创造神话:中西不同 Ancient West Did Not Meet East: Creation Myths

神话是人类对其所处的世界的关系所持有的最初的看法。大多的神话讲述的是人格神与女神控制人类与自然界。

对古代希腊人来说，大地母亲生产了神灵与人类。而神灵转过来控制人类与所有自然事务，包括水灾与饥荒。有了更高力量的控制，西方的世界观明显的把神灵界与人类世界分开，并产生了心灵二元的思维。

古代希腊哲学家亚里士多德把心物二元的观念深根蒂固地注入西方的思维内。他强调在学习自然世界时把个别物理元素分开来，而这个强调就把人类放在我们所处的环境的观察者的地位上，而不是世界的一部分。

但是，华人没有创造神话 - 中文里本来也没有这个词语。中国人的世界是造化，造而化之；造与化是一枚硬币的两面。

古代中国人认为人与世界不是被创造出来的，在以它们为主要构成特征的自发的、持续自我造化的宇宙并没有创造者、上帝、最终原因、或外在意志。其最高力量并不是分开的或高高在上的天上的统治者，而一切都包含在众生与万物之中。

对华人来说，并没有一个最高存在者在改变世界，改变本身是‘存在’的自然的、给定的条件，是创造的运作。神灵与人类或人类与自然界之间没有分别。它们是不可分辨的一个整体。

就是这些基本概念使到东亚人的世界观不同于西方。

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Creation myths are the first real glimpses into how humanity first viewed itself in relation to the world around us. Most of these myths tell of an anthropomorphic god, goddess, or gods and goddesses that ruled over humanity and all of nature.

For the ancient Greeks, Mother Earth was the primal force giving birth to deities and human alike. These deities, in turn, ruled over the realm of humanity controlling all natural events from flood to famine. With higher powers in charge, the Western view of the world was distinctly split between the realm of the divine and the realm of humanity, with created a dualism of thoughts as well.

It was the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle who firmly entrenched this dualism of mind and matter into Western thought. He emphasised the study of the natural world into its individual physical components, and this emphasis placed humanity in the role of observer of the world around it and not necessarily as a participant of that world.

However, Chinese do not have creation myths – and there is no Chinese term for it. The Chinese world is known as Zaohua, i.e. create (zao) it and change (hua) it, creation and change are two sides of a coin.

The ancient Chinese have regarded the world and man as uncreated, as constituting the central features a spontaneously self-generating cosmos having no creator, god, ultimate cause, or will external to it. Thus, the natural world and humans are one and only part of a larger, ever-flowing continuum of creation. The supreme force was not separate and above them, as a ruling deity in heaven, but was within and without them, all encompassing and all-inclusive.

For Chinese, there was not ultimate Being bringing about change in the world, it was simply a given and natural condition of existence, the workings of creation. There was also not clear distinction between the divine and humanity or humanity and nature. They were the inseparable part of a whole.

It is this fundamental conception that sets the Chinese world view apart from that of the West.

三喜临门 Triple Blessings

新加坡的第一个赌场于这个星期天（2月14日）农历最吉祥的新年当天开幕。这是新加坡为了增加旅游收入、讨好富有旅客的重要努力。圣淘沙名胜世界在农历新年第一天吉时12时18分迎接了第一个中年妇女赌客。

以广东话来念1218，有‘易发’之意，会带来好运。第一个赌徒之后有两百多人，开幕几小时之后，有好几百人已经在外排队。开幕的第二天，在几个小时后，12时30分的时候，人潮多到当局还不得不关闭进口二个半小时。

据报道，那些已进入赌场的人，也难找到下赌注的机会，或找不到赌桌边空座，或没老虎机可玩。外面的排队人被告知要耐心等待进场，而有些在赌场内的人却不急着出去。

估计有三万五千人在开幕的头两天的乘农历新年周末假期到赌场去试他们的运气。访客中，以外国游客占大多数；新加坡公民与永久居民进场有诸多限制，包括要缴交一百新元的入场日票，或两千新元的一年通行证。

新加坡当局透露，开幕第一天到傍晚7时30分为止，已有3，248名新加坡公民与永久居民付出入场日票与122人购买了一年的通行证。就是说，在七个小时内，所得到的税收已达新币$572,000。

这个赌场的开幕是新加坡计划到2017年能吸引一千七百万旅客到访的另一个重要步骤。我们希望在农历新年与情人节的开幕是新加坡三喜临门的好预兆，并希望以后会有更多的好年头。

