秘思想，我們難以理解。如果到中國去長期生活體驗一下，可能也會使我抱這樣的觀點。但是，依我在那個國家講學期間的所見所聞，並沒有發現有任何跡象可以證明這種論點是正確的。我與中國人交談就像與英國人交談一樣，他們回答我也很像英國人回答一個中國人。中國人相當有教養，聰慧而明智。我根本不相信“東方人陰險”的神話。我確信，在一場互相欺騙的遊戲中，一個英國人或一個美國人十有八九會戰勝一個中國人。可是當許多相當貧窮的中國人與富裕的白種人做生意時，這種活動常常只是有利於其中的一方，那毫無疑問，白人受騙上當，而中國人只有像派駐倫敦那樣的昏庸官僚才會如此。
One of the most remarkable things about the Chinese is their power of securing the affection of foreigners. Almost all Europeans like China, both those who come only as tourists and those who live there for many years. In spite of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, I can recall hardly a single Englishman in the Far East who liked the Japanese as well as the Chinese. Those who have lived long among them tend to acquire their outlook and their standards. New arrivals are struck by obvious evils: the beggars, the terrible poverty, the prevalence of disease, the anarchy and corruption in politics. Every energetic Westerner feels at first a strong desire to reform these evils, and of course they ought to be reformed.中國人最博得人們讚賞的品質之一，是他們把握外國人感情的能力。不論是到中國去旅遊的，還是多年居住在那兒的，幾乎所有的外國人都喜愛中國人。儘管英日兩國結成聯盟，但是我想不起哪一個孤身在遠東的英國人，會像喜愛中國人那樣喜愛日本人。只有那些在他們中間長期生活的人，才能獲得自己的看法和標準。初來乍到中國，一定對那裡顯而易見的弊端感到震驚：乞丐成群，貧窮驚人，疾病橫行，社會混亂，政治腐敗。每個有正義感的西方人，無不首先強烈地期待中國人能革除這些弊端。中國理所當然地應進行改革。
But the Chinese, even those who are the victims of preventable misfortunes, show a vast passive indifference to the excitement of the foreigners; they wait for it to go off, like the effervescence of soda-water. And gradually strange hesitations creep into the mind of the bewildered traveller; after a period of indignation, he begins to doubt all the maxims he has hitherto accepted without question. Is it really wise to be always guarding against future misfortune? Is it prudent to lose all enjoyment of the present through thinking of the disasters that may come at some future date? Should our lives be passed in building a mansion that we shall never have leisure to inhabit?但是，中國人，甚至是那些本來可以避免充當不幸的犧牲品的人，對外國人的這種激情表現出無動於衷和麻木不仁的態度。他們就像等待蘇打水的泡沫會自行消失一樣，等待著中國現狀中的弊端自行消失。而且，這種盲目的觀望等待態度，也逐漸影響到被搞糊塗的外國旅遊者的理智。等一陣憤恨過去之後，他們開始懷疑起自己原來一直確信無疑的信條是否正確。時刻提防不幸的可能降臨，是不是一種真正的明智？放棄現有的歡樂，終月想著災難的可能在某一時刻到來，是不是一種慎重？難道我們的生命應該在建造一座永遠無法居住的海市蜃樓中度過？
The Chinese answer these questions in the negative, and therefore have to put up with poverty, disease, and anarchy. But, to compensate for these evils, they have retained, as industrial nations have not, the capacity for civilized enjoyment, for leisure and laughter, for pleasure in sunshine and philosophical discourse. The Chinese, of all classes, are more laughter-loving than any other race with which I am acquainted; they find amusement in everything, and a dispute can always be softened by a joke.中國人對這些問題的回答持否定態度，因而他們能忍受貧困、疾病和腐敗。但是，作為對這些弊端的自我補償，中國人保持著文明享樂的能力。他們經常自娛、逗笑，在陽光下取樂和討論哲學。這是工業化的國家所沒有的。中國人，包括各階層的人，比我所了解的任何民族都更喜歡開玩笑。他們在每一件事情上尋找樂趣，而且總是用笑話來緩和爭端。
I remember one hot day when a party of us were crossing the hills in chairs--the way was rough and very steep, the work for the coolies very severe. At the highest point of our journey, we stopped for ten minutes to let the men rest. Instantly they all sat in a row, brought out their pipes, and began to laugh among themselves as if they had not a care in the world. In any country that had learned the virtue of forethought, they would have devoted the moments to complaining of the heat, in order to increase their tip. We, being Europeans, spent the time worrying whether the automobile would be waiting for us at the right place. Well-to-do Chinese would have started a discussion as to whether the universe moves in cycles or progresses by a rectilinear motion; or they might have set to work to consider whether the truly virtuous man shows _complete_ self-abnegation, or may, on occasion, consider his own interest.我記得在一個炎熱的夏天，我們一行人坐在轎子裡，被抬著穿過山丘地帶，路途崎嶇險峻。這些抬轎子的苦力十分辛苦。當旅途到達山的最高處時，我們要求他們停下來歇十分鐘。他們立即生成行拿出煙斗，又說又笑，似乎對世界上一切都毫不在意。如果在其他任何國家，只要稍微有點心計的人都會在這種情形下抱怨這熾熱的天氣，以此要求增加小費。我們在那時卻擔心汽車是否已在指定的地點等候我們。遇上有錢的中國人他們會給你海闊天空地探討一番：宇宙的星辰日月是循環式地轉動的，還是直線式地輪迴運行的；一個完美的哲人是徹底地奉獻自己，還是有時也考慮一點自己的利益。
