《中國人的性格》第九章　靈活的頑固

《中國人的性格》是美國傳教士阿瑟·史密斯（明恩溥）基于1872年赴華傳教期間的社會觀察撰寫的著作，首版英文名《Chinese Characteristics》于19世紀末問世，。作者在華生活逾五十年，書中融合人類學視角與傳教士立場，記錄了晚清民眾的性格特征與文化形態。

全書以27個主題章節剖析中國人行為模式，包含“保全面子”“省吃儉用”等生活哲學，以及“漠視精確”“因循守舊”等社會現象。通過對比西方工業文明，著重探討東方特有的生存韌性，如環境適應力與疼痛耐受性。書中案例多源自山東鄉村生活經歷，涉及衣食住行、孝悌觀念等主題，部分結論因宗教立場存在視角爭議。該著作開創西方研究中國國民性先河，被譯成多國文字，成為近代中西文化互鑒的重要文本。

第九章　靈活的頑固

我們關于中國人的最初知識是來自我們的仆人。盡管他們渾然不覺，他們是我們了解中國人性格的第一任老師。我們對他們也總是不滿意，然而，他們給我們上的課卻令我們難以忘懷。隨著我們與中國人的接觸日益廣泛與深入，我們發現，盡管仆人們是中國人中很小的一部分，但我們與仆人圈子相處不知不覺中逐漸形成的判斷結論，明顯地得到更加廣泛的確證。因為從某種意義上說，每個中國人都是整個民族的一個縮影。本章用這個看似自相矛盾的標題來表述我們所探討的中國人的性格，雖然不能令人滿意，但這個題目看起來卻是最為合適，只要略加描述，就會很容易使人明白。

一個居住在中國的外國家庭可能會雇傭很多用人。在所雇的仆人中，沒有第二個人能夠像廚師那樣完全左右著全家的安寧。女主人雇傭一個新廚子時會對他說，事情應當怎么做，不應當怎么做時，這位新廚子就像是服從的化身。對這家人家里已有的規矩，他都真誠地表示贊同，其誠懇即使還沒有贏得信任，也能給人以好感。女主人特意舉例告誡他說，前任廚師有一個不能容忍的習慣，面包坯還沒有完全發好，就放進烤箱。就因為女主人感到需要堅持諸如此類的細節問題，還有其他很多事都不能與女主人所想的一致，于是兩人吵翻。

對于這一點，候選的廚師的反應令人愉快，他表示，他或許有這樣或者那樣的什么缺點，但這些缺點中不可能有固執。女主人還告訴他，在廚房里，狗、二流子和抽煙都是不能容忍的。他回答說，他討厭狗，也不抽煙，是一個外地人，城里只有幾個朋友，都不是二流子。在提了這么多要求之后，他開始履行職責。

但沒過上幾天，就發現這個廚師在烤面包方面是前任廚師的“親兄弟”，也是把沒發好的面包坯放進烤箱。而且還有數不清的人在廚房里進進出出，許多人還帶著狗。廚房里永遠彌漫著一種沉重的香煙味，如同永久不變的寶物。廚師自己坦然承認，面包做得不是最好，但肯定不是由于揉得不夠。在揉面方面，他是很講究的。在廚房里看到的那些陌生人是他的“哥們兒”，但他們都不曾養過狗，而且他們現在肯定都走了，不再來了——盡管第二天，這些人又在廚房出現了。沒有一個仆人會抽煙，煙味肯定是隔壁傳過來的，那一家的仆人都是煙鬼。這個廚師是個通情達理的人，但是，既然這里沒有什么需要改變，他也就不知道如何去改變。

同樣一個情況，還發生在一個苦力的身上。他被派去割草，給他一把雪亮、鋒利的外國鐮刀，他滿臉微笑地接過鐮刀表示欣賞。但后來到了干活的那天，他用的卻是一把中國鐮刀，由大約四英寸的舊鐵片加上一個短柄做成的。他似乎在說：“還是舊的更好用一些。”你給洗衣工一臺外國的洗衣機，洗起衣服來既節省時間，又省肥皂，省力氣，最為主要的是洗得還特別干凈，還給他加上一臺他專享的甩干機，使用起來既不費力又不損壞衣服的纖維。但是到最后，洗衣機和甩干機都被丟在一邊，成了“有用的廢品”，洗衣工仍然像往常一樣搓洗和絞擰衣服，衣物都弄出破洞來，弄成了碎片。要想去改變這種情況，就只得以不間斷的告誡為代價。