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Singapore’s first casino, a key part of a drive to boost tourism revenue and please wealthy visitors, opened its doors on Sunday, Lunar New Year (14 Feb) - the most auspicious day of the Chinese calendar. The casino at Resorts World Sentosa welcomed its first punter - a middle aged Singaporean woman - at the auspicious time of 12:18 pm on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

When pronounced in the Cantonese dialect, 12:18 sounds like ‘striking prosperity’, which would bring good luck. The first bettor was followed by an initial crowd of about 200 enthusiastic gamblers and within hours of the opening, hundreds more were queuing up outside. On the second day of its opening, it was so packed within hours of opening that it had to shut its doors for 2.5 hours at 13.30 am.

It was reported that those already inside were having trouble placing a bit or just finding a seat at the gambling tables and slot machines. While people outside were asked to wait, some of those who were inside were in no hurry to leave.

It was estimated that more than 35,000 punters took advantage of the Chinese New Year holiday weekend to try their luck on the first two days at the casino. There were far more foreign visitors than Singaporeans and Permanent Residents (PRs), who were subject to a number of restrictions, including having to pay a one-day entry levy of $100, or $2,000 for annual pass.

The Singapore authority disclosed that as of 7.30 on the first day of its opening, 3,248 Singaporeans and PRs had forked out for the entry levy, and another 122 had purchased the annual pass. The means in seven hours, the revenue collected had reached $572,000.

The opening of the casino is another major step to realise Singapore’s grant plan to bring in 17 million tourists by 2015. We hope the opening on the Lunar New Year and valentine time day is indeed a good sign of triple blessings for Singapore and all of us have many good years ahead.

马丁•雅克：不要以西方标准来判断中国Martin Jacques: Don't Judge China by Western Standards

伦敦卫报专栏作者学者马丁•雅克在其名为《当中国统治世界时》的书中说，‘我们正处于一个不同的世界的边沿。’他对‘中国会越来越像西方’的这种西方普遍接受的预设提出了挑战。他可能是第一个从文化的角度分析‘中国威胁论’的西方学者。

他于2009年11月29日在洛杉矶时报撰文如何理解中国。以下是摘录：

西方对中国的不了解导致重复地削弱了西方对中国行为预测的能力。一次又一次的，我们对中国的预测与想法都被证明是错误的：中国共产党会会在1989年垮台，中国会分裂，它的经济成长不会持久，它的经济数字大大地被夸大，中国对他从英国收回香港时所提出的‘一国两制’没有诚意，当然还有它会稳健地西方化。我们对中国估计错误有很长的纪录。

我们不能准确地预测中国的未来是因为我们不了解它的过去。虽然中国在上个世纪形容自己是个国家，它其实基本上是个文明个体。它是世界上最长久的现存政治个体，可以追溯到公元前221年时秦国的胜利。不同于西方的国家，中国的认同感来自它作为文明个体的长久历史。

当然，世上有很多文明流派，西方文明就是其中之一，但是只有中国是个文明个体。它以特别长久的历史为界定，再加上它的辽阔地理与人口的规模与多元化。这个涵义深远：以一统为优先，以多元为生存条件。（这就是为什么中国提供香港‘一国两制’，在一个国家中这是奇异的方式。）

与西方国家相比，中国与其社会的关系是不一样的。虽然其政府连人民的一票也没有得到，但是它却获得更大的自然的权威、合法性与尊重。理由是，中国人把政府看成是他们文明的监护人、监督人与具体象征。政府的合法性深深依附于中国历史。这与西方人如何看待他们的历史是完全不同的。

如果我们要了解中国，我们就要超越西方所习惯的现实、经验与所有概念的尺度来理解中国的历史。两百年来，西方由欧洲开始到美国垄断世界，并不需要了解‘他人’。有必要时他们惯常以欺压来使对方屈服。

中国作为世界势力的出现标志着哪个时代的结束。我们日渐必须以对等的条件来与‘他人’（以中国为代表）周旋。

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Martin Jacques, a columnist for The Guardian of London, argues in his book ‘When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order’ that ‘we stand on the eve of a different kind of world’. He challenges the common assumptions in the West that China will become increasingly like them. He is probably the first in the West to elaborate the China’s Minatory Theory from cultural angle.

