China and the West

Lin, Lüxin. Xiao Bona de yan jiu [ID D27948].
Er schreibt : "George Bernard Shaw has been known for his talent of cracking jokes ; at present his name never fails to evoke three Chinese characters 'xiao hua jia' (laugh talk master). As soon as this laugh talk master opens his mouth, raises his head, or moves his hand or feet, newspaper reporters have acquired the material for news ; the three words – Xiao Bona thus appear in newspapers all over the world. One cannot help but wonder what wind brings him to those newspapers”.
Lin Lüxin emphasized Shaw's social commitment and interpreted Shaw's intention in writing as solely altruistic. Lin believed that “Shaw did not write plays in order to achieve immortality ; he wrote them to contribute to the well-being of the contemporary society. In other words, he meant to do his bit for his time and was not interested in pursuing his own fame. The noble character manifests itself in all of his plays."
Wendi Chen : The ground on which Lin bases this statement, whether it is his reading of Shaw's plays or his own presumption that all socially responsible scholars write for social causes only, is unclear. Lin had not read all of Shaw's plays, and even if he had, his statement would not have been accurate. It is clear that Lin glorified Shaw purely on the basis of his own understanding of the traditional Chinese concept of a nobel scholar.