如果中国哲学强调和谐，为什么中国人如此具有竞争力? [美国媒体]

Why are Chinese so competitive if Chinese philosophy emphasizes harmony?

如果中国哲学强调和谐，为什么中国人如此具有竞争力?



George Hsia, Freelancer (2015-present)
There are indeed fundamental differences between the modern West and China with regard to their survival strategy.
In the modern West, the law of the jungle (survival of the fittest, survival of the strongest, kill or to be killed, win or lose) is translated into the liberal order in society or the free market for competition. The law of the jungle is a state of “war of all against all”, of ruthless struggle for survival and self-interest. Hence Social Darwinism. It is no surprise that real war does happen frequently in the modern West. Society is conceived as contractual constructions among individuals, and social contracts are designed to legalize competition. Of course, competition under social contracts is normally peaceful, but war is understood as a (necessary or logical) continuation of politics or economy by other means.

现代西方与中国在生存战略上确实存在着根本性的差异。
在现代西方，弱肉强食的法则(适者生存，强者生存，杀人或被杀，输或赢)被转化为自由的社会秩序或自由竞争市场。丛林法则是一种“所有人对所有人的战争”，是为生存和私利而进行的残酷斗争。因此是一种社会达尔文主义。所以无怪乎现代西方经常发生真正的战争。社会被认为是人与人之间的一种契约架构，而社会契约的目的就是使竞争合法化。当然，社会契约下的竞争通常是和平的，而战争则被理解为政治或经济的一种另类方式的(必要的或合乎逻辑的)延续。



The re-rise of China, with it emphasis of harmony, may serve as another force to counterbalance the belligerent tendency in Western modernity.
Now an easy question: What kind of social condition is easier for humans to survive, competition or cooperation, conflict or harmony, war or peace?

强调和谐法则的中国的重新崛起，可能会成为制衡西方现代性好战倾向的另一股力量。
现在有一个简单的问题是:什么样的社会氛围对人类来说更容易生存，竞争还是合作，冲突还是和谐，战争还是和平?

Henry Young, former Bank Manager (1974-2008)
It is in Chinese culture: Search for Excellence 精益求精，the next generation is better than the former generation or the apprentice would be better than the master 青出于蓝胜于蓝， etc etc.
A culture is not as simple as either harmony first or competition first. Culture is very mixed and complex. Chinese are intelligent, hardworking, competitive, emphasise harmony, family first, education first, children first, etc etc and none of which is mutually exclusive.
The other side of your question is if western country is not as competitive as Chinese, then it might be a western culture issue: you emphasise work life balance, freedom and democracy first , for individualism, for hegemony or colonising other countries in the past, etc.

这是由于中国文化:寻求卓越精益求精,下一代比前一代或学徒会比师傅厉害。所谓青出于蓝胜于蓝，诸如此类的文化不胜枚举。
文化并不能简单的概括为和谐优先或竞争优先 。文化是非常混乱和复杂的。中国人聪明、勤奋、有竞争力，强调和谐、家庭优先、教育优先、孩子优先等等，这些都不是相互排斥的。

另一方面，你的问题是,如果西方国家竞争力不如中国人,那么这就可能是一个西方文化的问题:你们强调工作生活平衡,自由和民主优先,个人主义,欺压或殖民其他国家,等等。



There is a kind of kung fu in Chinese martial arts called internal strength. It is similar to sit-in. The emphasis is on quietness, stability and balance. This is the wisdom of the Chinese people.
Wisdom is always scarce, and only a few people have the opportunity to use it at the same time.
In balance in a complex relationship, even if you dance on the tip of the knife, it is safe to balance without breaking. If balance is broken, then a new balance must be established.
I think this is a universal rule in the world.

中国武术中有一种功夫叫内力。类似于静坐打坐。重点是安静、稳定和平衡。这是中国人民的智慧。
智慧总是稀缺的，只有少数人有机会使用智慧。
在复杂的关系中保持平衡，即使是在刀尖上跳舞，保持平衡而不受伤就是安全的。如果平衡被打破，那么必须建立一个新的平衡。
我认为这是世界的普遍规律。

As an individual
A physically and mentally healthy person needs a balance between inner and outer actions. When we encounter problems, we must not only seek external solutions, but we must also adjust the way we look at them.
If the heart is very stubborn, it is merely solved in an external way. This is called stubbornness. Although the problem may be solved, the opportunity to use the problem to enhance one's heart and cultivate wisdom will also be missed.
Of course, if you can only rely on powerful insightful wisdom to resolve subjective problems, it is extremely rare in reality. Many people will feel that they are deceiving themselves. Only the two seek a balance. As the age experience grows, the proportion of resolving problems and conflicts that rely on internal wisdom gradually increases.

