This critique of the Chinese was banned in mainland China by Communist Party officials. This edition includes a selection of Bo Yang's speeches, writings and media interviews, as well as a sample of the reactions his comments have provoked.
Well,Mr. Bo Yang wrote this book some 40 or 30 years ago in Taiwan, but what he had said about Chinese and the ugly side of Chinese culture still rings true after so many years.
Is there any improvement for the Chinese as a whole? So far as a Chinese I can't see any. Sad, isn't it?
Today, when I heard someone said citizens and students who dared to stand up to protest and fight for their right'have it coming' when they end up being crushed down and killed off by the Chinese government, I especially remember this book and what Mr. Bo Yang had said about the ugly nature of some (if not the majority of) Chinese people.
Edited@18/06/2015: Today I came across this short article which is also titled 'The Ugly Chinaman' and the author of this article is as pissed off and angry as I am toward the ugliness of Chinese mentality: http://www.inmediahk.net/node/1035244
I read this book after seven or eight years of living in Taiwan. I had known about it for a while, but Taiwanese bookstores, usually well-stocked with English language books about China and Taiwan, did not carry it. No wonder. I finally found someone with a copy and then took it to a printer to get my own copy – the Taiwanese way. The Taiwanese believe, not in copyright, but copyleft. Get it? I underlined so many passages in the thin volume it looked like it had been in the custody of a chop-wielding Chinese bank teller. Nearly every assertion and anecdote resonated. Bo Yang said what I had been thinking, but was too afraid to say it, except to other Westerners.
If a Westerner had penned this book, they would have been branded a racist, or been accused of not understanding “the real China,” a common Sinophile charge. But because Bo Yang was Chinese – born in China and later a resident of Taiwan – and because he was a well-known historian, writer, journalist, etc. (he headed the Taiwan chapter of Amnesty International and was an advisor to the Taiwanese government after he did a spell in prison as a dissident) nobody can say boo about this book, not least of all because every sentence is lethally accurate.
Because of the title, I had thought The Ugly Chinaman was a sort of angry tirade, but it is not. It is a well argued denunciation of the ills of Chinese culture. But a neophyte likely would not understand; it helps to live in Chinese society for a while before reading.
TUC begins with a dialogue between a doctor and TB patient. The patient accuses the doctor of fabricating the diagnosis and says it is doctors like him who harm the motherland. The patient barks, “It’s people like you who are to blame for China’s problems. You make foreigners look down on Chinese people because you give them the idea that we’re all suffering from TB. Traitors like you suck the blood of the Chinese people and kiss the arses of the barbarian devils. God will strike you dead! Imperial court guards! (coughs) Take him away!”
It’s a reference to the lack of introspection and the proclivity to deny and ignore serious problems. We see examples of this all the time in the news. Villagers say their water has been contaminated by a nearby factory, and local officials accuse them of treason. Recrimination is commonplace. Problems snowball. No one wants to see them; others are afraid to speak up.
The book ends with a series of refutations, too. Bo Yang published a series of angry responses written by other “academics” in opposition to his thesis that Chinese culture is, and I quote, primitive, and that Chinese people need to Westernize for the benefit of all. The book’s format, then, is very clever: an angry denial, a series of propositions and examples that outline a damning thesis, and more angry denials. Bo Yang knew that no matter how well-reasoned or well-supported his argument, Chinese culture is, to many, beyond reproach. By criticizing Chinese culture, you are only shaming your ancestors, who created it.
The Ugly Chinaman is a very bold and interesting book. It is a brave man who can look at his own culture in the eye and say, “You’re sick. You need help.” Apparently, when this book was published, it sold hundreds of thousands of copies in East Asia. Anyone who has spent time in Chinese society ought to read it.
