《中國人的性格》第十一章　神經麻木

《中國人的性格》是美國傳教士阿瑟·史密斯（明恩溥）基于1872年赴華傳教期間的社會觀察撰寫的著作，首版英文名《Chinese Characteristics》于19世紀末問世，。作者在華生活逾五十年，書中融合人類學視角與傳教士立場，記錄了晚清民眾的性格特征與文化形態。

全書以27個主題章節剖析中國人行為模式，包含“保全面子”“省吃儉用”等生活哲學，以及“漠視精確”“因循守舊”等社會現象。通過對比西方工業文明，著重探討東方特有的生存韌性，如環境適應力與疼痛耐受性。書中案例多源自山東鄉村生活經歷，涉及衣食住行、孝悌觀念等主題，部分結論因宗教立場存在視角爭議。該著作開創西方研究中國國民性先河，被譯成多國文字，成為近代中西文化互鑒的重要文本。

第十一章　神經麻木

從“nervous”（神經質的）這個詞的不同用法中，可以看出現代文明的一個非常有意思的方面。這個詞的原意是“神經的，強有力的，剛強的，有活力的”。這個詞的引申意思之一，也就是我們今天經常碰到的，是“有神經衰弱或神經疾病的，神經過于緊張的，易激動的，軟弱的”。表述神經疾病處于不同階段的各種專業醫學術語，今天在我們聽起來，完全像是日常用語那樣熟悉。現代的文明無疑使人們的神經過于緊張，各種各樣的神經疾病也相應地比前一個世紀更為常見。

但是，我們現在要說的并不涉及那些真正患有神經疾病的人，我們要說的是為數眾多的西方人。這些人并非有疾病而健康狀況不佳，相反，他們在身體健康的情況下，經常以各種方式被提醒到，神經系統是全身最重要的部分。因此，簡而言之，我們說的是那些“神經質”的人，我們心目中在這里也包括所有我們的讀者。至少對于盎格魯撒克遜人來說，那些生活在蒸汽機和電力時代的現代快節奏的人們，其神經的緊張程度，當然不同于生活在帆船和馬車為代表的緩慢節奏時代的人們。我們的時代是一個日新月異的時代，也是一個急匆匆的時代。甚至連吃飯的空閑都沒有，神經一直處于高度緊張狀態，其后果完全是人盡皆知的。

我們今天這個時代的商人都有一副焦慮、不安的神態（至少在西方國家做生意的人是這樣），他們好像時時刻刻都在盼望著一封影響其命運的電報——他們事實上也的確經常是在等著電報。我們會在許多舉動中無意識地暴露這種精神狀態。我們無法靜靜地等待，常常坐立不安，心情煩躁。我們在一邊談話時，一邊還要撥弄著手中的鉛筆，似乎此刻我們必須立即寫些什么，否則就來不及記錄了一樣。我們搓著雙手，好像準備干一樁需要耗費全部精力的嚴峻任務。我們撥弄著大拇指，像野生動物那樣迅速轉過頭去，似乎總是擔心背后有某些被忽略的危險事物。

我們總有一種感覺，有什么事情我們現在應該立刻去做，刻不容緩，即使我們已經盡力完成了手頭上其他幾件更為緊迫的要事，又立刻投身于那件事中去。我們的神經過度緊張，不僅導致了諸如“提琴手痙攣”、“電報員痙攣”、“書寫者痙攣”之類的病，而且導致了民眾整體普遍的緊張氣氛。我們的睡眠大不如從前，無論就時間長度還是就休息的有效性而言明顯如此。樹上的小鳥一聲鳴叫、射進我們昏暗房間里的一絲光線、微風吹動百葉窗的一點響聲或者是一個人輕微的說話聲，諸如此類，都會令人討厭地打斷了我們的睡眠。稍有風吹草動，我們就會醒來，而一旦醒來，就別想再睡著了。我們把每天的生活都安排得緊貼著我們自己，其結果是我們便失去了真正的休息。在今天，有這樣一種說法：銀行家只能抱著銀行去睡覺才能成功。這就不難理解了，在股東們收獲自己的利益之時，銀行家卻大嘆倒霉。

