to me that one could already distinguish two
generations: the older men, who had fought their way with great
difficulty and almost in solitude out of the traditional Confucian
prejudices; and the younger men, who had found modern schools and
colleges waiting for them, containing a whole world of modern-minded
people ready to give sympathy and encouragement in the inevitable fight
against the family. The older men--men varying in age from 30 to
50--have gone through an inward and outward struggle resembling that of
the rationalists of Darwin's and Mill's generation. They have had,
painfully and with infinite difficulty, to free their minds from the
beliefs instilled in youth, and to turn their thoughts to a new science
and a new ethic. Imagine (say) Plotinus recalled from the shades and
miraculously compelled to respect Mr. Henry Ford; this will give you
some idea of the centuries across which these men have had to travel in
becoming European. Some of them are a little weary with the effort,
their forces somewhat spent and their originality no longer creative.
But this can astonish no one who realizes the internal revolution they
have achieved in their own minds.

It must not be supposed that an able Chinaman, when he masters our
culture, becomes purely imitative. This may happen among the second-rate
Chinese, especially when they turn Christians, but it does not happen
among the best. They remain Chinese, critical of European civilization
even when they have assimilated it. They retain a certain crystal
candour and a touching belief in the efficacy of moral forces; the
industrial revolution has not yet affected their mental processes. When
they become persuaded of the importance of some opinion, they try to
spread it by setting forth the reasons in its favour; they do not hire
the front pages of newspapers for advertising, or put up on hoardings
along the railways "So-and-so's opinion is the best." In all this they
differ greatly from more advanced nations, and particularly from
America; it never occurs to them to treat opinions as if they were
soaps. And they have no admiration for ruthlessness, or love of bustling
activity without regard to its purpose. Having thrown over the
prejudices in which they were brought up, they have not taken on a new
set, but have remained genuinely free in their thoughts, able to
consider any proposition honestly on its merits.

The younger men, however, have something more than the fir