1. CHARACTERISTIC TRAITS OF THE CHINESE PEOPLE.
- Author
-
Cheng Ch'Eng-K'Un
- Subjects
CHINESE people ,CONDUCT of life ,PATIENCE ,CONSERVATISM - Abstract
The article discusses the characteristic traits of the Chinese people. First, they had a great deal of patience. This trait was generally hailed as a noble virtue in China. Developed under economic and population pressures and in the wear and tear of family relationships, patience as a characteristic trait of the Chinese people manifested itself in the form of racial, religious, and political tolerance. Chinese were the greatest fatalists in the world. Fatalism as a characteristic trait was the most marked in matrimonial affairs. Chinese were pre-eminently frugal. As a social idea, frugality was originally concerned with the satisfaction of human needs without waste. Chinese were humble people. To them humility was a great virtue. They knew that egotism had the tendency to offend friends and alienate people and was in no way conducive to social harmony. So they made great effort to discourage its indulgence. Chinese were generally quite contented with whatever little they had. Chinese were extremely conservative. This conservatism was born of an intense feeling of satisfaction for the cultural greatness of their past. Chinese were not particular about accuracy and precision. This characteristic trait was very obvious in the field of medicine. All these characteristic traits of the Chinese people were the natural outgrowths of long centuries of application of a negativistic system of philosophy in their social and political organizations. Viewed from the standpoint of the twentieth century, they were traits of weakness responsible for the general backwardness of China.
- Published
- 1946
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