這樣，在我們對西方人日常生活中所熟悉的事實作了一番描述之后，如果讓一個西方人以之為對比，去了解以前所看到的、感覺到的每一個熟悉的中國人，那么，他肯定會看到或感到有某種強烈的反差。中國人去世后，很少有人用尸體進行解剖研究的。當然，毫無疑問肯定也曾做過。可我們從來沒聽說過“黑頭發人”的神經組織與高加索白種人的神經有什么根本的不同。中國人的神經組織與西方人的相比，正像幾何學家所說，是“相似形”。但是有一點確鑿無疑，他們的神經緊張程度卻顯然與我們所熟悉的神經大相徑庭。

對一個中國人來說，在一種姿態上無論保持多久，似乎都沒有什么特別的差異。他可以像一個機器人一樣，整天地寫個不停。如果他是一個手藝人，他可以從早到晚地站在一個地方干活，編織、敲打金箔或干其他什么事，而且是日復一日地從事這種勞作，沒有任何變化。顯然，他也根本沒有想過，這種單調需要有任何變化。同樣，中國的學生們也是長時間地被限制在某個地方，既沒有休息也沒有活動，功課是一成不變的。若在西方，這種功課肯定會逼得小學生們發瘋的。我們的孩子幾乎一生下來就好動，相反，中國人的嬰兒抱在懷里卻像泥菩薩那樣靜靜地躺著。稍長大一點，西方人的孩子頑皮得就像是一只猴子，而中國人的孩子卻往往是一動不動地坐著、站著或蹲著，往往能保持很長的一段時間。

在中國人看來，活動筋骨、鍛煉自己，對于身體來說是多余的。他們不能理解為什么外國人都愛外出散步。至于冒著生命危險，像“模擬打獵”的游戲那樣分別扮演“兔子和獵犬”，你追我跑地去打壘球，更是難以理解了。廣州的一位教師看到一名外國女子在打網球，就問仆人：“她這樣跑來跑去要付給她多少錢？”如果告訴他說：“沒錢。”他根本不會相信。在中國人看來，一樁事完全有能力雇苦力去做，為什么還要自己去做？他對此根本不理解，要是有人說這樣做有什么好處，他更是聽不懂了。

在睡覺方面，中國人與西方人也有很大的不同。一般說來，中國人似乎不論什么地方都可以睡。那些會讓我們根本無法入睡的小干擾，對他們卻起不到任何作用。有一塊方磚當做枕頭，有用草梗、泥土或藤做的床，他們就可以躺在上面呼呼大睡，其他什么都不管。他們睡覺時，不需要房間里的光線暗一些，也不需要別人保持安靜。“半夜里啼哭的嬰兒”，你喜歡哭就哭吧，因為這根本不會吵醒他們。在有些地區，在夏天午后的兩小時里，所有的人都本能似的（像越冬的熊）躺下來睡覺，很有規律，也不管他身在何處。在這個季節的正午后兩小時的時間內，整個世界就像半夜后兩點一樣寂靜。不論對于干粗活的人，還是其他什么人，睡覺的地方并不重要。橫臥在三輪手推車上，腦袋像一只蜘蛛向下垂著，張大著嘴，蒼蠅在嘴里飛進飛出。若以這樣的睡覺本事為標準，經過考試招募一支軍隊，那么，在中國，可以輕而易舉地招募到數以百萬計——不，數以千萬計這樣的人。

除此之外，我們肯定能看到的事實是：這就是在中國，人們對舒暢地呼吸空氣似乎不講究，沒有什么地方可以算是空氣流通的，除非是一陣臺風掀掉了屋頂，或是一場饑荒迫使房屋的主人拆掉房子變賣木料。我們常常聽說中國人住得過分擁擠，但是，中國人覺得這很正常，似乎不會有任何的不方便，即使有一點不方便，那也是不足掛齒。如果他們像盎格魯撒克遜人那樣戴上一副易于激動的神經裝備，那么，他們的悲哀就一如我們通常所想象的那樣。

