China and the West

[Whitman, Walt]. Cao ye ji xuan. Chu Tunan yi. [ID D29782].
Li Xilao : Chu Tunan said in his preface that Whitman is 'the most distinguished poet of realism and democracy because of his strong opposition to slavery, his aversion to racial discrimination, his love for the laboring people, and his deep sympathy for the oppressed, and what is more, his recognition of the hyprocisy of bourgeois democracy and his extolling of the European revolution and the struggle of the proletariat'.
Mark Cohen : The first postface made no mention of Whitman's style or form. The postface of the 1978 edition at least mentions that Whitman created a new 'structure and style'. The original edition suggested that Whitman's poetry 'serves as a warning flare to ward off America's ruling reactionary groups'. The 1978 edition recognizes that these same 'reactionary groups' have since become China's ally. In its place it states that Whitman was not only against 'corrupt bourgeois culture', 'racial oppression' but also 'hegemony'. Hegemony is the Chinese byword for the Soviet Union. New notations of the translator included Whitman's working class background, especially the various professions he worked in, and also his portrayal of Whitman as cognizant of 'the hypocrisy and trickery of the bourgeois' as well as the 'power and greatness of the European revolutions and Paris Commune'.