Chinese Essence - A Shocking Work by an American Diplomat

Author: He Tianjie (USA)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: Some details in this book are very interesting, and the author's perspectives are sharp and incisive, with a unique keenness and clarity of an outsider. It's like a mirror—within it, we dimly see a self that is both unfamiliar and familiar, living within the tradition of China. – Xia Xiaohong, Professor of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Peking University, and expert in late Qing studies.
Fayez Sayre, a renowned scholar, said that Chinese people possess a deeply concealed cultural superiority. This book depicts the downfall of this self-assuming "world center," similar to how we observe the United States today. It offers a valuable lesson: on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, where hostility and mutual understanding coexist, we gain both reading enjoyment and a spark for reflection. – Xiao Sanzhang, Editor-in-Chief of the Book Review section of The Beijing News.
What was late Qing China really like? The Chinese may already be familiar with such descriptions: a corrupt and decadent court, ignorant and foolish citizens, a few traitors and a handful of brave scholar-officials struggling in the fading light of the empire's sunset, a nation struck hard by the world. Whether Chinese people themselves or Westerners, they may have misinterpreted that era. The value of He Tianjie lies in his effort to discard the bias of Western-centricism, treating the Chinese as real people and Chinese society as a real society. – Li Yangfan, late Qing foreign affairs expert at the School of International Relations, Peking University.
The American diplomat He Tianjie was aware of the limitations of his role as a "mirror": "We measure others by the standards we have built and the patterns we have summarized from ourselves. Whether others are correct or wise depends on whether they follow or deviate from the norms we have established." Therefore, he did his best to overcome these limitations that could cause "distortion," and only then could his The Real Chinese become such a comprehensive and rare "mirror" of late Qing Chinese society and its people. – Lei Yi, researcher at the Institute of Modern History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.