中國人對于肉體痛苦的忍耐力，也同樣是他們能夠擺脫神經的統治而獲得自由的一個例證。對中國醫院的手術場面略略有所了解的人都知道，中國的病人常常是面對疼痛而毫不退縮，有些疼痛還可能令我們外國的壯漢子都感到望而卻步。這一話題可以輕而易舉地擴展為一篇論文。但我們必須把它擱在一邊，而去聽一聽喬治·艾略特在一封信中所說的“最高的感召與選擇”——她顯然是被她所不感興趣的神學套話激怒了，因而說道，“是不用麻醉藥，眼睜睜地去忍受疼痛。”如果她說這句話是正確的，那么毫無疑問，大多數中國人至少已經做出了他們的感召與選擇。

勃朗寧夫人曾說過：“不抱著同情心去觀察，只會造成曲解。”無疑，這只是對像這位著名女詩人一類具有敏感大腦的人而言的。西方人不喜歡被別人看著，尤其是他正在做一件難做的事時，更是如此。但是，中國人也許喜歡在別人的觀看下做好他們的工作。在中國那些外國人不常去的地方，我們的一到來，就會引出一大群中國人前來圍觀。他們用好奇的目光盯著我們看，使我們一下子就產生了厭煩之感。

其實，他們只是不帶任何情感地看著我們，并不是要傷害我們。但我們還是經常抱怨，若不把他們驅散，我們就會“發瘋”。而對中國人來說，西方人這種本能的感覺，似乎完全無可理喻。中國人并不在乎有多少人在看他，什么時候看，看多久。若是有人對別人的觀看表示出極度強烈的反感，那么，他自然地會懷疑那個人是否有毛病。

西方人不僅睡覺時需要安靜，生病時更要安靜。即使在平時他從未有過對安靜的要求，那么他現在病了，可以要求不受噪聲的干擾了。朋友、護士、醫生都會齊心協力，確保為患者提供環境所允許的對治好病最為重要的這一條件。如果病人所得的病已是無力回天，那么，病人更得處于一種最安寧的環境之中。

中國人與西方人風俗的最突出的差異，就在于如何對待病人。某人得病的消息就是一個行動信號，來自四面八方的探視，都會強加于病人身上。探視者的人數是與病情嚴重程度成正比，病情越重，探視者也就會越多。此時，誰也不會想到，病人自己需要安靜。而且說來奇怪，似乎誰都不需要安靜。那么多前來探視病人的客人，需要熱熱鬧鬧地迎送、招待。有些人擔心病人不久就會死去，而痛哭不止。尤其是和尚、尼姑以及其他驅鬼的巫師也造成了極大的混亂。對大多數西方人來說，面對這樣一種環境，還不如死了更好。當一位尊貴的法國夫人對前來探視的人說：“她正在死去，請原諒不要打擾。”西方人一定對之抱有深深的同情之心。而在中國，決不會有人道出這樣的懇求的。即使有，也不會被人接受。

還必須指出，在這個令人心煩意亂的動蕩世界里，令人們感到擔憂和焦慮的事情無所不在。中國人不僅像其他民族一樣受到這些邪惡的影響，而且要更深重得多。在許多地區，他們的社會生活條件使得有相當比例的人總是掙扎在崩潰的邊緣。只要雨水稍微減少，就會有成千上萬的人挨餓。只要雨水稍微增加，洪水就會沖毀他們的家園。

中國百姓很難幸免于官司的糾纏，一旦吃了官司，即使當事人是完全無辜的，也難逃傾家蕩產的厄運，而且沒有任何補救的辦法。許多這些災難不僅看得見，而且可以感到它正在不斷地悄然降臨，如一件漸漸收緊的鐵制的裹尸布。

對我們來說，最恐怖的莫過于猛然領悟到將有一場巨大的災難降臨，不可抵御卻又無能為力。中國人在面對這種災難時，也許是因為它是不可避免的，從而“頭腦清晰地去忍受它”。這正構成了這個民族最為顯著的性格之一。只有那些親眼目睹災荒年月，成千上萬百姓默默地死于饑餓的人才能夠理解其中的含義。要全面了解中國人，就必須去看，但無論看到什么程度，西方人都難以真正理解。就像中國人很難真正理解盎格魯撒克遜人，繼承并發展了的個人自由和社會自由的理念。