One comes across white men occasionally who suffer under the delusion that China is not a civilized country. Such men have quite forgotten what constitutes civilization. It is true that there are no trams in Peking, and that the electric light is poor. It is true that there are places full of beauty, which Europeans itch to make hideous by digging up coal. It is true that the educated Chinaman is better at writing poetry than at remembering the sort of facts which can be looked up in _Whitaker's Almanac_. A European, in recommending a place of residence, will tell you that it has a good train service; the best quality he can conceive in any place is that it should be easy to get away from. But a Chinaman will tell you nothing about the trains; if you ask, he will tell you wrong. What he tells you is that there is a palace built by an ancient emperor, and a retreat in a lake for scholars weary of the world, founded by a famous poet of the Tang dynasty. It is this outlook that strikes the Westerner as barbaric.你偶爾會遇見一些一葉障目、被假象所迷惑的白人。他們被一種假象所迷惑，認為中國是一個不文明的國家，這種人恰恰忘記了構成文明的要素。在北京沒有有軌電車，電燈也很落後，這是事實；但是，北京有許多令人神往的、非常美麗的地方，並且至今完好無損，而歐洲卻為了從這些地方挖煤糟蹋得骯髒不堪，這也應該是事實。有教養的中國人善於寫詩作賦，而不善於記住《特克年鑑》裡可以輕而易舉查明的世間百事，這更是事實。一個歐洲人在向旅遊者推薦下榻地點時，往往告訴你，那裡乘火車很方便，因為對歐洲人來說，在選擇任何一個地方的住處時考慮交通便利是最重要的。但是，中國人卻會對火車隻字不提，即使你問起，他也會答非所問。他興致勃勃地告訴你的是，哪兒有一個古代皇帝營造的宮殿，哪兒湖中有一個棲身之地是唐朝一名憂心天下的著名詩人所建的。正是這種文化視野和看法不同，而被西歐人誤認為不文明。
The Chinese, from the highest to the lowest, have an imperturbable quiet dignity, which is usually not destroyed even by a European education. They are not self-assertive, either individually or nationally; their pride is too profound for self-assertion. They admit China's military weakness in comparison with foreign Powers, but they do not consider efficiency in homicide the most important quality in a man or a nation. I think that, at bottom, they almost all believe that China is the greatest nation in the world, and has the finest civilization. A Westerner cannot be expected to accept this view, because it is based on traditions utterly different from his own. But gradually one comes to feel that it is, at any rate, not an absurd view; that it is , in fact, the logical outcome of a self-consistent standard of values​​. The typical Westerner wishes to be the cause of as many changes as possible in his environment; the typical Chinaman wishes to enjoy as much and as delicately as possible. This difference is at the bottom of most of the contrast between China and the English-speaking world.中國人，上至高官顯要，下到平民百姓，都有一種冷寂而內向的尊嚴，即使是一個受過歐洲文化教化的人，也不會損失這種特性。中國人無論是個人還是整個民族都是很謙恭的。他們的自豪感來自於自信，他們承認中國軍隊不如外國軍隊強，但中國人卻認為國家的強大主要來自於人或民族的素質。我認為，中國人從心底里認為自己的國家是世界上最偉大、最文明的國家，而西方人對此不能接受，因為判斷的標準截然不同。但是，中國人的這種觀點也逐漸被西方人認為至少不是荒唐的，因為各自持有的價值標準不同，結論也會不同。典型的西方人希望在所處環境內引起盡可能多的變化；而典型的中國人則希望得到盡可能多而奢侈的享受。西方人與中國人之間這種性格差別，形成根本的鮮明對照。
We in the West make a fetish of "progress," which is the ethical camouflage of the desire to be the cause of changes. If we are asked, for instance, whether machinery has really improved the world, the question strikes us as foolish: it has brought great changes and therefore great "progress." What we believe to be a love of progress is really, in nine cases out of ten, a love of power, an enjoyment of the feeling that by our fiat we can make things different . For the sake of this pleasure, a young American will work so hard that, by the time he has acquired his millions, he has become a victim of dyspepsia, compelled to live on toast and water, and to be a mere spectator of the feasts that he offers to his guests. But he consoles himself with the thought that he can control politics, and provoke or prevent wars as may suit his investments. It is this temperament that makes Western nations "progressive."我們西方人崇尚“進步”，這只不過是渴望環境發生變化的一種倫理上的幌子罷了。如果有人問我，機器是否真正地改善了這個世界？這個問題會使我們的回答語無倫次：機器確實給世界帶來了很大的變化，因此，它使世界取得了巨大的進步。我們確信，十有八九所謂崇尚“進步”的西方人，所謂愛好“進步”實際上是嗜好權力，喜歡根據自己的主觀意願，使事物發生變化和差異。為了追求這種樂趣，一個美國青年會沒命地工作，以致當他成為百萬富翁時，自己卻成了消化不良的受害者，被迫靠吃烤麵包和白開水為生。他在設宴款待賓客的許多筵席上，面對山珍海味自己卻只能充當一名旁觀者。即使如此，他仍然會自慰地想，他能控制政治，按其投資的需要能發動或阻止戰爭。恰恰是這種特有的氣質，使西方民族具有“進取性”。