作为一个个体
一个身心健康的人需要在内在和外在行为之间取得平衡。当我们遇到问题时，我们不仅要寻求外部的解决办法，还要调整我们看待问题的方式。
如果内心很固执，那就只能借助外力来解决。这就是所谓的顽固不化。虽然问题是被解决了，但利用问题来提升自己的心灵和历练智慧的机会也会被错过。

当然，如果你能只靠强大的洞察力就解决主观性的问题，这在现实中就极其罕见了。许多人会觉得这是在自己欺骗自己。只有内在与外在协调平衡才能做到这种地步。随着年龄的增长，依靠内在智慧解决问题和冲突的比例会逐渐增加。

Kai Pan, Former Managing Editor of chinaSMACK
Because reality is competitive

因为现实是竞争性的



Gigi Aldo, Banker
It's called harmonious competition.

这就是所谓的和谐竞争。

soei namiya
philosophy emphasizes harmony because society force you to become competitive. if society already have a harmony, there is no need for philosophy emphasizes harmony.

哲学强调和谐，是因为社会自然会迫使你变得有竞争力。如果社会已经有了和谐，那么哲学就不需要强调和谐。

Adam Zhang
Just as Americans smile and talk nicely face to fact while stabbing each other at back.

就像美国人在背后互相捅刀子的时候，面对面时却又微笑着相互交谈。

He Hang
Because the UK taught Chinese a lesson when it exported opium to China.

因为英国向中国出口的鸦片给中国人上了一课。

Glenn Lee, works at Northern California
Taoist believes in harmony with nature. Confucius believes in harmony within the family and by extension within society. Competition is always part of the system of Chinese government in terms of the imperial examinations. The greater the population, the greater the competition.

道教认为应该与自然和谐相处。孔子则认为家庭内部应该和谐，社会内部应该和谐。就科举考试而言，竞争一直是中国政府制度的一部分。人口越多，竞争越激烈。

Xu Zhang
All for survival.

一切都是为了生存。



Eru Li
It’s all because we have to be competitive, to develop and get everything back to track. We have a harmony culture because our society has been stabilized for a very long time in history. This has been a thematic philosophy that peacefulness and none violence is the consensus for everyone throughout a long stable society relation. Our people value 谦谦君子(a modest, self-disciplined gentle person) more than any other characters.
The ironic thing is that even after we’ve been invaded by Japanese, except for some temporary rebellion consciousness, we still value harmony more than anything when facing foreign people with colonist culture mind in daily life. It’s like we never want to change this idea because we deeply know it’s more civilized, even maybe the outcome won’t be as good as we expected it should be. Even then they may think that we are “dumb”, we are “safe”, we are easy to bully. Maybe some of us have tried to switch the philosophy to a brutal counterpart, to adapting classic western culture. But to me, to many typical Chinese, it’s degeneration. It's yielding to “jungle laws”.
When I was very young, about 8 or 9. I found things in the world are in an extremely weird way. The more civilized people are suddenly becoming such clowns, and bullied so hard. It’s the original image westerners give me. When throughout our history we have always been very kind to foreigners, given them resources and knowledges. On the other hand, even in nowadays whites are still bombing Syria. I think everything is just so ridiculous.

这都是因为我们必须要有竞争力，要发展，要让一切回到正轨。我们有和谐的文化，因为我们的社会在历史上很长一段时间里是稳定的。在长期稳定的社会关系中，和平无暴力是所有人的共识，这是一种重要的哲学。相比其他性格，我们的人民更崇尚谦谦君子(一个谦虚,自律的温和的人)。

具有讽刺意味的是，即使在日本人入侵后，除了一些暂时的反抗意识，在日常生活中面对带有殖民文化思想的外国人时，我们仍然更重视和谐胜于一切。这就好像我们永远不想改变这个想法，因为我们深深知道它更文明，甚至可能结果不会像我们预期的那样好，但我们依然如此。即使那样，可能会让他们认为我们是“愚蠢的”，我们是“无害的”，我们很容易被欺负。也许我们中的一些人已经尝试过将这种哲学转变成一种残酷的思想，以适应西方的经典文化。但对我来说，对许多典型的中国人来说，这是一种退化。一种屈服于“丛林法则”的退化。

在我很小的时候，大概八九岁的时候。我发现世界上的东西都是非常奇怪的。更文明的人突然变得像小丑一样，被欺负得很厉害。这是西方人给我的最初印象。纵观历史，我们一直对外国人很好，给了他们资源和知识。另一方面，即使在今天，白人仍在轰炸叙利亚。我觉得这一切都太荒谬了。