China and the West

Liu Yizheng wrote an essay to say goodby to Wu Mi, when Wu Mi left Nanjing for Shenyang in 1924. In : Yu seng shi wen ji. (Shanghai 1934). 雨僧詩文集
From the last years of the Qing dynasty, schools have sprouted up and there have been many students going abroad to learn some craft and be useful to their country. But many there have not been who are able to delve deep into the profundities of Western learning and institutions, nor to find all that is in accord with the teachings and objectives of our sages with the purpose of benefiting the people and purifying the customs. Mr. Mei Guangdi of Xuanzheng has been the first to espouse the lessons of the American scholar Irving Babbitt to show where the truth is. Mr. Wu Mi joins him and goes further by tracing back to the literature, arts, and philosophy of ancient Greece. Only then have students been made to know that the literature and institutions of Europe and America have their sources, and to realize that those who try to overwhelm the public with new-fangled nonsense have actually gained little from their opportunities in the West. Messrs. Mei and Wu cofounded the Xue heng (Critical review) to awaken the world. When their writings first came out, they were attacked by many a shallow scholar. As time goes on, what the two have had to say becomes more and more persuasive and confirmed. Mr. Mei has since gone to the United States to propagate Chinese learning. Mr. Wu is now leaving for Shenyang. While they travel to different places, their purposes are identical. Scholars in the United States having long had the teaching of Babbitt will be enlightened by Mr. Mei's Chinese knowledge. Scholarship in Shenyang has barely begun. Mr. Wu will be going there to start a new Greece. He is therefore the Babbitt of China.