There are, of course, ambitious men in China, but they are less common than among ourselves. And their ambition takes a different form--not a better form, but one produced by the preference of enjoyment to power. It is a natural result of this preference that avarice is a widespread failing of the Chinese. Money brings the means of enjoyment, therefore money is passionately desired. With us, money is desired chiefly as a means to power; politicians, who can acquire power without much money, are often content to remain poor. In China, the _tuchuns_ (military governors), who have the real power, almost always use it for the sole purpose of amassing a fortune. Their object is to escape to Japan at a suitable moment; with sufficient plunder to enable them to enjoy life quietly for the rest of their days. The fact that in escaping they lose power does not trouble them in the least. It is, of course, obvious that such politicians, who spread devastation only in the provinces committed to their care, are far less harmful to the world than our own, who ruin whole continents in order to win an election campaign.當然，中國也有抱負遠大、雄心勃勃的人，只是不像在西方那樣普遍。而且他們的抱負和雄心採取了不同於西方——並不優於西方的表現形式。他們選擇了由偏愛享受權力而產生的一種形式。正是這種貪婪氾濫，導致了中國人由強變衰。金錢意味著能帶來享樂，因而中國人把金錢作為強烈渴求的對象。對我們西方人來說，人們渴求金錢，只是把它看作爭取權力的工具。政治家追求獲得權力，並非看重金錢，因此經常滿足於個人寒愴拮据的生活。在中國，權柄在握的官僚們，幾乎總是用權去滿足自己的唯一慾望——搜刮大量錢財。他們的主要目的是在適當時候身持巨額財富逃往國外安享餘年。事實上，逃離後喪失了權力對他們來說根本無所謂。顯然，這樣的中國政客們所造成的社會災難僅限於他們管轄的範圍以內。而我們西方政府則不然，為了在選舉中獨占鰲頭，不惜損害包括本國利益在內的全世界所有人的利益。
The corruption and anarchy in Chinese politics do much less harm than one would be inclined to expect. But for the predatory desires of the Great Powers--especially Japan--the harm would be much less than is done by our own "efficient" Governments . Nine-tenths of the activities of a modern Government are harmful; therefore the worse they are performed, the better. In China, where the Government is lazy, corrupt, and stupid, there is a degree of individual liberty which has been wholly lost in the rest of the world.中國政界的腐敗和混亂所造成的損害，遠不如我們想見的那麼可怕。我們西方的所謂“高效率”政府，特別是日本政府那掠奪成性的追求巨大權力的慾望所帶來的災難比中國要大得多。絕大多數現代政府的行為都具有危害性。因此，他們幹得越差，效果就越好。在中國，政府懶散、腐敗、愚昧，那裡卻有一定程度的個人自由。這種個人自由在世界上其他國家已喪失殆盡。
The laws are just as bad as elsewhere; occasionally, under foreign pressure, a man is imprisoned for Bolshevist propaganda, just as he might be in England or America. But this is quite exceptional; as a rule, in practice, there is very little interference with free speech and a free Press.[96] The individual does not feel obliged to follow the herd, as he has in Europe since 1914, and in America since 1917. Men still think for themselves, and are not afraid to announce the conclusions at which they arrive. Individualism has perished in the West, but in China it survives, for good as well as for evil. Self-respect and personal dignity are possible for every coolie in China, to a degree which is, among ourselves, possible only for a few leading financiers.中國的法律像其他國家一樣不完善。有時候，某人因宣傳布爾什維克主義而在國外勢力的壓力下坐牢，正如他會在英國、美國遭到同樣命運一樣。但這種情況實屬罕見；平常在實際生活中，很少有乾擾言論和新聞自由的情況發生，就如一個歐洲人在1914年以來，一個美國人在1917年以來，享有個人的自由一樣。一個中國人並沒有需要隨波逐流的壓力感。人們依然只需像自己，並不擔心所得出的結論公佈後會引起怎麼樣的後果。個人主義在西方已被廢棄，但在中國卻依然生存著。這有好的一面，也有惡的一面。中國的每個勞苦百姓，或多或少保持著自我尊重和人格尊嚴，而這在西方只有極少數金融寡頭才有。
The business of "saving face," which often strikes foreigners in China as ludicrous, is only the carrying-out of respect for personal dignity in the sphere of social manners. Everybody has "face," even the humblest beggar; there are humiliations that you must not inflict upon him, if you are not to outrage the Chinese ethical code. If you speak to a Chinaman in a way that transgresses the code, he will laugh, because your words must be taken as spoken in jest if they are not to constitute an offence.中國人的“死要面子”經常使在中國的外國人感到荒唐可笑。然而，中國人僅僅是要求實現與他們社會生活方式相一致的個人尊嚴。每個人都要“面子”，甚至連社會地位最卑下的乞丐也是如此。如果你不想嚴重觸犯中國人的道德規範，那你就不要使他丟面子，不然你就是在羞辱他。如果你用違反中國道德規則的方式和一個中國人講話，那他一定會嘲笑你；如果中國人不想把你的行為看作是一種冒犯，那你的話必定被他們當作了笑料。
