Among the hundreds of living languages, Chinese and English are the most widely used. Chinese is spoken and written by 700 million people plus nearly 20 million overseas Chinese scattered all across the world. The Chinese language has had a far-reaching influence on the written languages of Japan, Korea and Vietnam. English is the language of more than 300 million people in the United Kingdom, the United States, New Zealand, India and Pakistan. English is chosen as a first foreign language by the people of most countries and is close to becoming a "world language". Chinese and English are among the five official languages of the United Nations. The importance of both is growing.
English has been the preferred foreign language of China for half a century. It is studied by the students of the Republic of China beginning in the seventh grade. English books, newspapers and magazines are relied upon by intellectuals as principal source of knowledge. Many Chinese read novels in English, sing the English lyrics of songs and follow the English dialogue of movies and television shows.
People of English-speaking countries have become increasingly interested in the Chinese language. Many universities in the United States have established Chinese language departments. The same trend is observed in Australia. In Hongkong and Singapore, there are universities specializing in Chinese literature. Larger numbers of students from English-speaking nations are enrolling in universities of the Republic of China to study Chinese language and culture. The two languages and cultures are influencing each other on a growing scale.
Chinese intellectuals cannot escape the influence of the English language in education, especially in studies of modern culture and technology. This influence also extends to psychology and action and has generated a number of problems.
Intellectuals and businessmen well-versed in English have been changed in their thinking and way of living. They have drifted from their own society. This is an inevitable consequence of an evolving world. People must become accustomed to life in modern, industrialized society. The world's distances have been bridged and this has led to increased international contacts. Old cultures have been instilled with new influences. They have been enriched but also have had to face added complexities that have helped the people of developing countries enrich both the mental and material sides of life.
Chinese culture is rich and worthwhile. It assimilates foreign cultures but also repulses them. Most modern Chinese like movies in English but reject rock'n roll music that comes out of the same cultural setting.
Many Chinese can speak English as fluently as their mother tongue. But very few are good enough to be recognized as bilingual writers. Those Chinese who speak English more than Chinese are apt to be cut off from their own society. However, such a phenomenon is not so conspicuous and has not constituted much of a social problem in the Republic of China.
English is spoken and written in many government and business organizations when they have contacts with foreigners. There is no escape from English correspondence and documents. Responsible officials of these organizations must be competent to read and converse in English. Otherwise both inconvenience and feelings of inferiority will arise. To learn or improve their English, most of such officials and business leaders in the Republic of China are taking private lessons or attending night classes.
Interaction of the two languages should have important consequences. However, so far the influence has flowed mostly in one direction. English has had a great influence on Chinese but the impact of Chinese on English is negligible.
Chinese is an ancient language which has many advantages: (1) It is monosyllabic. (2) Verbs do not change in accordance with subject, gender and number. (3) The sentence construction is simple and the passive voice is rarely used. This saves time in speaking and space in writing and printing. Chinese characters are so coupled and combined as to make memorization and mass communication easy. (4) The four tones add rhythm to both poetry and prose. These characteristics have led to the gradual departure of the written language from the spoken tongue. The written language, which is beautiful and concise, has become an independent instrument of mass communication. It has made outstanding contributions in unifying the feeling and thinking of the Chinese people during the last several thousand years. In speaking, China has scores of dialects. The people of Heilungkiang in the far north cannot talk with the natives of the Hainan Island in the south; but they write and read the same characters.
Early translations of English novels and poems into Chinese followed the Chinese style and ignored the English syntax while seeking to maintain the spirit and meaning of the original. The accomplishments of these translations were outstanding.
In 1919, Dr. Hu Shih started a "literary revolution" to replace the traditional way of writing the spoken language. Literal translation replaced liberal translation in order to keep the original syntax as intact as possible. The mass production of translated books and the translators' inclination to read English have changed the written language of China drastically and given it a new outlook.
The introduction of numerous new words and English-style syntax has made some written Chinese wordy and redundant. Adept writers can write in a more disciplined and flowery way. Chinese writings have begun to lose their traditional conciseness and rhymical beauty. The overuse of compound and complex sentences has clouded the meaning of Chinese writing and weakened its clarity in mass communication. Passive voice and future tense often appear in modern Chinese writings. Sixty years ago the Chinese never said: "I have been elected to attend the World Pen Pal meeting by the Taipei Pen Pal Club". They never said: "I shall return to Taipei tomorrow" but "I return to Taipei tomorrow". I cannot say whether this change is good or bad.
Because some Chinese poets have been influenced by modern English or American poems, their works have lost the incisiveness and lucidity that marked the writings of the 1930s. Their poetry has become so difficult to recite and understand that readership of poetry is faltering. A spirited debate over modern poetry took place in Taiwan literary circles in 1959. Some progress has been made since then.
