Fatal and incurable flaws found in Chinese culture

Fatal and incurable flaws found in Chinese culture


Brian E. Shultz
The impression of Chinese as a group of annoying people can largely be attributed to the fatal and incurable flaws found in their culture. Few people, both Chinese lovers and bashers; will disagree with the fact that Chinese culture, unlike its western counterparts, did not give the necessary respect to the importance of honesty and spiritual independence. By no accident, traditional Chinese culture could not cope properly with modern civilization because it does not respect the basic elements that constitute modern culture. To most Chinese observers, Chinese culture appears to be a delusive and incomprehensible phenomenon like a mutable specter, formless and yet permeated with deadly longevity. Chinese culture can be best understood as a non-analytical and non-dialectic metaphysical phenomenon. Unlike modern Western culture which derives from Greek-Rome heritage, Chinese culture never formed any systematic structure in which individual thing can be analyzed with rational and logical methods. Consequently, Chinese phenomenon seems to be an intellectual challenge by defying the conventional wisdom. It has been and will remain to be a permanent enigma for those who try to grasp its essence because the elements involved are too elusive to quantify or categorize.

For the best part, Chinese culture can be best interpreted as a moral system aimed at cultivating individual to follow certain ethical value but never treated one as an independent and lively being capable of creative thought. Without respect to the individuality of a person, Chinese culture, in spite of the often dazzling embellishment it has consecrated to itself, is only a spirit of a dead man. Moral formality and individuality can not substitute with each other; instead they should learn how to coexist with each other in a harmonious way. A mind without reason is a sport of all wind. Chinese culture tends to swing itself to the extremes if we compare the hysterical emphasis on austerity of utopian socialism during Mao’s period and the shameless gold worshiping of today’s pseudo capitalism. Chinese never gave a serious thought on the issue such as “death” or “salvation”. By playing unctuous word game, Chinese culture had eschewed from answering the most fundamental question faced by mankind. Avoiding the notion of death has prevented the Chinese from knowing the true meaning of life, and therefore the appreciation of what life can offer. Chinese culture has crippled most Chinese people because a dead body can not inspire a real soul and its viral effect is contagious. Meaningless existence can not bear the burden of taking responsibility. Avoiding responsibility has always been the important feature in Chinese culture. It does not allow people unfettering the present mental and material bondage in order to endow life with a true meaning.

China, through out of its long history, has always been a secular society in which religion and faith find no place to flourish. Chinese people do not understand the meaning of faith because they never enjoy the beauty of spiritual independence. Chinese were comfortably staying at the lowest level in the pyramid of human development. It is safe to say that most Chinese, who existed in this primitive physiological level, can only be labeled as humanoid creatures but not as spiritual human beings. With the strong thirst for money and profit, Chinese may be able to create a society that amplifies the evilness of the capitalism, but can bear no sign of its virtue and positive features. Not surprisingly, China’s new born riches are only obsessed with exploiting others but never give anything back. Knightly chivalry or philanthropy has always been a term incomprehensible to the pathetic selfish Chinese people. Sadly yet truly, most Chinese can only exist in a form similar to that of leeches or parasites, namely living on or exploiting at an advanced social economic system but never capable of creating one themselves.

Traditional Chinese culture’s attitude toward life, no matter how devastating and inhumane it might be, is that of a passive acceptance of destination instead of an incentive for making thing better. In other words, Chinese are lazy by their nature because they are used to be “acted upon” or “ministered onto” by the external forces. Explicitly, this temperament of the Chinese people embodies the very basic characteristics of the slavery mentality. Slavery could easily arouse people’s merciful feeling toward the suffering. Yet one should not forgive the numbness and stupidity associated with this type of mind set because they are the true cause of the all suffering.

As result, Chinese people were easily satisfied with whatever nature or authority offers to them. They usually hold an ambiguous understanding of reality, and show very little interest in giving a try to conceive the mechanism of how nature functions itself. They could not conquer anything but can only be conquered. The power of rationality and reasoning finds no position in Chinese minds. The goal of Chinese culture can best characterize itself as a self fulfilled prophecy or a self conceived lie. This delusion usually leads to self inflicted disaster and crime to which the numbest Chinese often frivolously interpret them as the inevitable fate designated by the power of superior being or mandate of heaven. With this kind mind set, Chinese are indifferent to suffering of the people other than their direct kin. Explicitly, Chinese culture, either intentionally or inadvertently, encourages the dark side of human nature by denying the ability of making things better. Clearly, if Chinese culture prevails, there shall be no modern society as we known of. Fortunately, a dead man can not walk. Human beings are not condemned because of their fatal defects such as the corrupt and despicable traits demonstrated in the Chinese culture, they are redeemed by the power of craving for betterment and the anger of mediocre. Chinese culture could not have played the role of revolutionary force in the process of human evolution. On the contrary, it could only act as a reactionary force that hampers human’s moral and material progress.