Once I thought that the students to whom I was lecturing were not as industrious as they might be, and I told them so in just the same words that I should have used to English students in the same circumstances. But I soon found I was making a mistake. They all laughed uneasily, which surprised me until I saw the reason. Chinese life, even among the most modernized, is far more polite than anything to which we are accustomed. This, of course, interferes with efficiency, and also ( what is more serious) with sincerity and truth in personal relations. If I were Chinese, I should wish to see it mitigated. But to those who suffer from the brutalities of the West, Chinese urbanity is very restful. Whether on the balance it is better or worse than our frankness, I shall not venture to decide.有一次，我認為我教的一些學生不像我期望的那樣用功，我就像以前對我的英國學生那樣談了些看法。但我很快發現自己犯了一個錯誤。這些學生都很不自在地笑了。我對此感到很驚訝，後來我才搞清楚了其中的原因。中國人，甚至那些最文明的人遠比我們西方人更講究客套。然而這種習慣不利於提高效率，更為嚴重的是不利於在人與人之間建立誠摯而真實的關係。如果我是中國人的話，我將希望減少一點表面客套帶來的痛苦。但是，中國人由於遭受西方列強的欺辱已經養成了一種溫文爾雅的心性。中國人的彬彬有禮與我們西方人的直率相比，究竟孰優孰劣，我尚不敢斷言。
The Chinese remind one of the English in their love of compromise and in their habit of bowing to public opinion. Seldom is a conflict pushed to its ultimate brutal issue. The treatment of the Manchu Emperor may be taken as a case in point. When a Western country becomes a Republic, it is customary to cut off the head of the deposed monarch, or at least to cause him to fly the country. But the Chinese have left the Emperor his title, his beautiful palace, his troops of eunuchs, and an income of several million dollars a year. He is a boy of sixteen, living peaceably in the Forbidden City. Once, in the course of a civil war, he was nominally restored to power for a few days; but he was deposed again, without being in any way punished for the use to which he had been put.在一個英國人看來，喜歡妥協和屈服於公眾輿論的壓力，是中國人性格中的特點。很少有一種衝突發展成為軒然大波。滿洲皇帝的待遇可以作為一個很好的例子。在西方，國家一旦變為共和國，人們向來是砍掉被廢黜的君主的頭，或至少將其流放到國外。在中國給皇帝依然保留皇上的稱號，華麗的宮殿，大批的太監內臣，每年九百萬元的貫俸。溥儀現在正滿十六歲，安寧舒適地住在紫禁城內。在一次國內戰爭中，他曾名義上復辟過幾天，但他又一次被推翻，並沒因為他的複闢行徑而受到任何懲罰。
Public opinion is a very real force in China, when it can be roused. It was, by all accounts, mainly responsible for the downfall of the An Fu party in the summer of 1920. This party was pro-Japanese and was accepting loans from Japan. Hatred of Japan is the strongest and most widespread of political passions in China, and it was stirred up by the students in fiery orations. The An Fu party had, at first, a great preponderance of military strength; but their soldiers melted away when they came to understand the cause for which they were expected to fight. In the end, the opponents of the An Fu party were able to enter Peking and change the Government almost without firing a shot.在中國，公眾輿論是一種非常強大的力量。 1920年北洋軍閥御用的“安福國會”的垮台主要歸咎於輿論的壓力。這個國會是親日派，並接受日本貸款。對日本人的切齒仇恨，是中國人的一股最強大、最廣泛的政治激情。這場反對“安福國會”的運動是在學生們的宣傳鼓動下發起的。一開始，“安福國會”有著佔絕對優勢的軍隊力量，但當士兵們在輿論影響下明白了應當為誰而戰時，就開始倒戈。最後反對派進入了北京，幾乎不打一槍就一舉推翻了“安福國會”的政府。
The same influence of public opinion was decisive in the teachers' strike, which was on the point of being settled when I left Peking. The Government, which is always impecunious, owing to corruption, had left its teachers unpaid for many months. At last they struck to enforce payment, and went on a peaceful deputation to the Government, accompanied by many students. There was a clash with the soldiers and police, and many teachers and students were more or less severely wounded. This led to a terrific outcry, because the love of education in China is profound and widespread. The newspapers clamoured for revolution. The Government had just spent nine million dollars in corrupt payments to three Tuchuns who had descended upon the capital to extort blackmail. It could not find any colourable pretext for refusing the few hundred thousands required by the teachers, and it capitulated in panic. I do not think there is any Anglo-Saxon country where the interests of teachers would have roused the same degree of public feeling.