中国は現代でも漢字の国である。毛沢東は共産主義の知識を、ドイツ語からではなく、マルクスを翻訳した日本語の漢字を読んで学習した。毛沢東という男、中国に厄災ばかりもたらしたが、その精神は今でも生きている。
現代中国の２つのスローガン「退林還耕」と「南水北調」といった四字熟語も、その影響下にある。前者は森林などの「荒地」を切り開き、小麦などの穀物を増産しようという試みで、後者は長江など中国南部の豊富な水を、華北に運んで利用しようというものである。いずれも、毛沢東の思想の影響が強い。
だが毛沢東は、発想は大胆だが数理的な裏付けはできない人なので、これら２大スローガンも現実との乖離が顕著に見られる。地域の作物事情を無視し、穀物栽培をごり押しし、山を平地にむりやり変える。華北は華南より標高が高く、無理やり運ぼうとするから、巨大なポンプ場を要し、エネルギーを無駄使いした上、環境破壊を引き起こす。
中国人は四字熟語が好きだ。しかしその中身を考慮しないから、社会、自然を危険に晒して恬然としているのだ。言葉の魔力に囚われていると言ってよい。むかしのスローガン「愛国無罪」なんて、日本にとっては迷惑千万な四字熟語だった。
Dangerous four-character idioms that Chinese people love (Essay)
Transfer water from the south to north
Even today, China is a country of Chinese characters. Mao Zedong learned about communism not from German, but by reading Japanese Chinese characters that translated Marx. Mao Zedong brought nothing but disasters to China, but his spirit still lives on today.
Two modern Chinese slogans, the four-character idioms "Retreat the forests to farm：退林還耕" and "Transfer water from the south to north,（南水北調）" are also influenced by this. The former is an attempt to clear "wasteland" such as forests and increase the production of grains such as wheat. At the same time, the latter is an attempt to transport the abundant water of southern China, such as the Yangtze River, to northern China for use. Mao's ideas strongly influenced both.
However, Mao Zedong had bold ideas but no mathematical support, so these two major slogans are clearly at odds with reality. They ignored the local crop conditions, forced grain cultivation, and forcibly turned mountains into flatlands. North China is at a higher altitude than South China, so if they try to transport it by force, they need huge pumping stations, which wastes energy and causes environmental damage.
The Chinese love four-character idioms. However, they don't consider their contents and are content to endanger society and nature. It's fair to say they are captivated by the magic of words. The old slogan "Patriotism is not a crime" was a four-character phrase that caused a huge nuisance in Japan.
Rei Morishita
