China and the West

Willy Matzat ist als Missionar der Berliner Mission, dann der American Lutheran Mission und Dorothea Matzat als Krankenschwester in Jimo, Guangdong.

Siegfried Knak, Carl August Kollecker, Wilhelm Leuschner und Carl Johannes Voskamp nehmen an der christlichen National-Konferenz in Shanghai teil. Ein Ergebnis ist die Bildung eines Nationalen Christenrats für China.

Heinrich Manfred Jettmar beendet das Medizinstudium in Wien und wird Chefbakteriologe in Werchne-Udinsk (Russland). Doktor Wu Liande, der Leiter des Pestverhütungsdienstes, nimmt ihn in sein Team in der nördlichen Mandschurei auf.

Georg Michaelis besucht die Konferenz des Weltbunds Christlicher Studentenvereinigungen in Beijing.

Friedrich Weller ist Privatdozent der Philosophischen Fakultät der Universität Leipzig.

Sara Perkins ist nach einem Studium am Beijing Medical College Krankenschwester in Beijing.

Gladys Aylward ist Missionarin in Nordchina.

Letter from Bertrand Russell to Ottoline Morrell. 31 Sydney Street, 31 Jan. 1922.
Dearest O. … The other day Dora and I went to a Chinese feast given by the Chinese Students here. They made speeches full of delicate wit, in the style of 18th century France, with a mastery of English that quite amazed me. The Chinese Chargé d'Affaires said he had been asked to speak on Chinese Politics – he said the urgent questions were the General Election, economy and limitation of armaments – he spoke quite a long time, saying only things that might have been said in a political speech about England, and which yet were quite all right for China – when he sat down he had not committed himself to anything at all, but had suggested (without ever saying) that China's problems were worse than ours. The Chinese constantly remind me of Oscar Wilde in his first trial when he thought wit would pull one through anything, and found himself in the grip of a great machine that cared nothing for human values. I read of a Chinese General the other day, whose troops had ventured to resist a Japanese attack, so the Japanese insisted that he should apologize to their Consul. He replied that he had no uniform grand enough for such an august occasion, and therefore to his profound sorrow he must forego the pleasure of visiting a man for whom he had so high an esteem. When they nevertheless insisted, he called the same day on all the other Consuls, so that it appeared as if he were paying a mere visit of ceremony. Then all Japan raised a howl that he had insulted the Japanese nation. I would do anything in the world to help the Chinese, but it is difficult. They are like a nation of artists, with all their good and bad points. Imagine Gertler and [Augustus] John and Lytton set to govern the British Empire, and you will have some idea how China has been governed for 2000 years. Lytton is very like an old fashioned Chinaman, not at all like the modern westernized type.
I must stop. All my love. Your B.

