一、一九四九的史實

首先是龍局長的書，的確如同李大師所寫的缺乏歷史原因的考究，很多事情都是描寫，陳述，所以整本書給人一種詩情畫意的觀感。而李大師的騙了你則是直抒胸臆，毫不掩蓋他對龍的批判和嘲諷，除了表達了對蔣介石之流的鞭撻和咒駡以外，李敖還寫了很多小人物的例子，比如五十二軍的退伍老兵等等，很生動，很有説服力，引經據典值得稱贊，但是我覺得這麽寫書還是缺乏學術的嚴謹，并不像某些西方作者那樣客觀的分析材料。當然李大師博覽群書，并且因爲本身就是親歷過抗戰和内戰時期的當事人，所以肯定是會有更深層次的感受和體會的，這點是毋庸置疑的。所以在史料的説明和引用上李大師是遠遠高於龍局長的。

二、對當代的作用

李敖大師的書通篇不外乎是批判和謾駡，雖然可以説是有理有據，但是言語上還是粗鄙的，雖然情感上我是支持李大師的，但是對李大師的態度與表達卻不敢恭維。而龍局長的書描寫場景、人物、事件等居多，所以我覺得更像是文學類的書。所以兩者在類型上很難進行比較，但是李大師的書名《大江大海騙了你》就是直指龍局長的書，所以評論又不得不拿兩者相提并論。

在李大師的臉書主頁上有人這麽評價李大師“只要反美親中，歌頌祖國，歌頌共產黨，蔑視台灣，差不多就是這種調調! 不過李敖說的，還是有三分道理值得反省.”（詳見哈囉李敖主頁）我覺得這個評論很簡單的概括了李大師的風格，的確在李敖的書中，蔣介石總是一個賣國賊、窩裏鬥等負面的形象，不管是國民黨總統時還是退守臺灣后，蔣介石在李敖的筆下就是一個十惡不赦的壞蛋。共產黨對李大師則是美好的遐想，就感覺是一個小時候的女伴，多年未見，但總是能聽到親朋好友等說她的好，在報紙書刊上讀她的美，并且家裏實際的妻子對自己總是發脾氣、閙變扭，所以對小時的女伴產生單相思的愛戀。殊不知，在大陸這邊的人民對共產黨并不是一味的支持的。共產黨也并不一直是在造福人民的。最基本的一條國策是“讓一部分人先富起來，先富帶動后富”，但是事實上這部分先富起來的人都跑路了，有點小錢就跑到國外，各種貪官污吏也都洗白而逃，并且在國外更種購買real state，造成國外居民的不滿（詳見Youtube上SBS Dateline的記錄片等）。而共黨對大陸的洗腦更是從娃娃抓起，我在大陸生活了將近20年，自己的ideology也基本快被洗乾净了，在讀了李大師的書后更是加深了這種感覺，也是這種書竟然在大陸不被禁的原因吧。

我對李敖大師有一點反感的是他對日本和西方的批判。因爲我認爲沒有日本和西方就沒有現代的中國，李敖大師用的最熟練的白話文難道不是日本和西方的產物嗎？你用的詞大多都是日本人翻譯的，你生活的制度是西方人制定的，大陸的文化如今也很西化了，李大師在這點卻也不談。可見并不衹是龍局長懂得避重就輕。而且我們生活在當代，雖然不能放棄、背叛歷史，但是也不能一味的被歷史所牽制，我們要向前看，與日本和西方和平共處。當然我們也需要保持自己的軍事力量，但更重要的增强國民的生活水平，解放國民的思想，而不是像大陸這樣，控制輿論的咽喉，在反面意見出現后就槍斃，找一堆水平五毛來增加正能量，形成digital dictatorship，這樣長此以往，人民衹會越來越愚笨。對國家創新能力的培養并無益處。

