中国人哪儿来那么多痰可吐？
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本文来自微信公众号：单向街书店（ID：onewaystreet2013），作者：古咕咕
中国人爱吐痰，这事儿全世界都知道。
在外国知乎 Quora 以及其他社交媒体上，经常会有人问这个问题：“为什么中国人老吐痰呢？”
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上图中这位歪果老铁说，自己在中国生活了一段时间，发现人们经常在大街上吐痰、擤鼻涕，连吃拉面的时候都不节制，真是太奇怪了。
带着这样的迷思，不少老外到网上寻求答案。在他们看来，不可思议的除了“一个人为什么要吐痰”之外，还有“你们哪来这么多痰可吐？”
一位俄罗斯人在《环球时报》这样吐槽中国人吐痰：“我不知道中国人为什么要随地吐痰，但是他们就是这样做，随时随地。我真是怀疑，中国人从取得 2008 年奥运会主办权后的那一刻起，是否意识到这对于中国来说已成为民族灾难。”
真的勇士不屑于把痰吐在地上，他们只有在干架时互相往对方脸上吐痰
在这个国度生活久了，我都不觉得吐痰算多大点事了。真没想到，吐痰在外国人看来都成了我们的“民族灾难”了。
不过仔细想想，说吐痰是我们的民族灾难也没什么错，甚至还很贴切。在喜欢吐痰的背后，是民族健康与文化的大问题。
中国人痰多，因为他们有着全世界最脆弱的肺
“我爸以前在国内老吐痰，跟我去了澳洲以后基本就不吐痰了。”大家可能听到过不少这样的话，一个真实存在着的现象是，不少国人去了山清水秀的国家以后，马上就改了随地吐痰的毛病。
痰盂，国人痰多的佐证
“我们中国人的体格好像是异于洋人，痰特多。洋人不是不吐痰，因为洋人也有气管与支气管，其中黏膜也难免有分泌物，其名亦为痰，他们有了痰之后也会吐了出来，难道都咳到了口中再从食管里咽下去？不过他们没有普设的痰盂，痰无处吐。他们觉得明目张胆的吐在地上不太妥当，于是大都利用手帕，大概是谁也不愿洗那样的手帕，于是又改换用了就丢的纸巾，那纸巾用过之后又如何处理，是塞进烟灰缸里还是放进衣袋归遗细君，那就各随各便了。”——《痰盂》梁实秋不可否认，有些人吐痰是无可奈何，因为他们的肺太脆弱了。
在中国，有超过 50% 的人患有咽炎，尘肺病患者有 600 万之多，肺癌是中国的第一大癌，慢性支气管炎更是继心脏病、脑卒中之后的第三大致死疾病。小时候我也得过支气管炎，病情严重时，吸一口气就会立刻转化成痰堵在胸口，那滋味确实不好受。
肺好，胃口就好，吃嘛嘛香，身体棒棒
为什么中国人都肺不好？有三大主因。
一是吸烟，包括一手烟和二手烟。
据研究，烟草中有超过 3000 种化学物质，这些化合物有很强的致癌活性，是肺癌的最高危因素。
中国有 3 亿多烟民，占全世界吸烟总人数的三分之一，是第一大烟民国。此外，中国还有 7 亿二手烟民。据调查，在一个丈夫吸烟、妻子不吸烟的家庭里，妻子得肺癌的机会比丈夫要高 1 倍～3 倍。丈夫吸烟量越大，妻子患癌机会越大。
可惜，我国直到这两年才开始全面禁烟。而欧美国家上世纪禁烟已经有了成果——美国男性肺癌发病率已经下降至第三位。
二是中国烹饪。
煎、炒、炸的烹调手段，使油烟不可避免影响到人的呼吸系统。女性癌症患者很多是这个原因：长期在厨房做饭，接触高温油烟，患肺癌的危险性增加 2 倍～3 倍。
三是职业和环境。
有高达 15% 的肺癌患者因为职业和环境导致的，比如长期接触铍、镉、硅、福尔马林等物质，长期吸入工业废气，都会增加肺癌的发病率。
肺不好，已经成了威胁中国人健康的最大问题，这直接导致了一个结果：现代人痰多。
但痰多，也不一定就要到处吐。上面的老父亲，到了澳洲就不吐痰了，很可能是因为澳洲本身到处都很干净。在一个一尘不染、连一片果皮都没有的大街上，你好意思扔垃圾吗？同理，在十分干净的环境下，人人都不吐痰，你也不好意思吐痰。
所以，如果把肺不好归为国人吐痰的主因，那绝对是给自己找借口。毕竟国人的吐痰习惯已经延续千百年了，它不是环境变坏才有的。很久以前，阳光明媚，天蓝水绿，没有沙尘暴，没有 PM 2.5，人们还是随时随地、没有顾及的啐上一口。