Russell, Bertrand. Reconstruction in China. In : The Chinese Students' monthly ; 17. Febr. (1922).
In writing for Chinese readers, it seems appropriate to emphasize rather what the Chinese can do for themselves than how foreigners ought to help them. The practice of looking to foreign nations for help is not desirable, both because it encourages a parasitic habit of mind, and because, in the long run, all nations are egoistic. China is capable of saving herself by her own strength, and I assume that all patriotic Chinese would wish her to do so.
When I ask myself what national goal I should propose to myself if I were Chinese, it appears to me I should have two aims, one conservative and one progressive. On the one hand I should wish to preserve certain excellences in the traditional civilization of China which are lacking in the West ; on the other hand I should set to work to acquire and diffuse as much as possible of western knowledge and skill. To reconcile these two objects is difficult, but not wholly impossible ; and to reconcile them as far as possible is the purpose of what I have to say on Chinese problems.
As the first of Chinese merits I place the habit of judging activities by their purpose, and not merely by the amount of energy they call forth. We in the West tend to think energy a good thing in itself ; we admire hustle and athletics and war, but are incapable of any rational employment of leisure. Our civilization grows more and more ugly and harsh and destructive, so that it will destroy itself unless something in the nature of pursuit of ideals can be substituted for purposeless push. In the old China there existed a respect for aesthetic ideals, and even in the new China men require a motive before they will rush into action. This virtue is the source of Chinese pacifism and of Chinese art ; it is also the cause of the extra ordinary intellectual candour by which the educated Chinese are distin¬guished.
Unfortunately, the contemplative virtues have as their counterpart lazi¬ness in practical affairs. This would not much matter if China could re¬main isolated, but as that is impossible it subjects China to domination by \o more energetic nations. This foreign domination, whether military or economic or merely spiritual is a misfortune, which can only be avoided through the energy of reforming Chinese. The preservation of national independence is a precondition of everything else that is to be desired for modern China.
If national independence is to be preserved, there are four great tasks which the Chinese will have to accomplish for themselves in the following order : (1) The growth of public morality and energy ; (2) The establish¬ment of a good and stable government ; (3) Education, both technical and elementary ; (4) The development of Chinese industrial resources by Chinese capital and skill. Let us consider each of these in turn.
(1) Traditional Chinese morality is private, and has its basis in the family. Public faults, such as bribery, extortion, and neglect of duties, are lightly regarded, though in fact, in the modern world, they do far more harm than a lack of filial piety. It is, to my mind, the special province of those Chinese who have received a modern university education to intro¬duce into politics and the civil service a higher standard of honesty and industry than has hitherto prevailed. So long as officials are corrupt, rich foreign nations can always induce them to sell the interests of their coun¬try while the Tuchuns cannot be prevented from prolonging the existing anarchy. The regeneration of China demands a body of men devoting themselves to politics and administration honestly, energetically, and in all enlightened spirit. Of such a body the returned students ought to form the nucleus.
(2) Given such a body of public-spirited and modern-minded men, it would be possible to put an end to the existing anarchy and establish order and good government throughout the country. Without a stable government nothing can be accomplished. It is impossible to resist foreign aggression, because there is no political strength in the nation. It is im¬possible to develop the industrial resources by Chinese enterprise, because the Tuchuns cannot be trusted to abstain from spoliation. It is impossible to extend education, because there are no public funds for the purpose. Good government is therefore absolutely essential even for matters which might seem at first sight remote from politics.
I think it is clear that a stable government in China will have to be feder¬al, allowing to the provinces a very large measure of autonomy. In this respect, I think, the constitutionalists of 1912 made a mistake ; something more analogous to the American Constitution would have a far better chance of success than the constitution aimed at in the first days of the Republic. The important thing is to discover and advocate a kind of con¬stitution which the great mass of public opinion can support ; and this will almost certainly be a federation of autonomous provinces.
As to how such a constitution is to be established in face of the opposi¬tion of the militarists, it is impossible to prophesy definitely. Obviously the first requisite is united action by all those who desire to end the existing anarchy. There is need of an informal Congress to draw up a new draft constitution, with the understanding that its members should all support the draft when it is drawn up, even if it fails to represent exactly the indi¬vidual views of this or that member. It might then happen that some com¬paratively enlightened Tuchun would agree to establish the new constitu¬tion, or that the soldiers could be induced by propaganda to abandon the more reactionary Tuchuns. The precise method of getting the constitution established would depend upon circumstances, but if once the enlight¬ened Chinese were united in advocating it, there can be little doubt that its enactment could be brought about by sufficiently persistent propa¬ganda. When that is achieved, the militarists, so far as they survive, can be forced to serve the central government and the existing anarchy can be ended.
(3) No progress is stable in any country unless it is accompanied by an increase of education. There are two things, both requiring education, which are needed for Chinese stability, namely democracy and industrial¬ism. Democracy is needed both as good in itself and as the only way of avoiding dictatorship of men who appeal to ignorant prejudice. Indus¬trialism is needed not as a good thing in itself (for in itself I regard it as an evil), but as absolutely necessary for the preservation of national inde¬pendence. But before it becomes possible for the Chinese to run their own industries it will be necessary to have technically trained experts and skil¬led workmen. I sometimes think that the Chinese students who come to Europe and America are too conclusively occupied with abstract studies. Many, for example, learn economics, but hardly any learn how some large industrial enterprise is actually run, though this knowledge would prob¬ably be far more useful to China. And the same thing applies to the for¬eign teachers who are brought to China. When I was lecturing on philos¬ophy in Peking, I was painfully conscious that the knowledge I had to give was far less valuable than what could be given by (say) a mining engineer or a man intimately acquainted with the iron and steel industry. Such men ought, in my opinion, to be induced to come to China and to impart their knowledge to those who would make practical use of it.
If China is to become a democracy on the Western model, universal ele¬mentary education is indispensable. This would require two things which do not exist at present, namely an adequate revenue, and an adequate supply of teachers. The revenue will be forthcoming when a stable govern¬ment has been established, but not before. Normal schools for teachers already exist, but many more will be required before a competent teacher can be supplied to every village. Probably this increase of normal schools also will be impossible, on any large scale, until there is a constitutional government recognized throughout the country.
(4) In preserving national independence, the crux of the whole matter is industrial resources, especially railways and mines. China is rich in min¬erals, which foreign industrialists wish to exploit. So long as railways and mines are in the hands of foreigners, no legal safeguards will secure any real freedom for China. If the industrial resources could remain entirely unused, that might be the last thing for China; but that is impossible. The only real alternative is between Chinese and foreign exploitation. I desire very strongly to see Chinese rather than foreign exploitation, because I admire and love Chinese civilization, which will inevitably be replaced by that of the West if economic power remains in Western hands, whether individual or national. Of course, the growth of industrialism will change Chinese civilization, as it has changed ours, and I do not wish China to remain unchanged. There is need of widespread radical reform in China. But I wish reform to proceed on Chinese lines, as a growth and development out of China's past, not as a mere substitution of Western ideas and Western practice. I believe that by a judicious infusion of Western knowledge, China can enter upon a new period of greatness, and can find solutions for many problems which we have found baffling – perhaps for our fundamental problem, how industrialism is to be made the servant of men instead of his ruthless tyrant.
China's potential strength is so enormous that no great intensity of militarism or nationalism is required for successful resistance to foreign aggression. Some slight amount, no doubt, is required. This is an evil, but one for which the responsibility rests with the Western nations and their Japanese pupil. I wish to see in China just so much of nationalism as is necessary for self-preservation, but no more. And in view of the Chinese character, I do not despair of seeing this result achieved. But I should be sorry if, in achieving it, the Chinese were driven to imitate us in anything except knowledge ; for in their philosophy of life, I believe them to be definitely our superior.

