對中國「刻板印象」的破滅，第一章

BROKEN ILLUSIONS, ARTICLE 1.

I feel deceived. I feel robbed of an illusion; an illusion that countless films, TV-series, magazines and books have imprinted in me since I was a little boy. An illusion that as a child, although in a small way, even shaped my view about what it might be like to be Chinese.

有一種上當受騙的感覺，我對中國的一個固有印象就這樣幻滅了，在我還是小男孩的時候，我就通過電影、電視劇、還有書本對中國產生了某種印象，並深深烙在腦海，然而最近才發現其中一些固有看法其實是一種誤解。

We all have illusions. Some are big, some are small, and more often than not the nature of these illusions depend on where we are from, and even more so where we have been.

每個人都會對一些事物產生錯覺，或大或小，而這些錯覺的性質主要取決於我們來自於哪裡，或者更多的是我們曾在哪裡待過。

Someone that have never been to Norway might be under the illusion that we actually have polar bears roaming the streets, just like many believe that all Scandinavians are blonde, when the fact is that we don』t have polar bears within the mainland of Norway at all, and that Scandinavians come in all shapes, sizes and colors.

從來沒去過挪威的人可能認定，在挪威的大街上就能看到北極熊，就跟很多人覺得北歐人（Scandinavians 泛指北歐人）都是金髮碧眼一樣，事實上，我們挪威大陸並沒有北極熊，北歐人也有著各種膚色和體型。

One of my illusions about China and Chinese people was related to the fortune cookie. Even though I now know that the probability of you, the reader, never having a fortune cookie throughout the entirety of your lifetime, is quite big, it wasn』t always like that. Up until last Sunday, this wisdom-filled pastry had a completely different meaning to me. But that was before the whole matter was turned on its head…

而說到我對中國和中國人的印象，其中一個就跟「幸運餅乾」有關。直到現在我才知道中國人，正在讀文章的你，可能這輩子都沒碰過幸運餅乾，也就在上個星期天之前，這個充滿智慧的點心對我還有著完全不同的意義，而現在則發生了天翻復地的變化。

At age 12, after moving from the north of Norway to a place closer to Norway』s capital, Oslo, I visited a Chinese restaurant for the first time. Up until that time I had only seen Chinese restaurants on the telly or in the cinema, or reading about them in magazines and books, but when finally getting there it was all that I had imagined it to be, and more so.

12歲時，我家從挪威北部搬到了靠近挪威首都奧斯陸的地方，而且我們第一次去了中國餐館。在此之前主要通過電視、電影院、或者書本了解中餐館，即便如此，那一次的經歷還是遠遠超出了預期。

Walking into the restaurant from a cold winter street was like entering a totally different world; a world of red, gold and green, where the smile of the Buddha sitting just inside the entrance welcomed us, where the fire from the breath of the dragons that were literally coming out from the walls immediately warmed us, and the prints on the silk dress that our hostess was wearing told a story that made us wonder about, and look forward to, everything that was to come.

從寒冷的冬季街道進入這家餐館，似乎進入了一個完全不同的世界：充滿了紅色、金色和綠色的世界，入口處一尊佛像面帶笑容迎接著我們，牆壁上刻畫的噴火龍似乎能馬上讓我們溫暖起來，女老闆穿著一件絲綢衣服，上面的印花像在告訴我們一個令人憧憬的故事。

On the way to our table we had to cross a small wooden bridge. Under the bridge small fish were swimming in a creek, and together with the jungle of green plants placed around the room, it gave us the impression that the winter we had just turned our backs to outside the front door had only been a cold, unpleasant dream. In short, it was like a fantastic Lantern Festival prior to knowing what the Lantern Festival was, and that was before we had even tasted the food.

走往餐桌的路上，我們得經過一座小木橋，橋下的溪水裡游著小魚，屋內圍繞著綠色叢林，剛剛被甩在門外的寒冷冬天似乎只是一場令人不快的夢而已。總之，在品嘗中國美食之前，就像經歷了一場夢幻般的元宵佳節，而那時其實也不知道什麼元宵節。

After a meal that in every way matched the visuals of this new and fascinating world, my mother and I were served our desserts alongside two fortune cookies. We cracked the cookies open, and while I translated the English fortune for my mother, I remember thinking about how positive and unselfish the Chinese people really had to be in order to create such a nice tradition of togetherness and optimism in the first place. And while reading my own fortune I pictured some of the countless moments of joy the small cookies had to be creating, even for families within China, as they readtheir fortunes at the end of every meal, or at least on special occasions.