Troy Parfitt is the author of Why China Will Never Rule the World
Mình vẫn không hiểu tại sao khi dịch sang tiếng Việt lại để tựa đề là "Khoe bàn chân nhỏ" mà không phải là "người TQ xấu xí" như tựa đề tiếng Anh "the ugly Chinaman"? Mà thôi bỏ qua đi. Đây là một cuốn sách lột trần những tính nết xấu của người Trung Quốc. Dù viết từ hơn 3 chục năm về trước nhưng những thói hư tật xấu được nêu lên trong này vẫn là điều nhức nhối của người dân Trung Hoa. Không chỉ lên án, tác giả còn phân tích, chỉ ra nguyên nhân lịch sử đã gây ra những thói này. Từ trước đến nay mình vốn không thích đạo Khổng vì nó coi phụ nữ chẳng ra gì, nhưng sau khi đọc cuốn sách này mới biết hậu quả kinh khủng của nó là nền văn minh tụt hậu của phương Đông. Dù đây là cuốn sách nói về tật xấu của người TQ, nhưng khi đọc cũng phải giật mình thon thót vì Việt Nam cũng có tật không khác gì. Anh em láng giềng giao hảo có khác :) Người Việt cũng nên đọc để nhận ra những tật xấu của dân tộc mình. Điều mình khá thích là cuốn sách gồm nhiều bài viết, cuộc thảo luận không chỉ của tác giả mà còn từ nhiều người khác, cả đồng ý lẫn bất đồng. Độc giả có thể tự đánh giá 2 luồng ý kiến để chọn những ý kiến mà mình thấy hợp lí nhất. (dù đương nhiên phần lớn vẫn là bài viết ủng hộ)
an interesting and hilarious exposure of the dark side of the Chinese civilization from an insider. comparing with the works by Lu Tun, nothing much seems to have changed in the Chinese way of thinking. Bo Yang blames the current situation on the very long history of Confucianism and its incompatibility with competition, commerce, innovation, and change of the status quo. consequently, the Chinese are: 1, intolerant of criticism (Bo Yang was imprisoned 9 years for writing these things) 2, constantly jealous of others' success 3, curious but not inquisitive 4, intuitive but irrational 5, subjugated, fearful, suspicious and antagonistic 6, selfish, devoid of real or deep emotions, hypocritical etc. the most interesting part is when other apologists dismiss Bo Yang's criticism and denounce him as a traitor, a Western xenophile, and unpatriotic. i guess it's true to a certain extent, considering Vietnam is very Chinese in many ways.
If you are a Westerner and spend most of your time with people who are not Asian then this book is not for you. You have been warned. Most interesting parts of it cannot be translated into English.
I don't want to say more about the view of the author on Chinese culture and Confucius teachings. People have already did that. Apart from the harsh, relentless aspect of this book, Bo Yang is a hilarious person and his writing never fails to put a big grin on my face.
By the way, I think the way Bo Yang depicts the vice and foibles of the average Chinese man (and Vietnamese also LOL) people in the 20th century in this boook very much similar to the way Moliere did with characters like Tartuffe, Harpagon, Argan.. in his comedies in the 17th century. Read both and you'll know what I mean.
Khoe bàn chân nhỏ (tựa gốc là Thô lậu đích Trung Quốc nhân), do tác gia Bách Dương viết để vạch ra hàng loạt căn bệnh của người TQ. Cuốn sách là tập hợp các bài nói chuyện của ông Bách Dương ở các trường đại học Mỹ cùng những ý kiến ủng hộ cũng như phản biện của nhiều người khác nhau về chủ đề "Người TQ xấu xí".
Người Việt Nam, với tư cách là một dân tộc hầu như đồng văn đồng chủng, khi đọc cuốn sách chắc chắn cũng sẽ có chút đồng cảm
Đọc quyển này mình có cảm giác như đang bị mắng vào mặt ấy :') Thói xấu của người Tàu cũng giống như thói xấu của người Việt vậy, đặc biệt ở tính nhỏ nhen và hay đố kị với những người thành công hơn mình. Lại còn thêm cả tự ti và hay chỉ trích nữa, hichic phải sửa thôi :(((
Đọc thế thôi. Như một bản cáo trạng với nhiều thứ tật xấu bị phơi bày như: thói đả kích, tính vụ lợi, sự hèn nhát, thói vô duyên, nói chung là tất tần tật mọi thứ. Thế nhưng, những bài nói của Bách Dương sẽ không gây thuyết phục vì: 1. Nếu những ai không thực sự tiếp xúc với người Trung Quốc thì sẽ khó tin lời Bách Dương, cơ bản vì những dẫn chứng thường mang tính hư cấu; 2. Bách Dương đề cao cộng đồng phương Tây và chê bai TQ ở mức độ quá khái quát, như thể dắt mũi người đọc và làm cho người ta càng có định kiến.
Tất nhiên việc đọc những lời của Bách Dương chắc chắn sẽ làm một bộ phận phải chột dạ.
I am a Chinese and I found the reading painful but irresistible. Many "ugly" characters can be reflected in my own thinking and behaviors. This is a book that I will revisit many times and hope to reshape myself by carefully re-thinking.