無論我們從哪個方面去考察中國人，我們都會發現，中國人在我們眼中或多或少依然是一個謎。我們將不斷地去理解他們，直至我們終于相信，他們與我們相比是“神經麻木”的，否則我們便無法了解他們。我們不敢冒昧地做出猜測，這一意味深長的說法會對這個民族未來與我們民族的關系產生怎樣的影響——這一影響很可能隨著歲月的推移，這種碰撞似乎正變得越來越強烈。至少就整體而言，我們是相信適者生存這一普遍的規律的。在二十世紀的生存斗爭中，最適應的是“神經質的”歐洲人，還是不知疲倦、無孔不入、不急不躁的中國人呢？

英文原版：

IT is a very significant aspect of modern civilisation whichis expressed in the different uses of the word "nervous."Its original meaning is "possessing nerve; sinewy; strong;vigorous." One of its derivative meanings, and the one whichwe by far most frequently meet, is, " Having the nerves weakor diseased ; subject to, or suffering from, undue excitementof the nerves ; easily excited ; weakly." The varied and complex phraseology by which the pecuUar phases of nervousdiseases are expressed has become by this time familiar in ourears as household words. There is no doubt that civilisation,as exhibited in its modern form, tends to undue nervous excitement, and that nervous diseases are relatively more common than they were a century ago.

But what we have now to say does not concern those whoare specially subject to nervous diseases, but to the generalmass of Occidentals, who, while not in any specific conditionof ill health, are yet continually reminded in a great variety ofways that their nervous systems are a most conspicuous partof their organisation. We allude, in short, to people who are" nervous," and we understand this term to include all ourreaders. To the Anglo-Saxon race, at least, it seems a matterof course that those who live in an age of steam and of electricity must necessarily be in a different condition, as to theirnerves, from those who lived in the old slow days of sailing packets and of mail-coaches. Ours is an age of extreme activity.It is an age of rush. There is no leisure so muchas to eat, and the nerves are kept in a state of constant tension, with results which are sufficiently well known.

Business men in our time have an eager, restless air (at leastthose who do their business in Occidental lands), as if theywere in momentary expectation of a telegram—as they oftenare—the contents of which may affect their destiny in somefateful way. We betray this unconscious state of mind in amultitude of acts. We cannot sit still, but we must fidget.We finger our pencils while we are talking, as if we ought atthis particular instant to be rapidly inditing something ere itbe forever too late. We rub our hands together as if preparing for some serious task, which is about to absorb all ourenergies. We twirl our thumbs, we turn over heads with theswift motion of the wild animal which seems to fear thatsomething dangerous may have been left unseen. We havea sense that there is something which we ought to be doingnow, and into which we shall proceed at once to plunge assoon as we shall have despatched six other affairs of evenmore pressing importance. The effect of overworking ournerves shows itself not mainly in such affections as " fiddler'scramp," "telegrapher's cramp," "writer's cramp," and thelike, but in a general tension. We do not sleep as we oncedid, either as regards length of time or soundness of rest.We are wakened by slight causes, and often by those whichare exasperatingly trivial, such as the twitter of a bird on atree, a chance ray of Hght straggling into our darkened rooms,the motion of a shutter in the breeze, the sound of a voice,and when sleep is once interrupted it is banished. We havetaken our daily Hfe to rest with us, and the result is that wehave no real rest. In an age when it has become a kind ofaphorism that a bank never succeeds until it has a presidentwho takes it to bed with him, it is easy to understand that. while the shareholders reap the advantage, it is bad for thepresident.

We have mentioned thus fully these familiar facts of oureveryday Western life, to point the great contrast to themwhich one cannot help seeing, and feeling too, when he beginsto become acquainted with the Chinese. It is not very common to dissect dead Chinese, though it has doubtless beendone, but we do not hear of any reason for supposing that thenervous anatomy of the " dark-haired race " differs in anyessential respect from that of the Caucasian. But though thenerves of a Chinese as compared with those of the Occidentalmay be, as the geometricians say, " similar and similarly situated," nothing is plainer than that they are nerves or a verydifferent sort from those with which we are familiar.

