China and the West

Russell, Bertrand. What is an agnostic ? In : Look magazine (1953). In : Russell, Bertrand. Basic writings of Bertrand Russell, 1903-1959. (New York, N.Y. : Simon and Schuster, 1961).
The oldest known Chinese sage is Laotzu, the founder of Taoism... Laotzu describes the operation of Tao as 'creation without possession, action without self-assertion, development without domination'. I think one could derive from these words a conception of the ends of life as the reflective Chinese see them, and it must be admitted that they are very different from the ends which the white men have set before themselves. Possession, self-assertion, domination, are eagerly sought, both nationally and individually… Comparing the civilization of China with that of Europe, one finds in China most of what was to be found in Greece, but nothing of the other two elements of our civilization, namely Judaism and science… What will be the outcome of the contact of this ancient civilization with the West ?
The Japanese adopted our faults and kept their own, but it is possible to hope that the Chinese will make the opposite selection, keeping their own merits and adopting ours… The distinctive merit of our civilization. I should say, is the scientific method ; the distinctive merit of the Chinese is a just conception of the ends of life. It is these two that one must hope to gradually uniting.