When I read the first one fifth of the book I can't be agree more with the author. I have a long time interacting and living with Chinese people myself and they really have many different and unique thinking/habits. However the more I read, the more I feel his argument isn't different from those teenagers who constantly blaming and complaining. He looked down Chinese social, culture and knowledge. I'm not Chinese, I don't have any special emotion or feeling toward them compare with other countries but that is ignorance if you don't recognize any good thing the Chinese society has. And every culture/nation has its' own problem. He blindly admires the west (or exactly where he has chance to visit, in this case mostly the United States). The author gave a bunch of problems and can not find a proper solution. His only way is "copy-cat how the west think/act" without even considering each country has its' unique background and history. Overall, this is a disappointing book to read. You can find some similar "idea/argument" about blaming his/her own culture/country/government on many social networks nowadays, especially from teenagers.
Trước khi đọc cuốn này thì mình có đọc một số bài viết của học giả Vương Trí Nhàn. Những bài viết của bác Nhàn mình cảm thấy những nhận xét đánh giá hơi chủ quan, từ một tình huống mà suy ra cho cả một đất nước, dân tộc. Dẫn chứng thì lại chủ yếu rút ra từ các nhân vật hư cấu trong văn học. Khi chuyển sang đọc cuốn này của Bách Dương thì mình kỳ vọng sẽ tốt hơn nhiều nhưng cách lập luận đánh giá lại na ná nhau. Nếu như ai đã đọc những tác phẩm của Malcomn Glad well sẽ thấy được tư duy tìm tòi, đánh giá sự vật hiện tượng khách quan hơn. Một con người, một dân tộc có rất nhiều mối liên hệ với những thứ xung quanh bao gồm cả hữu hình lẫn vô hình. Để đánh giá, chỉ trích nó đúng đắn thực sự là rất khó khăn. Điểm cộng ở cuốn này là nó cung cấp các bài viết phản biện, tranh luận với tác giả Bách Dương về chủ đề Người TQ xấu xí. Nó cho thấy suy nghĩ của con người rất đa dạng, xuôi của người này lại là ngược với người kia.
This book is not for everyone. Since I have seen so many criticisms of my own country and history I am more or less used to such brutal statements, but I do wonder how those not used to and learned to deal with it would react to a book like this. "His statement about Chinese in China of the 1980s being worse off than in the 19th century and that in the 100 years up to then all the hopes Chinese had went up in smoke and ended up making everything worse and this happening in cycles made me wonder whether this is also a factor in the current struggle of Hong Kongers and Taiwanese against being assimilated into China. They might want to escape this cycle, to not end up in misery again. This speech shown here was given in 1984 and the author died in 2008 so I wonder what he would have said to the current situations in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. What he describes here of the extreme up and down between intense slave-like inferiority complex and tyrannical superiority complex does not just remind me of Chinese nationalist but also several "Asian progressives" in the USA and in my country. I would doubt whether China has really produced only one great thinker, but to be honest, the only popular ones are Confucius and the guy who wrote the Art of War. So maybe that is why he wrote that. I disagree with him on several points, but he also has several where I think he is on to something. You see, if so, many Chinese are so insanely proud of their history and culture, why do they not dress in "traditional" Chinese attire? Also, I wonder whether these ghost-writers for self-criticism existed back then. It is certainly possible as there can be a market for almost anything. Then again, I have no idea how reliable he is. So, he said for years that Chinese people in Taiwan are uncivilized bores and said he became very depressed when he found out mainlanders are worse. Apart from the fact that I ask myself how he says that in regard to economic development in both places as well as Taiwanese democracy, it is confusing to me when he says "China". Does he mean the mainland or Taiwan as well? He is an entertaining author, but I have no idea how reliable his statements are. But either way, no wonder he is polarizing. He says that the Opium Wars were a good thing because they had woken China from its stupor and so the Qing dynasty was the greatest time in Chinese history. Try to tell that to any Chinese, especially mainlanders and the worst of the SJWs (you know, those that participate in the oppression Olympics) and see what happens. Personally, I would not agree on the 5000 years of Chinese history. After all, how much culture etc. do modern Chinese really share with the people living e.g. during the Song dynasty? And speaking of them, it is interesting how he states that respect for the individual sank during the Song and to a new low during the Ming. And what he says about detachment and abuse of power reminds me of the CCP and Chinese oligarchs. And according to him Chinese are master assimilators (not based on modern China if you ask me) and the Qing were totally assimilated unlike the Yuan. While I do not know much about the latter, as far as I know Manchu assimilation was basically a ruse. They were Manchus, stayed Manchus and were perceived as foreigners by the Han. Not to mention, they did force new customs on the Han, so how does that fit with his assimilation statements? However, in his mind during the 5000 years, there were only 3 Chinese golden ages: - Spring and Autumn and Warring States period - a 100-year period during the Tang dynasty from the reign of Li Shimin to that of Li Lungji - the first 100 years of the Qing dynasty Oh man, I would love to see some snowflake react to this. Taking into account his lack of historical knowledge and often glorification of the United States, he can be a bit annoying, but several of the things he stated do not sound new to me but I heard from people in China as well, especially when they compare China to Hong Kong and Taiwan. And according to him being Chinese among Chinese is the worst ever. And not even that is new to me. Why did I come across the same things he talks about so often?