這種公眾輿論的影響，在一次教師的罷工鬥爭中也起了關鍵作用，那場教師罷工鬥爭在我離開北京時取得了勝利。當時政府由於腐敗，財政資金一直緊缺，拖欠了教師好幾個月的工資。教師們被迫在學生們的聲援下向政府和平請願，強烈要求補發工資。結果，士兵和警察出面鎮壓，雙方發生衝突，許多教師和學生都受了傷。尊師重教在中國民眾中有著深刻而廣泛的基礎，因而這件事引起了強烈的社會反響。報界立即發表文章表示聲討此事，政府剛得了三個依憑武力強行敲詐勒索的軍閥900萬元的不義之財。政府如果拒絕教師們提出的幾萬元的合理要求，實在找不出任何藉口，無奈只能向輿論屈服。我想在盎格魯撒克遜人的國家裡，不會因為教師的利益而引起如此巨大的社會反響。
Nothing astonishes a European more in the Chinese than their patience. The educated Chinese are well aware of the foreign menace. They realize acutely what the Japanese have done in M​​anchuria and Shantung. They are aware that the English in Hong-Kong are doing their utmost to bring to naught the Canton attempt to introduce good government in the South. They know that all the Great Powers, without exception, look with greedy eyes upon the undeveloped resources of their country, especially its coal and iron. They have before them the example of Japan, which, by developing a brutal militarism, a cast-iron discipline, and a new reactionary religion, has succeeded in holding at bay the fierce lusts of "civilized" industrialists. Yet they neither copy Japan nor submit tamely to foreign domination. They think not in decades, but in centuries. They have been conquered before, first by the Tartars and then by the Manchus; but in both cases they absorbed their conquerors. Chinese civilization persisted, unchanged; and after a few generations the invaders became more Chinese than their subjects.沒有比中國人的忍耐更令歐洲人吃驚的了。受過教育的中國人深刻地認識到外國人對中華民族生存造成的威脅。他們清楚地知道日本人在滿洲和山東的侵略行徑，也明白在香港的英國人正在不遺餘力地破壞廣州革命，企圖建立一個親英的南方政府。他們深知，世界上所有的列強都無一例外地對中國尚未開發的豐富資源，特別是對中國的煤炭、鐵礦垂涎三尺，虎視眈眈。日本是放在中國人面前的一個典型。日本通過推行野蠻的軍國主義，實行嚴酷的紀律，倡立一種新的反動宗教，成功地遏制了“文明的”工業主義者的貪婪慾望。但是，中國人既不模仿日本，也不願馴服地屈從外國勢力的控制。他們考慮問題，不是以幾十年計算，而是以幾個世紀計算。他們以前曾被外族征服過，首先是蒙古人，之後是滿族人；但最後這兩個外族征服者，卻都反被他們同化了。中國的文明源遠流長，亙古不變；經過幾代人之後，入侵者反變得比中國人更像中國人了。
Manchuria is a rather empty country, with abundant room for colonization. The Japanese assert that they need colonies for their surplus population, yet the Chinese immigrants into Manchuria exceed the Japanese a hundredfold. Whatever may be the temporary political status of Manchuria, it will remain a part of Chinese civilization, and can be recovered whenever Japan happens to be in difficulties. The Chinese derive such strength from their four hundred millions, the toughness of their national customs, their power of passive resistance, and their unrivalled national cohesiveness--in spite of the civil wars, which merely ruffle the surface--that they can afford to despise military methods, and to wait till the feverish energy of their oppressors shall have exhausted itself in internecine combats.滿洲里地域廣闊，有一片可供移民的土地。日本人聲稱需要殖民地容納其餘的人口而侵入滿洲里。然而，中國內地遷移到滿洲的移民比日本要多一百倍。不管滿洲此時的政治勢態如何，它必然仍是中國文明的一部分；一旦日本處境危難，滿洲里將會重新回歸中國所有。四萬萬中國人匯聚成這樣一種強大的力量：堅韌不拔的民族精神，不屈不撓的剛強偉力，以及無與倫比的民族凝聚力。儘管中國也有內戰，但只是表面喧鬧。中國人蔑視敵人軍隊的方法，他們一直等到敵人在自相殘殺中消耗了銳氣和精力才起來反抗。
China is much less a political entity than a civilization--the only one that has survived from ancient times. Since the days of Confucius, the Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian, Macedonian, and Roman Empires have perished; but China has persisted through a continuous evolution. There have been foreign influences--first Buddhism, and now Western science. But Buddhism did not turn the Chinese into Indians, and Western science will not turn them into Europeans. I have met men in China who knew as much of Western learning as any professor ​​among ourselves; yet they had not been thrown off their balance, or lost touch with their own people. What is bad in the West--its brutality, its restlessness, its readiness to oppress the weak, its preoccupation with purely material aims--they see to be bad, and do not wish to adopt. What is good, especially its science, they do wish to adopt.中國的文明遠比中國的政治更具有大一統的特性。中國文明是世界上幾大古國文明中唯一得以倖存和延續下來的文明。自從孔子時代以來，埃及、巴比倫、波斯、馬其頓和羅馬帝國的文明都相繼消亡，但中國文明卻通過持續不斷的改良，得以維持了下來。中國文明也一直受到外來文化的影響。從早先的佛教影響，直到現代​​的西方科學的影響。但是，佛教並沒有把中國人變成印度人。西方科學也沒有把他們變成歐洲人。在中國我遇到一些人，他們像我們西方國家教授那樣熟知西方文化。然而，他們並沒有失去文化心理上的平衡，也未脫離自己的人民。他們認為，西方一些不好的東西，如野蠻好戰，動亂不安，欺負弱小，利欲熏心，追求純粹的物質享受目標等，是不可取的。而一些好的東西，特別是西方科學，中國人則希望學習採納。
