What I like about China

Ever since I read Will Durant and Bertrand Russell on the subject of China I have been fascinated with Chinese culture.

There is another book on China that I read when I was a teenager and which is also a classic. It is the Importance of Living by Lin Yu Tang.

I have also been influenced and helped by The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

That’s it. I mean I don’t know what I can add further which will make my point. I can only tell you to read The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant (the section on Bertrand Russell), Sceptical Essays by Bertrand Russell (the section on Eastern and Western Ideals of Happiness) and Lin Yu Tang and Sun Tzu.

But since I need to make myself clearer, I will add the following points:

1. China is not only the greatest numerically and the greatest culturally but it seems to me to be the greatest intellectually. I know of no other civilization where there is such open mindedness, such realism, such a willingness to face facts as they are instead of trying to distort the into a particular pattern. – by Bertrand Russell.
2. Lin Yu Tang, in his book, The Importance of Living mentions that mental illness – in the China of his days – was so rare that person who were of unsound mind were regarded as messengers from beyond. Compare this with India of today where as much as 7.5% of the population suffers from mental ailments. I suffer from a mental ailment myself and it is not surprising that this feature of China caught my attention.
3. Chinese civilization, through the teachings of Confucius and to a lesser extent Lao Tzu, has survived for more than 2,500 years. Bertrand Russell remarked, “A system which has had this extraordinary power of survival must have great merits and certainly deserves our respect and consideration.
4. I will quote now from The Art of War by Sun Tzu: “Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.” This book has been widely praised as the ultimate guide for strategy in business as well as the military battleground. James Clavell, in his translation of this book says that if the teachings of Sun Tzu had been studied then the British Empire would not have been dismembered, and in all probability, World Wars I and II would have been avoided.
5. I also like the fact that India and China have had so few armed conflicts between them.  As far as I am aware, in all recorded history, there has only been one war – and that was in 1962. China has had better things to do with its time than going about conquering other nations. This is despite that fact that gunpowder was first invented by the Chinese.

So, these are some of the reasons why, according to me, the civilization of China deserves our respect. In the articles to come I will list out what I do not like about China and make a few remarks about the current crises faced by China and the world.

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