在品嘗完中國美食之後，餐廳為我和母親附贈了兩塊幸運餅乾。打開餅乾後，裡面是幸運條，在為母親翻譯裡面的英文小紙條時，我不禁感慨中國人得多麼積極和無私，才能發明出這樣一個和諧和樂觀的優良傳統。在讀自己的幸運條時，我的腦里還刻畫著——中國人在餐後或在某些特殊場合齊聚一堂打開幸運餅乾讀幸運條——的畫面，就這樣一個小餅乾該給大家帶來多少歡愉的時光。

And then we can fast forward to last Sunday:

到這裡，我們可以快進到上個星期日：

While on a bike ride with my wife, we for some reason or another started talking about fortune cookies, and out of the blue she told me something that almost made me fall off my bike: She had never had a fortune cookie. In fact NO ONE she knew had ever had a fortune cookie. It is not even something Chinese people do, she said in such a convincingly manner that I just knew it had to be true.

在跟老婆騎車的時候，我們不經意間提到了幸運餅乾，而出乎意料的是，她告訴我一個事實差點把我從車上驚下來：她說她從來沒有吃過幸運餅乾，實際上她身邊的人也沒幾個真地吃過幸運餅乾

。這甚至並不是什麼中國傳統，她以一種十分令人信服的方式跟我說到，我也只好不得不相信她。

But still: Was it possible?

Had I, and millions, maybe billions, of western people over the last hundred years or so really beentricked into believing that this was a typical Chinese phenomenon? And more importantly; was it just a simple misapprehension, was it a result of stereotyping, or had we been deliberately mislead in this highly important matter?

即使如此：這真的可能嗎？

難道，在過去的一百多年裡，包括我在內的數百萬或數億西方人被這個典型的「中國文化」欺騙了？更重要的是，這僅僅是個簡單的誤解，還是因為某種事件而故意誤導我們？

Furthermore: If Chinese people never have fortune cookies, are the cookies even Chinese? And if we have been mislead about a simple thing like this, what would be next? Would we suddenly discover that the chicken we ate was not actual chicken?

此外：如果中國人從來沒有幸運餅乾，那這個餅乾還是中國人發明的嗎？如果連這麼小的事情都被我們曲解，接下來會是什麼？難道有一天我們會突然發現我們吃的雞不是真正的雞？

Or that Asian women will not stay young forever?

或者亞洲女人並不能永葆青春？

My head was spinning.

當時我的頭都暈了。

Then I started thinking about some of the countless places were the fortune cookie was referred to as a regular Chinese tradition, and my head got even worse…

然後我開始回想無數將幸運餅乾與中國傳統聯繫起來的橋段，我的頭腦變得更暈了......

As early as 1966 a film called The Fortune Cookie was made, starring Jack Lemmon and Walther Matthau, huge stars at the time.

早在1966年就有一部電影叫《幸運餅乾》，由當時的巨星Jack Lemmon和Walther Matthau主演。

In the classic Freaky Friday (2003) fortune cookies in a Chinese restaurant causes the body switch between mother and daughter.

在經典電影《辣媽辣妹》（2003） 中，正因為一家中餐館裡幸運餅乾的存在而促使母親和女兒互換身體。

And in The Dead Pool (1988), during an attempted robbery in a Chinatown restaurant, Dirty Harry (Clint Eastwood) says to the robber 「You forgot your fortune cookie. It says: You are shit out of luck」, instead of his catchphrase 「Make my day, punk」, before coldheartedly gunning down the robber.

在電影《賭彩黑名單》中有一個片段，一家中餐館正在發生一起搶劫，骯髒哈利並沒有對強盜說他的口頭禪「來啊，小混混」而是說了這樣一句話：「你忘了你的幸運餅乾，它說：你要走狗屎運了。」然後酷酷地向強盜開了一槍。

Then you have the episode of The Simpsons, where Homer utters the words 「Ew, even the Chinese are against me」 after reading his fortune, several episodes of Family Guy, Stephen King』s IT (1990),SpongeBob Squarepants, and The Last Dragon (1985), a homage to Bruce Lee, where the Kung Fu-Master is just reciting fortune cookie wisdom throughout the entire film. And these are just the ones I was able to think of in the first minute.