吐痰是“国粹”
为什么随地吐痰？不能包在纸里扔进垃圾桶吗？其实，随地吐痰和插队、闯红灯一样，是我们骨子里的自私自利在作祟。
林语堂先生在《吾国吾民》中，曾把吐痰视为“国粹”：
“那吐痰的动作普遍有三拍，起先二拍是准备那最后的一吐的咳嗽与扫喉咙的声音。那最后的一吐是一种急而强的声音作出来的，是慢板后的急眼。如果吐痰吐得合乎美学，我倒委实不介意细菌会因此而播散到空气中去，因为我曾亲受过这种细菌，而没有觉到对我的健康上有什么显著的影响。”中国是礼仪之邦，也是爱干净的民族，只不过，这种干净维护的是自己的干净，而不是公共环境的干净。比如说吧，人们经常把自己家里整理的一尘不染，到了外面却把垃圾扔的到处都是。梁启超曾说，中国人自古以来私德盛，而公德弱，正是这个道理。垃圾都扔了，一小口的唾沫怎么就不行了？
吐痰吐到外面去，恶心的是别人，爽的是自己。痰那么脏，不吐出来，难道还咽下去，把成千上万的细菌自己消化吗？当然是吐到大自然中让它随风散去了！
随地吐痰，就是一种自私。这种自私往往还伴随着自大：“我吐痰怎么了？有种你也吐啊！
孙中山曾说：“像吐痰、放屁、留长指甲、不洗牙齿，都是修身上寻常的功夫，中国人都不检点，所以我们虽然有修身、齐家、治国、平天下的大知识，外国人一遇见了便以为很野蛮。假如大家把修身的功夫做得很有条理，诚中形外，虽至举动之微亦能注意，遇到外国人，不以鄙陋行为而侵犯人家的自由，外国人一定是很尊重的。”
基于这样的倡导，民国兴起了针对国民礼仪规矩的“新生活运动”，还公布了《新生活须知》（就是下面的小漫画）。
“扣好钮扣，勿吐痰”是最基本的要求。1934 年，蒋介石针在南昌演讲，指出了当时的人们有多脏，并倡导“有合乎礼义廉耻的新生活，就从不乱吐痰做起”。
江西的中学生，现在虽然大多数都比较好了一点，但是我去年初来的时候所看到的，几乎无一个不是蓬头散发，有扣子不扣，穿衣服要穿红穿绿，和野蛮人一个样子，在街上步行或是坐车，都没有一个走路坐车的规矩，更不晓得爱清洁，甚至随处吐痰。
你看吃饭的时候，不要说一切食物、食具零乱、污秽，而且吃的时候，有的将身体靠着墙壁或门板上来吃，有的坐着，有的蹲着，有的坐在地下，有的站在门外。吃完以后，菜汤饭屑弄得狼藉满地，甚至使人家不敢近身。
普通一般中国人的穿衣，十个有九个是钮扣不扣齐的，帽子歪戴的。还有对于自己身体，不仅不知洗澡，甚至连脸也不洗的。可惜，倡导虽好，但“仓廪实而知礼节，衣食足而知荣辱”，缺乏足够的物质基础，人们连饭都吃不饱，还哪里顾得上干净卫生、个人形象呢？
而且，按照外国人的干净标准来要求国人不吐痰，那自大的我们怎么能接受？
吐痰还有一种特定的意义，那就是虚张声势，给自己壮胆。
国人打架之前，都有这样一个小动作：五指并拢，攥成拳头，放在嘴边，然后往中间吐痰，仿佛通过这种神圣的仪式，获取了无尽的力量。
不是这个动作，我就皮一下
这种“唾弃”是民族特性，它代表着男子气概，代表对敌人的蔑视，代表强权下的不屈服。
鲁迅在《阿 Q 正传》中做了非常生动的描述：
他（阿 Q）癞疮疤块块通红了，将衣服摔在地上，吐一口唾沫，说： "这毛虫！"或许，这才是中国人热爱吐痰的终极奥义：你做不到大声喊出 CNM，但可以冲着他的背影吐口痰。
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英文翻译
Where do Chinese people get so much phlegm to spit out?
One Way Street Bookstore©One Way Street Bookstore©
This article is from the WeChat public account: One Way Street Bookstore (ID: onewaystreet2013), author: Gu Gu Gu Gu
The Chinese love to spit, and the whole world knows this.