一個園丁被派去用手頭的磚坯修理一下破損的圍墻。可是，他認為在墻頭上插上一尺深的樹枝會更好一些，并且他就這樣做了。如果你問他這樣做的原因，他會說出這樣做的優越性。雇傭一個郵差把一包重要的郵件送到很遠的地方去，光在路上就要走好幾天的路程。頭天傍晚，把郵包交給他，本來，次日一大清早就可以出發。可是第二天下午，還看到他在附近的胡同里晃悠。派人把他叫了回來，問他是怎么回事。他告訴我們說，他不得不休息一天，以來清洗他的襪子！你按天雇傭的一個車夫也是這樣的感受。告訴他走某條路，照理其他人也會這么走，他也答應了。然而，他卻帶你走另一條完全不同的路，因為他曾聽一個陌生的過路人說，那條路不好走。廚師、苦力、園丁、車夫——他們全都不相信我們的判斷，而只相信他們自己。

在一處外國人開的診所和醫院里，都經常可以看到這類現象，以佐證我的這個話題。醫生仔細地給病人做了檢查，開了藥。為了避免出錯，病人拿到藥后，醫生反復叮囑什么時間吃藥，吃多少，千萬別搞錯。病人生怕忘了這些詳細的規定，來回一兩次，反復加以確認。可是一到家，他就一口把兩天的藥都吃了下去，因為他認為，療效的好壞肯定與藥量的多少成正比。醫生反復告誡患者不要動外敷的藥膏，可這些告誡一點都不管用，還是不能阻止他隨時揭掉膏藥。因為病人不希望變成一只“烏龜”，讓一層硬殼長在皮膚上。

這個現象不會讓人感到舒服，但根據觀察，這一現象卻是被證明充分存在的：在一個診所里，主治醫生具有非常豐富的臨床經驗，也擁有各種醫學頭銜，且經驗非常豐富，而助手卻是一字不識，也不知藥的名稱和病的癥狀。但對于一般病人來說，一個無知的助手的看法（并當然地）似乎與主治醫生的看法同樣重要。甚至看門人或苦力的一句話也足以使病人完全不顧醫生的囑咐，而去采納某種肯定是愚蠢的、且完全可能致命的做法。

至此，我們所談到的中國人靈活的頑固的例子，都是與外國人有關的。因為這些事能夠最快引起我們的注意，并影響到我們的最實際的利益。但是，我們越是深入到反映中國人真實氣質的人際關系中，就越會看到“口是心非”的狀況到處都是一樣的，并非一個特例。中國的仆人對待中國的主人，與對待外國的雇主是一樣的，謙虛、順從，但他們沒有意識到仆人是不能自行其是的，同樣，他們的主人也并沒有意識到要求仆人唯命是從。一個外國雇主要求雇員切實地按照吩咐地那樣去做，如果仆人不這樣做，雇主就會在他們之間漸漸地產生敵意。

筆者的一位朋友有一大幫仆人，就屬于這個數目龐大的仆從階級，他們將極端忠誠與極端的固執融為一體，這使他們成為既難得又討厭的人物。我的這位朋友每每談起這些怪“家伙”，就表現出這類仆人的主人所常有的兩難；他經常處于舉棋不定的狀態，不知該殺了那些自以為是的仆人，還是給他們加薪！中國的雇主完全清楚，他的指令會被撂在一邊，但他事先會有所準備，就像預留一筆錢以防備壞賬，或者像在機械設計中所說的，留些空隙以減少摩擦。

這種無視命令的現狀，也不同程度體現在中國的各級官員中直至到最高層。導致違反上級命令的動機會有許多種，比如個人的惰性和為了朋友情面，最重要的動機還是金錢的魔力。有一位地方官，由于其居住地的水質過硬，有咸味，就命令他的仆人用水車到幾里以外的河里去運水。仆人并不是照章辦理，而只是到附近有甜水的村子去取水。他知道水應該是甜的，所取來的水與官員要求的一樣多，而且又少走了三分之二的路程，讓各方皆大歡喜。即使這位官員確切知道他的仆人沒有依照他的命令去做，那么只要有好水喝，他也許就不會過問這件事了。