The old indigenous culture of China has become rather dead; its art and literature are not what they were, and Confucius does not satisfy the spiritual needs of a modern man, even if he is Chinese. The Chinese who have had a European or American education realize that a new element, is needed to vitalize native traditions, and they look to our civilization to supply it. But they do not wish to construct a civilization just like ours; and it is precisely in this that the best hope lies. If they are not goaded into militarism, they may produce a genuinely new civilization, better than any that we in the West have been able to create.古老的中國本土文化已經變得幾近僵死，其文化與藝術已不像過去那樣具有生機，孔子的儒教已不再能滿足現代中國人的需求了。凡受過歐美教育的中國人都認識到，他們需要外來的新因素來振興他們的傳統文化。因而，他們開始轉向西方文明，渴望使中國傳統文化得到新的活力。但是，他們並不希望創建一種類似我們的文明。他們期望開拓一條更為理想的文明之路。假如中國人不被煽動尚武精神，那他們一定會創造出一種新的更加燦爛的文明。這種新文明將比我們西方人現在所能創造出的任何文明更令人神往。
So far, I have spoken chiefly of the good sides of the Chinese character; but of course China, like every other nation, has its bad sides also. It is disagreeable to me to speak of these, as I experienced so much courtesy and real kindness from the Chinese, that I should prefer to say only nice things about them. But for the sake of China, as well as for the sake of truth, it would be a mistake to conceal what is less admirable. I will only ask the reader to remember that, on the balance, I think the Chinese one of the best nations I have come across, and am prepared to draw up a graver indictment against every one of the Great Powers. Shortly before I left China, an eminent Chinese writer pressed me to say what I considered the chief defects of the Chinese. With some reluctance, I mentioned three: avarice, cowardice and callousness. Strange to say, my interlocutor, instead of getting angry, admitted the justice of my criticism, and proceeded to discuss possible remedies. This is a sample of the intellectual integrity which is one of China's greatest virtues.到目前為止，我主要談了中國人性格好的一面；但是中華民族如同世界上任何一個民族一樣，也有其不好的一面。我不情願談及中國人性格上的弱點，因為我在與中國人交往中深深感受到中國人是這樣的謙恭有禮，溫和善良，寧願說自己這些好的感受。但是，不論是出於對中國的真正友善，還是從尊重事實的角度來看，不承認中國人性格中的弱點是錯誤的。我只要求讀者能記住，平心而論，我認為中華民族是我所遇見的世界上最優秀的民族之一。同時，我準備起草一份嚴肅的起訴書，控告任何一個欺侮中國的列強。在我快要離開中國之前，有一位著名的中國作家誠懇地要求我談談中國人性格的主要缺點。我以猶豫的心情談了三點：貪心，懦弱，缺乏同情心。說起來很奇怪，這位作家非但不生氣，反而承認我的批評公正中肯，並和我繼續討論可以對這些缺點進行醫治的辦法。這也生動地體現了中國知識分子的一種最大美德。
The callousness of the Chinese is bound to strike every Anglo-Saxon. They have none of that humanitarian impulse which leads us to devote one per cent. of our energy to mitigating the evils wrought by the other ninety-nine per cent. For instance, we have been forbidding the Austrians to join with Germany, to emigrate, or to obtain the raw materials of industry. Therefore the Viennese have starved, except those whom it has pleased us to keep alive from philanthropy. The Chinese would not have had the energy to starve the Viennese, or the philanthropy to keep some of them alive. While I was in China, millions were dying of famine; men sold their children into slavery for a few dollars, and killed them if this sum was unobtainable. Much was done by white men to relieve the famine, but very little by the Chinese, and that little vitiated by corruption. It must be said, however, that the efforts of the white men were more effective in soothi​​ng their own consciences than in helping the Chinese. So long as the present birth-rate and the present methods of agriculture persist, famines are bound to occur periodically; and those whom philanthropy keeps alive through one famine are only too likely to perish in the next.中國人的缺乏同情心，使每個西方人感到震驚。他們缺乏人道主義的衝動，而這種衝動促使西方用百分之一的精力，去安慰自己用百分之九十九的精力給他人造成的不幸。例如，我們一再禁止奧地利加入德國，阻止他們移民和獲得工業原料，結果，除了一部分維也納人願意靠我們的救濟行善而活下來以外，許多人都餓死了。中國人沒有花精力去餓死維也納人，也不會仁慈行善，讓一些維也納入活下去。當我在中國的時候，幾百萬人死於飢荒；有的人為了幾塊錢將自己的孩子出賣當奴隸，如果得不到這樣一筆錢，他們甚至會殺死這些孩子。救濟饑民這種行善事業，許多都是白種人在那里幹，極少有中國人所為。即便有極少的救濟金也被貪官污吏所吞噬，當然，也可以這樣說，西方人之所以這樣做，與其說是幫助中國人，倒不如說是出於安撫自己的良心。只要中國目前的生育率和農業生產方式依然如故，發生飢荒將是不可避免的。那些在這一次飢荒中靠別人的慈善救濟倖存下來的人，也許在下一次飢荒中很難逃生。
