The Book I Would Hand a Foreign Friend

If one book can be used to read the Chinese spirit, this is the one I would hand a foreign friend. For those of us born in the 1980s, who grew up reciting poems and 词, there is a sentence you may not be able to finish — but you have heard it: 庆历四年春，滕子京谪守巴陵郡…… It is from Fan Zhongyan’s 岳阳楼记. It really did walk with a generation of school years.

Who was 滕子京? Where was 巴陵郡? Which year was 庆历? Most of us were both strangers to those names and stuck with them. In childhood the essay was required, and for a while it was the source of a collective wail. Who had the energy for all those whys? After I read 庆历四年秋, Song history walked toward me, slowly. So did a lot of the spirit of people in our own time. I suddenly understood more of what sat behind the prose.

Xia Jianyong is, of the writers I know, the one who most understands politics, who most likes to ink the small place, and who is most likely to drop two sentences that hint at something larger.

因为毫无心理优势可言，生怕出事。怕什么就忌讳什么，生病的人忌讳说病，垂死的人忌讳说死，这都是心理虚弱的表现……北宋其实一直很担心西夏闹独立，但又心存侥幸，期望不会变成现实，以致讳疾忌医，生怕自己有所反应真的把人家激反。于是索性采取鸵鸟式的态度，把头埋在沙子里，不闻不问。

One stroke, and a dynasty that is afraid of trouble, and will kneel to keep face, is cut open. It is like people now: whatever they fear, they make a point of saying they do not care. The next time someone talks hard, it may already be that they have no other move — only hard talk, a last resistance.

In 《潜伏》, Lu Qiaoshan comes back from Nanjing to a new post and his first act is to investigate Station Chief Wu. Wu asks Yu Zecheng to dinner. Wu’s wife wants Yu to put in a word. Wu raises his voice: 他能奈我何！ That is the same psychology — fear, and a struggle on top of it.

公使钱是宋代的叫法，差不多一千年以后，现在叫公务消费。这个“公”字十分了得，有万夫不当之勇，有了它打头，无论是使钱还是消费，全都名正言顺理直气壮。公使钱当然是有规矩的，那就是不能自入，除此之外，怎么使用基本上都是合法的，不仅可用于公关，抚恤，赏赐部下，收买人心，也可用于吃喝玩乐……

He writes straight into the wound. 公使钱 is the Song name; a thousand years later we say 公务消费. Put 公 in front, and spending stands up straight.

大宋式的民主政治——异论相搅。一桩事从提议到拍板，翻来覆去的“搅”，没完没了的“搅”，凡是场面上的人物，一个个都要一本正经的胡说一通，一个个都很享受那种唾星四溅的快感，有时候真正一个个都想乌眼鸡似的啄来啄去，似乎谁不来啄几下，就对不起自己的那份俸禄。

Nobody has to take the decision. If you do not speak, you have added nothing to the emperor’s judgment — and how much use any of it is, let the emperor have the headache. The men on the stage may quarrel until they are red. After they walk out, the two who were about to hit each other may go to the same tavern. I find this so-called false democracy very common in Chinese companies now.

Xia is a master of historical prose as psychology. Reading him, I first understood what it is to be in the room: morning court, and several minds opened on the table. What the emperor is thinking, what a minister is turning over, even what the eunuch director is doing at that moment. Everyone on the board, in that instant, is written.

When a scene opens, he will drop something that looks like a small matter, even a pedantic joke, and from that joke — half satire, half tease — drift into the whole room. The psychology looks calm. Behind it, plot after plot. And then the ending of a chapter stirs a lake and presses the ripples down: a muffled thunder, held. It could not be better.

A few more passages I cannot let go of. Each one is a cut.

私罪是个人品德问题，一旦认定，几乎身败名裂。公罪是工作中的失误或政见不同。失误本来就不应该被揪住不放，而“不同政见”也不是什么了不得的事情，既不会被赶尽杀绝，也不会影响以后的提拔任用。这体现了一种很开明的政治观：在和平环境里，政治并不是一定是你死我活的互掐，它完全可以在协商和宽容中走向健全。

打小报告无非就是咬人，你咬对了，赏你升官发财，你若咬错了，至少也赏你个不予追究。人都喜欢听效忠的话，告密的话，阿谀奉承的话，听这样的话，有一种被依靠，被爱戴，被崇拜的感觉，不仅轻松惬意如春风雅奏，而且暖心暖脾如艳阳在怀，这种嗜好在帝王身上尤为突出，这与他们个人的品德，智商，政治志向无关，而是人性的弱点在专制体制纵容下的恣意膨胀。

光明正大，很好！可是在大多数时候，这个词只能用于对奉承圣意的修饰，如果你“光明正大”的犯颜直谏，“光明正大”的为民请命，“光明正大”的报忧不报喜，惹得人主不高兴了，你等着，“光明正大”就变成了“阴谋诡计”了，变成了什么“集团”什么“俱乐部”，你也就距离倒霉不远了。

不要一听到“政治”这两个字就以为多么神圣堂皇，政治是什么？一本《魔鬼辞典》中这样定义：“一种假装成不同原则的利益冲突”，也就是说，“原则”只是标榜，“利益”才是实质。或者说，大喊大叫的是“原则”，耿耿于怀的则是“利益”。这正是政治改革的难处，一旦触动了已然固化的利益，谁也不是沉默的羔羊。

创造历史的人是不怕弄脏自己的手的，过分爱惜羽毛，那就不要搞政治，而去搞慈善或者去当道德家。

什么是“手滑”？那就是习惯了，不仅习以为常不由自主，而且习与性成乐在其中，到那时你想用法律去管住他就难了，因为他是人主，他无法无天不讲法律，你拿他一点办法也没有。因此，当政者当防“手滑”，不管是杀人，还有作恶，贪腐。此等勾当，开始时手涩，紧张，甚至害怕，血压升高，心跳加速，受到理智和良心的责备。但是做的多了，习惯成自然，手就滑了。更有甚者还会上瘾，不做就手痒，这是很可怕的。由这个手滑，我们还会想到其他很多的“滑”：脚滑，嘴滑，耳滑，甚至还有意滑，都不好玩，尤其是在人主那里。例如起初听到人家喊自己“万岁”时，或许还有点受宠若惊，不大习惯。但听的多了，就理所当然了。若发现有人没有喊，或者喊的不高，就不高兴甚至要起杀心了。

嫉妒是人性中最妖娆，最隐秘，因而也是最难以告人的阴私，这是一种内心翻江倒海却又不能说出来的自我折磨。一般来说，快乐能与人分享，痛苦却纯粹属于个人，没有任何痛苦是真正能被别人所理解的，有忌妒所引起的痛苦尤其如此。人性中其他感情都不像忌妒这样隐秘，即使是恶，那也是可以广而告之而用不着遮遮掩掩的，因为忌妒针对的不是明火执仗的对手，而是周围那些和自己差不多的人，有的甚至还是自己的朋友。忌妒是人性的一部分，不在忌妒中奋起，就在忌妒中沉沦，人生在世大致如此。