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

Author: Yuan Gang, Sun Jiaxiang, Ren Bingqiang (editors)
Publisher:
Publishing Date: Not available
Features: Bertrand Russell was a thinker who had a profound impact on the world. He came to China to lecture from 1920 to 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, and was called by Sun Yat-sen as the only foreigner who truly understood another civilization. During Russell's visit to China, it was the period of the May Fourth New Culture Movement, one of the most turbulent eras in the history of modern Chinese thought. In 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 landscape 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 the history of modern Chinese philosophy and political thought. However, due to the limitations of the time, the original English manuscripts of Russell's lectures were not preserved; only the translated Chinese manuscripts have been saved. Russell's lectures were once compiled into a book titled "Bertrand Russell's Five Major Lectures." However, some important lectures are scattered in old publications, which has posed great difficulties for researchers (especially foreign researchers), leading to long-term gaps in the study of the impact of Russell's visit to China, the evolution of Russell's thoughts during his time in China, and the cultural exchanges between modern China and the outside world. This book comprehensively organizes and compiles relevant historical documents, including Russell's lectures scattered in newspapers and books at the time. It also includes some of Lady Blackwood's lectures, a "General Schedule of Russell's Visit to China and Lectures," and some commentaries by famous figures, to serve researchers both at home and abroad and a broad readership.