Women's travelogue writer Isabella Bird writes: "The world's dirtiest city in Shaoxing, China. Second place goes to Seoul, South Korea."
The following is a reprint of a chapter sent to Ameba on 2020-07-22, with corrections to paragraphs and typos.
It is from a conversation between Genki Fujii and Hiroshi Furuta.
Hiroshi Furuta is one of the best scholars of the 21st century.
"Positive Filthiness" and Viruses
Fujii
If you look at China's foreign policy shifts in the past, they have been driven by internal conflicts rather than being judged by whether they were rational or not.
In other words, China's foreign policy shifts are an extension of power struggles within the country and the party.
Furuta.
It's all about the party.
It has not departed from the ancient worldview.
Fujii.
In the last 70 years of China's history, there has never been a time when there was no intra-party struggle.
Fierce power struggles have always existed.
The reason for this is that "power" itself has no legitimacy in China.
The only condition for being at the top is whether you have military Power or, in peacetime, whether you have money.
As Mao aptly said, "Power comes from the barrel of a gun," and he understood the political dynamics of China very well.
Even if you are a bandit, if you can gain Power and unify the country, you can become emperor.
It is a world where Power is everything.
Furuta
The concept of law and order has never existed.
The "Great Ming Law," a law enacted during the Ming Dynasty, clearly shows this.
For example, "Do not throw filth in a person's face. If you do, you will get a hundred slaps on the wrist" and all that nonsense.
If you want to insult someone, you defecate and throw it at them.
A female crew member of the Japan Coast Guard once had feces thrown at her by a crew member of a Chinese stowaway ship (Sankei Shou, Sankei Shimbun, November 11, 2010; my book, "Unified Korea" is a Disaster for Japan, Asuka Shinsha, 2018, p. 111).
Fujii.
In South Korea, too, during strikes, the labor union people spew feces in front of the management.
Furuta.
China influences them.
It is the relationship of "small China" to "big China.
Korea is also filthy.
Isabella Bird, a female travel writer, said, "The dirtiest city in the world is Shaoxing, China. The second place goes to Seoul, South Korea.
Even underwear is not changed until it becomes uncomfortable.
Many people have smelly feet, probably because of the food, and there is even a particular word in Hangul to describe foot odor: "korinne.
Even in the barracks, those with smelly feet are forced to sleep with their feet outside the door.
According to Ms. Kaori Fukushima, China has extracted 2,000 kinds of viruses in the last 12 years.
In the world, there are about 280 kinds. It is a huge difference.
In addition, the Chinese in the south eat pangolin, golden snub-nosed monkeys, and a Greater horseshoe bat.
It is how the virus spreads.
Fujii
It is said that the virus initially came to parasitize humans from animals after humans began to raise livestock.
The closer the distance between humans and animals, the more new viruses appear.
The dangerous areas are especially sub-Saharan Africa and southern China.
There is a mixture of pigs, chickens, wild birds, and pond carp.
That's where the virus exists, and humans eat those animals.
It is how the new virus spreads.
Furuta
There is also information that new swine flu has found in China.
I apologize for quoting this here, but Professor Kunio Miura, a scholar of Chinese thought, says, "I think that when we take a broad view of Chinese culture, we cannot ignore the perspective that it starts from the basic desires of human beings or the biological dimension"
("The Desire for Immortality: Chinese Dreams and Practices, Jinbunshoin, 2000, p. 11).
In other words, these are people whose "human-animal nature" has come out plainly in the form of coexistence with animals.
Originally, human beastliness is different from the beastliness of animals.
In the case of the Chinese, it is not natural filthiness like the Aborigines who do not bathe, but "active filthiness.
The Chinese have a "loud-back" affirmation of human beastliness.
That's why they make their children wear crotch-split pants and defecate at Disneyland.
They don't train their children in modern rationality, so they get stuck in holes and clay pipes all over the place like little animals.
Fujii
There are more and more new viruses coming out.
Even the Spanish flu, which has killed over 50 million people worldwide, has originated in China.
Furuta
It seems that the ancient world is encroaching on the modern world.
Fujii
Moreover, the virus is not restricted to any person or place, so the infection is spreading rapidly within China.
However, as you can see from Mao's guerrilla strategy, human life is free from the Chinese sense of value.
It doesn't matter how many people die.
Even with "Unrestricted Warfare," no matter how much you lie, only those who do not feel remorse for their conscience can do it.
If there were a standard of right and wrong, it would be impossible.
For China, the only victory is required.
Furuta
It is the beastly nature of the human-animal.
This article continues.
