Book Review: One Chinese Moon
| Date | 01 December 1960 |
| Published date | 01 December 1960 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206001500426 |
| Author | C. P. Fitzghrald |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK
REvIEws
377
becomes
a
valuable and revealing
guide
to
much
that
is
important
in
our understanding
of
the
Soviet economy,
Soviet
society,
and
Soviet
political
forces.
Toronto
RONALD
S.
RXTC-rH
ON's
CmN-ss
MooN.
By
J.
Tuzo
Wilson.
1959.
(New York:
Hill
and
Wang.
xlii,
274pp.
$4.95.)
Professor
Wilson's
title
candidly
states
the character
and
scope
of
his
book.
He
was
in
China
for
just
one
month;
he had
not
been
there
before,
he
does
not speak
Chinese. Those who
choose
to
think
that
a
very
distinguished scientist
was
on
account
of
these
limitations
com-
pletely
bamboozled
by his
Chinese
hosts,
saw
only
what
they
wished
him
to
see,
went
only
where
they
desired him
to
go,
heard
and
learned
only
what
they
chose
to
tell
him,
must
be
allowed
to
cherish these
delusions,
fortified
by
their
inability or unwillingness
to
share
his
experience.
Observers
who
know
China
today-in
the
same
year
as
Professor
Wilson's
visit-will,
on
the other
hand,
be
struck
by
the
accuracy
and
shrewd
penetration
of his
observation
and
judgment.
His
cool
and
objective
assessment
of
Chinese
achievement
in
his
own
field
is
a most valuable
contribution
for
students
of
China
who
are
not
themselves
scientists.
His
comments
on
matters
within
the range
of
this
reviewer's
knowledge
are
sharp,
vivid,
and
true.
On
the
freedom
of
movement
permitted
to
visitors
he
truly
remarks
(p.
111):
"I
got
the
impression
that
the
Chinese
were
exceedingly
proud
of
what
they
are
accomplishing
and
wished
to
show
the
best
of
it
to
visitors."
Few
nations
are
anxious to display
the
worst
aspects
of
their
society.
We
do
not
conduct
our
visitors
to
see
the
slums
unless
we
are
pulling
them
down.
In
his summing
up
Professor
Wilson
makes
(p.
247)
a
com-
parison
which
has
often
occurred
to
this
reviewer
and
which illu-
minates
the
true
character
of
present
day
China:
Above
all
the
Chinese
did
not
give
the appearance
of
living
in
a
slave
state.
There
is
certainly a
strong
government,
but
the
upper-
most
impression
received
was not
that
of
a
terror
imposed
by
the
police
but
rather
of
a
genuine
and
tremendous
impulse
of
patriotic
fervour.
This
fervour
has
undoubtedly
seized
vast
numbers
of
the
youth
of
the
country
who
are
working
for
China and
for
themselves
with
a
zeal
and energy
which
I
have
seen
matched
only
once
before
in
my
life.
This
was
in
England
in
the warm
summer
days
follow-
ing
Dunkirk
when invasion
threatened
the
coast.
Patriotic
fervour
is
not
always
the
best
guide
to
wise
policy;
the
Chinese
under its
influence
make mistakes and
oversimplify
the
prob-
lems of
the
international
scene.
Books
like
this,
clear,
honest
and
unbiased
reporting
of
things
seen
and
conversations
held,
will
do
much
to
prevent
the
West
from
falling
into,
or
continuing
in,
the
opposite
error
of
blind
ignorance
and condemnation
of
every aspect
of
a
r~gime
founded
on
a
faith
we
do
not
share.
The
Auetralian
National
Universitly.
C.
P.
FrzGutuM
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