On foreign Zhihu Quora and other social media, people often ask this question: “Why do Chinese people keep spitting?”
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The veteran in the picture above said that he lived in China for a period of time, and found that people often spit and blow their noses on the street, and even eat ramen without restraint, which is really strange.
With such myths in mind, many foreigners seek answers online. In their view, in addition to “why does a person spit”, there is also “where do you get so much phlegm?”
A Russian complained about Chinese spitting in the “Global Times”: “I don’t know why the Chinese spit everywhere, but they do it anytime, anywhere. I really doubt that the Chinese won the right to host the 2008 Olympic Games. Did you realize that this has become a national disaster for China from the moment after that?”
Real warriors don’t bother to spit on the ground, they only spit in each other’s faces when fighting
Having lived in this country for a long time, I don’t think spitting is a big deal. Unexpectedly, spitting has become our “national disaster” in the eyes of foreigners.
But when you think about it, there’s nothing wrong with calling spitting our national disaster, and it’s even apt. Behind the liking for spitting is a big problem of national health and culture.
Chinese people have a lot of phlegm because they have the most fragile lungs in the world
“My dad used to spit a lot in China, but he basically stopped spitting after I went to Australia.” You may have heard a lot of such words. A real phenomenon is that many Chinese people go to countries with beautiful mountains and rivers. After that, the problem of spitting was immediately corrected.
Spittoon, evidence of excessive phlegm in Chinese people
“Our Chinese physique seems to be different from that of foreigners, and we have a lot of phlegm. It’s not that foreigners don’t spit, because foreigners also have trachea and bronchi, and the mucous membranes also inevitably have secretions, which are also called phlegm. After they have phlegm, they will also After spitting it out, do they cough it into the mouth and then swallow it down the esophagus? But they don’t have a spittoon, so there’s nowhere to spit it out. They think it’s not appropriate to spit on the ground blatantly, so most of them use handkerchiefs, probably no one. I would like to wash that kind of handkerchief, so I changed it to a paper towel that was thrown away after use, and what to do with the paper towel after use, whether to stuff it in the ashtray or put it in your pocket to return to Yi Xijun, it’s up to you.”— ——”Spittoon” Liang Shiqiu
Admittedly, some people have no choice but to spit because their lungs are so fragile.
In China, more than 50% of people suffer from pharyngitis, and there are as many as 6 million pneumoconiosis patients. Lung cancer is the number one cancer in China, and chronic bronchitis is the third leading cause of death after heart disease and stroke. When I was young, I also suffered from bronchitis. When the condition was severe, taking a breath would immediately turn into phlegm and get stuck in the chest. It was really unpleasant.
The lungs are good, the appetite is good, the food is delicious, and the body is great
Why do Chinese people have bad lungs? There are three main reasons.
One is smoking, including first-hand smoke and second-hand smoke.
According to research, there are more than 3,000 chemical substances in tobacco. These compounds have strong carcinogenic activity and are the highest risk factors for lung cancer.
There are more than 300 million smokers in China, accounting for one-third of the total number of smokers in the world, and it is the largest smoking country in the Republic of China. In addition, there are 700 million second-hand smokers in China. According to surveys, in a family where the husband smokes and the wife does not smoke, the chance of the wife getting lung cancer is 1-3 times higher than that of the husband. The more the husband smokes, the greater the chance of the wife developing cancer.
It is a pity that our country did not start to completely ban smoking until the past two years. However, the ban on smoking in European and American countries in the last century has achieved results – the incidence of lung cancer in American men has dropped to the third place.
The second is Chinese cooking.
Cooking methods such as frying, frying, and deep-frying make oily fumes inevitably affect the human respiratory system. This is the reason for many female cancer patients: Cooking in the kitchen for a long time, exposed to high-temperature cooking fumes, increases the risk of lung cancer by 2-3 times.
The third is occupation and environment.
Up to 15% of lung cancer patients are caused by occupation and environment, such as long-term exposure to beryllium, cadmium, silicon, formalin and other substances, and long-term inhalation of industrial waste gas, which will increase the incidence of lung cancer.
Bad lungs have become the biggest problem threatening the health of Chinese people, which directly leads to a result: modern people have a lot of phlegm.
But if you have a lot of phlegm, you don’t necessarily have to vomit everywhere. The old father above stopped spitting when he arrived in Australia, probably because Australia itself is very clean everywhere. Do you have the nerve to throw garbage on a spotless street without a single peel? In the same way, in a very clean environment, everyone does not spit, and you are embarrassed to spit.
