中国人为何热爱竞争？老外这样看...

文化是一个人的软实力，同时，也是一个国家的软实力。看一个国家的发展程度，文化的发展，是一项重要的指标。

中国文化的核心竞争力又是什么？

在《中国国家形象全球调查》报告中，多数外国人一致认为，“强调竞争”，是中国文化的核心竞争力：

1、Andrew Orr

If you have not lived in China, there is no way to fully know.

如果你没有在中国生活过，就没有办法完全了解。

I feel confident saying that because I’m not Chinese, and there is no way I would have known until I had gone there.

我有信心这么说，因为我不是中国人，在去那里之前我是无法了解到这一点的。

I taught IELTS and an English elective class at a middle school, and little things gave me insight to that level of competition:

我在一所中学里教雅思和英语选修课，一些小事让我对这种竞争的激烈程度有了深刻的认识：

I once
gave private English lessons to a middle school-aged boy, and I saw the
tight schedule his parents had for him. I’d be over at their house, he’d
be doing homework, and 7:30PM I’d join them for dinner, and from 8:00
to 9:30 once or twice a week, I taught him English, and once I left,
he’d be doing homework for probably another hour.

有一次，我给一个中学生进行英语补习，我看到他父母给他安排的时间非常紧。我去他们家的时候，他正在做作业，晚上七点半我会和他们一起吃晚饭，而从八点到九点半——每周一两次，我会教他英语，而在我离开之后，他可能还要做一个小时的作业。

His
parents told me they really want the best for him and they do want him
to be happy (and by and large he seemed in good spirits), but they also
have to be strict with his studies because there is no other way.

他的父母告诉我，他们真的想给他最好的，他们希望他快乐(总的来说，他看起来精神很好)，但他们也必须严格要求他的学习，因为别无他法。

Their
parents ask their children to improve themselves, but they also ask for
horizontal comparisons of all the "rivals" they can reach. But in the
United States, we usually allow our children to develop.

他们的父母要求他们的孩子提高自己，但他们也要求横向比较他们能达到的所有“对手”。但在美国，我们通常任由孩子发展。

2、Jennifer

Yes, I have a deep feeling about it.

是的，对此我深有感触。

Generally
speaking, you don’t see anything like that in the US or some other
countries. I’m not saying there isn’t competition here; there is, but
it’s different from China.

一般来说，你在美国或其他一些国家都看不到这样的情况。我不是说哪些地方没有竞争；的确存在，但它与中国不同。

If you
don’t see it or experience such competition, You probably can't imagine
that the average Chinese people are strict with themselves. I think that
kind of self-discipline is enough to make most Americans feel ashamed.

如果你没有看到或经历过这样的竞争，你或许根本无法想象一般中国人对自身要求的严格，我认为那种自律性，足以使得大部分美国人感到羞愧

3、Irons

I had
friends who routinely were working on Saturdays at their office jobs,
and I would meet people who I thought would be great at doing x job, and
even though I felt that person very unique and worthy of such a job,
the reality is there could be hundreds, thousands, tens or hundreds of
thousands just like that same person looking for that same limited job.

我有朋友经常在星期六工作在办公室工作，我也会遇见一些我认为在某项工作上成就斐然的人，然而尽管我觉得这个人非常独特，并且值得拥有这样一份工作，但实际上可能有像他一样的数百、数千、数万或数十万人在寻找有限的相同工作岗位。

In my
opinion, this may be the main reason why Chinese people emphasize
"competition", because you can never imagine how many people can replace
your work at any time, so you have to keep moving forward!

在我看来，这或许是中国人强调“竞争”的主要原因，因为你永远无法想象，有多少人随时能够替代你的工作，所以你不得不一直向前！

4、Robin Matthews

In China,
if you want to become rich, you have to pass the College Entrance
Examination, enter the stock market, and make as many commercial
investments as possible!

在中国，如果你想要变得富有，就得通过高考，就得进入股市，就得去尽可能多的进行商业投资！

So when
you have Chinese people all focused on the same strategy, it only
magnifies the competition even more. Contrast that to the US, there
isn’t that same approach.