Letter from Xu Zhimo to Bertrand Russell. 2.3.1922.
Xu Zhimo decided to divorce his first wife and to marry Lin Huiyin. He must have been desirous of seeking advice from the Russells before he contacted his wife in Berlin.
"I wonder if I may have the happiness and privilege to book you to lunch or tea with mea t the above address [55 Victoria Road, Cambridge] when you come to town this weedend [sic]. I do hope it will not be inconvenient for you to arrange. I can hardly express the anxiety with which I have been looking forward to meeting you again : I do miss you heartily.
I think I can get Mr. [G. Lowes] Dickinson to be with us if you like. But I must confess my desire to monopolize your attention even for a rare short occasion and on that account should not regret omitting Mr. Dickinson's company, charming as it is. Selfishness, perhaps. But you will smile and forgive. I am confident."
Xu did not manage to see Russell again before 1925.

Russell, Bertrand. As a European radical sees it. In : The Freeman ; vol. 4 (8. März 1922). [Betr. China].
Many Americans not unnaturally think that the good record of America hitherto is a reason for expecting a good record in the future. I think those who take this point of view do not quite understand the new temptations to which America will henceforth be exposed.
I know there is in America a great deal of what is called 'idealism'. But what are its manifestations ? Prohibition certainly is due to 'idealism'. Now there are many good arguments in favour of prohibition, and I am not myself prepared to oppose it, but no student of modern psychology will suppose that these arguments were what persuaded the nation. Apart from the interests of those who make non-alcoholic drinks, and the hopes of employers that their men would work harder, it must have been the case that there were more people who found pleasure in preventing others from drinking than people who found pleasure in drinking themselves. Take another exhibition of 'idealism' : the treatment of Maxim Gorky in the United States. I know there were journalistic reasons for inflaming opinion against him, but these could not have operated unless opinion were ready to be inflamed. In America divorce is easy ; in Tsarist Russia it was almost impossible. Consequently the law had not sanctioned a union far more stable than many American marriages; therefore Gorky was 'immoral' and must be hounded out of the country. Again : the Bible says 'Thou shalt not steal', but Socialists believe that civilization can only be preserved by confiscation of private property. Therefore they are immoral men, who must not be allowed to sit in a Legislature to which they have been duly elected, and whose heads may be bashed in by loyal mobs who invade their houses. Sacco and Vanzetti are accused of a murder, and there is no conclusive evidence that they committed it ; but their political opinions are undesirable, so that no one is interested in the mere question of fact: Did they, or did they not, commit the murder? The moral repro¬bation of these men on account of their opinions is, no doubt, another case of 'idealism'.
So far, 'idealism' may be identified with love of persecution. If I were concerned to analyse its unconscious psychological sources, I should say that this form of it results from a conflict between the Christian duty of loving one's neighbour and the natural man's impulse to torture him. A reconciliation is effected by the theory that one's neighbour is a 'sinner', who must be punished in order to be purified. People cling to the con¬ception of 'sin', because otherwise they would have no moral justification for inflicting pain. 'Idealism', in this form, is moral reprobation as a pretext for torture.
I do not suggest that America is the only country where there is 'idealism'. All the belligerents were full of it during the war, and is still rampant everywhere. But it is only in America, and to a lesser extent in England, that it still deceives the people who are trying to think out the prob¬lem of creating a happier world. Is it not clear that a happier world will not be generated by hatred, even if the objects of hatred are 'sinners' ? Do any Christians, I wonder, ever read the Gospels ?
'Idealism' has, however, a wider scope than persecution. It may be defined generically as the practice of proclaiming moral motives for our actions. After America's entry into the war, President Wilson became idealistic in our former sense; before that, when he was 'too proud to fight', he was idealistic in a wider sense. The objection to proclaiming moral motives for one’s actions is twofold: first, that no one else believes what one says; and secondly, that one does believe it oneself. I have no doubt that many Americans believe in the unselfishness of America’s motives, first for neutrality and then for belligerency. People who are not Americans, however, cannot be persuaded to adopt this view. They think that America intervened at the exact moment most favourable for Ameri¬can interests, and that America would not have become either so rich or so powerful as she is if she had intervened sooner or had remained neutral to the end. They do not blame America for this, but they are somewhat irritated when they find that Americans will not admit it, but claim to be made of nobler stuff than the rest of humanity.
