The Spirit of the Chinese People
My father recommended to me Mr. Ku Hong-Ming’s works when I was fresh out of high school. He said that since I was going to major in English, it might be as well to read about Mr. Ku works and try to understand how a Chinese writer’s English writing, after such a long period, is still so widely appreciated.
I remember quite clearly how I was totally shocked while for first time I read the great words by Mr. Ku Hung-Ming. The collection of his articles, named “The Spirit of the Chinese People” is one of his very magnum opuses --a pure attempt to interpret the spirit and show the value of Chinese civilization. The special emphasis was laid on the type of humanity the Chinese civilization has produced, namely the man and woman, the type of human beings, the personality, and the soul of the civilization.
“The real Chinaman may be coarse, but there is no grossness in his coarseness. The real Chinaman may be ugly, but there is no hideousness in his ugliness. The real Chinaman may be vulgar, but there is no aggressiveness, no blatancy in his vulgarity. The real Chinaman may be stupid, but there is no absurdity in his stupidity. The real Chinaman may be cunning, but there is no deep malignity in his cunning.”
The spirit of Chinese people, as is mentioned in Mr. Ku’s book: “The serene and blessed mood which enables us to see into the life of things: that is imaginative reason, that is the Spirit of the Chinese People”
The mind and soul of Chinese people happily coordinate with each other. That was because Chinese people were always widely influenced by “the sense of gentleman”. Chinese people have an innocent mind, and in this innocent mind, “the sense of gentleman” has deeply rooted.
He describes the Chinese civilization as a perfect word----mild----compared with “the worship of the mob in Great Britain and the worship of might in Germany”. The reason why feudalism was able to dominate China for thousands of years, from the perspective of Mr. Ku, is
I remember quite clearly how I was totally shocked while for first time I read the great words by Mr. Ku Hung-Ming. The collection of his articles, named “The Spirit of the Chinese People” is one of his very magnum opuses --a pure attempt to interpret the spirit and show the value of Chinese civilization. The special emphasis was laid on the type of humanity the Chinese civilization has produced, namely the man and woman, the type of human beings, the personality, and the soul of the civilization.
“The real Chinaman may be coarse, but there is no grossness in his coarseness. The real Chinaman may be ugly, but there is no hideousness in his ugliness. The real Chinaman may be vulgar, but there is no aggressiveness, no blatancy in his vulgarity. The real Chinaman may be stupid, but there is no absurdity in his stupidity. The real Chinaman may be cunning, but there is no deep malignity in his cunning.”
The spirit of Chinese people, as is mentioned in Mr. Ku’s book: “The serene and blessed mood which enables us to see into the life of things: that is imaginative reason, that is the Spirit of the Chinese People”
The mind and soul of Chinese people happily coordinate with each other. That was because Chinese people were always widely influenced by “the sense of gentleman”. Chinese people have an innocent mind, and in this innocent mind, “the sense of gentleman” has deeply rooted.
He describes the Chinese civilization as a perfect word----mild----compared with “the worship of the mob in Great Britain and the worship of might in Germany”. The reason why feudalism was able to dominate China for thousands of years, from the perspective of Mr. Ku, is