THE PROBLEM OF CHINA BY BERTRAND RUSSELL O.M., F.K.S. _London_ GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTD RUSKIN HOUSE MUSEUM STREET FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1922 SECOND IMPRESSION 1966 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY PHOTOLITHOGRAPHY UNWIN BROTHERS LIMITED WOKING AND LONDON CONTENTS CHAPTER FOREWORD I. QUESTIONS II. CHINA BEFORE THE NINETEENTH CENTURY III. CHINA AND THE WESTERN POWERS IV. MODERN CHINA V. JAPAN BEFORE THE RESTORATION VI. MODERN JAPAN VII. JAPAN AND CHINA BEFORE 1914 VIII. JAPAN AND CHINA DURING THE WAR IX. THE WASHINGTON CONFERENCE X. PRESENT FORCES AND TENDENCIES IN THE FAR EAST XI. CHINESE AND WESTERN CIVILIZATION CONTRASTED XII. THE CHINESE CHARACTER XIII. HIGHER EDUCATION IN CHINA XIV. INDUSTRIALISM IN CHINA XV. THE OUTLOOK FOR CHINA APPENDIX INDEX The Ruler of the Southern Ocean was Shû (Heedless), the Ruler of the Northern Ocean was Hû (Sudden), and the Ruler of the Centre was Chaos. Shû and Hû were continually meeting in the land of Chaos, who treated them very well. They consulted together how they might repay his kindness, and said, "Men all have seven orifices for the purpose of seeing, hearing, eating, and breathing, while this poor Ruler alone has not one. Let us try and make them for him." Accordingly they dug one orifice in him every day; and at the end of seven days Chaos died.--[_Chuang Tze_, Legge's translation.] The Problem of China CHAPTER I QUESTIONS A European lately arrived in China, if he is of a receptive and reflective disposition, finds himself confronted with a number of very puzzling questions, for many of which the problems of Western Europe will not have prepared him. Russian problems, it is true, have important affinities with those of China, but they have also important differences; moreover they are decidedly less complex. Chinese problems, even if they affected no one outside China, would be of vast importance, since the Chinese are estimated to constitute about a quarter of the human race. In fact, however, all the world will be vitally affected by the development of Chinese affairs, which may well prove a decisive factor, for good or evil, during the next two centuries. This makes it important, to Europe and America almost as much as to Asia, that there should be an intelligent understanding of the questions raised by China, even if, as yet, definite answers are difficult to give.