一个TED演讲背后的文化论

How books can open your mind

So I was trained to become a gymnast for two years in Hunan, China in the 1970s.
When I was in the first grade, the government wanted to transfer me to a school
for athletes, all expenses paid. But my tiger mother said, "No." My parents
wanted me to become an engineer like them.After surviving the Cultural Revolution,
they firmly believed there‘s only one sure way to happiness: a safe and well-paid
job. It is not important if I like the job or not.

But my dream was to become a Chinese opera singer. That is me playing my imaginary
piano.An opera singer must start training young to learn acrobatics, so I tried
everything I could to go to opera school. I even wrote to the school principal and
the host of a radio show. But no adults liked the idea. No adults believed I was
serious. Only my friends supported me, but they were kids, just as powerless as I
was. So at age 15, I knew I was too old to be trained. My dream would never come
true. I was afraid that for the rest of my life some second-class happinesswould
be the best I could hope for.

But that‘s so unfair. So I was determined to find another calling. Nobody around
to teach me? Fine. I turned to books.

I satisfied my hunger for parental advice from this book by a family of writers
and musicians.["Correspondence in the Family of Fou Lei"]

I found my role model of an independent woman when Confucian tradition requires
obedience.["Jane Eyre"]

And I learned to be efficient from this book.["Cheaper by the Dozen"]

And I was inspired to study abroad after reading these.

["Complete Works of Sanmao" (aka Echo Chan)] ["Lessons From History" by Nan Huaijin]

I came to the U.S. in 1995, so which books did I read here first? Books banned in
China, of course. "The Good Earth" is about Chinese peasant life. That‘s just not
convenient for propaganda. Got it. The Bible is interesting, but strange. (Laughter)
That‘s a topic for a different day. But the fifth commandment gave me an epiphany:
"You shall honor your father and mother." "Honor," I said. "That‘s so different,
and better, than obey." So it becomes my tool to climb out of this Confucian guilt
trap and to restart my relationship with my parents.

Encountering a new culture also started my habit of comparative reading. It offers
many insights. For example, I found this map out of place at first because this is
what Chinese students grew up with. It had never occurred to me, China doesn‘t have
to be at the center of the world. A map actually carries somebody‘s view.

Comparative reading actually is nothing new. It‘s a standard practice in the academic
world. There are even research fields such as comparative religion and comparative
literature.

Compare and contrast gives scholars a more complete understanding of a topic. So I
thought, well, if comparative reading works for research, why not do it in daily life
too? So I started reading books in pairs. So they can be about people -- ["Benjamin
Franklin" by Walter Isaacson]["John Adams" by David McCullough] -- who are involved
in the same event, or friends with shared experiences.

["Personal History" by Katharine Graham]["The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business
of Life," by Alice Schroeder] I also compare the same stories in different genres
-- (Laughter) [Holy Bible: King James Version]["Lamb" by Chrisopher Moore] -- or
similar stories from different cultures, as Joseph Campbell did in his wonderful book.
["The Power of Myth" by Joseph Campbell] For example, both the Christ and the Buddha
went through three temptations. For the Christ, the temptations are economic,
political and spiritual.For the Buddha, they are all psychological: lust, fear and
social duty -- interesting.

So if you know a foreign language, it‘s also fun to read your favorite books in two
languages.["The Way of Chuang Tzu" Thomas Merton]["Tao: The Watercourse Way" Alan Watts]
Instead of lost in translation, I found there is much to gain. For example, it‘s
through translation that I realized "happiness" in Chinese literally means "fast joy."
Huh! "Bride" in Chinese literally means "new mother." Uh-oh. (Laughter)

Books have given me a magic portal to connect with people of the past and the present.

I know I shall never feel lonely or powerless again. Having a dream shattered really
is nothingcompared to what many others have suffered. I have come to believe that
coming true is not the only purpose of a dream. Its most important purpose is to get
us in touch with where dreams come from, where passion comes from, where happiness
comes from. Even a shattered dream can do that for you.

So because of books, I‘m here today, happy, living again with a purpose and a clarity,
most of the time. So may books be always with you.

Thank you.