I suppose few things have done more to disgust Americans with the Old World than the secret treaties. I am not, of course, a defender of the secret treaties, but I think it is worth while to understand how a man like Lord Grey came to agree to them. I took and still take the view that the issues in the war were unimportant, that it did not matter which side won (though a draw would have been best), and that the most important thing was that the war should end quickly. This was not the view of the belligerents. The British Government took the view—to which America was converted in the end—that the defeat of Germany was vital. We could not defeat Germany without the help of nations having no direct interest in the struggle, and we could not get their help without buying it. By the time America came in, we had built up such a strong alliance that America's strength turned the scale ; but it must be admitted that America profited by our sins. Our people did not know of the secret treaties ; the sins were only those of the Government. And when President Wilson declared in the Senate that he did not know of the secret treaties, the American Govern¬ment showed that it shared the guilt.
I come now to China. It is in China that American policy has been seen at its best. America alone has not sought concessions, has returned the balance of the Boxer indemnity, has stood for the Open Door, and has championed the independence and integrity of China. All these things arc admirable, but they show wisdom rather than unselfishness ; they are all strictly consonant with American interests. The Washington Conference has provided a good deal of rather painful evidence that the interests of China receive little consideration when they are opposed to those of America. Up to the present (January 26), it is doubtful whether anything effective is going to be done about Shantung, but that may be excused on the ground of Japanese obduracy. The more serious matter is the Ameri¬can attempt to secure international control of China by means of the Consortium. China is in financial difficulties, partly owing to the anarchy which has been carefully fomented by Japan, partly owing to the withhold¬ing of the Customs Revenue by the British Inspector-General of Customs. The London 'Times' of 14 January says :
It is curious to reflect that this country [China] could be ren¬dered completely solvent and the Government provided with a substantial income almost by a stroke of the foreigner's pen, while without that stroke there must be bankruptcy pure and simple. Despite constant civil war and political chaos, the Customs Rev¬enue consistently grows, and last year exceeded all records by £1,000,000. The increased duties sanctioned by the Washington Conference will provide sufficient revenue to liquidate the whole foreign and domestic floating debt in a very few years, leaving the splendid salt surplus unencumbered for the Government. The difficulty is not to provide money, but to find a Government to which to entrust it. Yet the 'Times' foams at the mouth when the Chinese say they would like to recover control of their own customs. As a consequence of foreign control the Chinese Government has failed to meet an obligation of $5,500,000 due to a Chicago bank. The resulting action of America is set forth in 'The Freeman' for November 25 (p. 244), as follows : American financiers and politicians were at one and the same time the heroes and villains of the piece; having cooperated in the creation of a dangerous situation, they came forward handsomely in the hour of trial with an offer to save China from themselves as it were, if the Chinese Government would only enter into relations with the Consortium, and thus prepare the way for the eventual establishment of an American financial protectorate.
In the 'Japan Weekly Chronicle' for November 17 (p. 725), in a telegram headed 'International Control of China', I find it reported that America is thought to be seeking to establish international control, and that Mr. Wellington Koo told the Philadelphia 'Public Ledger': 'We suspect the motives which led to the suggestion and we thoroughly doubt its feasibility. China will bitterly oppose any conference-plan to offer China inter¬national aid. ' He adds : 'International control will not do. China must be given time and opportunity to find herself. The world should not misin¬terpret or exaggerate the meaning of the convulsion which China is now passing through.” These are wise words, with which every true friend of China must agree. In the same issue of the 'Japan Weekly Chronicle'— which, by the way, I consider one of the best weekly papers in the world— I find the following (p. 728) :
Mr. Lennox Simpson [Putnam Weale] is quoted as saying: 'The international bankers have a scheme for the international control of China. Mr. Lamont, representing the consortium, offered a sixteen-million-dollar loan to China, which the Chinese Govern¬ment refused to accept because Mr. Lamont insisted that the Hukuang bonds, German issue, which had been acquired by the Morgan Company, should be paid out of it.' Mr. Lamont, on hearing this charge, made an emphatic denial, saying : 'Simpson's statement is unqualifiedly false. When this man Simpson talks about resisting the control of the international banks he is fantas¬tic. We don't want control. We are anxious that the conference result in such a solution as will furnish full opportunity to China to fulfil her own destiny.'
Sagacious people will be inclined to conclude that so much anger must be due to being touched on the raw, and that Mr. Lamont, if he had had nothing to conceal, would not have spoken of a distinguished writer and one of China’s best friends as 'this man Simpson'.
