Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article: A1330-W945

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1330-W945

Release Date: October 24, 2020

发布日：2020年10月24日

Topic: Is It the Amalgam of Ethnic Harmony Or the Annexation Imposed by Hegemony? -- Wei Jingsheng

标题：是民族和睦的融合还是霸道强加的吞并? -- 魏京生

Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

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Is It the Amalgam of Ethnic Harmony Or the Annexation Imposed by Hegemony?

-- Wei Jingsheng

The History Museum of Nantes City in France cancelled its Mongolian history exhibition because the name Genghis Khan or even the term Mongolian Empire was not allowed by its exhibition partner: Inner Mongolia of China. Then what is expected to exhibit? To forcefully exhibit the falsified history, language and culture? This situation could well use ancient Chinese idioms: Referring to a deer as a horse, or block one’s ears while stealing bells.

A group of flattering Chinese literati and scholars came forward to defend the illiterate Xi Jinping, claiming it as ethnic integration. This makes me want to talk about so-called ethnic integration and how should we integrate. So what is the relationship between ethnic equality and equality for all?

The successful ethnic integration in modern times can be said to be represented by the United States, Europe and Japan. Is American culture a British one? Many street names in the USA are not in English, and people with a discerning eye know that they come from Latin, German, and French, etc. The food culture in the USA is even more complicated, and even without too much British characteristic. Is this the result of mandatory use of English? It doesn't seem to be.

Japan is another example of success. For more than a thousand years now, Japan first learned Chinese culture and later Western culture. But they always used Japanese language and even converted Chinese characters into Japanese pronunciation. Does this prevent them from absorbing advanced culture and integrating it into modern Japanese civilization? No.

Any large ethnic group is the result of a cultural amalgam, which is even true with the ethnic minorities. But this integration is not the result of compulsion, but the result of mutual integration on the premise of self-willingness and benefit. This kind of mutually beneficial and voluntary result is the most acceptable result and thus can continue. On the contrary, the result of forced integration into one language and culture is not only imperfect in most cases, but also often unacceptable. It damages the interests and dignity of one or more parties. It will be mostly unsuccessful as pressing down cows’ heads into water when they do not want to drink.

The so-called Chinese nation itself is the result of continuous integration. The so-called Chinese Huaxia race of three thousand years, in terms of race and ethnicity, was a great amalgam of the Rong race in the west, Di race in the North, Man race in the South, and Yi race in the East. The only difference is that they had implemented different political systems. This is the difference between Huaxia and Manyi. Is Chinese the language of Qin Nation or Chu Nation? Neither. It is the integration of languages and cultures of various nations, with the result that there are so many homophones that need to be distinguished by tones. There were even much more tones in ancient times than now.

The amalgam method in ancient China is relatively reasonable. It separates writing characters and spoken language. The spoken language is not unified even now. Everyone retains their own dialect, but it does not hinder the integration of culture. In a rapidly unifying big country, this is the most acceptable and therefore the most effective integration, and of course the most reasonable integration. This shows that compulsory language integration is not important at all, but it often induces negative feeling and would be unsuccessful.

The least successful example was the forced assimilation policy during the time when Japan occupied China, with compulsory learning of Japanese, eating Japanese food, and using Japanese etiquette. As a result, there was nothing remain when Japan was defeated. However, when China began the opening up policies to learn from the advanced cultures of other countries, eating Japanese and Western food, as well as studying the English language become fashionable. There are even young Chinese, who are learning from the Japanese with the admiration of foreigners, who would dye their hair yellow and pretend to be white people. Could this emulation be done by mandatory decree?

In fact, modern Europe has changed the ancient policies of conquest and coercion. They live in harmony and learn from each other. They keep their own language and writing, and are forming a large European culture and a unified community. The Europeans have left the course running in a natural way which is not slow. It is the best way so that people do not have negative feelings. However, the Chinese Communist Party has learned from the unsuccessful colonial culture of the West and implemented a hegemonic policy of ethnic annexations. Its failure can be expected soon.

I support both independence and unification. Independence is a natural response to being oppressed and harmed. This is the reason for the independence of the United States. Unification is a response under the premise of mutual respect and maximization of interests. Europe is gradually moving towards unification. The Soviets changed all the names of the Kazakhs to Russian and forced them to forget their ancestors, but did it prevent the Kazakhs from seeking independence to form Kazakhstan? The United States speaks a different English, yet retains the excellent culture of all races and nationalities. Why are there so many that tried so hard to join the United States? Isn't it clear which one is better?

(This English version is translated by Ciping HUANG, without any compensation. Wei Jingsheng and the Wei Jingsheng Foundation appreciate her decades of contribution, especially for allowing the use and distribution of her translations of these commentaries.)

