Green China Hand in Red China

It is a well-established tradition that the Chinese take a lot of knowing. Those Occidentals who go to China to stay for some little time, who study the language assiduously, read all they can find about Chinese history, philosophy, religion and folklore, and make all the friendly contacts they can, are much surer at the end of three months that they know what a Chinese will think than they are at the end of three years. Then, the man who has traveled widely in the country and has been an eyewitness to dramatic developments over twenty or twenty-five years, has a genuine horror of being described in public or private as an “authority” or “expert” on China. This is, as I have said, tradition. But it is a tradition that never has and never will deter visitors to old China or the Red China of the hour from rushing away to write a book. And they are never content to limit themselves to their own observations and impressions (which might be of some value); they feel bound to interpret them and to indulge in prophecy.

A little over two years ago a seasoned French journalist, M. Robert Guillain, got permission to visit Red China and did so. He spent something more than two months there. A year later he turned out a book about it in French, and in an English translation (presumably in Great Britain), which now appears in this country as 600 Million Chinese (Criterion, $5.00). Like most Frenchmen, M. Guillain not only pursues factual information with great zeal and reports honestly, but also observes many small but illuminating details by the wayside and so leavens and spices a travelogue as few Anglo-Saxons can. Until he gets philosophical toward the end—even to the point where he thinks that Red China has inspired in him a vision of a socialized world full of love and fraternity—this is a very readable book. But because he succumbs to the short-term visitor’s urge to interpret and prophesy, and even to prescribe policy toward Red China, it is also a dangerous one.

RG

About the Author

Rodney Gilbert

Featured Tags

It is a well-established tradition that the Chinese take a lot of knowing. Those Occidentals who go to China to stay for some little time, who study the language assiduously, read all they can find about Chinese history, philosophy, religion and folklore, and make all the friendly contacts they can, are much surer at the end of three months that they know what a Chinese will think than they are at the end of three years. Then, the man who has traveled widely in the country and has been an eyewitness to dramatic developments over twenty or twenty-five years, has a genuine horror of being described in public or private as an “authority” or “expert” on China. This is, as I have said, tradition. But it is a tradition that never has and never will deter visitors to old China or the Red China of the hour from rushing away to write a book. And they are never content to limit themselves to their own observations and impressions (which might be of some value); they feel bound to interpret them and to indulge in prophecy.

A little over two years ago a seasoned French journalist, M. Robert Guillain, got permission to visit Red China and did so. He spent something more than two months there. A year later he turned out a book about it in French, and in an English translation (presumably in Great Britain), which now appears in this country as 600 Million Chinese (Criterion, $5.00). Like most Frenchmen, M. Guillain not only pursues factual information with great zeal and reports honestly, but also observes many small but illuminating details by the wayside and so leavens and spices a travelogue as few Anglo-Saxons can. Until he gets philosophical toward the end—even to the point where he thinks that Red China has inspired in him a vision of a socialized world full of love and fraternity—this is a very readable book. But because he succumbs to the short-term visitor’s urge to interpret and prophesy, and even to prescribe policy toward Red China, it is also a dangerous one.