Chapter 32 Chapter 32: Descendants of the Dragon

First, we believe that the Chinese knowledge of Europeans has changed, which shows that the difficulty of acquiring knowledge of a language has been overcome."It used to be widely believed that speaking a language, especially a dialect in Chinese, was difficult," Dr. Gilles said. The same is true for written language.A student of the British Consulate could understand the gist of an ordinary telegram after living in Beijing for two years and working in the consulate for one or two years.So we are happy to think that the Chinese knowledge of foreigners in China today has changed to a great extent.We are, however, very suspicious of exaggerations beyond this limit.

After the early Jesuit missionaries, the publication of Dr. Morrison's (56) famous dictionary was recognized as the new starting point for all completed Chinese studies.Undoubtedly, that work left a monument to the earnestness, zeal, and conscientiousness of the early Protestant missionaries.Among the group of scholars following Dr. Morrison, Sir Debye (57) and Dr. Gusla (58) are the representatives.Sir Debye knew nothing about China, and he himself admitted it.He certainly spoke Mandarin and could read novels in that dialect without much difficulty.But with the little knowledge he has, I am afraid that he can only be qualified for the position of a foreigner in a consulate today.However, it is worth noting that until today most of the British knowledge about China comes from Sir Debye's books.Dr. Gusla may have a better understanding of China than Sir Debye.However, he didn't intend to go any further.The late Mr. Thomas Meadows (59) did a good job of later exposing Gosla's ego.And other such missionaries as Gubocha (60) and Duhed (61).After this, we find Mr. Bulger (62) very strangely.In his new book "History of China", he cites the above-mentioned figures as authorities. (z-63)

Among all European universities, the first chair professor of Sinology was France's Remosa (63).We are not yet in a position to properly evaluate his work.But he has a book that stands out, it is the French translation of the Chinese novel "Two Cousins".After the book was read by Leigh Hand, he recommended it to Carlyle, who then passed it on to John Sterling.After these people read this book, they were very happy and said that the book must have been written by a genius, "a genius descendant of the dragon".The Chinese title of this book is "Yu Jiao Li", and it is a delightful read.But it is only a representative of inferior products in Chinese literature, even if it does not have a high position among inferior products.However, what is gratifying is that the thoughts and imaginations originating from the Chinese brain have actually passed the verification of the minds of Carlyle and Leigh Hand. (z-64)

The sinologists after Remosa included Rulian (64) and Poitier (65).The German poet Heine once said that Julien made a surprising and important discovery that Mons Poetzl knew nothing of Chinese, and the latter also discovered that Julien did not understand Sanskrit at all.However, the pioneering work of these authors was considerable.One advantage they have is that they are completely fluent in the native language.Another French writer who may be mentioned is De Liwen (66), who did the unprecedented work, that is, his translation of Tang poetry was a breakthrough that began to enter Chinese literature. (z-73)

In Germany, Pratt (67) of Munich published a book on China which he titled The Manchus.Like all other German writings, this is an impeccable book.The apparent intent of the book is to chart the history of the origins of the Manchu dynasty in China.However, later parts of the book deal with some information on issues with China that, as far as we know, cannot be found in other books written in European scripts.Just like Dr. Wei Sanwei's "General Discourse on China", compared with "Manchu", it is just a small book.Another German sinologist was Strauss, a former minister of the Little German Duchy annexed by Prussia.After leaving office, this old minister took pleasure in studying Sinology.He has published a translation of "Lao Tzu" and recently published a translation of "Lao Tzu".According to the evaluation of Mr. Hua Zhian (68) from Guangdong, some parts of his "Laozi" translation are still good.The Song of the Leader he translated was also widely circulated and received good reviews.Unfortunately, we do not have access to these books.

The scholars mentioned above are all considered to be early sinologists, beginning with the publication of Dr. Morrison's dictionary.The second stage began with two authoritative works: one was Sir Wade Wade's "Self Collection"; the second was Dr. Leger's translation of "Chinese Classics". For the former, those Westerners whose knowledge of China has gone beyond the stage of speaking Mandarin may dismiss it.Nevertheless, it is the most perfect masterpiece that has been done on the Chinese language among all the books that have been published.Moreover, this book is also a product of the call of the times.A book like this had to be written, voila!It has been written, and in a sense it has taken away all the chances of the present to compete with the future.