I do not pretend that the evidence against the consortium is conclusive, and I have not space here to set it all forth, but to any European radical Air. Lamont's statement that the consortium does not want control reads like a contradiction in terms. Those who wish to lend to a Government which, if it is let alone, will go bankrupt, must aim at control, for, even if there were not the incident of the Chicago bank, it would be impossible to believe that Messrs. Morgan and Company are so purely philanthropic as not to care whether they get any interest on their money or not, although emissaries of the consortium in China have spoken as though this were the case.
While I was in China recently, the consortium, which is theoretically international but practically American, offered a loan to China on condi¬tion that China made certain internal reforms. China rejected the offer, rightly as I thought, since it involved international control. Shortly before my departure from Peking, Mr. Crane, who had just ceased to be Ameri¬can Minister to China, was reported in the 'Peking Leader' (a paper owned by Chinese but edited by an American) to have stated in an interview that he was in favour of international control of China. I mentioned this inter¬view in a farewell address. To my amazement, there was an uproar among the very Americans who had advocated the Consortium. The editor of the 'Peking Leader', in whose paper the interview had appeared, seemed aston¬ished that I could have believed it to be genuine, and made difficulties about permitting my address to be reprinted. I left China immediately afterwards, and do not know what subsequently occurred, except that the Peking Leader published an editorial criticizing my work as a professor. All this shows the curious confusion of mind which enables people to advocate a loan on condition of internal changes, and yet to imagine them¬selves opposed to international control.
In the 'New Republic' for November 30, there is an article by Mr. Brailsford entitled 'A New Technique of Peace', which sets forth an analysis with which I find myself in complete agreement. If the Conference is suc¬cessful, I expect to see China compelled to be orderly so as to afford a field for foreign commerce and industry; a government such as the West will consider good substituted for the present go-as-you-please anarchy ; a gradually increasing flow of wealth from China to the investing countries, the chief of which is America; the development of a sweated Chinese proletariat; the spread of Christianity ; the substitution of the American civilization for the Chinese ; the destruction of traditional beauty, except for such objets d’art as millionaires may think it worth while to buy ; the gradual awakening of China to her exploitation by the foreigner; and one day, fifty or a hundred years hence, the massacre of every white man throughout the Celestial Empire at a signal from some vast secret society.
All this is probably inevitable, human nature being what it is. It will be done in order that rich men may grow richer, but we shall be told that it is done in order that China may have 'good' government. The definition of the word 'good' is difficult, but the definition of 'good government' is as easy as A.B.C. : it is government that yields fat dividends to capitalists.
The Chinese are gentle, urbane, seeking only justice and freedom. They have a civilization superior to ours in all that makes for human happiness. They have a vigorous movement of young reformers, who, if they are allowed a little time, will revivify China and produce something im¬measurably better than the worn-out grinding mechanism that we call civilization. When Young China has done its work, Americans will be able to make money by trading with China, without destroying the soul of the country. China needs a period of anarchy in order to work out her sal¬vation; all great nations need such a period from time to time. When America went through such a period, in 1861-5, England thought of intervening to insist on 'good government', but fortunately abstained. Nowadays, in China, all the Powers want to intervene. Americans recognize this in the case of the wicked Old World, but many of them are smitten with blindness when it comes to their own consortium. All I ask of them is that they should admit that they are as other men, and cease to thank God that they are not as this publican.
I hope no reader will think that my outlook is that of a cynic. Whoever will read the third Book of Spinoza's Ethics will find there a view of human nature identical with my own ; whoever will read the fourth and fifth Books will see how little cynicism this view implies. The two qualities which I consider superlatively important are love of truth and love of our nieghbour. I find love of truth obscured in America by commercialism, of which pragmatism is the philosophical expression ; and love of our neighbor kept in fetters by Puritan morality. Faults at least as bad as those of America exist in all countries ; but America seems as yet somewhat more lacking than some other countries as regards a self-critical minority. This minority exists ; and there is notable proof that it is not silent. I fear that some of the things I have said may cause irritation, but that is not their purpose ; I wish only to promote mutual understanding. I wish also, if I can, to do something to save China from a slavery more complete than any that Japan could impose.