在中國，“不論白貓黑貓，能抓到老鼠就是好貓”，成功就是一切，一事成功，事事成功。中國人天生怕得罪人，生怕出亂子，不愿惹禍上身。因此，出現了違反命令的不端行為，就算有五百個人知道實情，也不會有人去報告。典型的例子，有一個中國仆人，主人要求他把蓄水池里的水用容器裝起來，以備后用。結果卻發現，他把水統統倒進了井里。就這樣，他表面上一副順從的樣子，而實際上卻是完全相反。雷尼博士說到一件事：廈門的一位官員把一份皇上的公文分成兩部分，把后半部分放到前面，前后倒置，為的就是讓別人難以讀懂。在與外國人打交道的事務中，這種花招是很常見的，中國的官員們很少愿意讓外國人稱心滿意的。

我們經常可以看到，即使在執法過程中也有違法行為，而與司法仲裁的規范相沖突。一個地方官判處一名罪犯戴兩個月的沉重木枷，只有到了晚上才能卸下來。但是，只要在“最關鍵的地方”打點上幾個小錢，使些銀子，那么命令也就可以大打折扣，改頭換面執行了。那位犯人只需在地方官進出衙門時戴上木枷，裝裝樣子，而在其余的時間內，犯人盡可以把可惡的重負丟在一邊。這位地方官是否從不懷疑，賄賂會戰勝他的判決。他會不會偷偷從后面溜出去，當場抓住違背命令的證據？但他沒有這樣做。這個地方官自己也是中國人，他知道，判決書一下達，它就不被當做一回事了。考慮到這一點，他在量刑時就已經把服刑期延長一倍。

這只是各部門官員之間錯綜復雜關系的一個實例。外國人長期不間斷的觀察也證實了這一點。上一級官員命令下一級官員，應當去核實某一步驟的執行情況。下級畢恭畢敬地報告說，這件事已經做了，事實上，這期間根本什么都沒做。在許多情況下，事情就到此結束了。但是，如果某一個部門不斷給予施加壓力，而且命令非常急迫，下一級就會把這種壓力轉嫁給更下一級的官員，并把上一級的指責也轉嫁到他們頭上，直到這種壓力的“風頭”消失殆盡。然后，一切又照常如初。這就是所謂的“改革圖新”。這種“改革圖新”在很大程度上類似于禁止鴉片銷售和罌粟的種植，忽冷忽熱，其結果也是眾所周知的。

毫無疑問，肯定會有人認為中國人是最“固執”的民族。對于這些人來說，我們用“靈活”這個形容詞去描述中國人“頑固”的特性，似乎顯得異常的不恰當。盡管如此，我們必須重申這樣一個觀點，中國人遠非是一個最固執的民族。他們遠不如盎格魯撒克遜人來得固執。我們說他們“頑固”，這是因為在他們像騾子一樣的“頑固”中，也含有一種服從的特質，而這往往是盎格魯撒克遜人所缺乏的。

有一個說明中國人這種“靈活”天賦的最好例子是，中國人能夠不失風度地接受他人的指責。在盎格魯撒克遜人中，這是一門被遺忘的藝術，甚至可以說，這種藝術連見也沒見過。但是，中國人卻能夠耐心地、專心地、誠心地聽你指出他的缺點，并樂于接受，還說：“是我錯，是我錯。”也許，他會因為你善待他這樣一個微不足道的小人物而感謝你，并保證，他會將你所指出的缺點立刻徹底地改正，并永不再犯。你也很清楚，這些信誓旦旦的承諾不過是“鏡中之花、水中之月”。但是，就算他們的天性是不著邊際的，這些話還是很受聽的，也有可能使事情就此結束。而且，你如果對此加以注意，就會發現，他們希望得到的目的也就是這樣子。

