Chronology Entry
Year
1920.12.13
Text
Letter from Bertrand Russell to Clifford Allen. 2 Sui an Po Hukung, Peking, 13 Dec. 1920.
Dear Allen… Dora and I have taken a house (address as above) and furnished it in Chinese style. It is very pleasant, built round a courtyard as they all are. Peking treats us as if we were married – the legation calls and asks us to dinner. It makes Dora furious to find herself respectable against her will. But she enjoys furnishing, and she is going to lecture at the University. I find the students lazy and stupid. Most of them are Bolsheviks, but they don't know what that means, and are timid and comfort-loving. The Japs of course are wicked, but I have hopes that their reformers also are vigorous, and therefore better than the Chinese. I enclose a letter from one of them who is arranging for me to lecture there next summer. Please send it to Colette. The Chinese are exceedingly cordial and make a lot of fuss about me, but one remains on terms of politeness – they are hard to get to know well. I find there are very few whom I can like. They say they are socialists but complain of foreigners for over-paying the coolies so that life becomes a little less comfortable for the rich. The Government is corrupt ; usually it takes money from the Japs and is then turned out by a revolution but succeeded by a new Government which is just as bad. I think 50 years of foreign domination is the only hope.
Dora sends her love. We are very happy, though we have fits of home-sickness, but we are too busy to notice them much.
Dear Allen… Dora and I have taken a house (address as above) and furnished it in Chinese style. It is very pleasant, built round a courtyard as they all are. Peking treats us as if we were married – the legation calls and asks us to dinner. It makes Dora furious to find herself respectable against her will. But she enjoys furnishing, and she is going to lecture at the University. I find the students lazy and stupid. Most of them are Bolsheviks, but they don't know what that means, and are timid and comfort-loving. The Japs of course are wicked, but I have hopes that their reformers also are vigorous, and therefore better than the Chinese. I enclose a letter from one of them who is arranging for me to lecture there next summer. Please send it to Colette. The Chinese are exceedingly cordial and make a lot of fuss about me, but one remains on terms of politeness – they are hard to get to know well. I find there are very few whom I can like. They say they are socialists but complain of foreigners for over-paying the coolies so that life becomes a little less comfortable for the rich. The Government is corrupt ; usually it takes money from the Japs and is then turned out by a revolution but succeeded by a new Government which is just as bad. I think 50 years of foreign domination is the only hope.
Dora sends her love. We are very happy, though we have fits of home-sickness, but we are too busy to notice them much.
Mentioned People (2)
Allen, Clifford
(Newport 1889-1939 Sanatorium, Schweiz) : Englischer Politiker
Russell, Bertrand
(Trelleck, Monmouthsire 1872-1970 Plas Penrhyn bei Penrhyndeudraeth, Wales) : Philosoph, Logistiker, Mathematiker, Literaturnobelpreisträger ; Dozent Cambridge, Oxford, London, Harvard University, Chicago, Los Angeles, Beijing
Subjects
Philosophy : Europe : Great Britain
Documents (1)
| # | Year | Bibliographical Data | Type / Abbreviation | Linked Data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1884-1970 |
Russell, Bertrand. The selected letters of Bertrand Russell. Ed. by Nicholas Griffin. Vol. 1-2. (London : Allen Lane, 1992-2001). Vol. 1 : The private years, 1884-1914. Vol. 2 : The public years, 1914-1970. |
Publication / Russ36 |
|