陈凯博客： www.kaichenblog.blogspot.com

价值一语： Words of Value:

Without our faith in free will the earth would be the scene not only of the most horrible nonsense but also of the most intolerable boredom. --- Arthur Schnitzler

如果没有我们个人的自由意志，这个世界不光只是一块最可怕的充满荒唐的土地，它同时也会是一块最让人难以忍受的无聊至极的土地。 --- Arthur Schnitzler

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“全面”就是“婊子牌坊”
Being "Virgin Whores" is a Chinese Specialty

By Kai Chen 陈凯 (Written 10/2/2006, Reprint 9/26/2011)

Today I wrote a response to todcom in the "Youpai Forum" 右派论坛 to further clarify my opinion on an essay about the "gap between the rich and the poor" (为什么要反对贫富差距扩大）. I will paste my response below as an essay on the Chinese cultural vice of taking being "virgin whore" as a virtue and a wisdom. To me, all the Chinese care about is to be all around "全面“，（all face), to be non-committal, to be pleasing everyone... It turns my stomach every time I sense and defect such cultural viruses and spiritual narcotics. I seldom see a Chinese stand his ground and say:

"This is me. This is where I stand. This is what I respresent. And I will take all the responsibility and consequences for what I stand for, period."

Are you ready to take a stand??!!

Best. Kai Chen 陈凯

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Dear Todcom:

Thanks for posting the message. I now quote from the essay (为什么要反对贫富差距扩大),（On Why We Should Fight To Narrow The Gap between The Poor and The Rich):

"有了以上的分析，我们意识到，原来反对贫富差距是人的某种本能，这种本能是不以人的理性为转移的，很多人竟然写了大量文章去反驳这种本能，同它做对，这样做肯定不会有什么结果。" -- Quote from Youpai Forum

You are right about the title being confusing and contradictory to the claimed intention of the author. Yet there are many passages that are contradictory to each other and to the intention that you claim the author had.

One extremely damaging cultural vice for many Chinese authors is that they aim at nothing and everything. In other words, they try to be "balanced" or "all around", try not to be morally judging and offensive to others, try to talk with both sides of their mouths, so they can somehow always escape the necessary responsibility any living human being should have. It is understandable after two thousand years of despotic oppression and repression on any individual who dares to take a stand on any issue regardless what the authority says. To survive, not to Live, to merely talk, not to Express..., mar almost all the Chinese thinkers and writers. Confusion is the only outcome from such a cultural vice, and the endless dynastic cycles are the proven result from such a cultural defect.

Take the above quote as an example. If jealousy is only a human instinct, not a sin, or a vice, then we should not fight it for it is in everyone of us and it will continue forever anyway. By such an amoral (and immoral) claim, jealousy is legitimized as a mere human nature, not a sin in us for us to be aware of and fight against. Somehow we should accept it and live with it. It is exactly this trait in the Chinese defective culture that has caused human moral confusion and paralysis. No wonder corruption is rampant in China since the beginning of time, for corruption in human soul is accepted as something we have to live with, and worse in the Chinese case, that we have to accept as a cultural mores and even cultural pride by saying to ourselves that this is the "Chinese Way". A portrait of soulless beings, isn't it?!

Too often I see this cultural vice surface in many Chinese essays and articles: They can claim to have a point in the beginning, but in the end of the essays they will use one sentence or two to refute, to dilute, to neutralize, to confuse, to escape everything he or she has just written, every point he or she has just made. "Virgin-Whore" 婊子牌坊 is what I call this cultural vice and moral degeneration.

I have met many Chinese in life who exhibit such a "China Syndrome". They will try to do everything to escape any moral and intellectual commitment they appear to have just promised a moment before. They will agree with every point I have made in the conversation and in the next second go back to their "Chinese ways" of lying, self-deceiving, taking advantage of others' weaknesses, abuse others' trust, abuse their own family members, being loyal to China and their own skin color but not truth.... Nothingness in an amoral and immoral state of living is what they feel the most comfortable with, not knowing themselves that they are only passing time, NOT living a life, not knowing they are the very victims of their own sick mentality.

Look into the Chinese eyes carefully and deeply, you will find that what I say here is true: There is nothing essential in their existence, nothing moral, nothing substantial, nothing worth living for in their lives.... It is all about survival physically, and vanity-wise, it is all about "saving face" from moment to moment. Take your time to look into their eyes, their souls, to look into the mirror, into your own souls to find whether or not they, as well as you, have already become the passive, helpless victims of their and your own cultural environment permeated with many cultural viruses and vices, infused with spiritual narcotics such as this "Virgin Whore Complex". Look deeply into their and your own souls to find whether or not they as well as you have already become the parasitic maggots worming in others' feces, or in others' wounds full of puss.

In the end, you just have to ask the authors after you finish reading the essays written by these 全面，(all face) all around, nihilistic entities:

"What is your F--- point?"