China and the West

Brief von Victor Segalen an Claude Debussy.
Er schreibt : "Au fond, ce n'est ni l'Europe ni la Chine que je suis venu chercher ici mais une vision de la Chine – Celle-là, je la tiens et j'y mords à pleines dents."
Yvonne Y. Hsieh : Segalen loved the imperial ambience of Peking, detested the 'provincial' character of Tianjin, and avoided as much as possible cities that had fallen under the European sphere of influence. In China he was looking for was a country different in all respects from the Europe he had left – in its political system, religions, social structures, and moral values. He therefore could not face the imminent changes that would accompany the fall of the dynasty. He spoke of the revolutionaries only in the most scathingly contemptuous terms because he was afraid that with the death of the monarchy, most of the traditional, distinctly Chinese values would be lost. The Republic of China would copy the European and American democratic system, and possibly embrace christianity and Western customs. China would no longer be exotic.