中国，少了一味药

by Murong Xuecun, 慕容雪村

在作者看来，人和动物大的区别不在于吃喝拉撒，而是那些无用的东西：音乐、美术、诗歌、小说这些东西不能充饥，也不能御寒，却可以丰富人的心灵，让人于贫穷中富足，于孱弱中坚强，于困顿中怡然自得。教育家晏阳初说过一句振聋发聩的话：人有免于愚昧无知的自由。在生而有之的诸项自由之中，以此项自由为重要，无此则无任何自由，若此项自由被剥夺，一切自由都将不保，因为这是“自由中的自由”。

一个民族的强大绝不仅是GDP的强大，更要看其在精神领域有多少发明创造。弗里德里希·谢林评价歌德，说“只要他还活着，德意志就不会孤独、不会贫穷。”而如果没有歌德这样的人，如果没有思想和艺术上的杰作，所谓“富强”就只是一句空话，建再多高楼、修再多机场，也只不过是一片高楼与机场的荒漠而已。

本书不能帮助任何人脱离苦难，只能让人认识一部分苦难。我不能帮人做梦，只愿意指出哪些是梦，而哪些是现实。

Genres: China

246 pages, Paperback

First published December 28, 2010

About the author

Murong Xuecun (Chinese: 慕容 雪村; pinyin: Mùróng Xuěcūn, born 1974) is the pen name of the Chinese writer Hao Qun (郝群).His debut work Leave Me Alone: A Novel of Chengdu (Chinese: 成都，今夜请将我遗忘), which was distributed online, propelled him to stardom. On July 22, 2008 Murong made the long list for the Man Asian Literary Prize. As of November 2011, his microblog account has nearly 1.1 million followers.

Murong's writing deals mostly with social issues in contemporary China, exploring themes such as corruption, business-government relations, and general disillusionment over modern life. His literature is known for its nihilistic, realist, racy, and fatalist style. Following his rise to fame, Murong has emerged as one of the foremost critics of censorship in China.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Wenjing Fan · Rating 2 out of 5]

慕容雪村大概是稍有的我能把他的书全看完的作者了，大概是在高三的时候吧。为这个英勇的作家而深深触动、激动，也因这个然并卵的结果真而觉得无趣。但现在看来，这存在于现实中的真实才更令人倍感无助吧，若真是小说，即使是他也会写一个惊心动魄的结尾。
最近也看了他自己写这个书的时候回忆，“我想写的并不是传销本身”“传销在国内之所以能够盛行，是因为环境封闭”。言语间透露出的无奈和深情，对这片故土的爱或是对生长于此的不甘，已经完全透过文字表达了出来。那几天也从他的Twitter上看到了更多过去不曾知晓的故事，无力感蔓延。想知道那些真的在学医学法学政治的朋友们是不是知晓这些，想知道你们是怎么想的。//早年看的，2024年给男作者改低分

[Yueqi · Rating 5 out of 5]

差点被朋友拉去直销 然后突然觉得传销其实一直都在身边 刚好听到一个博客 赶紧下来听听

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

以前一直不知道传销到底是什么，原来安利、玫琳凯也都是传销，我感觉我甚至还有看到过它们的门店。传销，最害人之处除了失去身体上的自由外，失去思想上的自由，失去善良，残害亲友，这些都简直很恐怖。

[Zhijing Jin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a memoir about a literature writer's 1-month spying in an organization of fraudulous multi-level marketing in China (Wiki: Pyramid Scheme, or 传销). The topic sounds interesting, but it is a pity that the author brought the pride as a literati and maintained his original view for any new things he observed. So the book has a lot of elite bias. There cannot be much information for the readers who want to get a genuine understanding of why the fraudulous multi-level marketing takes place, how it gets viral, and what is the authentic, grounded picture of people involved in it.