What Holds Back Our Imagination?

陳卓倫

Lu Xun，one of the greatest Chinese novelists， once told a joke that on a hot summer noon， a peasant woman engaging in her tough farm work suddenly sighed， “How cheerful the Empress is， I wonder！ At this moment she must be taking a nap in bed and when waking up， she can order her male-servant， ‘Pass me a dried persimmon！” This is just the so-called statement， “poverty holds back imagination”. The peasant woman living in a mountain area， struggling and ignorant， can only imagine the Empresss happy life in such a simple way， even though she thinks about it over and over again.

Im not sure about the exact name of a short sketch， but I can still remember that the poor man in the sketch， daydreaming about the richs life with an envious look， said， “Someday in the future when I became rich， I would every day drink soybean milk and eat fried dough sticks， with whatever I like， white sugar or brown sugar. And I would buy two bowls， one for my drinking and the other for pouring.” It is poverty and lowliness that hold back his imagination. He never knows that the rich live a far more wonderful and luxurious life than that he can imagine.

In fact， not only poverty， but riches may hold back imagination as well. Take Jia Baoyu， one of the main characters in A Dream of Red Mansions as an example. Born in happiness， he lived an extravagant life， and knew nothing about the poors life at all. So he was greatly surprised and began to understand the realistic life， when he saw Qing Wen， one of his maids， sick in a filthy and shabby dorm even without any place to sit. Just as one of sayings of Lu Xun， “A kerosene magnate can impossibly feel the bitterness of an old Peking woman who pikes up coal cinder for living.”

Likewise， high social position might hold back peoples imagination as well. Here is the most typical story， “Why Not Eat Meat”， of Emperor Hui， the second emperor of Western Jin Dynasty. Born in the inaccessible palace， Emperor Hui lived a glorious and wealthy life. So it was not strange for him to ask such a notorious and odd question， and of course he was a little bit retarded. But even if it was wise and learned Emperor Qianlong， the fourth emperor of Qing Dynasty， after living in his palace so long， he could hardly know much about the ordinary peoples daily life， let alone the overseas world. So inevitably he suffered from lack of imagination， resulting from which he not only was cheated by his officials frequently， still unaware， but also could not believe the great emerging changes of science and economy in foreign countries so as not to seize the best opportunity to open a way to the world.

It is quite simple to understand that existence determines consciousness and thus the cognitive condition of objective world determines the depth， height and breadth of ones thinking. Moreover， everyone is actually limited in a certain space and certain condition， so the foundation， on which imagination is built， is quite different and the use of imagination is therefore widely divergent. The reason why Cao Xueqin， could create his novel， A Dream of Red Mansions， is that he once did live such a rich life and really knew what was “pour oil on the flames”， what were extravagance and dissipation. And coupled with his fertile imagination and talented creativity， this masterpiece could be born into the world and successful both in ancient and modern times. But such a theme is not suitable for Pu Songling， Wu Chengen and Shi Naian， the other three famous Chinese novelists， not because of their literary talent， but the lack of necessary foundation on which imagination is built.

The only key to unlock that strange limitation is that practice leads to knowledge. People who are well-informed must have a much richer imagination than those who are uninformed; people who are frequently down to earth certainly have a far richer imagination than those who are socially isolated; and people who read widely undoubtedly have a rather richer imagination than those who are ignorant. So only if we read ten thousand books and travel ten thousand miles can we make our imagination less limited.

Comparatively speaking， the limitation of imagination for people， poor or rich， belongs to their own personal affairs and may have an impact only on their quality of life or speed of making money， while the limitation for officials and leaders may affect the prospects and happiness index of the people in the subordinate departments or regions. For example， their decision-making mistakes or blind instructions; being at whim or self-righteousness; following old rules or never moving ahead， all are partly resulted from limited imagination. In order to solve this problem， they need to no longer focus on tons of paperwork and meetings. Instead， they should walk into ordinary peoples daily life， frequently get closed to the masses， listen to their demands， understand their troubles and sufferings， which surely can broaden thinking， enrich imagination so as to make reasonable plans， scientific decisions， steady achievements and take effective measures.

What holds back our imagination？ It will be of great benefit for us to think more about it.