所以当你让所有中国人都专注于相同的策略时，竞争只会更加激烈。与之相比，在美国，人们没有套用同样的方法。

Of
course, this is not to say that the average American does not like
wealth, but in most cases, Americans will find that after trying hard,
they do not seem to have much difference compared with other idle
people!

当然，这并不是说普通美国人不喜欢财富，但在大多数情况下，美国人会发现，经过努力，他们似乎与其他闲人没有太大的区别！

Since
hard work can't change anything? Why not enjoy life? In fact, the
"competitive culture" emphasized by China today also appeared in the
United States 70 years ago.

既然努力工作什么也改变不了？为什么不享受生活呢？事实上，中国今天强调的“竞争文化”也出现在70年前的美国。

5、Alfred

I have
never been abroad, but as I know, in the US whether you get high scores
or not you can go to a good university easily although it’s very
expensive, so whether you can get high education it depends money. But
in China, Gaokao maybe the relatively only equalty way to send you to a
university and change your life, so we have to study harder or else you
have to sell your physical force to work in a factory.

我从来没有出过国，但据我所知，在美国，不管你是否能取得高分，你都可以很容易地进入一所好大学，虽然代价高昂，所以你能否获得高等教育取决于金钱。而在中国，高考可能是唯一一种相对公平的送你上大学、改变你的生活的方式，所以我们必须更努力地学习，否则你就必须在工厂进行体力劳动了。

6、Katie Pedro

I think
that's because most non-Chinese don't really care about this aspect of
the Chinese society? It is not something they think will impact their
lives. In case there is a glimpse of the competitiveness, it usually is
portrayed in negative light. Then people forget about it in no time.

我认为大多数外国人并不真正关心中国社会的这一方面？他们认为这不会影响他们的生活。如果他们有机会看到这种竞争，它通常也会被描绘成负面的东西。然后人们很快就会忘记它。

To be
honest, a lot of the competitiveness in China's society is internalized
drive. I met many laid back Chinese employees in my workplace. There are
many of them. However, the society seems strongly promote a value of
competitiveness, especially the hot articles shared in popular social
platform, especially those give career advices.

老实说，中国社会的许多竞争力都是一种内化的驱动力。在我的工作场所，我遇到了许多闲散的中国员工。有很多这样的人。然而，这个社会似乎强烈提倡竞争的价值，尤其是在流行的社交平台上分享的热门文章，尤其是那些提供职业建议的文章。

7、Christberg

Most of
the Western world has achieved levels of success and prosperity that has
lessened their competitive drive. There was a time, probably over a
century ago, when the West had such a drive but that time is long gone.

大多数西方国家已经取得了一定程度的成功和繁荣，这削弱了它们的竞争动力。曾经有一段时间，可能是一个多世纪以前，西方也曾有过这样的动力，但这种动力早已消失。

8、AI Nicks

In 1978,
just 41 years ago, China had zero foreign exchange, no foreign trade, no
high speed rail system, no airport,, no tall buildings, no subway
systems. Beijing, Shanghai and every major city had rotating blackouts,
even at a time when there were no street lights, neon signs and no
industry. In 1978 the mode of transportation was the bicycle, the bus
and by foot.

仅仅在41年前的1978年，中国还没有外汇，没有对外贸易，没有高速铁路系统，没有机场，没有高速公路系统，没有高楼大厦。北京、上海和每一个大城市都要轮流停电，甚至在没有路灯、霓虹灯和工业的时候也是如此。1978年中国的交通方式是自行车、公共汽车和步行。

In just
41 years 1.4 billion Chinese people took their country from a third
world nation to the largest economy in the world. Today, China’s 1.4
billion people toil away in factories across China producing products
that every Chinese person – and every person across the world – needs
and wants to buy.