No.1　

Do not delete or block my comment again please. I feel both excited and disappointed.
I am excited because I saw another Chinese speaking on TED but I am disappointed about
the distorted images she presented to the wide range of audience; I am excited because
comparative reading can be brought to a more daily and individual level, but I am
disappointed about her loss of awareness of the essence of comparative studies; I am
excited because she has found a lot in common between western and Chinese culture, but
I am disappointed about her misinterpretation about Chinese virtures and values
mentioned in her talk, let alone her shallow understanding of Buddhism; I am excited
because Chinese speakers may well serve as the cultural carrier that bridge the gap
of understanding from various cultures, but I am disappointed that her presentation
actually strengthens the embarrassing neither-nor scenario unfavored by both Chinese
viewers and western audiences. if TED really celebrates those ideas worth spreading,
participants there would never drive away the elements of the truth that they simply
do not want to hear. Rather it is these elements of the truth that they really need
to hear. Most westerners do not know about real China, not to mention the authentic
Chinese culture, nor would they care; Chinese speakers, if they are determined to stand
on that stage, should be held accountable and responsible for every word they say and
every message they convey, not acting as the advocate for the Communist Regime, but
not as irresponsible and irrational follower of the popular belief, but as a mature
and well-equipped global citizen who are not afraid of sharing the truth and facing
every challenge ahead. "May books be with you" might be a good wish but what really
matters is the independent thinking, the shining wisdom, the fact-based horizon, which
comes from but reaches far beyond reading.

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请不要再删除或屏蔽我的评论。我既兴奋又失望。我兴奋，因为我看到又有一位中国人在TED演讲，
但我对她向广大观众呈现的扭曲思想感到失望;我兴奋，因为比较阅读可以带到更多的日常和个
人层面，但我对她失去对比较研究本质的认识感到失望;我很兴奋，因为她在中西方文化中找到了
很多共同之处，但我对她在谈话中提到的对中国美德和价值观的误解感到失望，更不用说她对佛教
的浅薄理解;我很兴奋，因为说中文的人很可能成为弥合各种文化理解差距的文化载体，但我很失
望她的演讲实际上加强了中国观众和西方观众都不喜欢的尴尬和情景。如果TED真的庆祝这些值得
传播的想法，那么参与者就永远不会驱走那些他们根本不想听到的真理要素。相反，他们真正需要
听到的是真相的这些要素。大多数西方人不了解真正的中国，更不用说真实的中国文化了，他们也
不关心;说中文的人如果决心站在那个舞台上，就应该对他们所说的每一句话和他们传达的每一个
信息负责，而不是作为共同政权的倡导者，而不是作为共同政权的不负责任和非理性的追随者。
信仰，但作为一个成熟和装备精良的全球公民，不怕分享真相，面对未来的每一项挑战。 “愿书
与你在一起”可能是一个美好的愿望，但真正重要的是独立思考，闪亮的智慧，以事实为基础的
视野，它来自但远远超出阅读。　

Please give at least one specific example from the talk to support your 
arguments. For those who do not know the Chinese culture, all what you wrote 
looks abstract.

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请至少给出一个具体的例子来支持你的论点。 对于那些不了解中国文化的人来说，你写
的所有内容都是抽象的。

No.2

This response is addressed to Mary and Yubai with absolutely no offense but a 
clear sincerity to explain to acheive better mutual understanding. During Lisa’s 
presentation, there are an awful number of mistakes and misinterpretations about 
Chinese culture relating to Confucius philosophies, conventional wisdom and what 
happened in the year 1995, not to mention her shallow understanding of the 
temptations Buddha once encountered, just to name a few. Let’s ignore the irrelevance 
between singing Chinese Opera and playing the imaginary piano and continue our 
examinations about several points she made.

The banned books 2’10’’ 

It is clearly stated that she read books that were banned in China when she first 
arrived in the US. What actually happened is that it was to the point of wildest 
impossibility for Bible to be banned in China in 1995 or even in the year 1949.

