Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
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I must have given 50 or 60 copies of this book away to all my Western friends who want to understand more about Chinese people. I explain to them that understanding the Chinese is just like how you would try and understand a tree. It is not just the leaves and the branches – you have to understand the roots as well. We are like plants: you need to understand our environment to understand our culture.
我一定已经向那些希望了解中国人的西方朋友们赠送了50到60册书。我向他们解释说理解中国文化就好比你尝试理解一棵树的过程；其中并不止包括枝叶，你还必须去理解周围的环境以认识我们的文化。
Your second book is The Spirit of the Chinese People by Hung-ming Ku.
Yes. He was the first professor to teach foreigners in English so he wrote this book to give his students a better understanding of what the Chinese people are like. It was published in 1915 and it talks about the soul of Chinese culture. He explains why Chinese people respect old people and food. So, for example, for Chinese people part of the social order is that you never challenge your elders. This book is all about the roots of today’s culture. He wants Westerners to understand why we are so different from them. A large part of that is because we are brought up by the seasons and nature. We don’t have such strong religious roots. We adopted Buddhism as our Chinese philosophy relatively late on into our culture.
In this tiny book Hung-ming Ku wants people to understand that we are much more rooted in the power of nature like stone, plants, water, fire and gold. If you look at all the old Chinese paintings they are not about heaven and royalty like many of those in the West. We are much more focused on nature, the seasons, animals, birds and water. You will see those things in many of the ink and silk old paintings. I must have given 50 or 60 copies of this book away to all my Western friends who want to understand more about Chinese people. I explain to them that understanding the Chinese is just like how you would try to understand a tree. It is not just the leaves and the branches – you have to understand the roots as well. We are like plants: you need to understand our environment to understand our culture.
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Xinran is a Chinese writer, broadcaster and founder of The Mother’s Bridge of Love, an organisation reaching out to adopted Chinese children all over the world. She chooses five books on Chinese history and culture and says the birth of a donkey is more likely to be celebrated in rural China than that of a baby girl.
您推荐的第二本书是辜鸿铭的《中国人的精神》。
是的，辜鸿铭是第一个用英文向外国人授课的中国教授，他写作此书的目的是为了让学生更好地理解中国人。这本1915年出版的书主要讨论了中国文化的灵魂。他阐释了为什么中国人对长者和饮食文化都尤为看重。例如对中国人而言，社会秩序的重要一环在于你从不挑战长者的地位。书中阐述的更是当今中国文化的根源，他希望西方人能够理解中国文化的差异性。其中一个重要的原因就在于我们中国人成长于季节与自然之中，而并没有强烈的宗教根源。佛教被吸收进入中国文化是一件晚近出现的事情。
在这本小书中，辜鸿铭希望人们理解自身与自然界金木水火土五行的渊源。在中国传统的水墨画和丝绣里，人们更多看到的是四季景色，花鸟鱼虫而非西方式的对宗教想象。我一定已经向那些希望了解中国人的西方朋友们赠送了50到60册书。我向他们解释说理解中国文化就好比你尝试理解一棵树的过程；其中并不止包括枝叶，你还必须去理解周围的环境以认识我们的文化。
Read full interview
Xinran is a Chinese writer, broadcaster and founder of The Mother’s Bridge of Love, an organisation reaching out to adopted Chinese children all over the world. She chooses five books on Chinese history and culture and says the birth of a donkey is more likely to be celebrated in rural China than that of a baby girl.
