The Road to Freedom from China -- A Collection of Lectures by Bertrand Russell in China

Author: Yuan Gang Sun Jiaxiang Ren Bingqiang (editors)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-08-01
Features: Bertrand Russell was a thinker who had a profound impact on the world. He came to China to lecture between 1920 and 1921 and had extensive contact with Chinese intellectuals and people from all walks of life. With his unique perspective, he conducted detailed observations and analyses of Chinese issues, earning the title of "the only foreigner who truly understands another civilization" from Sun Yat-sen. During Russell's visit to China, it coincided with the May Fourth New Culture Movement, one of the most turbulent periods in modern Chinese intellectual history. Over the nine months he spent in China, he traveled to various places for lectures, delivering nearly 20 speeches on different topics. During that time, newspapers published reports on Russell's lectures, and prominent figures in politics, academia, and the intellectual community. The "Russell fever" swept the country, becoming a new phenomenon in Chinese society. In 1998, Russell's lectures in China were selected by the China Culture College as an "important document that influenced the course of 20th-century Chinese history." Russell's visit to China was a significant event in modern Chinese philosophy and political thought. However, due to the limitations of the time, the original English manuscripts of his lectures were not preserved, leaving only the translated Chinese versions. Russell's lectures were once compiled into a book titled "Bertrand Russell's Five Major Lectures." However, some important lectures remain scattered in old publications, posing great difficulties for researchers (especially foreign researchers), leading to long-standing gaps in both Chinese and international academia regarding the study of the impact of Russell's visit to China, the evolution of his thoughts during his time in China, and the cultural exchanges between modern China and the outside world. This book comprehensively organizes and compiles historical documents related to the topic, including Russell's lectures scattered in newspapers and books at the time. It also includes some of Lady Blackwood's lectures, a "Chronology of Russell's Visit to China and His Lectures," and commentaries by prominent figures, all in an effort to serve researchers both in China and abroad, as well as a broader readership.