Lost Souls - serge waismann

Lost Souls

Confucius said: the higher man understands right, the lower man understands interest.

The flight bound to Beijing, was busy and long , so I left my chair to stretch my legs, and for my surprise I found the stewardess speaking with a half Chinese born, perhaps 9 – 10 years old , unusually agitated, speaking in Chinese in ways that a mother would do with her child - wei shen me ni bu kai xin ? why are you not happy ? and she would repeat this over and over with a certain degree of recrimination in her tone of voice. I was truly bewildered as she was clearly acting beyond her role. In fact she would put her hands in his face and ask: why you do not smile like this? And stretch his mouth in a forced smile ; and would go on non stop; ni qu zhong guo , women guo jia … you are going home to China, our fatherland, why are you not happy? And the boy kept his cold face, as she would insist on his “forced happiness”, which was not coming, despite all her efforts. In the end he said, wo bu kai xin … and simply left. I am not happy, and the steward was perplexed. I could not resist and I asked her – is he your son? And she said no.

The stewardess was apparently transferring her own doubts, insecurities to this young boy who triggered in her this unusual emotional behaviour. In the end I asked; is he your son? And she said no … but I could not understand why he was so nanguo … sad.

It would be impossible to identify, in such a short time, the reasons behind that exchange, but being a foreigner who is interested in Chinese culture it’s not difficult to perceive the colossal divide between the two cultures, East and West. In my extremely limited understanding on such a vast and complex issue, lies in the heart and spirit of all Chinese or Asians, that venture into the world. A few years back a Chimese friend once told me; you will never be able to truly see or understand us; The Chinese are guided by the moon, foreigners are guided by the sun. They can never meet each other. You foreigners are clever, seek domination and conflict, we cherish wisdom, tradition and harmony. His words to this day, still lingers in my mind.

Back in my seat, I was wondering about this woman, a Chinese working for a Bristish airline, and exposed to this clash of civilisation that I find so compelling and in many ways, sad that it is like a trying to build a bridge between the moon and the sun, and to ask this new generation to try this impossible cross… one cannot escape to wonder what will happen. I have no idea about the real emotional state of that boy, but I do meet loads of children in China, and one thing that for me has always struck me as the strongest element in the Chinese culture is the extremely deep relation between the child and their parents and extended community. No matter if they are rich or poor, the child is the emblem of hope, of the best yet to come, and as such they are in the centre of their universe. Sadly, in the New China, most children are now missing out on their admirable and vast culture. This is not their choice but part of a wider social – economical plan. They can learn primarily Chinglish … which is in my view the biggest flaw, of the modern Chinese experience. It’s a crime against the young, on the same grounds that Socrates was sentenced to death. The Government has erased, the Chinese culture from most of the national curriculum, only emphasizing the learning of English and Math, as all Chinese will in the future, work for foreign companies or emigrate to the West. (Ultimately the present dream of most Chinese living in the mainland).

In the West, we all are used by the results of the “mobile society”, so much praised in the US and one can say
, rooted in the division of labour theory of Adam Smith. Still if one reads Chuang Zi, the sage , one would understand how this will never conform with the Chinese roots. No matter how many Mc’Donalds or KFC’s are open in China, no matter how much the present Regime, wants to erase the traditions and welcome the foreign ways, one simply has to read history and see how we have all seen the same pattern before. Eventually the wild grass will blossom from the fields, and their true roots will yet again rise to ensure the permanence of this admirable and millenary culture.

Modern China has been forged on only one truism: commerce. And its apparent success based in another sole factor: slave labour. This is yet again, not part of the Chinese tradition, and as many past attempts to import and impose by brutal force foreign ideas. They all have one simple factor; they are all destined to failure. It’s not a matter of if but when.

The plane is landing, and I see the small boy walking along his mixed parents, and he seems lost in his way, walking into a foreign land, or maybe his mother land. Its impossible to anyone to gage his true feelings, but I can feel and understand how the millions of “lost souls” may not be at easy with all this uncertain future of the imminent clash of civilisations. Many in the world media, now ask is China , a friend or a foe? And the answer may lie not in the strength of the armies, or the size of the economies but in the core of the Chinese soul and civilisation.

Ku Hi Ming said: For it is selfishness and cowardice in all of us; selfishness which makes think of interest, of expediency of what will pay, instead of righteousness. And cowardice which makes us stands alone against the crowd, against injustice, oppression and unfairness. Selfishness and cowardice is the real enemy of the world today, which when combined, becomes Commercialism. It is the spirit of Commercialism, in all countries of the world, especially in Great Britain and America which is the real enemy of mankind.
Peking 20, April 1915.



Serge Waismann