the Bditor of the "\Nowtm-Cxina Date Naw."
yciten tovdey am extraoraitary—Your correspondent "Paul" ribject of Chinese civi piofenses to have nly an elementary knowledge 0 Chinese and European history; and] Sen how. strong and decisive his Spinion ist On sucha great. subs Stet one would think even the wisest men must hesitate in giving out his final decision. One cannot. but Admire. the boldness of your cor Fespondent in writing as he does on buch a subject and in a manner #0]
si tive and confident.
the very beginning: "that Chinese ion exaggerated when he say cull your correspondents express
History Is immeasurably superior to European has been repeated so often by Chinese and foreigner: underline the word "immeasts for I think, to use your correspon: dent's own expression, such a word fs pure nonsense and humbug. Some may feel Chinese civilization superior European; others may feel just the opposite; but nobody with a particle of sense could ever have Jad that one civilization is. immeasurably superior to the other, Nobody has ever claimed that Chi-neve civilization is immeasurably superior to European; your cor Fespondent alone seems to be ca jig" that European civilization immeasurably superior to Chinese, "To your correspondent China is only slowly emerging from the state fof barbarism: Chinese history is a continuation of chaos and selfishness; China has neither law nor order to speak of; ber original gion is the savage ancestor worships her science, Hiterature and art alike sink into insignificance before the splendour of the West. The tis everything; Chinese civ zation is nothing!
Far be it from me to defend the civilization of my own country. Fact counts; not words. The things China has achieved are beyond my powers either to add or to detract from, They are there before the world, open to all who take pains to study'thom and seck them out, While {we, a3 Chinese, look back to them with sntiafaction, if not with pride swe know we must not stop here, but must work ahead to realize fully ancestors have only begun.
civilization after all? The sweat has achieved one kind of civil. zation; it then begins to judge all other civilizations by its own arbitra avy standard. What wonder the Whites rogited themselves as a superior yace, with all others nothing! Dut barbarians! Your correspondent despises ancestor worship, eeause it is a stage reached by tribes stil iving in the Stone Age. As if the so-called stone age had nothing that 4s good, ~vhile we in the modern age fave superior to it in every respect! The Chipese written language, hav-wealth results only in the increase of desires; and conflicting desires produce hatred, jealousy, war' and bloodshed. I must say the ancients} were far wiser ween they _losked down upon money and preferred poverty and virtue to luxury The truth with nature is change and motion; the truth with life is desire and passion; the truth with] spirit is love and freedom. The problem before all of us is self-realization, the realization of ourselves together as a universe and eternal spirit. In the end, there! can be no distinction of race and nationality, for all is one and one is What the ancient Chinese have achieved, what the foreigners have achieved; these alike are ours, wel grateful towards them;' we honour them and love them. One cannot but regret that your correspondent should set one eivilization against another and start a jar between them for superiority war for the present and future not enough, and shall we fight for things that' are ast as well?
Tam, ete,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.