Original link of the commentary broadcasted by Radio Free Asia:

https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/pinglun/weijingsheng/wjs-10232020145351.html

To hear Mr. Wei Jingsheng's related commentary, please visit:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/RFA/RFA2020/WeiJS201023onAmalgam.mp3

(Written on October 22 and recorded on October 23, 2020. Broadcasted by Radio Free Asia on October 23, 2020.)

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中文版

Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article: A1330-W945

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1330-W945

Release Date: October 24, 2020

发布日：2020年10月24日

Topic: Is It the Amalgam of Ethnic Harmony Or the Annexation Imposed by Hegemony? -- Wei Jingsheng

标题：是民族和睦的融合还是霸道强加的吞并? -- 魏京生

Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）

如有中文乱码问题，请与我们联系或访问：

http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2020/report2020-10/WeiJS201024onAmalgamA1330-W945.htm

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是民族和睦的融合还是霸道强加的吞并?

-- 魏京生

法国的南特市博物馆取消了蒙古历史展览，因为中国内蒙古方面居然不准使用成吉思汗这个名称，甚至不准使用蒙古帝国这个名词。那你想展览什么？展览强制推行篡改了的历史语言文化吗？用中国的古代成语说：这叫指鹿为马，掩耳盗铃。

一帮马屁文人御用学者出面为没文化的习大大辩解，说这叫作民族融合。这就让我们不得不说道说道，什么叫民族融合，怎样才能融合，民族平等和人人平等是什么关系。

现代成功的民族融合，可以说以美国、欧洲和日本为代表。美国文化是英国文化吗？街道名称很多不是英语，明眼人都知来自拉丁语、德语和法语等。饮食文化就更复杂了，反倒没什么英国特色。这是强制使用英语的结果吗？好像没什么关系。

日本是另一个成功的例证。一千多年来他们先是学习中国文化，后来又学习西方文化，但始终都使用日语，甚至把汉字变换成日语读音。这妨碍了他们吸收先进文化，融合成现代日本文明吗？没有。

任何大的民族都是文化融合的结果，就连现在所说的少数民族也不例外。但这种融合并非强制的结果，而是在自愿和有利的前提下，互相融合的结果。这种互利自愿的结果才是最能被接受的结果，才能够继续下去。反之，强迫向一种语言文化融合的结果，大多数情况下不但不完美，而且往往不被接受。因为损害了一方或者多方的利益和尊严，牛不喝水强按头，多半不会成功。

所谓的中华民族本身就是不断融合的结果。三千年前所谓的华夏民族，从种族和民族来说，就是戎狄蛮夷文化的大融合。区别仅仅是他们实行了不同的政治体制，这才是所谓的华夷之别。汉语是秦国的语言还是楚国的语言呢？都不是。是各国语言文化的融合，所以才有那么多的同音字，需要用声调来区分。古代的声调比现在多得多。

中国古代的融合方法比较合理。它把文字和语言分离开来，语言至今也不统一，大家保留了自己的方言，但并不妨碍文化的融合。在一个迅速统一的大国里，这是最能被接受因此最有效的融合，当然也是最合理的融合。这说明强制语言融合根本就不重要，反而经常是引起反感和不成功的。

最不成功的要算日本占领中国时，强制同化的政策--强制学日语，吃日餐，使用日本礼节。结果日本战败就什么也没剩下。倒是中国开始开放政策学习各国先进文化，让日餐、西餐和英语开始成为时髦。甚至中国的小青年们学着日本人的崇洋媚外，也把头发染成黄色，假装白种人。这是强制能做到的吗？

其实现代的欧洲一改古代的征服和强制政策，和睦相处，互相学习。他们各自保留自己的语言文字，正在形成大欧洲文化和统一的共同体，顺其自然但并不缓慢，大家都不反感才是最好的方式。而中国共产党却学习西方不成功的殖民主义文化，实行霸道的民族吞并政策。其失败可以指日而待。

我既支持独立也支持统一。独立是在被压迫和被损害的情况下的自然反应，这是美国独立的理由。统一是在互相尊重和利益最大化的前提下的反应，欧洲正在逐步走向统一。苏联人把哈萨克人的名字都改成俄语，强迫他们数典忘祖，但是阻止了分裂吗？美国说着变了味儿的英语，但保留了所有种族和民族的优秀文化，别人还哭着喊着要加入美国呢？孰优孰劣不是一目了然吗？

(本评论的英文版本由黄慈萍翻译。魏京生和魏京生基金会感谢她数十年来有关的无偿贡献，特别是使用和发布此译文的许可。)

本篇评论在自由亚洲电台的原始链接：

https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/pinglun/weijingsheng/wjs-10232020145351.html