《中国人的精神》 决赛作品 汪诗琪
The Spirit of the Chinese People
E9汪诗琪
As a widely acclaimed work of Mr Koo, The spirit of the Chinese People is a wonderful book which illustrates the spirit of the Chinese people and shows the value of the Chinese civilization. Under the background of the First World War, the author exploits the deepest reason of the war, advocating making good use of Chinese traditional civilization to get rid of the war and maintain peace around the world. Although this book’s intended reader is foreigners, I, as a Chinese, also benefit a lot from it. The rediscovery of the inner value of Chinese civilization breaks down my stereotypes of Chinese traditional customs, thus encourages me to rethink the real meaning of their existence. During this process, I improve my cultural confidence, determined to promote our excellent civilization to the globe.
I must admit that due to the restriction of that era where Mr Koo lived, some standpoints of him is so absurd and out-fashioned that I can hardly agree with. However, this can not deny the fact that The spirit of the Chinese People is a terribly penetrating and logical book from which I can learn various lessons that I can’t learn in this rapidly developed society.
This book firstly introduces the inherent reason of the First World War and how the militarism evolved, then he proposes a solution called The Religion of good citizenship to eliminate the militarism and preserve the peace of the world, convincing the readers by making comparisons between China and European countries. Then followed the description of the real Chinaman, the Chinese woman, the Chinese language and the Chinese scholarship, ironically criticizing the foreigners’ s arrogance and ignorance and rectifying their misunderstanding at the same time.
The first thing that attracts me is Mr Koo’s extremely logical threads and rigorous reasoning, which makes me hard to oppose his views. Take his explanation of the occurrence of the militarism as an instance, he says, due to the lack of the moral force to regulate and control the passion in the heart of man, the European country is afraid that his neighbors will rob and murder him as soon as he gets strong enough, so he pays for armed policeman to protect himself, namely militarism. He doesn’t simply blame the war or the militarism on the mob. Instead, he manages to trace this problem to the ultimate source, which inspires me to unveil the cover of the consequences that seemed a matter of course. Just as the saying goes, we reap what we sow. Only in this way can we really tackle the difficulties completely.
As I read this book, I am slowly absorbed into the cultural atmosphere Mr Koo creates, deeply impressed by the pure spirit of the real Chinaman, including Chinese man and Chinese woman. They all bear their responsibilities sedulously, with their sincere belief and divine religion. They all make sacrifices to the society. The man toils to support his family, does his duty not only to his king but also to his country, sometimes even at the cost of his own life. The sacrifice of a woman in China is to live selflessly for the man whom she calls husband. The author believes that the selflessness is what makes the concubinage in China not such an immoral custom as people generally imagine. It’s certainly a distinctive opinion, which I find myself reluctant to accept. As far as I am concerned, weakness is not the reason to bully the weak. Similarly, selflessness can’t be the reason to hurt a woman. As for the opinion that women will not feel hurt because of their selflessness, I have to argue that emotion is different from reason. Concubinage is reasonable in ancient China, but it is undoubtedly unemotional, especially merciless to women at that time. After all, he is a man, not a woman, so it isn’t strange that he can’t understand the inner feeling of women.
Although some idea of Mr Koo is not persuadable, I am still moved to tears for his struggle to defend our traditional but precious civilization. I am also stunned by his unprecedented attainment and proficiency in English. He is a charmed man not just for his linguistic achievement, but for his wholehearted love to our people, our nation, our country, and our civilization.
The spirit of the Chinese People is a masterpiece of real worth. Furthermore, I hope it can be more than a good English book, but a Chinese book.
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