有人把中國人比做竹子，很少有比這個更為精確的比擬了。竹子很高雅，用途很廣泛。它很柔韌，中間是空的。東風吹來，它朝西彎，西風吹來，它朝東彎。沒風的時候，它一點也不彎，挺直軀干。竹子的幼苗是一種草本植物。然而，草易于打結，而幼竹盡管柔順，但很難打結。

世界上沒有什么比人的頭發更柔軟的東西了，它可以被拉得很長很長，但是，拉力一旦沒了，它就立刻縮回去。憑借自身的重量，頭發可以倒向任何的方向。許多人腦袋的頭發長成怎么樣，就是怎么樣，一般是不能改變它的方向。俗話說，有一種頭發是“牛舔過的”，也就是說，由于一綹翹著不易梳理的頭發，而其他頭發，不管有多少，都必須順著這一方向梳理。如果把我們居住的星球看成是一個頭，各個民族看做是頭發，那么，中華民族就是一綹被牛舔過的頭發。它可以被梳理，可以被修剪，也可以被剃去，但是重新長出來的頭發，一定依然與以前一樣，其生長的總方向也是難以改變的。

英文原版：

THE first knowledge which we acquire of the Chinese isderived from cur servants. Unconsciously to themselves,and not always to our satisfaction, they are our earliest teachers in the native character, and the lessons thus learned weoften find it hard to forget. But in proportion as our experience of the Chinese becomes broad, we discover that the conclusions to which we had been insensibly impelled by ourdealings with a very narrow circle of servants are strikinglyconfirmed by our wider knowledge, for there is a sense inwhich every Chinese may be said to be an epitome of thewhole race. The particular characteristic with which we havenow to deal, although not satisfactorily described by the paradoxical title which seems to come nearest to an adequateexpression, can easily be made intelligible by a very slightdescription.

Of all the servants employed in a foreign establishment inChina, there is no one who so entirely holds the peace of thehousehold in the hollow of his hands, as the cook. His aspectis the personification of deference as he is told by his newmistress what are the methods which she wishes him to employ, and what methods she most emphatically does not wishemployed. To all that is laid down as the rule of the establishment he assents with a cordiality which is prepossessing,not to say winning. He is, for example, expressly warnedthat the late cook had a disagreeable habit of putting the bread into the oven before it was suitably raised, and that asthis is one of the details on which a mistress feels bound toinsist, he and his mistress parted. To this the candidate responds cheerfully, showing that whatever his other faults maybe, obstinacy does not seem to be one of them. He is toldthat dogs, loafers, and smoking will not be tolerated in thekitchen ;to which he replies that he hates dogs, has neverlearned to smoke, and being a comparative stranger, has butfew friends in the city, and none of them are loafers. Afterthese preliminaries his duties begin, and it is but a few daysbefore it is discovered that this cook is a species of " bloodbrother " of the last one in the item of imperfectly risen bread,that there is an unaccountable number of persons coming toand departing from the kitchen, many of them accompaniedby dogs, and that a not very faint odour of stale tobacco isone of the permanent assets of the establishment. The cookcordially admits that the bread is not quite equal to his best,but is sure that it is not due to imperfect kneading. He isparticular on that point. The strangers seen in the kitchenare certain " yard brothers " of the coolie, but none of themhad dogs, and they are all gone now and will not return—though they are seen again next day. Not one of the servantsever smokes, and the odour must have come over the wallfrom the establishment of a man whose servants are dreadfulsmokers. The cook is the personification of reasonableness,but as there is nothing to change he does not know how tochange it.

The same state of things holds with the coolie who is set tocut the grass with a foreign sickle, bright and sharp. He receives it with a smile of approval, and is seen later in the daydoing the work with a Chinese reaping-machine, which is ahandle. *'bit of old iron about four inches in length, fitted to a shortThe old," he seems to say, " is better." The washerman is provided with a foreign washing-machine, which economises time, soap, labour, and, most of all, the clothingto be washed. He is furnished with a patent wringer whichrequires no strength, and does not damage the fabrics. Thewashing-machine and the wringer are alike suffered to relapseinto " innocuous desuetude," and the washerman continues toscrub and wrench the garments into holes and shreds as informer days. Eternal vigilance iS the price at which innovations of this nature are to be defended.