Russell, Bertrand. China's entanglements. In : Foreign affairs ; vol. 3, no 9 (March 1922).
Review of Reid, Gilbert. China, captive or free ? (London : G. Allen & Unwin, 1922).
Among all the many recent books on the Far East there are extraordinarily few that are tolerably free from national bias. The British bias is familiar to readers of Mr. J.O.R Bland and The Times. In Chinese internal affairs it is reactionary, sneering at Young China, exalting the virtues of the old-fashioned mandarins, and desiring to uphold the traditional family ethics. At bottom, this attitude is usually, though not always, inspired by the fear of seeing China become strong enough to stand alone. It goes with an admiration for Japan, which takes the form of assurances that Japan's misdeeds have been due to a small military clique and will soon be ended by the victory of some imaginary Liberal Party in Japanese politics. There is, of course, a Liberal Party as regards home affairs, but in foreign affairs all Japanese are united except the small band of Socialists and Labour leaders. The American bias is different from the British, and politically less nox¬ious. Almost all Americans are friendly to Young China and inclined to side with Canton as against Peking. They have no doubt that it would be for China's good to be developed commercially and industrially, and they do not wish to see this done by Japan alone. So far I think we ought to agree with them. But their dislike of Japan makes them hardly just to that country, and their fanatical belief in capitalistic enterprise makes them perhaps blind to the dangers of international exploitation.
Dr. Reid is that rare exception, a truly just man. The faults of Japan are told, but not exaggerated ; the faults of America are not passed over. One of the most interesting portions of his book deals with the injury done to China by the Allied and Associated Powers when they induced China to participate in the war. In inducing a severance of diplomatic relations, America took the lead; in inducing the declaration of war, Japan was foremost. The intrigues and faction fights required to bring about the result caused the failure of parliamentary government and of the all-but successful attempts to unite North and South. No one supposed that the participation of China would help to win the war ; the sole object of the European Allies, especially Great Britain, was to capture German trade and German property, both public and private. This laudable object was achieved. After the armistice, the Germans in China were sent home at twenty-four hours' notice, in crowded ships through the tropics, with confiscation of everything belonging to them except their clothes. This policy was mainly British. The British were inexorable, even in the case of delicate women holding medical certificates to the effect that they would probably die on the voyage; but the Chinese often managed to hide away their German friends until passions had cooled. I know of nothing in the whole war so sordidly and inhumanly money-grubbing as our behaviour in China in 1918. Although Dr. Reid is a Doctor of Divinity, his book com¬pels the conclusion that Christian nations are more degradedly cruel than the heathen Chinese. From the opium war onward, our record is one of shame and infamy.