以上是我讀此書時的隨想，請諸君多多包涵。

I. The Historical Facts of 1949

First, Director Lung’s book really does lack inquiry into historical causes, just as Master Li wrote. A lot of it is description and narration, so the whole book reads as poetic and lyrical. Master Li’s Lied to You, on the other hand, says exactly what he thinks and makes no attempt to hide his criticism and mockery of Lung. Besides lashing out at and cursing Chiang Kai-shek and his kind, Li Ao also includes many stories of ordinary people, like the veterans of the 52nd Army. They’re vivid and very convincing, and his citing of sources deserves praise. But I still think writing a book this way lacks academic rigor; it isn’t an objective analysis of the material the way some Western authors do it. Of course, Master Li is extremely well read, and since he lived through the War of Resistance and the Civil War himself, he’s bound to have a deeper feel and understanding of it. There’s no doubt about that. So when it comes to explaining and citing historical sources, Master Li is far ahead of Director Lung.

II. Its Relevance Today

Master Li Ao’s book is, from start to finish, nothing but criticism and abuse. You could say it’s well argued and well supported, but the language is still crude. Emotionally I’m on Master Li’s side, but I can’t say I admire his attitude or the way he expresses himself. Director Lung’s book, meanwhile, is mostly descriptions of scenes, people, and events, so it feels more like a work of literature to me. That makes the two hard to compare by genre, but Master Li’s title, Big River, Big Sea Lied to You, takes direct aim at Director Lung’s book, so any review has no choice but to discuss them side by side.

On Master Li’s Facebook page someone described him like this: “Just be anti-US and pro-China, praise the motherland, praise the Communist Party, look down on Taiwan, and that’s pretty much his tune! Still, what Li Ao says has maybe thirty percent truth worth reflecting on.” (See the Hello Li Ao page for details.) I think this comment sums up Master Li’s style quite simply. In Li Ao’s books, Chiang Kai-shek is always cast negatively, as a traitor, a man who fights his own side, and so on. Whether as the Kuomintang president or after retreating to Taiwan, Chiang is an unforgivable villain under Li Ao’s pen. The Communist Party, by contrast, is a beautiful fantasy for Master Li. It feels like a childhood sweetheart you haven’t seen in years, but you keep hearing friends and family talk about how good she is and keep reading about her beauty in newspapers and magazines, while your actual wife at home is always losing her temper and sulking at you, so you develop a one-sided crush on that childhood girl. What he doesn’t realize is that people here on the mainland don’t blindly support the Communist Party. And the Communist Party hasn’t always been working for the people’s good either. One of the most basic national policies was “let some people get rich first, and then the early rich will help the rest get rich,” but in reality the people who got rich first all ran off. Once they have a bit of money they leave for abroad, and all sorts of corrupt officials launder their money and flee too, buying up real estate overseas and stirring up resentment among local residents (see SBS Dateline’s documentaries on YouTube, among others). And the Party’s brainwashing on the mainland starts from early childhood. I lived on the mainland for nearly 20 years, and my own ideology was almost completely washed clean. Reading Master Li’s book only deepened that feeling, and that’s probably also why a book like this isn’t banned on the mainland.

One thing I do dislike about Master Li Ao is his criticism of Japan and the West. I believe that without Japan and the West there would be no modern China. Isn’t the vernacular Chinese that Master Li uses so skillfully itself a product of Japan and the West? Most of the words you use were translated by the Japanese, the system you live under was designed by Westerners, and mainland culture today is very Westernized too, yet Master Li never brings this up. So clearly Director Lung isn’t the only one who knows how to dodge the hard questions. And we live in the present. We can’t abandon or betray history, but we also can’t let history hold us back forever. We need to look forward and live in peace with Japan and the West. Of course we also need to keep our military strength, but what matters more is raising people’s living standards and freeing people’s minds, not doing what the mainland does: choking off public opinion, executing people once dissenting views appear, hiring a bunch of fifty-cent shills to add “positive energy,” and forming a digital dictatorship. Keep that up for long and the people will only get dumber and dumber. It does nothing to build up the country’s capacity for innovation.

These are my random thoughts from reading this book. I hope you’ll all bear with me.