我曾经听过一个关于李鸿章的笑话:李鸿章访问英国的时候,英国首相要陪同他打一场网球。身穿黄马褂、脚蹬朝靴的李鸿章断然拒绝了,他勉强同意坐在看台上观看“这种野蛮人的运动”。英国首相只好跟外交大臣一起打了一局。当两人汗流浃背地跑上来询问这位大清国的重臣观看比赛有何感受时,李鸿章慢慢悠悠地说:“首相大人,你何必亲自受这个苦呢?在我们文明的大清国,这种粗活一般都 I once heard a joke about Li: When Li Hung-chang visited Britain, the British prime minister wanted to accompany him to play tennis. Li Hung-chan, wearing a yellow jacket and pedaling boots, flatly refused, and he barely agreed to sit in the stands to watch ”the barbarian movement.“ The British prime minister had to fight the Foreign Secretary together. As both men ran up in sweat to ask the senior minister of the Qing Dynasty what they felt when watching the game, Li Hung-chang said slowly: ”The prime minister, why should you personally suffer this bitterness? In our civilized Qing dynasty, this kind of routine All