Quality of Chinese people

Author: Arthur H. Smith (American), translated by Qin Yue
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-09-02
Features: What is the difference between looking at oneself and being looked at by others? What is the difference between foreigners viewing Chinese people and Chinese people viewing themselves? This work represents the Western perspective on China of a generation. The author, Arthur H. Smith, spent 36 years preaching and writing in China. He China's hinterland and extensively interacted with people from all social strata. The 26 characteristics of the Chinese he summarized and described are the earliest and most valuable research in this field. The profound significance and historical status of this book drew great attention from Lu Xun. At the age of 21, while in Japan, he carefully studied the Japanese translation of this book and was thus inspired to dedicate himself to reforming the Chinese national character. Even 14 days before his death, he solemnly recommended this book to the Chinese people. The book summarizes 26 characteristics of the Chinese, with rich references and vivid writing. Whether praising or criticizing, every point is well-supported. Even today, reading it still makes one reflect deeply. The Chinese people summarized in this book are from the late Qing Dynasty, and the book cannot help but have fewer praise and more criticism, making the tone slightly melancholic and even containing biased remarks. As the author was a Western missionary, his stance and views were inevitably limited by this identity. His perspective and conclusions could not escape Western values. However, we should not demand too much from the past. Fairly speaking, he indeed had many insightful observations in revealing the deep contradictions between the Chinese national character, the late Qing political system, and China's modernization. Today's readers can judge this for themselves. Arthur H. Smith (1845-1942) was an American Congregationalist missionary who came to China in 1872 and lived in Tianjin, Shandong, Hebei, and other places, extensively interacting with people from all walks of life in China. He was particularly familiar with the lives of rural farmers and made many friends. He wrote more than ten books in his lifetime, each related to China. Chinese Characteristics is one of his representative works, published in 1894 after 22 years of missionary work in China. This book pioneered the study of the Chinese national character and is a sociological work that deeply influenced later scholars. At the same time, it represents the Chinese perspective of a generation. Therefore, it was long regarded as a must-read for missionaries coming to China to understand China. The book summarizes 26 characteristics of the Chinese, with rich references and vivid writing. Whether praising or criticizing, every point is well-supported. Even today, reading it still makes one reflect deeply. Indeed, the Chinese summarized in this book are from the late Qing Dynasty, and the book cannot help but have fewer praise and more criticism, making the tone slightly melancholic and even containing biased remarks. As the author was a Western missionary, his stance and views were inevitably limited by this identity. His perspective and conclusions could not escape Western values. However, we should not demand too much from the past. Fairly speaking, he indeed had many insightful observations in revealing the deep contradictions between the Chinese national character, the late Qing political system, and China's modernization. Today's readers can judge this for themselves. The profound significance and historical status of this book drew great attention from Lu Xun. At the age of 21, while in Japan, he carefully studied the Japanese translation of this book and was thus inspired to dedicate himself to reforming the Chinese national character. Even 14 days before his death, he solemnly recommended this book to the Chinese people. The translation of this book is based on the illustrated second edition of 1894 preserved in the Library of Congress (Arthur H. Smith, Chinese Characteristics). The book involves numerous references to Chinese and foreign figures, allusions, events, and quotations. To cater to today's readers, the translator has made every effort to verify the content and included detailed annotations and comments from several prominent figures. Therefore, whether regarding the original work or the translation, we have ample reasons to recommend it to a wide audience.