Book Reviews : The Chinese View of their Place in the World. C. P. Fitzgerald. Oxford University Press for the R.I.A.A. 6/-. The China-India Border; The Origins of the Disputed Boundaries. Alastair Lamb. Oxford University Press for the R.I.A.A. 12/6d. The Debatable Alliance. An essay in Anglo-American Relations. Coral Bell. Oxford University Press for the R.I.A.A. 8/6d
| Published date | 01 April 1967 |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711786700300114 |
| Date | 01 April 1967 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
84
The
Chinese
View
of
their
Place
in
the
World.
C.
P.
Fitzgerald.
Oxford
University
Press
for
the
R.I.A.A.
6/-.
The
China-India
Border;
The
Origins
of
the
Disputed
Boundaries.
Alastair
Lamb.
Oxford
University
Press
for
the
R.I.A.A.
12/6d.
The
Debatable
Alliance.
An
essay
in
Anglo-American
Relations.
Coral
Bell.
Oxford
University
Press
for
the
R.I.A.A.
8/6d.
These
three
short
studies
are
the
first
to
appear
of
a
series
on
current
international
topics
recently
launched
by
Chatham
House
which,
we
are
told,
are
designed
to
&dquo;illuminate
and
provoke
informal
discussion
of
issues
in
the
field
of
international
affairs&dquo;.
In
his
very
compressed
account,
Professor
Fitzgerald,
Professor
of
Far
Eastern
History
at
The
Australian
National
University,
traces
the
history
of
China
in
broad
outline
from
the
pre-T’ang
era
until
the
present
day.
Not
only
has
China
never
been
conquered
by
the
West
but
its
culture
was
uninfluenced
by
anything
other
than
the
growth
of
its
own
techniques.
Geographicaly
cut
off,
at
war
with
the
nomadic
tribes
on
its
borders,
it
had
at
first
no
contact
with
any
other
civilisation.
It
was
not
until
the
Han
dynasty
(1206
B.C.-A.D.
221)
that
any
contact
was
made
with
the
outside
civilised
world
of
India
and
Rome,
and
then
only
the
latter
was
acknowledged
as
an
equal.
The
distinction
which
the
Chinese
drew
between
themselves
and
the
rest
of
the
world
was
from
the
earliest
times
that
between
the
civilised
and
the
uncivilised,
not
that
between
nation
and
nation.
Once
civilised
you
joined
the
ranks
of
the
elite.
This
sense
of
the
unity
of
civilisation
facilitated
the
acceptance
of
a
strong
central
govern-
ment
in
the
third
century
B.C.
and
although
from
time
to
time
nomadic
conquerers
overran
parts
of
the
North
they
were
each
in
turn
tamed
and
absorbed.
Throughout
China’s
long
history,
the
same
political
system
existed
unaltered,
there
were
no
dark
ages
and
the
language
remained
entirely
unchanged.
The
frontiers
of
China
proper
were
fixed
by
the
T’ang
dynasty
a
thousand
years
ago-border
states
such
as
Vietnam,
Korea
and
Tibet
became
tributaries,
but
were
never
part
of
the
Empire.
There
were
contacts
with
Japan,
the
Arabs,
and
Persia
but
from
the
standpoint
of
the
Middle
Kingdom
all
these
were
barbarians
of
inferior
culture.
The
only
real
impact
ever
made
on
Chinese
thought
was
that
of
Buddhism.
To
the
rulers
of
China,
Christian
teaching
was
a
threat;
a
source
of
rebellion
and
a
danger
to
the
power
of
the
authorities
who
were
made
to
appear
helpless
victims
of
foreign
demands
for
extortionate
reparations
when
missionaries
were
injured
or
killed,
not
by
the
Government
but
by
individuals.
Finally,
opinions
split
over
the
issue
of
the
opium
trade
between
expelling
all
foreigners
root
and
branch
or
combating
their
inroads
by
the
adoption
of
modern
weapons.
The
choice
of
the
latter
road
left
modernisation
in
the
hands
of
foreigners
since
China
lacked
technology
and
had
no
industry
or
communications.
The
stresses
thus
generated
ended
in
the
Boxer
rebellion
and
the
fall
of
the
dynasty.
In
recent
years
Chinese
students
have
come
to
the
West
to
study
science,
political
economy
and
political
theory,
not
because
they
admire
the
spirit
of
western
civilisation
but
because
they
wish
to
gain
the
tools
to
preserve
Chinese
values
in
the
modern
world.
Apart
from
applied
science,
the
West
has
nothing
of
worth
to
offer,
in
spite
of
its
attitude
of
superiority.
Then
came
the
revolution
in
Russia
which
the
Chinese
saw
as
a
country
which
although
backward,
had
succeeded
in
leaping
far
ahead
of
a
West
bent
on
self-destruction
and
one
which
was,
moreover,
prepared
to
treat
China
as
an
equal.
Chinese
Communism,
it
should
be
stressed,
is
Chinese~--orientated
solely
towards
meeting
the
needs
of
China
and
the
Chinese
people.
It
is
not
messianic,
in
which
perhaps
lies
the
best
hope
for the
future.
China
still
only
takes
account
of
the
modern
world
to
the
extent
that
it
permits
her
to
remain
at
the
centre,
and
since
she
has
never
dealt
with
equals
or
allies,
only
with
inferiors,
she
could
not
acknowledge
her
debt
to
Marxism
and
accept
Russia
as
her
teacher.
Hence
the
ideological
clash,
with
Mao-Tse-
Tung
refashioning
Marxist
dogma
yet
again;
this
time
in
the
Chinese
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