China and the West

Russell, Bertrand. Preface. In : T'ang, Leang-li [Tang, Liangli]. China in revolt [ID D28456].
Recent events in China have shown the extraordinary extent to which our Foreign Office has been misled as to the present state of public opinion in that country. Relying upon information from Anglo-Chinese, who associate almost exclusively with Europeans, and are completely ignorant of the change that has come over China in recent years, our Government has refused, until too late, to make concessions in response to the just indignation of the Chinese in the matter of the Shanghai massacre, or to abate in any degree the unscrupulous hostility displayed by Hongkong towards Canton. The immediate result has been an immense injury to British trade in China ; the ultimate result is likely unless there is a complete change in our official attitude, to be a complete collapse of British interests in China.
Those who wish to understand the point of view of the modern Chinese – who are coming, more and more, to control the policy of their country – cannot do better than read Mr. T'ang's book. They will find an indictment of Western policy, and more particularly of the policy of Great Britain, which is as painful as it is irrefutable. Hitherto we have treated China with the injustice and brutality which invariably fall to the lot of the weak among nations ; but the indignation aroused is at length putting an end to weakness, and enabling China to insist upon being treated as an equal. The sooner this is realized, the less disastrous it will be for ourselves. Mr. T'ang is therefore doing a service to Great Britain as well as to his own country in endeavouring to bring the facts to the notice of those who are not totally blind to the significance of contemporary movements.