Bertrand Russell and China During and After His Visit in 1920 The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Paisley, John. 2020. Bertrand Russell and China During and After His Visit in 1920. Master's thesis, Harvard Extension School. Citable link https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37365614 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA Bertrand Russell and China during and after His Visit in 1920 John Paisley A Thesis in the Field of History for the Degree of Master of Liberal Arts in E$tension Studies Harvard University (ove)ber 2020 Copyright 2020 John Paisley Abstra+t Bertrand Russell visited China in late 1920 to tea+h philosophy at Peking 'ni&ersity- He expe+ted his sabbati+al to relie&e his stressful experience of the First .orld .ar. Instead, he entered China in the midst of what is now called the May Fourth ove)ent0 a groundbreaking period in whi+h a “(e1 Culture3 was being constructed in response to China4s persistent international weakness. Many Chinese looked to Russell for ans1ers on its social re+onstru+tion, and in vie1 of this fa+t his visit is often dis)issed as having had no i)pa+t. But this misreads Russell4s o1n intentions for his trip, while also ignoring the several years he spent advocating for China in Britain after he returned. This thesis provides a full history of Bertrand Russell4s conne+tion to China in the years 1920–27. Using Chinese language sources, it re+onstructs his ti)e in China from O+tober 1920 to July 1921. This story, much of it focusing on Chinese responses to Russell, provides another angle from whi+h to vie1 the May Fourth period—the experien+es of a sympatheti+ .estern philosopher hailed as a “%e+ond Confucius3 upon arrival- It then turns to Russell4s i)pa+t on the British side of the relationshi*- At his 1el+ome banquet in Shanghai on O+tober 14, 1920, Bertrand Russell bal,ed at his host4s request for advi+e on how to “fi$3 China0 instead responding 2how could I presume to le+ture China on its re+onstruction? China is not alone in this need< Europe too needs re+onstruction. It is through the refor)ation of Europe that I hope to play a role in assisting the Chinese people=3 This thesis finds that when Russell4s visit is vie1ed in this light0 his indire+t i)*a+t on China was more signifi+ant and lasting. Table of Contents !ist of Figures----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------& Chapter 1. Introduction--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 Bertrand Russell and His Perception of China prior to 1914-----------------------------------6 Chapter 2. Bertrand Russell0 China and the trau)a of the First .orld .ar----------------------14 Bertrand Russell4s Anti1ar A+tivities and China-ga?ing during ../-----------------14 Principles of Social Reconstruction, Political Ideals, Roads to Freedom-------------19 China4s Intelle+tual A1akening and Introduction to Bertrand Russell------------------22 Russell Visits Russia0 and an Invitation from China----------------------------------------------31 Chapter 3. Bertrand Russell Visits China and China Moves Forward, 1920-1922-----------@6 A Breakne+, Introduction: Shanghai to Changsha, O+tober 14–28, 1920------------39 China Debates Some Proposed Roads to National ReCuvenation--------------------------DD Russell4s A+tive Period in BeiCing, Part I: Nove)ber and De+e)ber 1920----------ED Russell4s A+tive Period in BeiCing, Part II: January to March 1921----------------------B: Illness, Re+overy and Refle+tionA Russell4s Fare1ell Address, July 1921------------91 China Internali?es Russell4s Visit and Moves For1ard, 1921-1922 and Later----102 Chapter 4. Bertrand Russell and the Informal China Lobby in Britain, 1921-1927--------126 Russell on the “Proble) of China3 and the Great Powers, 1921-1923---------------130 The Boxer Inde)nity and a Ne1 Labour Government, 1923-1925--------------------147 Russell4s Opposition under a Conservative Government0 1925-1927-----------------163 Chapter 5. Conclusion—Bertrand Russell Reha"ilitated as a “Friend of China3------------189 Bibliography--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------215 i& !ist of Figures Figure 1: An advertise)ent for Nanyang Brothers Toba++o Com*any in Minguo Ribao, (ove)ber 3, 1920.