A List of Various National Characters

     There are all kinds of people in the world. Their national characters are very different due to the various history、culture and environment. Every people is proud of its own character, though some should be—as those who have found the science and democracy; some should not, for those who are still enjoying themselves in the morass of autocracy and ignorance.

    French: French people are impetuous, full of revolutionary spirit and romantic feelings. Their national personality is to do it before thinking. As a result, trouble comes before expectation. The only thing left to do is remedy the situation slowly. That is the ending of the French Revolution.

    British: British people are particular about the procedure and have the gentleman’s manner. The national personality is to do while thinking. Neither falling behind nor holding limelight is the two kinds of convenience. They can benefit from the good results and turn around when facing the bad ones. It is just like the Chinese shrewdness—Reading the account book on the donkey back, walking and seeing. (Chinese proverb, means wait and see)

    German: Germans are good at thinking. They never do anything imprudently before a deliberate thought. “Do after making clear, otherwise, think it over” is the rule. Therefore, their thinking time is longer than the working time, just like the foam is always more than the beer in a glass—invented thoughts are more than the concrete practice. But it doesn’t show they progress slowly. They will be very quick only if they think things out. Germany had been a cluster of several principalities when the other nations formed their own nation-state such as the British and France. But they rose abruptly when they decided to build their own sovereignty.

    American: America is a typical pragmatic country. The American will build a model before doing something and carry out after test and verify. If it is wrong, they correct the model and go from the very beginning.

    Italian: Italy is an artistic country.  Half artists and half art critics are there. That is to say, half of Italians are doing the concrete things and the other half are commenting. This country progresses because of this.

    Spanish: Spain is a slack people. It seems they have had nothing to do since they plundered treasure in South America. In this country, one third of people works, one third watches and one third complains.

    Russians: Russia used to be a great people but they are back to the beginning now. In this country, half are working and half are destroying. The two parties neutralize each other and nothing left. That is the reason of their retrogradation.

    Muslim: Allah has considered and arranged all the matters well. What we should do is just to enjoy all of these sitting in our Arab tent.

    Israelite: If all the people are doing the same thing, then, they either mad or stupid. People says Chinese and Israelite are the two wisest nations in the world but there is not a thing which the Israelite do collectively, for example, all the people in this country read a same book interestedly.

Japanese: Stand by and keep watching how others do until they have learned. Then they make a mini-sized one, more exquisite, delicate and economical. Chinese always draw a tiger after the model of a cat. On the contrary Japanese draw a cat after the tiger, because they know the confined island country is not fit for the giant animals like the tiger. They need to find the products, technology and system which are more suitable for the condition of the country.

    Chinese: Chinese do without thinking and do not think afterward. They will repeat from the very beginning, including the mistake. So, the Chinese history is just the duplicates of their ancestors. The Chinese history is long and short at the same time. We say it long, because they had a recorded history more than 5000 years; we say it short, because the histories after the Qin and Han Dynasty are just the copies. You can know the present from the past and see the future through the present.

    I was proud of being a Chinese when I was a child. Now I am still proud, because I have an insight into the weaknesses and mistakes of the nation. ---Some people have realized and criticized such as Lu Xun; but Chinese people still feel good for their arrogance. I take Lu Xun as an example only to illustrate that the Chinese characters that I said above are not the spread rumors injuring the nation’s reputation. Hope the nation not to take them as a precedent though I take a mildly dim view about that.

                                               2007-9-20 at the office

Note:  All above are just the fragments of ideas in the spare time of preparing lessons. I just write them down here casually, in case of oblivion.