Famines in China can be permanently cured only by better methods of agriculture combined with emigration or birth-control on a large scale. Educated Chinese realize this, and it makes them indifferent to efforts to keep the present victims alive. A great deal of Chinese callousness has a similar explanation, and is due to perception of the vastness of the problems involved. But there remains a residue which cannot be so explained. If a dog is run over by an automobile and seriously hurt, nine out of ten passers-by will stop to laugh at the poor brute's howls. The spectacle of suffering does not of itself rouse any sympathetic pain in the average Chinaman; in fact, he seems to find it mildly agreeable. Their history, and their penal code before the revolution of 1911, show that they are by no means destitute of the impulse of active cruelty; but of this I did not myself come across any instances. And it must be said that active cruelty is practised by all the great nations, to an extent concealed from us only by our hypocrisy.中國祇要改進農業生產技術，同時結合移民和大規模的控制生育，是可以永遠消除飢荒的。中國的有識之士認識到了這一點。因而他們採用不同於白人靠單純救濟的方法去拯救饑民。大多數中國人對自己缺乏同情心都有一種同樣的解釋，並且對許多有關問題的看法是趨向一致的。但這裡仍然有一個問題無法理解。如果一條狗被汽車嚴重輾傷，十有八九過路的中國人會停下來對這條可憐的狗的痛嚎感到好笑，並以此取樂。看到痛苦本身並不會引起一般中國人多少同情心。事實上，他們好像看到別人痛苦還感到很愜意開心。從中國歷史以及1911年以前刑事法典來看，中國人決不是沒有殘忍行為的心理衝動，但我本人並未遇見這種情況。有一點必須指出，所有的西方列強都是殘忍行為的實踐者，只不過我們西方人用偽善部分地掩蓋了我們的殘忍行為。
Cowardice is prima facie a fault of the Chinese; but I am not sure that they are really lacking in courage. It is true that, in battles between rival tuchuns, both sides run away, and victory rests with the side that first discovers the flight of the other. But this proves only that the Chinese soldier is a rational man. No cause of any importance is involved, and the armies consist of mere mercenaries. When there is a serious issue, as, for instance, in the Tai-Ping rebellion, the Chinese are said to fight well, particularly if they have good officers. Nevertheless, I do not think that, in comparison with the Anglo-Saxons, the French, or the Germans, the Chinese can be considered a courageous people, except in the matter of passive endurance. They will endure torture, and even death, for motives which men of more pugnacious races would find insufficient--for example, to conceal the hiding-place of stolen plunder. In spite of their comparative lack of _active_ courage, they have less fear of death than we have, as is shown by their readiness to commit suicide.懦弱，是中國人的令人一看便知的一個缺點。但是，我並不相信他們真的就缺乏勇氣，貪生怕死。在戰場上兩軍相戰，雙方都想逃離戰場，勝利就屬於首先發現對方潰退的一方。但是這只能說明中國士兵是明智的人。因為沒有什麼重大的衝突，軍隊也純粹是由僱傭兵組成。當勢態嚴重時，例如，“太平天國起義”，據說中國人打得非常勇猛頑強，特別是他們在有良帥驍將時更是如此。然而，我認為中國人與英國人、法國人和德國人相比，中國人可算不是勇敢的人民，在許多情況下他們只知消極地忍耐。中國人的忍耐精神是少有的。中國人會為了在許多好戰的民族的人看來全無必要的動機，如只是為了不肯說出別人隱匿被盜物的地方而忍受折磨，甚至死亡。儘管比較起來他們缺乏戰鬥的勇氣，但他們一點也不比我們西方人更怕死，他們隨時準備承擔自殺的義務就是一個明證。
Avarice is, I should say, the gravest defect of the Chinese. Life is hard, and money is not easily obtained. For the sake of money, all except a very few foreign-educated Chinese will be guilty of corruption. For the sake of a few pence, almost any coolie will run an imminent risk of death. The difficulty of combating Japan has arisen mainly from the fact that hardly any Chinese politician can resist Japanese bribes. I think this defect is probably due to the fact that, for many ages, an honest living has been hard to get; in which case it will be lessened as economic conditions improve. I doubt if it is any worse now in China than it was in Europe in the eighteenth century. I have not heard of any Chinese general more corrupt than Marlborough, or of any politician more corrupt than Cardinal Dubois. It is, therefore, quite likely that changed industrial conditions will make the Chinese as honest as we are--which is not saying much.