It seems to make no particular difference to a Chinese h*" /long he remains in one position. He will write all day Ikean automaton. If he is a handicraftsman, he will stand inone place from dewy morn till dusky eve, working away athis weaving, his gold-beating, or whatever it may be, and do itevery day without any variation in the monotony, and apparently with no special consciousness that there is any monotonyto be varied. In the same way Chinese school-children aresubjected to an amount of confinement, unrelieved by anyrecesses or change of work, which would soon drive Westernpupils to the verge of insanity. The very infants in arms,instead of squirming and wriggling as our children begin to doalmost as soon as they are bom, lie as impassive as so manymud gods. And at a more advanced age, when Westernchildren would vie with the monkey in its wildest antics,Chinese children will often stand, sit, or squat in the sameposture for a great length of time.

It seems to be a physiological fact that to the Chineseexercise is superfluous. They cannot understand the desirewhich seems to possess all plasses of foreigners abke, to walk when there is no desire to go anywhere ; much less can theycomprehend the impulse to race over the country at the riskof one's life, in such a singular performance as that known asa "paper hunt," representing " hare and hounds " ; or the motive which impels men of good social position to stand all theafternoon in the sun, trying to knock a base-ball to some spotwhere it shall be inaccessible to some other persons, or, onthe other hand, struggling to catch the same ball with celerity,so as to "kill" another person on his "base"! A Cantoneseteacher asked a servant about a foreign lady whom he hadseen playing tennis : " How much is she paid for rushingabout like that ? " On being told " Nothing," he would notbelieve it. Why any mortal should do acts bke this, when heis abundantly able to hire coolies to do them for him, is, werepeat, essentially incomprehensible to a Chinese, nor is itany more comprehensible to him because he has heard itexplained.

In the item of sleep, the Chinese establishes the same difference between himself and the Occidental as in the directionsalready specified. Generally speaking, he is able to sleep anywhere. None of the trifling disturbances which drive us todespair annoy him. With a brick for a pillow, he can liedown on his bed of stalks or mud bricks or rattan and sleepthe sleep of the just, with no reference to the rest of creation.He does not want his room darkened, nor does he requireothers to be still. The "infant crying in the night" maycontinue to cry for all he cares, for it does not disturb him.In some regions the entire population seem to fall asleep, asby a common instinct (hke that of the hibernating bear), during the first two hours of summer afternoons, and they do thiswith regularity, no matter where they may be. At two hoursafter noon the universe at such seasons is as still as at twohours after midnight. In the case of most working-people,at least, and also in that of many others, position in sleep is of no sort of consequence. It would be easy to raise in Chinaan army of a million men—nay, of ten millions—tested bycompetitive examination as to their capacity to go to sleepacross three wheelbarrows, with head downwards, like a spider,their mouths wide open and a fly inside!

Beside this, we must take account of the fact that in Chinabreathing seems to be optional. There is nowhere any ventilation worth the name, except when a typhoon blows the rooffrom a dwelUng, or when a famine compels the owner to pullthe house down to sell the timbers. We hear much of Chineseovercrowding, but overcrowding is the normal condition ofthe Chinese, and they do not appear to be inconvenienced byit at all, or in so trifling a degree that it scarcely deservesmention. If they had an outfit of Anglo-Saxon nerves, theywould be as wretched as we frequently suppose them to be.

The same freedom from the tyranny of nerves is exhibitedin the Chinese endurance of physical pain. Those who haveany acquaintance with the operations in hospitals in China,know how common, or rather how almost universal, it is forthe patients to bear without flinching a degree of pain fromwhich the stoutest of us would shrink in terror. It would beeasy to expand this topic alone into an essay, but >ye mustpass it by, merely calling attention to a remark of GeorgeEUot's, in one of her letters. " The highest calling and election," she says—irritated, no doubt, by theological formulasfor which she had no taste—"is to do without opium, and tobear pain with clear-eyed endurance." If she is right, therecan be little doubt that most Chinese, at least, have madetheir calling and election sure.