To honor or to obey 2’39’’ 

It is clearly stated that she got out of the Confucius trap by appreciate the 
difference between “to honor our parents” and “to obey”. What actually happens is 
Confucius never teaches us to simply obey; he teaches us to 孝, which means to 
honor and to pay enough respect. 孝even becomes the foundation of 教, which means 
education. It is indicated that real education should begin at home and to honor 
our parents is the first lesson. Unfortunately most people including Lisa have 
for years mixed 孝（to honor）and孝顺(to honor and to follow and obey). It is 
good for her to find a better place in family but unfair to attribute all the 
inferior scenarios to Confucius philosophies. What an irony when she learns to 
honor her parents but fails to honor her ancestor, or even at least to look through 
the exact idea Confucius honestly conveyed. Let’s not forget reading is what 
specializes in and let’s forgive her lack of time to read in-depth.

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这个回复是针对玛丽和Yubai的，绝对没有冒犯，但明确的诚意解释，以实现更好的相互理解。
在丽莎的演讲中，关于孔子哲学，传统智慧和1995年发生的事情的中国文化有很多错误和误解，
更不用说她对佛陀曾经遇到过的诱惑的浅薄理解，仅举几例。让我们忽略唱中国戏曲和演奏想
象中的钢琴之间的无关性，继续我们对她所做的几点的考试。

禁书2‘10‘‘

很明显，她读到中国首次抵达美国时被禁止的书籍。实际发生的事情是，1995年在中国甚至在
1949年被禁止使用圣经是最不可能的。

尊重或服从2‘39‘‘

  很明显，她通过欣赏“尊重父母”和“服从”之间的区别，走出了孔子陷阱。实际发生的事情是孔
  子从不教导我们简单地服从;他教我们孝，这意味着要尊重并付出足够的尊重。孝甚至成为教
  的基础，这意味着教育。它表明，真正的教育应该从家里开始，并尊重我们的父母是第一课。
  不幸的是，包括丽莎在内的大多数人多年来都混合孝（荣誉）和孝顺（尊重并遵守和服从）。
  她在家庭中找到一个更好的地方是好事，但把所有劣等情景归因于孔子哲学是不公平的。当
  她学会尊重她的父母但却没有尊重她的祖先，甚至至少看看孔子诚实地传达的确切想法时，
  这是多么讽刺。让我们不要忘记阅读是专门研究的，让我们原谅她没有时间深入阅读。

No.3

About the map 3’10’’ 

She uses the different versions of the world map to illustrate that a map sometimes 
delivers somebody’s point of view. 中国(China) literally means the Middle Kingdom, 
because ancient Chinese believed that their territory was at the center, but in 
modern China, the design of the map is only for better readability. Born in 1982 
(4 years after the reform and opening-up policy by Deng Xiaoping), I grew up with 
both of the two sets of maps Lisa mentioned. Neither teachers nor textbooks intended 
to convey that China is the center of the planet, but rather lies always in the East 
hemisphere. Interestingly I even saw an Australian version of world map where the 
world’s view is turned upside down to make sure Australia to be the first part that 
seizes the viewers’ eyes. What is the problem with that I wonder, or is there a 
message that SOMEBODY in Australia desires to convey?

About the Buddha 4’10’’ 

She compares and contrasts the three temptations Christ and Buddha have been through. 
I am not in the position to talk about Christ but for Buddhism, the essence of the 
religion is to honor the highest laws that Buddha has been enlightened by. The 
temptations such as lust and social duties are by no means psychological. Lisa will 
agree with me if she really reads the fundamentals of psychology and sociology. Later, 
her ironic tone carrying the strange word “interesting” seems to enhance Lisa’s irony 
about her being ignorant of her ignorance.

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关于地图3‘10‘‘

她使用世界地图的不同版本来说明地图有时会提供某人的观点。中国（中国）字面意思是中国，
因为古代中国人认为他们的领土是中心，但在现代中国，地图的设计只是为了更好的可读性。
出生于1982年（邓小平改革开放4年后），我在丽莎所提到的两套地图中长大。教师和教科书都
没有打算传达中国是地球的中心，而是始终在东半球。有趣的是，我甚至看到了澳大利亚版的
世界地图，其中世界的观点被颠倒过来，以确保澳大利亚成为第一个抓住观众眼睛的部分。我
想知道的问题是什么，或者澳大利亚的某些人希望传达的信息是什么？