另外就是辛普森系列，有一集就是辛普森一家的父親在讀完幸運餅乾的小紙條後，他嘆息道：「就連中國人都在跟我作對」。《惡搞之家》、《小丑回魂》、《海綿寶寶》都有關於幸運餅乾的橋段，還有向李小龍大師致敬的電影《龍拳小子》里，整部電影里這位功夫大師都在引用幸運餅乾裡面的智慧。這些都是最先竄到我腦海的片段。

But a question that at this point in time seemed even more important than the one regarding the fortune cookie as tradition, was the question I stated earlier: Are the cookies even Chinese?

The easy answer is that the fortune cookie as we know it today - with its distinctive shape and a fortune wrapped inside – is not Chinese at all. Modern day fortune cookies first appeared in California in the early 1900』s. Tracking down who invented the cookie that no Chinese take-out or restaurant meal would be complete without, is tougher.

不過還有一個比較重要的問題就是：幸運餅乾是中國人的專利嗎？

而較為簡單的回答是——其實這根本不是中國人發明的。它其實第一次出現在90年代的加利福尼亞州。追蹤溯源，可以確定幸運餅乾不是出自中國人之手，但具體要知道是誰發明的就比較難了。

Most sources credit either Makoto Hagiwara or David Jung. Of the two, Hagiwara seems to have the stronger claim, and that might actually explain it all. Is this whole thing just a part of a bigger plan to take everything away from the Japanese people, even a small thing like the credit for a cookie?

I had heard that there has always been a certain dislike between the Chinese and the Japanese, but that it would come down to this was not easy to wrap my head around. And would that mean that western people, when it comes down to it, for more that a hundred years had just been used as a tool in this gruesome battle?

多數信源稱這個要麼是一個叫Makoto Hagiwara的日本人或著一個叫David Jung的人發明的，而Hagiwara的可能性較大，這似乎比較說得通了。

我聽說中國人和日本人互相之間是不太喜歡的，仔細一想這是否意味著，西方人只是他們之間博弈的一個棋子呢？

But what then of all the jokes, memes and commercials that are all clear about the origin of this 「wonder cookie」? Are they all just propaganda in the War of the Fortune Cookie? And is then the fact that the Japanese have taken credit for the original Chinese Bonzai Tree their way of fighting back, their desperate attempt on a cruel revenge? Who would have thought…

但是所有關於這個「神奇餅乾」的笑話、「梗」和廣告都將它的出處指向中國人。 難道這是對付對手的一種宣傳手段？就跟大部分西方人以為盆栽是日本人發明的一樣，這是中國的一個反擊？ 誰能想到呢...

After these life-changing discoveries the thought of being used as pawn in a chess game of this magnitude is hard to take, there is no question about that. But more than that I feel deceived. I feel robbed of an illusion; an illusion that countless films, TV-series, magazines and books have imprinted in me since I was a little boy. An illusion that as a child, although in a small way, even shaped my view about what it might be like to be Chinese.

And it also makes me question so many of the other illusions that I have. Does this mean that the English are not the best football players in the world, or that all French people are not cultured snail eaters, or that us Norwegians were not Vikings once upon a time, but mere peasants, or even worse; Swedish?

And how will this affect the future? I hardly dare to think about it…

Maybe we should just let a fortune cookie tell us?

但從小信以為真的一個印象破滅了，頓時有種被欺騙了的感覺。畢竟，通過電影和書本導致我對中國人形成了某種特定印象，但有些事實並非如你所想。

這也讓我開始質疑其它的許多幻想。這是否意味著世界上最好的足球運動員並非來自英國，或者蝸牛餐的發源地並不是法國，或者挪威人從前並不是維京人，或者只是農民，或者更糟糕的，瑞典人？

這又將如何影響未來呢？我幾乎不敢去想.....

但也許我們需要一個幸運餅乾來告訴我們？

Or maybe not.

也許不然。

But let us at least hope that 「people」 can learn something from broken illusions as well. There might be more to come…

至少希望人們從一個個固有印象的破滅中學到一些東西。未來還會有很多認知會被逐漸打破.....

#brokenillusions

#warofthefortunecookie

The upside-down picture is by Martin Tremblay.

The cartoon is by Cyanid and Happiness.

http://weixin.qq.com/r/Xz-A2LvE2eamrf_792pN (二維碼自動識別)