Therefore, if poor lungs are attributed to the main cause of spitting in the country, it is definitely an excuse for yourself. After all, Chinese people’s spitting habit has lasted for thousands of years, and it is not caused by the deterioration of the environment. A long time ago, the sun was shining, the sky was blue and the water was green, there was no sandstorm, no PM 2.5, people still took a sip anytime, anywhere, without consideration.
Spitting is the “quintessence of the country”
Why spit everywhere? Can’t wrap it in paper and throw it in the trash? In fact, spitting is the same as jumping in line and running a red light. It is the selfishness in our bones that is at work.
Mr. Lin Yutang once regarded spitting as the “quintessence of the country” in “My Country and My People”:
“The spitting action generally has three beats. The first two beats are the sound of coughing and throat sweeping in preparation for the last spitting. The last spitting is made with an urgent and strong sound, after the Adagio Anxious. If the spitting is aesthetically pleasing, I don’t really mind the airborne germs as I have personally experienced them without feeling any noticeable effect on my health. “
China is a country of etiquette, and it is also a nation that loves cleanliness, but this kind of cleanliness maintains its own cleanliness, not the cleanliness of the public environment. For example, people often keep their homes spotless, but throw rubbish everywhere when they go outside. Liang Qichao once said that since ancient times, Chinese people have strong private virtues and weak public morals, which is exactly the reason. The garbage is thrown away, how can a small mouthful of saliva not work?
If you spit outside, it’s others who are disgusting, and you are the one who feels good. Phlegm is so dirty, if you don’t spit it out, do you still swallow it and digest thousands of bacteria by yourself? Of course, spit it into nature and let it go away with the wind!
Spitting everywhere is a kind of selfishness. This kind of selfishness is often accompanied by arrogance: “What’s wrong with me spitting? You spitting too!
Sun Yat-sen once said: “Spitting, farting, growing long nails, and not washing teeth are all common skills in self-cultivation, and Chinese people don’t check them out. Therefore, although we have great knowledge of self-cultivation, family harmony, state governance, and world peace, Foreigners will think they are barbaric when they meet them. If you practice self-cultivation in a well-organized way, you can pay attention to the slightest actions, and when you meet foreigners, you will not infringe on their freedom with vulgar behavior. , foreigners must be very respectful.”
Based on such advocacy, the “New Life Movement” aimed at national etiquette and rules was launched in the Republic of China, and the “New Life Instructions” (the following small cartoon) was also published.
“Buttons, don’t spit” is the most basic requirement. In 1934, Chiang Kai-shek gave a speech in Nanchang, pointing out how dirty people were at that time, and advocated “a new life in line with propriety, righteousness, integrity and shame, starting from not spitting indiscriminately”.
Although most of the middle school students in Jiangxi are better now, when I came here at the beginning of last year, almost none of them were disheveled, unbuttoned, red and green in clothes, and barbarians It looks like, walking or riding on the street, there is no rule for walking and riding a car, let alone love to clean, and even spit everywhere.
When eating, don’t say that all the food and utensils are messy and filthy, and when eating, some lean their bodies against the wall or door to eat, some sit, some squat, and some sit on the ground, Some stood outside the door. After eating, the crumbs of vegetable soup and rice were scattered all over the floor, making people afraid to get close to them.
Nine out of ten of the clothes of ordinary Chinese people are unbuttoned and their hats are crooked. And for their own bodies, not only do they not know how to take a bath, they don’t even wash their faces.
It’s a pity that although the advocacy is good, “the warehouse knows the etiquette, and the food and clothing are enough to know the honor and disgrace”. There is no sufficient material foundation. People can’t even eat enough. How can they care about cleanliness and personal image?
Moreover, how can we, who are arrogant, accept that Chinese people are required not to spit according to the cleanliness standards of foreigners?
Spitting also has a specific meaning, which is to bluff and embolden yourself.
Before Chinese people fight, there is such a small movement: put five fingers together, clenched into a fist, put it near the mouth, and then spit in the middle, as if through this sacred ceremony, they have obtained endless power.
If it’s not this action, I’ll take it easy
This “spit” is a national characteristic, it represents masculinity, contempt for the enemy, and unyielding under power.
Lu Xun made a very vivid description in “The True Story of Ah Q”:
He (Ah Q) had a rash with red patches, threw his clothes on the ground, spat, and said, “This caterpillar!”
Perhaps, this is the ultimate secret of Chinese people’s love of spitting: you can’t shout out CNM, but you can spit at his back.