Bertrand Russell* visited China in 1920. Two years later he published a book titled The Problem of China. It's a misleading title. In this book Russell talked much much more about the problem of the West and of Europe in particular. When I was done reading, I didn't feel I was enlightened.
Russell set his train of thought in motion upon an encounter with a peasant family devastated by a flood in the Yangtze basin. Little did he know that he was then not too far away from where the Xī Chǔ Hegemon 西楚霸王 ended his life and career in 202 BC.
A high-brow intellectual, Russell failed to exercise his brain power to understand what the dynastic cycle meant to China. Instead, he projected his unfounded optimism on a land run by rival warlords. Here's why:
Shaken and sickened to the core by the First World War, Russell implied through his commentary that Europe was the world’s problem while China had enough silver linings to turn its problem into a promising future.
History always questions everyone's wisdom, especially that of a wiseman like Russell.
Author: renqiulan
*Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), a Nobel laureate, was the greatest logician of the 20th Century. He also co-founded the analytic movement in philosophy, helping to transform the substance, character, and style of philosophy in the English-speaking world.
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