关于佛4‘10‘‘

她比较和对比了基督和佛陀所经历的三种诱惑。我不能谈论基督，但对于佛教而言，宗教的本质
是尊重佛陀所启迪的最高法则。欲望和社会责任等诱惑决不是心理上的。如果她真的读过心理学
和社会学的基础知识，丽莎会同意我的看法。后来，她讽刺的语气带着“有趣”这个奇怪的词语
似乎增强了丽莎对她无知无知的讽刺。

No.4

About the Chi-Eng translation 4’38’’ 

She clearly stated that instead of loss of the translation, she found there is 
much to gain, but what she actually gained is the false and the distorted image 
of Chinese culture carried in Chinese characters. Happiness literally refers to 
幸福（the highest self-fulfillment）rather than “快乐”（instant pleasure—forgive 
me that I have no idea what she meant when she said “fast joy”）. Otherwise the 
movie named “the pursuit of happiness”, definitely one of my favorite, should’ve 
been disastrously mistranslated into the pursuit of fast joy. Fortunately that is 
not what really happens. The bride in Chinese refers to “新娘”，where “新”means 
“new” and “娘”means “virtuous adult woman”. That explains why we referred our 
mothers to “娘”. Hence “新娘” means that marriage symbolizes the new beginning of 
a woman’s journey to greater virtues. Once again there comes her strange pitch 
and unpleasant tone that followed “new mother”, which indicates her contempt and 
irony and which is of course degrading. It is reasonable for others not to realize 
this misunderstanding or to have the superficial impression about Chinese culture, 
but for Lisa who is born in China for nearly 20 years and claims to do comparative
studies in daily life, her ideas conveyed in presentation is, beyond any reasonable 
doubt, helplessly unacceptable.

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关于Chi-Eng翻译4‘38‘‘

她明确指出，她没有失去翻译，而是发现有很多东西可以获得，但她实际上获得的是中国文化
中的中国文化的错误和扭曲的形象。幸福字面意思是幸福（最高的自我实现）而不是“快乐”
（即时愉快 - 原谅我，当她说“快乐”时我不知道她的意思）。否则这部电影名为“追求幸福”，
绝对是我最喜欢的电影之一，应该被灾难性地误译成追求快乐的快乐。幸运的是，这不是真
正发生的事情。中文新娘是指“新娘”，其中“新”的意思是“新”，“娘”的意思是“贤惠的成年女
性”。这就解释了为什么我们将母亲称为“娘”。因此，“新娘”意味着婚姻象征着女性走向更美
德的新起点。再一次出现了她的“新妈妈”之后的奇怪的音调和不愉快的语调，这表明她的蔑
视和讽刺，当然也是有辱人格的。其他人不理解这种误解或者对中国文化有一种肤浅的印象是
合情合理的，但对于在中国出生近20年且声称在日常生活中进行比较研究的丽莎来说，她的想
法在任何合理的怀疑，无助是不可接受的。

No.5

Lisa’s talk has value. It brings us back to the significance of reading, especially 
since we are living in the age when an awful number of people probably don’t read 
or don’t enjoying reading. However, what matters more is not simply to read for 
reading’s sake, but to think independently and analytically. An amount of critical 
analysis or even cynicism would not hurt, as long as they are all based on facts, or 
based on the in-depth research if facts are not easy to find. Comparative reading 
means much, much more than to compare similarities and to contrast differences 
between two books, and I bet Lisa would agree with me on that. If books may still 
serves as the magic to open our eyes, our brain to think and our heart to dig are 
truly the highest gifts endowed to us to cross the boundary of time and space, not 
to mention the culture and ideology. The only way to honor these gifts is to use 
them wisely so that it can make us fly without wings, but not to tread them under 
our feet so that it can make us seem taller.