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------205 Figure 2: Advertise)ent for DeRuc+i in Xi’an Xianyang International Airport. (Photo by author0 2019)--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------207 Figure 3: En+ounters bet1een China and Mi+hael Sandel0 Professor of Government at Harvard University-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------209 Figure 4: The future sells, .estern spea,ers wanted. (SourceA JouTubeI-----------------------209 Figure 5: Red Star Over China (1937) by Edgar Sno1 and The Problem of China by Bertrand Russell---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------212 & Chapter 1 Introduction In 1969 the historian Jonathan Spence published To Change China, a book in 1hi+h he des+ri"ed, via a series of vignettes, the 300-year history of .esterners who visited China with the intention of transforming it a++ording to a predefined plan.1 .hether writing about the Jesuit Ferdinand Verbiest from the 17th century or the Bolshevik Mikhail Borodin and A)eri+an General Joseph Stil1ell from the 20th, these visitors “1ere sure that their own civili?ation, whatever its short+omings, had given the) something valid to offer, something that China la+ked.” In ea+h case, the visitor either left disappointed or was “+hanged” by China instead. T1o high-profile visitors to China0 John De1ey and Bertrand Russell0 are not )entioned in Spence4s book. This was no oversight, despite their superfi+ially appearing to be pri)e candidates for inclusion. As t1o of the leading philosophers of their era0 De1ey and Russell traveled separately to China soon after the First .orld .ar to tea+h philosophy at Peking University- As the chief proponents of their respe+tive thought syste)s, De1ey of Pragmatis) and Russell of Logi+al Analysis, ea+h must have gone 1ith some intention of making ne1 converts in the classroom- Ea+h is no1 generally vie1ed as leaving China0 in the words of John King Fairbank, ha&ing produced “only superfi+ial3 results-2 1 Jonathan Spen+e0 To Change China: Western Advisers in China 1620-"'#% (Boston: Little0 Brown, 1969). This was reprinted in 1980 by Penguin Books. 2 John King Fairbank, The Great Chinese Revolution, 1800-"')* ((e1 Jor,A Harper Collins, 1986), 201. Fairbank’s con+lusion was of De1ey’s visit, but he would have applied it to Russell as well- 1 However0 for Bertrand Russell0 the circumstan+es around his choosing to go to China, his expe+tations for his visit0 and his feelings upon his return brea, sharply with the pattern des+ribed by Spence-@ Russell arrived at the invitation of his Chinese hosts in the midst of what is now called the May Fourth Move)ent0 a period that sa1 an influential cohort of Chinese reformers look to the .est for inspiration on ho1 to change China. In the words of Liang Qi+hao in Nove)ber 1920, “China4s cultural move)ent has until no1 e)phasi?ed an absolute0 unrestri+ted i)portation” of foreign ideas0 “1e open our doors wide and wel+ome all modern ideas of value-3: As for Russell4s obje+ti&es for going: “I was invited to le+ture on philosophy in the University of Peking, and I ca)e prepared with purely a+ade)i+ le+tures on psychology and the principles of physi+s-3D .hen he learned his audience instead wanted hi) to propose solutions for “fixing” China, he adapted out of a desire to satisfy while also determining it best to avoid to the extent possible ma,ing com)ents on China4s internal affairs, about whi+h he openly admitted his o1n ignoran+e. He left China neither disappointed nor funda)entally +hanged in his basi+ vie1s, but re-energi?ed to continue beyond the First .orld .ar to +hallenge the Great Powers through his publi+ a+tivities, now bolstered by his firsthand 3 The sa)e can be said to a large extent for De1ey as well, though his visit to China is not the fo+us of this thesis. For book-length studies of De1ey in China, see Barry Keenan, The De,e- Experiment in China: Educational Reform and Political Power in the Earl- Republic (Ca)bridge, MAA Harvard 'niversity Press, 1977). Jessi+a Ching-%?e .ang, 0ohn De,e- in China: To Teach and to Learn (Albany: %tate University of Ne1 Jor, Press, 2007)- 4 2Jiangxueshe huanying luosu zhi shenghui 讲学社欢迎罗素之盛会03 Chenbao 《晨报》1920 年 11 月 10 日. Liang was a+tually likely dire+ting his com)ents in part towards Hu Shi, who was unhappy 1ith Russell stealing any of the spotlight from John De1ey, and also to the students of Peking University 1ho were be+oming increasingly ena)ored of Bolshevis). In other words, it was a warning not to be+ome too focused on one .estern model to the e$+lusion of all others, but this si)ply supports the point being )ade here- 5 Bertrand Russell, “To the Editor of ‘%hanghai Life403 Shanghai Life, De+e)ber 21, 1920. His Mpsychology’ le+tures focused on philosophy of Mind. Russell was also intensely interested in Einstein’s Relati&ity Theory (his ‘physi+s’ le+tures) in large part for its philosophi+al i)pli+ations. 2 kno1ledge of one of its “vi+ti)s-3 It was an experien+e he cherished for the rest of his life- This is not the vie1 of Russell4s trip to China taken by the only maCor full-length study in English.