Collection of Ji Xianlin: Volume 5: Indian History and Culture

Author: Chief Editor: Wen Hengyi
Publisher:
Publication Date: 1996-12-01
Features: Preface to the Publication of The Collected Works of Ji Xianlin
The The Collected Works of Ji Xianlin began to be edited and published in 1992. It includes the author's creative works, reviews, essays, monographs, and translations to date. Based on content or genre, the The Collected Works of Ji Xianlin is temporarily divided into the following twenty-four volumes:
Volume 1: Prose (I); Volume 2: Prose (II); Volume 3: Ancient Indian Languages; Volume 4: Sino-Indian Cultural Relations; Volume 5: Indian History and Culture; Volume 6: Chinese Culture and Eastern Culture; Volume 7: Buddhism; Volume 8: Comparative Literature and Folk Literature; Volume 9: The History of Sugar (I); Volume 10: The History of Sugar (II); Volume 11: Translation and Interpretation of the Maitreya Meeting in Lankavatara Sutra in Tocharian; Volume 12: Tocharian Studies; Volume 13: Prefaces, Postfaces, Miscellaneous Essays, and Other Works (I); Volume 14: Prefaces, Postfaces, Miscellaneous Essays, and Other Works (II); Volume 15: Translations of Sanskrit and Other Language Literary Works (I); Volume 16: Translations of Sanskrit and Other Language Literary Works (II); Volume 17: Ramayana (I); Volume 18: Ramayana (II); Volume 19: Ramayana (III); Volume 20: Ramayana (IV); Volume 21: Ramayana (V); Volume 22: Ramayana (VI, Part 1); Volume 23: Ramayana (VI, Part 2); Volume 24: Ramayana (VII). Except for the prose and translation volumes, the articles in the other volumes are arranged in chronological order based on their writing or publication dates. Some personal names, place names, country names, and terms in the articles differ in translation across different periods; certain punctuation marks and numerical conventions also differ from current standards. To preserve the original form, no uniform adjustments have been made. All works in the Collected Works have been carefully proofread this time, primarily including changes to traditional characters, variant characters, corrections of printing errors, standardization of word usage, and verification of citations. For some citations that are difficult to locate in China, exceptions have been made, and they will be supplemented in the future when the opportunity arises. For articles with repeated content, only the most complete and detailed one is retained, while the rest are omitted. Although we have made our utmost effort in collecting the articles, omissions are inevitable. If any missing articles are found in the future, they will be included along with the author's new works. We eagerly hope for the readers' guidance and assistance.
The Collected Works of Ji Xianlin Editorial Committee, December 1994
Excerpt:
Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Completion of Marx's The Rule of Britain in India
On June 10, 1853, Marx wrote the famous essay The Rule of Britain in India, which was published in the New York Daily Tribune on June 25. On July 22, he also wrote The Future Results of British Rule in India, which was published in the same newspaper on August 8. It has been exactly one hundred years since the completion of these essays. This century can be said to be the most transformative in human history. Socialism, which was merely a prophecy in Marx's time, has now been established in the Soviet Union on Earth for over thirty years, and it is moving toward communism. Human society has entered a completely new era. However, Marx's writings on India have not lost their significance even today. Marx's scientific foresight is being increasingly confirmed. The development of events is precisely following the direction he pointed out. These two essays are not long, but they were written only after Marx had thoroughly studied the material and conducted detailed research. Since 1853, Marx and Engels began to study Eastern issues. At that time, the East was in turmoil, and their research on Eastern issues was not for the sake of research alone; these theoretical studies had practical significance. In a letter to Engels on June 2, 1853, Marx mentioned that the East lacked private land ownership, which he said was the fundamental form of all Eastern phenomena. In his reply on June 6, Engels agreed with this view and discussed the significance of large-scale artificial irrigation projects for agriculture and the village community. Four days later, Marx completed The Rule of Britain in India. He summarized the viewpoints they had discussed in their correspondence and elaborated on them in this article. He mainly discussed two points:
First, the Indians, like all Easterners, entrusted the vast public works essential for agriculture and commerce to the central government, while at the same time, they scattered across the country in a way that combined agriculture and handicrafts within the family. These two conditions, since ancient times, had given rise to a special social system—the village community. This system enabled them to be self-sufficient and laid the foundation for Eastern despotism. Second, the British steam engine and free trade destroyed the economic foundation of these communities, thus triggering the only social revolution Asia has ever experienced. The British inciting a social revolution in India was not intentional, making them merely an unconscious tool of history. In the essay written on July 22, The Future Results of British Rule in India, he further developed this argument. He said that Britain in India had to fulfill a dual mission: one destructive—to destroy the old Asian society; and one constructive—to lay the material foundation for Western society in Asia. Although the constructive work had not yet emerged from the ruins, it had already begun. Where can this beginning be seen? Marx cited many examples: India was politically unified, the British trained indigenous armies, freedom of the press was introduced, the land ownership system, which the Asian society then desperately longed for, was established, a new class with knowledge of state administration and science was produced through modern education, steam had liberated India from its isolated state, and a railway network was built. The British industrial bourgeoisie built railways in India solely to transport cotton and other raw materials for themselves. "But once you apply machinery to the transportation in a country with coal and iron, you cannot prevent that country from manufacturing its own machines." What the British bourgeoisie did would neither liberate the vast Indian people nor improve their social conditions, but they did create the material prerequisites for both. When the Indian people truly achieve liberation and independence, they will be able to reap the fruits of the "new social elements sown by the British bourgeoisie among them."