English has made valuable contributions to Chinese. It also has done damage. When the spoken style prevails, new words and improved syntax have enabled the Chinese people of today to express their thoughts and feelings better. The damage lies in the increased verbosity of writing. The evolution of written Chinese is continuing. I think there is no stopping change until conciseness has been harmonized with complexity to meet the requirements of mass communications. Modern English is discarding superfluous words and the passive voice. Short, monosyllabic expression has become the style of today. It is quite possible that the gap between the English and Chinese languages will become much narrower.
English stands for a culture of science and democracy. Chinese gives expression to a culture of benevolence and the golden mean. Through complementary influence, the two languages and cultures will refine themselves and help shape the destiny of humankind, I believe that when freedom and democracy again prevail on the Chinese mainland, the liberated Chinese people once more will show their respect toward and interest in the English language. They will join in our common undertaking of establishing a new culture and an order of peace and prosperity for the world. This is the particular responsibility of all who are versed in both English and Chinese, including the Chinese who master English and the increasing number of those from the English-speaking nations who are studying Chinese language and culture. - Chiu Nan
Cultural Renaissance - Too much of the West
In a period of tumultuous changes, the Chinese people have discarded their historical cultural tradition and have encouraged and blindly followed Westernization.
Historical facts are abundant to show that a nation trying to eliminate another would first destroy the other's historical characteristics and culture. During their occupation of Taiwan (1895-1945), the Japanese spared no effort in destroying Chinese characteristics, customs and language.
The loss of Chinese national confidence dates to the Manchu dynasty. After the Opium War, foreign aggressions followed one upon another. As a result, the Chinese lost psychological balance. Some have changed from xenophobia to foreign cajolery. They have even doubted the worth of their own traits.
With Westernization, foreign sciences and democratic systems were transplanted to China regardless of their appropriateness. Both individualism and Communism became influential in China and later brought unprecedented damage to the Chinese nation.
J.S. Mill and Herbert Spencer emphasized individual well-being. They were convinced that every individual was entitled to pursue maximum happiness. This quest was not restricted by government or society. Individualism developed into laissez-faire capitalism. In literature and the fine arts, it led to the romanticism of Goethe, Byron and Hugo.
Individualism is out of step with a Confucianism that advocates self-restraint, benevolence and ethics. As the Doctrine of the Mean says: "What Heaven has conferred is called Nature; accordance with Nature is called the Path of Duty; the regulation of this path is called Instruction. The path may not be left for an instant. If it could be left, it would not be the path."
Individualism in China amounts to egoism or egotism. Those who advocate individualism think it came from the West. But several thousand years ago Yang Chu said: "I would not pull out one hair to benefit the world".
The doctrines of Communism are based on class struggle, dialectic materialism and surplus value. The Chinese Communists propagandize unity of opposites and negation of negations to turn right into wrong and destroy national confidence and the cultural heritage.
In self-abasement, some Chinese shouted "down with Confucianism" and "elimination of the proprieties". Others said: "In order to support democracy and science, we have to fight against Confucianism, the proprieties, chastity, old ethics, old politics and old culture." They denied filial piety in order to destroy Chinese ethics.
Thus society has lacked the moral force to maintain order. Old books have been cast away. Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Founding Father of the Chinese Republic, said: "... Since the invasion of foreign culture, a group intoxicated with the new has begun to reject the old morality. They do not understand that we ought to preserve what is good in our past and throw away only the bad."
In Taiwan, the cultural renaissance movement is also a movement for national salvation. As President Chiang Kai-shek has pointed out, if the culture and history of a nation can be safeguarded, the nation will rise and become strong.
In launching this movement, we must enlist the efforts of all the Chinese people at home and abroad. The movement is neither to restore what is old without selection nor to advocate a closed-door policy. We must create a new Chinese culture by restoring the cultural tradition and absorb the best aspects of Western civilization. - Liu Shang-chien
Chang Liu - Food and character
It is a widely acknowledged fact that Chinese food is the world's best. Unfortunately, China is not the strongest of the big powers. This may be attributed to the fact that most Chinese are gourmands. They have eaten up what might have been aircraft and artillery. French food is considered the best in the West. And France is also not so strong. The romantic atmosphere of Paris has not contributed to the French martial spirit.
Attitudes toward food have much to do with a nation's development. Japan became one of the big powers before World War II. After its surrender and the American occupation, it recovered rapidly. The Japanese people have been content with cold rice and sashimi (raw fish). The German policy before World War II was to trade butter for artillery.
Good food is enjoyed by everyone. But overemphasis is detrimental. Frugality practiced in a natural way is a virtue. The food-saving movement in Hilter's Germany and the "hunger export" policy of the Chinese Communists reflect dictatorial ambition.
Human character may be judged from attitudes toward food. In China, children are taught not to waste food. Those who do are spendthrifts.
Those who decline to try a strange food are conservative, content and possibly cowards. People who like new recipes are generally adventurers. Those who are not fussy about food are popular and make friends easily. People who prefer strong flavors may be stubborn, eccentric and excitable.
Gifted people may be eccentric and have definite likes and dislikes about food and odors. Ku Hung-ming, a great philosopher and linguist of the late Manchu dynasty, liked the stench of bound feet. - Nan Yun