This book does not just include what the author himself wrote and said but also some of his supporters and critics. And those were interesting to read as well. One critic of Bo Yang comes across as pretty much everything he accuses Bo Yang off. His biggest blunders are his statements about the Book of Songs and the alleged uniqueness of Chinese written history for 2800 years. The Iliad and Odyssey reach back just as long and the Bhagavad Gita is only slightly younger. And with that and Iran you already have several examples of unbroken historical records. Not sure whether most of the wealth in South East Asia was really produced by the Overseas Chinese, but saying academic achievement somehow is an indicator of Chinese superiority like another commentator seems to imply is a rather false claim. A culture cannot achieve anything with academics alone. In fact, Bo Yang already addressed this issue before. And if Eunuchs and bound feet were never a flaw in Chinese culture and just manifestations of sadistic sexual behavior practiced by decadent, self-indulgent dictators, why did they exist for so long and were so widespread for a time? But who knows what counts as decadence by some of them, you see if the Qipao that one talks about is the dress that I think it is, the commentator doesn't seem to realize that its cut at the sides to reveal leg and allow more movement was a sign of emancipation. And of course, he has a critic that rants about the Nationalists but has no bad thing to say about Mao. In another case however I am sure some commentator meant Mao when he talked about an emperor and I wondered why he didn't just say so. One comment was especially puzzling to me: Ancient China was cut off from the West because of deserts? How can this commentator say this when not only is it known that silk was exported to the West since roman times, but how can he possibly say this if not only has China been conquered by several non-Chinese people from the North and West, but the most popular tale in Chinese history deals with a journey to Indian, aka a "Journey to the West?" Luckily one commentator here counteracts some of the BS in the prior chapter, e.g. by pointing out that if Chinese language needs hand signs for effective communication, how could they use telephones or if being landlocked prevents progress why did e.g. Switzerland manage it? He points to Neo-Confucianism in the Song dynasty as the actual cause of stagnation. I am going to assume that this last article is pure satire because if the commentator really thinks that Chinese history is constant misery and Chinese people basically scumbags (albeit he calls e.g. onlookers to calamity that hinder first aiders as Chinese relieving themselves and worrying) that you cannot trust, he probably would have killed himself by now. So, I would definitely recommend this book, but if you have thin skin, stay away.
A commentary of Bo yang... All his opinion but worth a read. An honest hard look at our selves as Chinese... Many truths... Many ironies.. Many of our fallacies.
As a Vietnamese, I think this is a good book to look at Chinese behaviour and culture specifically, and East Asian generally. The book depicts a vivid picture of daily Chinaman life and is able to describe all the ugliness of Chinese people at that time. Speaking of this book, it was written nearly 40 years ago. Time passed, and Chinese people have improved their behaviour a lot and are more capable of popularising the impact of their culture. Meanwhile, the Western people that Bo Yang applauded have become "uglier". While Bo Yang's predictions were not correct, he made an impact and helped Chinese people all over the world to understand and realize the weakness of their culture, and to improve themselves.
I read this book time >30 years ago, it was a blow. But now when I re-read this, it loses the shocking power. On one hand there is no slight improvement, sadly. I do not totally agree what the book says, I agree that this is open for self-reflection. Like another book I am currently reading about Netflix culture, we want to create a candor for honest and constructive feedback, but it is up to the recipient to choose accept or not. Perhaps certain deep-root flaw (劣根性) in the DNA indeed stops the improvement.
Excellent insights from a native of China. Of course, this view will be regarded as denigrating to Chinese race by the current nationalistic communist China. A must read for those Chinese who want to integrate with the global village especially in an era of global commerce.
He was a vocal critic of his country that stems from his love towards it. He held some interesting perspective but it became a little tiring to read. As it's a compilation of his writings over the years, it seems whiny. Individually, they were strong pieces.