The gardener is told to repair a decayed wall by using someadobe bricks which are already on hand, but he thinks itbetter to use the branches of trees buried a foot deep in thetop of the wall, and accordingly does so, explaining, if he isquestioned, the superiority of his method. The messengerwho is employed to take an important mail to a place severaldays' journey distant, receives his packages late in the evening,that he may start the next morning by daylight. The nextafternoon he is seen in a neighbouring alley, and on beingsent for and asked what he means, he informs us that he wasobHged to take a day and wash his stockings! It is the sameexperience with the carter whom you have hired by the day.He is told to go a particular route, to which, hke all others inthe cases supposed, he assents, and takes you by an entirelydifferent one, because he has heard from some passing strangerthat the other was not so good. Cooks, coolies, gardeners,carters—all agree in distrusting otir judgment, and in placingsupreme reliance upon their own.

Phenomena illustrating our subject are constantly observedwherever there is a foreign dispensary and hospital. Thepatient is examined carefully and prescribed for, receives hismedicine in a specified number of doses, with directions thricerepeated to avoid mistakes, as to the manner in which andtimes at which it is to be taken. Lest he should forget thedetails, he returns once or twice to make stu"e, goes home andswallows the doses for two days at a gulp, because the excellence of the cure must be in the direct ratio of the dose. Themost mwiute and emphatic cautions against disturbing a plaster jacket are not sufficient to prevent its summary removal,because the patient does not wish to become a " turtle," andhave a hard shell grow to his skin.

It is not a very comforting reflection, but it is one whichseems to be abundantly justified by observation, that theopinion of the most ignorant eissistant in a dispensary seems(and therefore is) to the average patient as valuable as that ofthe physician in charge, though the former may not be ableto read a character, does not know the name of a drug orthe symptoms of any disease, and though the latter may havebeen decorated with all the letters in the alphabet of medicaltitles, and have had a generation of experience. Yet a hintfrom the gatekeeper or the coolie may be sufficient to securethe complete disregard of the directions of the physician, andthe adoption of something certainly foolish, and possibly fatal.

Thus far, we have spoken of instances of inflexibility in whichforeigners are concerned, for those are the ones to which ourattention is soonest drawn, and which possess for us the mostpractical interest. But the more our observation is directed tothe relations of the Chinese to one another, through which ifanywhere their true dispositions are to be manifested, themore we perceive that the state of things indicated by the expressive Chinese phrase " Outwardly is, inwardly is not," isnot exceptional. Chinese servants are yielding and complaisant to Chinese masters, as Chinese servants are to foreignmasters, but they have no idea of not doing things in theirown way, and it is not unhkely that their masters never for amoment suppose that their orders will be literally obeyed. Aforeign employer requires his employes to do exactly as theyare told, and because they do not do so he is in a state ofchronic hostility to some of them. A friend of the writerwho had one of that numerous class of servants who combine extreme faithfulness with extreme mulishness—thus makingthemselves an indispensably necessary nuisance—happily expressed a dilemma into which the masters of such servants areoften brought, when he remarked that as regarded that particular "Boy," he was in a condition of chronic indecision,whether to kill him or to raise his wages! The Chinese masterknows perfectly well that his commands will be ignored invarious ways, but he anticipates this inevitable result as onemight set aside a reserve for bad debts, or allow a margin forfriction in mechanics.

The same greater or less disregard of orders appears to prevail through all the various ranks of Chinese officials in theirrelations to one another, up to the very topmost round. Thereare several motives any one of which may lead to the contravening of instructions, such as personal indolence, a wish tooblige friends, or, most potent of all, the magnetic influenceof cash. A district magistrate who lived in a place where thewater is brackish, ordered his servant to take a water-cart anddraw water from a river several miles distant. The servantdid nothing of the kind, but merely went to a village where heknew the water to be sweet, and provided the magistrate withas much as he wanted of this fluid, to the saving of two thirdsthe distance and to the entire satisfaction of all parties. If themagistrate had known to a certainty that he was disobeyed, itis not probable that he would have uttered a whisper on thesubject so long as the water was good. In China " the catthat catches the rat is the good cat." Nothing succeeds likesuccess. The dread of giving offence and the innate Chineseinstinct of avoiding a disturbance would prevent misdemeanours of disobedience from being reported, though five hundredpeople might be in the secret. That was a typical Chineseservant who, having been told to empty the water from acistern into something which would save it for future use,was found to have poured it all into a well! Thus he contrived to preserve the shell of conformity, with the most absolute negation of any practical result. Dr. Rennie mentionsthe case of an official at Amoy, who cut in two an Imperialproclamation, posting the last part first, so that it could noteasily be read. Such devices are common in matters concerning foreigners, whom mandarins seldom wish to please.

