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Let tempers flare for a pleasant world

By Chen Weihua
Updated: 2009-08-18 00:00

 I saw a young man crossing the street the other day when a left-turning Mini Cooper stopped abruptly, just inches away from him. The man, clearly upset, paused in front of the car before proceeding to furiously kick the front end.

Such crazy drivers, who fail to mind pedestrians, are out everywhere. But most people, while angered by such motorists, don’t quite react like this man did.

Such indifference among pedestrians has made it easy for drivers to become ever more reckless, making Shanghai’s roads one of the most deadly in the world.

While the ongoing road checks on drunk driving will help deter some killer drivers, a responsive general public would be more powerful than the police in making our roads safe.

The same is true for many other thorny issues, from government inaction and corruption to declining moral criteria in all sections of society. The fact that Chinese, especially at the individual level, rarely become vocally angry at wrongdoing, has only worsened the problems.

Just think of the following situations: Why don’t we get angry when public servants ignore countless appeals from taxpayers, the people they have sworn an oath to serve? Why don’t we get angry when governments lavishly spend on vanity projects that disregard the priorities of those truly in need? Why don’t we get angry when we hear about the plight of the 700 million Chinese farmers who are deprived of basic social security rights because they don’t hold an urban hukou or permanent residency permit? Why don’t we get angry when high school graduates in big cities can be easily admitted into universities while those in populous provinces need to achieve higher grades? Why don’t we get angry when contaminated food is sold widely in local markets and grocery stores? Why don’t we get angry when factories and automobiles pollute our soil, water and air, causing all kinds of diseases? Why don’t we get angry when loud construction near our homes doesn’t stop even at odd hours in the morning? And why don’t we get angry when people rudely push through crowded malls, subways and elevators?

The list could go on forever, it seems.

In her article “Chinese, why are you not angry?”, Taiwanese writer Lung Ying-t’ai said the “bad man” has it easier than even the cockroaches in terms of survival because the Chinese are selfish and afraid of getting themselves into trouble. “Unless you want to kill him in his bed, he will pretend to be asleep,” Lung wrote.

It is a vivid description of the character of many Chinese, who meekly submit to injustice and maltreatment.

So citizens continue to be dissatisfied with many aspects of society, but do not recognize that their silence has in turn made them cheerleaders for uncivilized acts or even despicable crimes.

I was reminded once, while shouting at a driver whose car was on the sidewalk and honking at a group of us walking in front, that getting angry could hurt my liver. That is true since liver, according to the traditional Chinese medicine, is considered the seat of the human emotion of anger.

But dangerous toxins from contaminated food and suppressed anger from tolerating social injustices will harm not just peoples’ livers, but also their hearts and minds. Getting angry may hurt the livers of the people of this generation, but turning a blind eye to such problems is sure to weaken the livers of children of future generations.

So, let’s start getting angry about wrongdoing in our society.

 chenweihua@chinadaily.com.cn