在短短41年里，14亿中国人把他们的国家从一个第三世界国家变成了世界上最大的经济体。（译者注：中国是世界第二经济体）今天，中国14亿人在中国各地的工厂里辛勤劳作，生产着每一个中国人——以及世界各地的每一个人——需要并想要购买的产品。

Today,
China keeps the world’s economies running by buying the natural
resources and raw materials that their factories use to manufacture the
iPhones, iPads, iWatches; the Samsung TVs and appliances; our shoes and
clothes, and even the robots that our factories use to manufacture our
electric cars;

如今，中国通过购买自然资源和原材料来维持世界经济的运转，这些资源和原材料是中国工厂用来生产Iphone、Ipad和Iwatch的；是用来生产三星电视和电器的；是用来生产我们的鞋子和衣服，甚至是我们工厂用来制造电动汽车的机器人的；

all the
products Americans buy everyday at Walmart, at our Apple Stores, on
Amazon dot com, at Home Depot and at Lowe’s. In just 23 years China went
from a third world country to the largest economy in the world on the
backs of 1.4 billion working class people who trade their labor for
wages and the "spirit of competition" they emphasize all the time.

是用来生产所有美国人每天在沃尔玛、苹果商店、亚马逊网站、家得宝和劳氏购买的产品的。仅仅23年，中国就从一个第三世界国家变成了世界上最大的经济体，这得益于14亿用他们的劳动赚取工资的工人阶级，以及无时不在被他们所强调的“竞争精神”。

9、Tom Au

Most
Chinese American families (I come from one) have memories of grinding
poverty going back “only” two generations or so. And Chinese families
have a “longer” memory in this regards than others. That is, your
parents push you hard with tales about how their parents, your
grandparents, almost got killed or starved to death in World War II.

大多数华裔美国人的家庭(我就来自这样的一个家庭)的前两代人都有经历过极度贫困生活的记忆。在这方面，中国家庭的记忆比其他家庭要“更长”。也就是说，你的父母用他们的父母——也就是你的祖父母——在二战中差点被杀或饿死的故事来给你施压。

So yes, Chinese-American competitiveness of today was bred two generations ago.

是的，今天的华裔美国人的竞争力是两代人以前培养出来的。

10、Frans Vandenbosch

The
competitiveness in China, both in the economy, the education system and
the interpersonal competitiveness is beyond imagination.

无论是在经济、教育体系还是人际交往方面，中国的竞争激烈程度都是超乎想象的。

I have
seen dozens of small western companies trying to do business in China,
but unaware of the extreme competitiveness. Often when they failed, they
blamed it on “unfair competition”, never on their own lack of
preparation for the Chinese market.

我见过几十家西方小公司试图在中国做生意，但它们都没有意识到中国的竞争激烈程度。他们常常把失败归咎于“不公平的竞争”，而从不把失败归咎于自己对中国市场缺乏准备。

The western mainstream media and their bias about China are the main cause of this issue.

西方主流媒体及其对中国的偏见是造成这一问题的主要原因。

11、Alfred W Crouche

In order
to truly understand Chinese civilisation you need to have a group of
Chinese friends and ideally have lived there. Some of us married to
Chinese get a running commentary on the failings of western civilisation
including the “laid back” lifestyle and failure to plan generations
ahead.

想要真正了解中国文明，你需要有一群中国朋友，而且最好是在那里生活过。我们当中一些和中国人结婚的人，经常会听到对西方文明失败的评论，包括“闲散”的生活方式，以及未能提前几代人进行规划。

We all
come from cultures with thousands of years of development, but Chinese
just seem more conscious that life is a bitter struggle, not only to
succeed but exceed.

我们都来自有着几千年发展历史的文化，但中国人似乎更意识到生活是一场艰苦的斗争，不仅是要取得成功，而且还要超越。

毫不讳言，对于美国网友“Alfred W Crouche”有关中国竞争文化的认知，老铁是表示赞同的：

中国人似乎更意识到生活是一场艰苦的斗争，不仅是要取得成功，而且还要超越。

所以，中国人为何强调“竞争发展”？

如美籍华裔网友“Tom Au”所说的“前两代人都有经历过极度贫困生活的记忆”是一方面，而除此以外，更为重要的恐怕还是一种“民族发展的历史责任”！

事实如此：

中国人不仅为“自我”而活，我们强调“修身、齐家、治国平天下”，我们不仅要为家人而活，还要为国家而活，而民族未来而活。

而一代人吃两代人的苦，这样的牺牲与奋斗，大概只会出现在中国...