It is easy to see how such a poKcy of evasion may comeinto colUsion with the demands of justice. The magistratesentences a criminal to wear a heavy wooden collar for aperiod of two months, except at night, when it is to be removed. By the judicious expenditure of cash " where it willdo the most good," this order is only so far carried out thatthe criminal is decorated with the cangue at such times as themagistrate is making his entrance to and his exit from theyamen. At all other times the criminal is quite free from theobnoxious burden. Does the magistrate not suspect that hissentence will be defeated by bribery, and will he sUp out theback way in order to come upon the explicit proof of disobedience? By no means. The magistrate is himself a Chinese,and he knew when the sentence was fixed that it would notbe regarded, and with this in mind he made the term twice aslong as it might otherwise have been. This seems to be asample of the intricacies of official intercourse in all departments, as exemplified by what forefgners continually observe.The higher officer orders the lower to see that a certain step istaken. The lower official reports respectfully that it has beendone. Meanwhile nothing has been done at all. In manycases this is the end of the matter. But if there is a continuedpressure from some quarter, and the orders are urgent, thelower magistrate transmits the pressure to those still lower,and throws the blame upon them, until the momentum of thepressure is exhausted, and then things go on just as they werebefore. This is called " reform," and is often seen on a greatscale, as in the spasmodic suppression of the sale of opium, or of the cultivat'on of the poppy, with results which are knownto all.

There are doubtless those to whom the Chinese seem themost " obstinate " of peoples, and to such the adjective " flexible," which we have employed to characterise the " inflexibility" of the Chinese, will appear singularly inappropriate.Nevertheless, we must repeat the conviction that the Chineseare far from being the most obstinate of peoples, and that theyare in fact far less obstinate than the Anglo-Saxons, We callthem " flexible " because, with a " firmness " like that of mules,they unite a capacity of bending of which the Anglo-Saxon isfrequently destitute.

No better illustration of this talent of the Chinese for " flexibility " can be cited, than their ability to receive gracefullya reproof. Among the Anglo-Saxon race it is a lost art, orrather it is an art that was never discovered. But the Chinese listens patiently, attentively, even cordially, while youare exposing to him his own shortcomings, assents cheerfully,and adds, " I am in fault, I am in fault." Perhaps he eventhanks you for your kindness to his unworthy self, and promises that the particulars which you have specified shall beimmediately, thoroughly, permanently reformed. These fairpromises you well know to be " flowers in the mirror, and thebright moon in the water," but despite their unsubstantialnature, it is impossible not to be mollified therewith, and this,be it noted, is the object for which they were designed.

Few comparisons of the sort hit the mark more exactlythan that which likens the Chinese to the bamboo. It isgraceful, it is everywhere useful, it is supple, and it is hollow.When the east wind blows it bends to the west. When thewest wind blows it bends to the east. When no wind blowsit does not bend at all. The bamboo plant is a grass. It iseasy to tie knots in grasses. It is difficult, despite its suppleness, to tie knots in the bamboo plant. Nothing in nature is more flexible than a human hair. It can be drawn out a largepercentage of its own length, and when the tractile force iswithdrawn, it at once contracts. It bends in any direction byits own weight alone. There is a certain growth of hair onmany human heads which consists of definite tufts, quite persistent in the direction of their growth, and generally incapable of any modification. Such a growth is vulgarly called a" cow-lick," and as it cannot be controlled, the remaininghairs, however numerous they may be, must be arranged withreference thereto. If the planet on which we dwell be considered as a head, and the several nations as the hair, theChinese race is a venerable cow-lick, capable of being combed,clipped, and possibly shaved, but which is certain to growagain just as before, and the general direction of which is notlikely to be changed.