[Russell, Bertrand. Sketches of modern China]. Chi Fu yi. [ID D28291].
Chi Fu added his own reflection at the end of his translation :
Now western culture comes to China everyday. We have invited many famous people to lecture in China. Even if [foreigners] have ideas about reforming China, these are just ideas. They cannot carry out reform for us. One who is not familiar with the history, customs, and human relationships [of China] may not have ideas that are feasible. Mr. Russell understands that, and that is why he does not approve of foreigners trying to reform China.

Wang, Mouzu. Zhong hua jiao yu gai jin she yuan qi ji chang cheng. In : Xin jiao yu ; vol. 5 (Oct. 1922).
"There were several famous men who rejected political careers and turned their full energy to the academic and educational worlds. It was then that Dr. [John] Dewey came to our country propagating his theories, informing us what the new education was, and what the way to the new education should be. Then educational thought in the entire country underwent a change, and this was the New Education Movement."

Bertrand Russell speaks on "Young China" to the Political Union of the University College Cardiff.

Wu, Jiangling. Ping Duwei zhi jiao shen zhe xu zhi [ID D28523].
Wu complimented Dewey's effort to unite knowledge with experience so that learning was not limited to what was contained in books. She also perceived great value in Dewey's concept of school as a miniature society and his emphasis on learning by doing. She felt that Dewey's vision of education was too narrow because he talked only about controlling the environment. Wu asserted that Dewey advocated a life completely governed by rationality to the exclusion of sentiments. She also agreed that Dewey's focus on children did not qualify his book to be properly regarded as 'the philosophy of education'.

Educational Conference : Standards of the new school system reflected the advocated by pragmatism. John Dewey's influence was particularly strong.
1) To adapt itself to a changed and changing society.
2) To promote the spirit of democracy.
3) To develop individuality.
4) To take into special consideration the economic status of the average citizen.
5) To adjust education to the needs of life.
6) To facilitate the spread of universal education.
7) To make itself flexible enough to allow for local variations.
Dewey and his pragmatic educational philosophy had important influence on Chinese educational theories. Since the introduction of pragmatic educational philosophy, Chinese education theorists began to adapt the educational ideas to Chinese conditions and needs and attempted to establish systematic educational theories of their own.