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丽莎的谈话很有价值。它让我们回到了阅读的重要性，特别是因为我们生活在一个可怕的人可
能不读或不喜欢阅读的时代。然而，更重要的不仅仅是为阅读而阅读，而是要独立思考和分析
思考。只要基于事实，或者基于深入研究，如果事实不容易找到，一定数量的批判性分析甚至
玩世不恭都不会受到伤害。比较阅读意味着更多，远远超过比较相似之处和对比两本书之间的
差异，我打赌丽莎会同意我的看法。如果书本仍然可以作为睁开眼睛的魔力，那么我们思考的
大脑和我们挖掘的心脏确实是赋予我们跨越时空界限的最高礼物，更不用说文化和意识形态了。
尊重这些礼物的唯一方法就是明智地使用它们，这样它才能让我们在没有翅膀的情况下飞翔，
而不是将它们踩在脚下，这样它才能让我们看起来更高。

WOW, I need to read several times what you wrote in order to fully comprehend it. 
Nevertheless, I highly appreciate your input and efforts.
After reading once all this I think I generally understand your protest. You are 
protesting against the spirit of adopting blindly something new and kicking out 
everything that one was belonging to it in the past until he/she encountered that 
new substance. I am familiar with this type of pattern of behavior from my own 
cultures when some (only some, not all) adopt blindly anything from the West and 
hate everything of their past wisdom, traditions and cultures. I have seen this 
both with some Indians as well as Israelis.
But this also works vice versa. There are and were some Westerners which I had 
seen who idealize Indian culture -- take for example the Hare Rama Hare Krishna 
movement in the USA at the 60s which idealized the Hindu 
concepts/belief/philosophy/culture.

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哇，我需要多次阅读你所写的内容才能完全理解它。 不过，我非常感谢您的投入和努力。
在阅读完所有这些后，我想我一般都理解你的抗议。 你正在抗议盲目采用新事物的精神，
并在过去直到他/她遇到这种新物质时踢出一切属于它的东西。 我熟悉这种来自我自己
文化的行为模式，当时有些人（只有一些人，而不是所有人）盲目地采用西方的任何东西，
并且讨厌他们过去的智慧，传统和文化的一切。 我和一些印度人以及以色列人都看过这个。
但这也是相反的。 有一些西方人，我曾经看到他们理想化了印度文化 - 例如60年代在美
国的Hare Rama Hare Krishna运动，理想化了印度教的概念/信仰/哲学/文化。

OK. After reading again your remarks and watching again the talk, I agree 
with your remarks. I am not an expert in Chinese philosophy and culture. 
But indeed her attitude looks like degrading the Chinese thought in front 
of her seemingly new revelations from her new way of life. My gut feeling 
is that she does this because she confuses between the Chinese totalitarian 
regime and the Chinese philosophy/tradition. She starts the talk with 
describing what she was expected to do or to be by her present society and 
then she jumps to analyzing the Chinese tradition. While doing this, she 
drags her criticism from the Chinese regime towards the Chinese 
philosophy/tradition. But I guess it‘s not only that because you point out 
that some of the things she says about present China are also untrue.

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好。 在再次阅读你的评论并再次观看演讲之后，我同意你的意见。 我不是中国哲学
和文化方面的专家。 但事实上，她的态度看起来像是在她对新生活方式的看似新的启
示面前贬低中国思想。 我的直觉是，她这样做是因为她混淆了中国的极权主义政权和
中国哲学//传统。 她开始谈论描述她应该做什么或者是现在的社会，然后她开始分析
中国传统。 在这样做的同时，她将中国政权的批评拖向中国哲学//传统。 但我想这
不仅仅是因为你指出她所说的关于现在中国的一些事情也是不真实的。

Millions of thanks Yubai, for your sincerity and kind efforts to go through 
my comments several times, and i highly appreciate you echoing my remakes 
and showing empathetic comprehension to the values and background that lie 
behind what I am trying to prove. Frankly most people including some Chinese 
would take what I have done here as nothing but nonsense or a waste of time. 
We are losing our cultures because a lot of people in China do not care about 
it,and they take misinterpretation and misunderstanding for granted. Anyway, 
i hope my reply eariier did not bother you too much. Once more here comes my 
gratitude to you. All the best.

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太...太...感谢Yubai了，感谢您的诚意和善意努力多次通过我的评论，我非常感谢您
回应我的重拍，并对我想要证明的背后的价值观和背景表现出同理心的理解。 
坦率地说，包括一些中国人在内的大多数人会把我在这里所做的只不过是胡说八道或浪
费时间。 我们正在失去我们的文化，因为中国很多人都不关心它，他们把误解和误解
视为理所当然。 无论如何，我希望我的回复更加困扰你。 再一次，感谢你们。 
祝一切顺利。