貪心，我以為是中國人最大的缺點。生活艱苦，很難掙錢，為了得到金錢，除了極少數受過良好教育的人外，許多人會貪污犯罪。僅僅為了幾分錢，幾乎所有苦力階層的人都會甘受一次死的危險。中國與日本打仗陷入困境，主要是因為大多數的中國政治家根本不能抵制日本人的賄賂。我認為這種貪婪的缺點可能是根源於經濟條件。也許多少年代以來，品行廉潔的人在生活中吃虧了，得不到所需要的錢。只有當經濟條件改善了，這種貪婪的情況才會減少。我不相信今日中國的貪污腐敗要比歐洲18世紀的情形還要糟。我從沒聽說過中國的將軍比烏爾伯勒公爵更腐敗，也沒有聽說中國的政治家比卡迪納爾杜布瓦貪污受賄更甚。因此，隨著中國工業化的進程，中國人完全有希望變得像我們西方人那樣的誠實。當然至少西方人實際上如何廉潔，只有我們自己知道。
I have been speaking of the Chinese as they are in ordinary life, when they appear as men of active and sceptical intelligence, but of somewhat sluggish passions. There is, however, another side to them: they are capable of wild excitement, often of a collective kind. I saw little of this myself, but there can be no doubt of the fact. The Boxer rising was a case in point, and one which particularly affected Europeans. But their history is full of more or less analogous disturbances. It is this element in their character that makes them incalculable, and makes it impossible even to guess at their future. One can imagine a section of them becoming fanatically Bolshevist, or anti-Japanese, or Christian, or devoted to some leader who would ultimately declare himself Emperor. I suppose it is this element in their character that makes them, in spite of their habitual caution, the most reckless gamblers in the world. And many emperors have lost their thrones through the force of ro​​mantic love, although romantic love is far more despised than it is in the West.我已經說起過，中國人在日常生活中除了有點懶散和缺乏激情外，大多聰明能乾而又多神多疑。但是，這只是他們性格的一方面。在另一方面，中國人又很會狂熱激動；而且常常是一種集體的狂熱激動。儘管我很少見到，但這無疑是事實。 “義和拳”運動的興起就證明了這點。中國歷史上也或多或少地充滿了這樣的動亂。正是中國人性格中的這種因素使他們變得不可捉摸，甚至對中國人的將來也難於預料。你可以想像他們中一部分人會變成積極的布爾什維克主義者，勇敢無畏的抗日救國者，瘋狂的基督教徒，或狂熱地獻身於某個最終宣稱自己為絕對統治者的領袖。我認為正是中國人性格中的這種因素，才使中國人成為世界上最不顧一切後果的冒險者，儘管他們平時一貫小心翼翼。雖然浪漫主義的愛情在中國遠遠比在西方更受蔑視，但是中國歷史上許多皇帝由於追求浪漫主義的愛情而丟掉皇冠。
To sum up the Chinese character is not easy. Much of what strikes the foreigner is due merely to the fact that they have preserved an ancient civilization which is not industrial. All this is likely to pass away, under the pressure of the Japanese, and of European and American financiers. Their art is already perishing, and being replaced by crude imitations of second-rate European pictures. Most of the Chinese who have had a European education are quite incapable of seeing any beauty in native painting, and merely observe contemptuously that it does not obey the laws of perspective.概括中國人的性格並不容易。給外國人印象最深的僅僅是中國人保留著一種尚未受到工業化影響的古代文明。所有這些古代文明可能在侵華的日本、歐洲和美國金融資本家的壓迫下喪失殆盡。中國藝術正在遭受毀壞，取而代之的是拙劣的模仿歐洲的二流繪畫。大多數受過歐洲教育的中國人都對本民族的繪畫缺乏審美能力，而且輕率地認為中國沒有遵循繪畫的透視法則。
The obvious charm which the tourist finds in China cannot be preserved; it must perish at the touch of industrialism. But perhaps something may be preserved, something of the ethical qualities in which China is supreme, and which the modern world most desperately needs. Among these qualities I place first the pacific temper, which seeks to settle disputes on grounds of justice rather than by force. It remains to be seen whether the West will allow this temper to persist, or will force it to give place, in self-defence , to a frantic militarism like that to which Japan has been driven.到過中國的旅遊者發現，獨具魅力的中國優良文化傳統頗難保持下去。它必將隨著工業化的到來而消失。但是，有些東西仍然可以保留下去，如中國人的某些無與倫比的優秀道德品質。這些優秀的品質正是現代社會生活最最迫切需要的。在中國人所有的道德品質中，我最欣賞的是他們平和的氣質，這種氣質使地們在尋求解決爭端時更多地是講究平等公正，而不是像西方人那樣喜歡仰仗實力。當然，中國人能否繼續保持自己溫文平和的性格，完全取決於西方列強的所作所為。假如迫使中國人面對像日本在中國實行的那種極端野蠻的軍國主義暴行，那麼中國人出於自衛而會變得更加無畏。
FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 96: This vexes the foreigners, who are attempting to establish a very severe Press censorship in Shanghai. See "The Shanghai Printed Matter Bye-Law." Hollington K. Tong, _Review of the Far East,_ April 16, 1922.]