[Russell, Bertrand. Zhongguo wen ti.]. Ed. by Sun Fuyuan. [ID D28292].
Sun Fuyuan added a commentary in Chen bao fu juan ; 11. Nov. (1922) : The national characters of various peoples naturally have merits and defects at the same time. But Russell, using the opportunity of praising the Chinese, criticized the British severely. Nowadays most Chinese are mentally unstable, ecstatic when praised and enraged at criticism. Such a temperament is preserved from children and barbarians, because the [Chinese] national character has not had the opportunity to develop and grow, due to thousands of years of political turmoil. Russell's attitude of being 'heavy in criticizing oneself and light in criticizing others', therefore, is exactly the medicine we need. At another, and most important level, it is not that we have not seen a few Westerners praising China, such as [John O.P.] Bland and his like. But they only praise China's old personalities and old systems. Just as Russell says, their preise hides a malicious motive, which is to make us sacrifice modern life and preserve the bizarre and the ancient for them to amuse themselves and play with. That is why they like us to have an emperor, like us to wear the queue, like us to have bound feed, like us to be confined in the cage of the old moral system to suffer, while they stand outside the cage and shout bravo. While Russell praises a few of the merits of our inherent national character, most of which I think are gone, he pays special attention to our new movement. Whether the Chinese nation has hope for rejuvenation depends on whether the new movement succeeds.

Xu, Zhimo. Luosu yü Zhongguo [ID D28381]. [Bertrand Russell and China].
Gaylord Kai Loh Leung : Referring to Russell's book The problem of China Xu Zhimo declared in his essay that 'Russell had sincere feelings for, deep understanding of and absolute sympathy for us', and 'This book by Russell marks a milestone in the course of cultural exchange between East and West. Russell is a man who truly understands and values Chinese culture ; what he says are correct views originating from sympathy '. Xu admired Russell's condemnation of Japan and other western powers whose encroachment on China, driven by rapacity and stupidity, might have disastrous effects on one of the world's best cultures. But Xu had some mild criticism of Russell but he was generous in his praise of Russell. It is just natural that Xu Zhimo, a starry-eyed idealist, should feel inspired when reveling in the realm of Bertrand Russell's social and political ideals. The English philosopher's attack on hypocricy ; on capitalism and commercialism ; his promotion of an international government for the maintenance of world peace ; his defence of creative impulse ; his love for mankind and for civilization ; and his integrity, bravery and candour, would have appealed powerfully to Xu who was by nature inclined to emotionalism, freedom and justice. The imprisonment [1918] of Russell by the British government would only have excited his admiration for the dauntless fighter of independent thought.
Bertrand Russell sent Xu Zhimo his publication The problem of China and asked him to propagate in China the ideas expounded in the book.
Xu Zhimo :
"Russell, however, does not fully understand the evolution of the Chinese culture and life to its present form. In the first place, he fails to gauge the influence of Confucius. He frankly admits in his book that he is not well-disposed towards Confucius who insisted on excessive formalities. In the second place, he presumes that the strength of China has much to do with Lao Tzu and Chuang tzu.
Russell is the highest crystallization of reason in modern age. His logic and mathematics apart, there is a burning passion in him. Coupled with his bravery in his fearless fight against convention, he is truly a great personality to be emulated, a unique figure of all times."

Xu, Zhimo. [Review of Bertrand Russell's "The problem of China"]. [ID D28402].
This book by Russell has really established a milestone in the course of Chinese-Western cultural exchange and convergence. He is a man who truly understands and loves Chinese culture… Some people here may say that [Russell] is reacting to European civilization and his admiration of China is emotional, exaggerating everything beyond facts ; that he cannot understand China since he stayed here for such a short period of time. Yes, he is reacting ; but what he is disgusted with is not all things European, which would be captious, but the evils produced by industrial civilization and the capitalist system. His admiration of China is not due to China's being the opposite of Europe, but is a real faith resulting from a combination of penetrating reason, sincere feelings, and awareness and recognition of the life itself behind all civilizations and cultures. I dare to say this because I myself have been there. I too used to wonder whether he was reacting emotionally, using the East to let out his own frustration [with the West]. But in contrast to the life of the Indians and the Chinese that I have seen during and after my return journey this time, I see the hypocrisy, the indecency, and the precariousness of life in Europe and America, and I cannot but believe the sincerity of Russell's feelings. We must never think we naturally have the correct view of China simply because we were born and are living in China.
Xu Zhimo remarked that Russell's concern about China's possible tendency towards militarism was unfounded and that Russell did not fully grasp Chinese culture and Chinese life, for he mistakenly attributed China's virtues to Daoism, while the peaceful, easy-going temperament of the Chinese actually came from Confucianism. In spite of himself, therefor, Xu was showing that after all he knew China better than Russell did.