Originally published on February 16, 2020.
This article introduces a work by Kō Bun’yū and discusses the structure of Chinese society, where “only swindlers are real,” and the historical background in which lies and distrust became part of China’s national character and national spirit.
It examines blood feuds, the flood of counterfeits, corruption, distrust of government, bewilderment syndrome, the “three noes” of indifference, irresponsibility, and apathy, and the danger that China unilaterally defines the meaning of “friendship,” urging both Japanese people and the international community to understand China as it truly is.

February 16, 2020
Naturally, relationships of trust cannot be established, so the conditions become such that only lone wolves can survive, and with self-centeredness added to this, Sinocentrism was probably born.
The following is from a work by Kō Bun’yū, one of the world’s foremost scholars deeply familiar with China.
It is a book that not only the Japanese people but people all over the world must read.
In this article, not only the preceding text but also large parts of the middle section have been omitted, but needless to say, all of those passages are also essential reading.
I urge the Japanese people to go to their nearest bookstore and purchase the book.
Those in international society who have taken anti-Japanese propaganda from China and South Korea at face value should recognize the truth through this article.
The preceding text is omitted.
○A Society of Human Distrust Born from Lies
Because it is a society in which “only swindlers are real,” people quite naturally become distrustful of other human beings.
Naturally, relationships of trust cannot be established, so the conditions become such that only lone wolves can survive, and with self-centeredness added to this, Sinocentrism was probably born.
Moreover, from such a social structure, lies became an indispensable condition for survival.
That mentality became a national character, and even a national spirit.
From the ethos of such a society, what appears in words and actions can only be behavior covered in lies.
The middle section is omitted.
As far as one can read Chinese history, blood feuds among relatives are by no means rare or limited historical occurrences, but rather a traditional national character.
Especially the higher one goes, the fiercer the struggles among blood relatives become, and tens of thousands of people may be dragged into them.
It is by no means rare for all nine degrees of kinship to be executed.
That is the law of history, and also its destiny.
In China, where there are fake documents, fake banknotes, fake academic credentials, and every kind of counterfeit imaginable, even fake banks and fake official documents of Zhou Enlai have appeared.
It is not merely a society flooded with counterfeits, but also a country where it is said, “There is no official who is not corrupt.”
Officials who turn national wealth into private assets never cease to appear.
According to estimates by government-serving scholars, the total amount is more than 10 percent of GDP, but in reality it is said to reach from one-quarter to one-half of GDP.
Under such circumstances, it is no wonder that distrust of government and distrust of human beings arise.
The condition in which one not only trusts no one, but also becomes confused about how far one should trust anything or what one should do, is called “bewilderment syndrome.”
Because so many Chinese suffer from it, China may be called a country of “bewilderment syndrome.”
Of course, this is a Chinese disease unique to the Chinese.
It differs from the “alienation of human beings” spoken of by Marxists and from the “loss of self” favored by existentialists.
It is perhaps a fate born from the uniquely Chinese “mei fa zi,” meaning “there is nothing to be done,” which arose from the Buddhist idea of resignation.
In both the state and society, because of distrust toward human beings, no passion arises at all no matter what one does.
Thus people fall into the “three noes”: indifference, irresponsibility, and apathy.
Against enormous power, nothing can be done.
Even if people speak of “reform and opening-up,” and even if long historical legends speak of Sons of Heaven who received the Mandate of Heaven, or of the great and wise Red Sun, and no matter how much they speak of “destroying the Four Olds”—old ideas, old culture, old customs, and old habits—even the supernatural power of the gods can do nothing about this country.
If one has to live in such a country of self-loss, a human being becomes mentally abnormal.
It is no longer merely a matter of “bewilderment syndrome.”
The middle section is omitted.
Researchers point to the Chinese character as evasive in speech, outwardly obedient but inwardly rebellious, suspicious and fearful, cunning, cowardly, insincere and irresponsible, lacking curiosity, and resigned to the Mandate of Heaven.
These traits were probably born from a very long historical climate.
Why do the Chinese emphasize “friendship” so insistently not only toward Japan, but toward every country?
It may be a paradox born from a society of human distrust.
And for China, which has persistently dealt with “friendly personages” and “friendly trading companies,” the right to interpret this “friendship” belongs entirely to the Chinese side.
Once China decides that someone is “unfriendly,” yesterday’s friend becomes today’s enemy.
Mao Zedong’s friends consisted only of good-natured Japanese or eccentric Westerners such as Edgar Snow.
That was probably because he never knew when the people around him might cut his throat while he slept.
Therefore, in the secret rooms of Zhongnanhai in Beijing, he must have read Romance of the Three Kingdoms again and again, polishing his schemes and stratagems as he thought about how to win the next time.