柏楊 醜陋的中國人與中國文化的危機

I read this book after seven or eight years of living in Taiwan. I had known about it for a while, but Taiwanese bookstores, usually well-stocked with English language books about China and Taiwan, did not carry it. No wonder. I finally found someone with a copy and then took it to a printer to get my own copy - the Taiwanese way. The Taiwanese believe, not in copyright, but copyleft. Get it? I underlined so many passages in the thin volume it looked like it had been in the custody of a chop-wielding Chinese bank teller. Nearly every assertion and anecdote resonated. Bo Yang said what I had been thinking, but was too afraid to say it, except to other Westerners.

在臺灣居住了七八年以後我讀了這本書。對這本書我只是聽說過，臺灣的書店裏經常有大量的關於中國和臺灣的英文書籍，並沒有賣這本書。這不足爲奇。我最終問別人拿了一本複印本去複印了一本----以臺灣人特有的方式。臺灣人沒版權意識，他們反版權，懂嗎? 我在這本薄薄的書中用線劃下了很多段落，他在書中所講述的內容每每引起我的共鳴。柏楊所說的正是我之前所想的，但是我沒敢說出來，一般只對西方人說。

If a Westerner had penned this book, they would have been branded a racist, or been accused of not understanding "the real China," a common Sinophile charge. But because Bo Yang was Chinese - born in China and later a resident of Taiwan - and because he was a well-known historian, writer, journalist, etc. (he headed the Taiwan chapter of Amnesty International and was an advisor to the Taiwanese government after he did a spell in prison as a dissident) nobody can say boo about this book, not least of all because every sentence is lethally accurate.

如果當初是一個外國人寫下這本書，他們就會被冠以種族主義者的名號，或者被親華者指責爲不理解“真實的中國”。但是因爲柏楊是中國人，生在中國，居住在臺灣，而且是一個廣爲人知的歷史學家，作家，記者等等。（因異見在監獄呆了一段時間後，柏楊成了國際特赦組織臺灣分區的負責人，並擔任臺灣政府的顧問）所以沒有人能對這本書喝倒彩，而且這本書中每句話都一針見血，句句屬實。

Because of the title, I had thought The Ugly Chinaman was a sort of angry tirade, but it is not. It is a well argued denunciation of the ills of Chinese culture. But a neophyte likely would not understand; it helps to live in Chinese society for a while before reading.

因爲這個書名，我本以爲這本《醜陋的中國人》是一種憤世嫉俗的激情演說，但實際上它是對中國文化弊病的極具說服力的譴責。可一個初學者不太可能會明白這些，在讀這本書之前，得花點時間在中國待上一段時間才行。

TUC begins with a dialogue between a doctor and TB patient. The patient accuses the doctor of fabricating the diagnosis and says it is doctors like him who harm the motherland. The patient barks, "It's people like you who are to blame for China's problems. You make foreigners look down on Chinese people because you give them the idea that we're all suffering from TB. Traitors like you suck the blood of the Chinese people and kiss the asses of the barbarian devils. God will strike you dead! Imperial court guards! (coughs) Take him away!"

這本書從一個醫生和肺結核病人的對話開始。這個病人譴責醫生編造了診斷書並說像他這樣的醫生正在毒害着我們的祖國母親。病人吼叫着：”你這樣的人應該爲中國出現的種種問題承擔責任。因爲是你們讓外國人覺得我們中國人都感染了肺結核，他們開始看不起中國人。你這樣的叛徒吸乾了中國人的血，然後去拍那些野蠻人的馬屁。上帝會賜你一死的！王朝護衛們啊！（咳嗽）把他抓走吧！“

It's a reference to the lack of introspection and the proclivity to deny and ignore serious problems. We see examples of this all the time in the news. Villagers say their water has been contaminated by a nearby factory, and local officials accuse them of treason. Recrimination is commonplace. Problems snowball. No one wants to see them; others are afraid to speak book ends with a series of refutations, too. Bo Yang published a series of angry responses written by other "academics" in opposition to his thesis that Chinese culture is, and I quote, primitive, and that Chinese people need to Westernize for the benefit of all. The book's format, then, is very clever: an angry denial, a series of propositions and examples that outline a damning thesis, and more angry denials. Bo Yang knew that no matter how well-reasoned or well-supported his argument, Chinese culture is, to many, beyond reproach. By criticizing Chinese culture, you are only shaming your ancestors, who created Ugly Chinaman is a very bold and interesting book. It is a brave man who can look at his own culture in the eye and say, "You're sick. You need help." Apparently, when this book was published, it sold hundreds of thousands of copies in East Asia. Anyone who has spent time in Chinese society ought to read Parfitt is the author of Why China Will Never Rule the World

書中的這個例子是爲了表明中國人缺乏內省的精神以及否認和忽視嚴重問題的傾向。我們每每看到類似新聞在發生。村民說，他們的水已經被附近的工廠污染，當地官員指責村民們叛國。反責是司空見慣的現象。但問題就像滾雪球一樣沒能得到解決。沒有人想面對這些問題；其他人則不敢說出來。本書也以一連串的反駁作結。他在書中末尾發表了一系列其他學者針對他的論點所作的反駁文章，而他的論點就是中國文化是原始的以及中國人需要進行西化才能讓大衆受益。所以這本書的結構就非常清晰了：先是人們對中國文化弊端的憤怒否認，然後是柏楊所列出的表明中國文化弊端的主張和例子，最後這種主張和例子受到了更多憤怒的否認。至此，柏楊明白了不論他的理論多正確，證據多有力，對於很多人來說，中國文化都是無可指責的，批判它相當於是在侮辱創造它的祖先。《醜陋的中國人》是一本大膽而有趣的書，這個勇敢的人用自己的視角觀察自己的文化，然後說：你病了，你需要幫助” ，當它出版的時候這本書似乎在東亞賣出幾十萬本。在華人社會生活過的人都應該讀讀。