He wrote in the Los Angeles Times on 29 Nov 2009 on how to understand China and I quote:

The West's failure to understand the Chinese has repeatedly undermined its ability to anticipate their behaviour. Again and again, our predictions and beliefs about China have proved wrong: that the Chinese Communist Party would fall after 1989, that the country would divide, that its economic growth could not be sustained, that its growth figures were greatly exaggerated, that China was not sincere about its offer of ‘one country two systems’ at the time of the hand-over of Hong Kong from Britain -- and, of course, that it would steadily Westernize. We have a long track record of getting China wrong.

The fundamental reason for our inability to accurately predict China's future is our failure to understand its past. Although China has described itself as a nation-state for the last century, it is in essence a civilization-state. The longest continually existing polity in the world, it dates to 221 BC and the victory of the Qin. Unlike Western nation-states, China's sense of identity comes from its long history as a civilization-state.

Of course, there are many civilizations -- Western civilization is one example -- but China is the only civilization-state. It is defined by its extraordinarily long history and also its huge geographic and demographic scale and diversity. The implications are profound: Unity is its first priority, plurality the condition of its existence (which is why China could offer Hong Kong "one country two systems," a formula alien to a nation-state).

The Chinese state enjoys a very different kind of relationship with society compared with the Western state. It enjoys much greater natural authority, legitimacy and respect, even though not a single vote is cast for the government. The reason is that the state is seen by the Chinese as the guardian, custodian and embodiment of their civilization. The duty of the state is to protect its unity. The legitimacy of the state therefore lies deep in Chinese history. This is utterly different from how the state is seen in Western societies.

If we are to understand China, we must move beyond the compass of Western reality and experience and the body of concepts that has grown up to explain that history. We find this extremely difficult. For 200 years the West, first in the shape of Europe and then the United States, has dominated the world and has not been required to understand others or The Other. If need be it could always bully the latter into submission.

The emergence of China as a global power marks the end of that era. We now have to deal with The Other -- in the form of China -- on increasingly equal terms.

新年诗：爆竹声中一岁除 New Year Poem: In the Booming Sound of the Firecrackers, One Year is Gone

在庆祝农历新年期间，把写在红纸上的对联贴在前门是一种习俗了。这在中国各地都实行。它源自一种把两块桃木板挂在门上的习俗。每块桃木板画上门神‘神荼’和‘郁垒’的像或名字。意图是驱走邪恶。这个习俗就叫‘桃符’。

这个习俗一直沿用了千多年。五代十国时，人们开始在桃木上写联句，而不是画像或写神鬼的名字。从宋朝开始，在门上贴上对联已经是相当普遍了，正如王安石诗《元日》中所反映。

王安石（1021-1086）是宋朝的一个大政治家、思想家、学者与伟大的宰相。1058年他上书宋仁宗，提倡改革，把软弱的国家振作起来，以建立一支强大军队与限制政府官员与大地主勾结来强盛国家。1070年，他被任命为宰相，开始实行新法。但是他受到保守分子强烈的反抗，终于在1076年退隐。

这首诗描述了新年的节日与愉快气氛。这时候，小孩最喜欢的就是爆竹了。

王安石《元日》

爆竹声中一岁除，

春风送暖入屠苏；

千门万户瞳瞳日，

总把新桃换旧符。

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During the lunar New Year, or the Spring Festival celebration, it is a custom to post couples written on red papers on front doors. This is practised in all parts of China. It originated from the custom of hanging up two peach wood plaques on the doors. On each peach wood was the portrait or the name of the door gods Shentu and Yulei. It was intended to drive away evil spirits. This custom was known as Taofu, or Peach-Wood Plaque.

This custom lasted for over a thousand years. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, people started to write couplet on peach woods instead of the names of door gods. Since Song Dynasty, the custom of displaying couplet on the doors had become quite common, as reflected by Wang Anshi’s famous poem ‘New Year’s Day’.

Wang Anshi (1021 - 1086) was a great politician, ideologist, litterateur and a great prime minister in Song Dynasty. He sent a proposal to Emperor Song Ren Zong in 1058 urging for a reform to change the feeble state to a strong country by building a powerful army and restraining government officials’ link to large landowners. In 1070, he became the prime minister and started implementing his reform plan. But he met with strong resistance from conservative elements and finally retired in 1076.

This poem depicts the festive and jolly atmosphere of the New Year. Fireworks are a favorite with the children on this occasion.

In the booming sound of the firecrackers, one year is gone

Spring wind is sending the warm to the Tusu wine

Tens of thousands of homes, doors, are in the shining sun

Always have to replace the old faded pictures onto new peach wood plaque