It is a remark of Mrs. Browning's, that " Observation without sympathy is tortiu-e." So it doubdess is to persons of asensitive organisation like the distinguished poetess, as wellas to a multitude of others of her race. An Occidental doesnot like to be watched, especially if he is doing any delicate or difficult work. But perhaps a Chinese does his best workunder close observation. We all of us grow rapidly weary ofbeing stared at by the swarms of curious Chinese who crowdabout a foreigner, in every spot to which foreigners do notcommonly resort. We often declare that we shall " go wild "if we cannot in some way disperse those who are subjectingus to no other injury than that of unsympathetic obsers^ation.But to the Chinese this instinctive feeUng of the Occidental isutterly incomprehensible. He does not care how many peoplesee him, nor when, nor for how great a length of time, andhe cannot help suspecting that there must be something wrongabout persons who so vehemently resent mere inspection.

It is not alone when he sleeps that an Occidental reqviiresquiet, but most of all when he is sick. Then, if never before,he demands freedom from the annoyance of needless noises.Friends, nurses, physicians, all conspire to insure this mostnecessar)' condition for recovery ; and if recovery is beyondhope, then more than ever is the sufferer allowed to be in asgreat peace as circumstances admit. Nothing in the habitsof the Chinese presents a greater contrast to those of Westerners, than the behaviour of the Chinese to one another in casesof sickness. The notification of the event is a signal for allvarieties of raids upon the patient from every quarter, in numbers proportioned to the gravity of the disease. Quiet is notfor a moment to be thought of, and, strange to say, no oneappears to desire it. The bustle attendant upon the arrivaland departure of so many guests, the work of entertainingthem, the wailings of those who fear that a death is soon totake place, and especially the pandemonium made by priests,priestesses, and others to drive away the malignant spirits,constitute an environment from which death would be to mostEuropeans a happy escape. Occidentals cannot fail to sympathise with the distinguished French lady who sent word toa caller that she " begged to be excused, as she was engaged in dying." In China such an excuse would never be offered,nor, if it were offered, would it be accepted.

It remains to speak of the worries and anxieties to whichhumanity is everywhere subjected in this distracted world.The Chinese are not only as accessible to these evils as anyother people, but far more so. The conditions of their sociallife are such that in any given region there is a large proportion who are always on the ragged edge of ruin. A sHghtdiminution of the rainfall means starvation to hundreds ofthousands. A slight increase in the rainfall means the devastation of their homes by destructive floods, for which there isno known remedy. No Chinese is safe from the entanglementof a lawsuit, which, though he be perfectly innocent, may workhis ruin. Many of these disasters are not only seen, but theirtrain.stealthy and steady approach is perceived, like the gradualshrinking of the iron shroud. To us nothing is more dreadfulthan the momentary expectation of a calamity which cannotbe forefended, and which may bring all that is horrible in itsThe Chinese face these things, perhaps because theyseem to be inevitable, with a " clear-eyed endurance," whichis one of the most remarkable phenomena of the race. Thosewho have witnessed the perfectly quiet starvation of millionsin times of devastating famine will be able to understand whatis here meant. To be fully appreciated, it must be seen, butseen on no matter what scale, it is as difficult for an Occidental really to understand it as it is for a Chinese truly tounderstand the idea of personal and social liberty, which theAnglo-Saxon has inherited and developed.

In whatever aspect we regard them, the Chinese are andmust continue to be to us more or less a puzzle, but we shallmake no approach to comprehending them until we have itsettled firmly in our minds that, as compared with us, they aregifted with the " absence of nerves." What the bearing ofthis pregnant proposition may be on the future impact of this race with our own—an impact likely to become more violentas the years go bymost fit.—we shall not ventiire to conjecture. Wehave come to believe, at least in general, in the survival of theWhich is the best adapted to survive in the struggles of the twentieth century, the " nervous " European, or thetireless, all-pervading, and phlegmatic Chinese?