Lu Xun, a Chinese literary giant created in his story Ah-Q Biography a rather despicable character called Ah-Q, an extreme “the kiss-up, kick-down type” that Rob Gifford described in his book China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power. More famous than this, he can always talk himself into feeling good even after being spitted and slapped in his face by his attackers. He always comforts himself as his being spiritually superior over his conquerors and can claim victory even after being soundly defeated and ruthlessly trampled under the foot of the conqueror. You can say he lives a life of self-created illusion and self-deception.

To be sure, Lu Xun had zero good word for this type of people. Instead, he thought it so pathetically characteristic of Chinese people of his time.

For some reason, I do not find this character so distasteful, other than the “kiss-up, kick-down” part.  Ah-Q simply tries to make himself feel good when he is unable to make changes to his fate and environment.  To some extent, when we compromise and reconcile, isn’t that what we try to do everyday, to a different degree though?  Don’t we have our own illusions to live by?  Here I hear people explain any misfortune as “God’s will,” or something better than nothing — a western Ah-Q.

Psychologically, we all have the need to be Ah-Q at some point of our lives. Again, to make me feel good, I would argue I have never been “spitted and slapped in his face by others” and thus have no excuse to feel otherwise.

Oops, does it have anything to do with parenting?  You can finger it out by yourself if that’s what you are wondering.