罗素自传（全本）-36

every kind of question about marriage, free love, contraception, etc., and sheanswered all their questions with complete frankness. Nothing of the sortwould have been possible in any similar European institution. In spite of theirfreedom of thought, traditional habits of behaviour had a great hold uponthem. We occasionally gave parties to the young men of my seminar and thegirls at the Normal School. The girls at ?rst would take refuge in a room towhich they supposed no men would penetrate, and they had to be fetchedout and encouraged to associate with males. It must be said that when oncethe ice was broken, no further encouragement was needed.The National University of Peking for which I lectured was a very remark-able institution. The Chancellor and the Vice-Chancellor were men passion-ately devoted to the modernising of China. The Vice-Chancellor was oneof the most whole-hearted idealists that I have ever known. The funds whichshould have gone to pay salaries were always being appropriated by Tuchuns,so that the teaching was mainly a labour of love. The students deserved whattheir professors had to give them. They were ardently desirous of knowledge,and there was no limit to the sacri?ces that they were prepared to makefor their country. The atmosphere was electric with the hope of a greatawakening. After centuries of slumber, China was becoming aware of themodern world, and at that time the sordidnesses and compromises that gowith governmental responsibility had not yet descended upon the reformers.The English sneered at the reformers, and said that China would always beChina. They assured me that it was silly to listen to the frothy talk of half-baked young men; yet within a few years those half-baked young men hadconquered China and deprived the English of many of their most cherishedprivileges.Since the advent of the Communists to power in China, the policy of theBritish towards that country has been somewhat more enlightened than thatof the United States, but until that time the exact opposite was the case. In1926, on three separate occasions, British troops ?red on unarmed crowds ofChinese students, killing and wounding many. I wrote a ?erce denunciationof these outrages, which was published ?rst in England and then throughoutChina. An American missionary in China, with whom I corresponded, cameto England shortly after this time, and told me that indignation in China hadbeen such as to endanger the lives of all Englishmen living in that country. Hechina 343even said – though I found this scarcely credible – that the English in Chinaowed their preservation to me, since I had caused infuriated Chinese toconclude that not all Englishmen are vile. However that may be, I incurredthe hostility, not only of the English in China, but of the British Government.White men in China were ignorant of many things that were commonknowledge among the Chinese. On one occasion my bank (which wasAmerican) gave me notes issued by a French bank, and I found that Chinesetradesmen refused to accept them. My bank expressed astonishment, andgave me other notes instead. Three months later, the French bank went bank-rupt, to the surprise of all other white banks in China.The Englishman in the East, as far as I was able to judge of him, is a mancompletely out of touch with his environment. He plays polo and goes to hisclub. He derives his ideas of native culture from the works of eighteenth-century missionaries, and he regards intelligence in the East with the samecontempt which he feels for intelligence in his own country. Unfortunatelyfor our political sagacity, he overlooks the fact that in the East intelligenceis respected, so that enlightened Radicals have an in?uence upon a?airswhich is denied to their English counterparts. MacDonald went to Windsorin knee-breeches, but the Chinese reformers showed no such respect totheir Emperor, although our monarchy is a mushroom growth of yesterdaycompared to that of China.My views as to what should be done in China I put into my book TheProblem of China and so shall not repeat them here.In spite of the fact that China was in a ferment, it appeared to us, ascompared with Europe, to be a country ?lled with philosophic calm. Once aweek the mail would arrive from England, and the letters and newspapersthat came from there seemed to breathe upon us a hot blast of insanity likethe ?ery heat that comes from a furnace door suddenly opened. As we had towork on Sundays, we made a practice of taking a holiday on Mondays, and weusually spent the whole day in the Temple of Heaven, the most beautifulbuilding that it has ever been my good fortune to see. We would sit in thewinter sunshine saying little, gradually absorbing peace, and would comeaway prepared to face the madness and passion of our own distracted contin-ent with poise and calm. At other times, we used to walk on the walls ofPeking. I remember with particular vividness a walk one evening starting atsunset and continuing through the rise of the full moon.The Chinese have (or had) a sense of humour which I found verycongenial. Perhaps communism has killed it, but when I was there theyconstantly reminded me of the people in their ancient books. One hot daytwo fat middle-aged business men invited me to motor into the country tosee a certain very famous half-ruined pagoda. When we reached it, I climbedthe spiral staircase, expecting them to follow, but on arriving at the top I sawthe autobiography of bertrand russell 344them still on the ground. I asked why they had not come up, and withportentous gravity they replied:‘We thought of coming up, and debated whether we should do so. Manyweighty arguments were advanced on both sides, but at last there was onewhich decided us. The pagoda might crumble at any moment, and we feltthat, if it did, it would be well there should be those who could bear witnessas to how the philosopher died.’What they meant was that it was hot and they were fat.Many Chinese have that re?nement of humour which consists in enjoyinga joke more when the other person cannot see it. As I was leaving Peking aChinese friend gave me a long classical passage microscopically engraved byhand on a very small surface; he also gave me the same passage written out inexquisite calligraphy. When I asked what it said, he replied: ‘Ask ProfessorGiles when you get home.’ I took his advice, and found that it was ‘TheConsultation of the Wizard’, in which the wizard merely advises his clientsto do whatever they like. He was poking fun at me because I always refusedto give advice to the Chinese as to their immediate political di?culties.The climate of Peking in winter is very cold. The wind blows almost alwaysfrom the north, bringing an icy breath from the Mongolian mountains. I gotbronchitis, but paid no attention to it. It seemed to get better, and one day, atthe invitation of some Chinese friends, we went to a place about two hours bymotorcar from Peking, where there were hot springs. The hotel provided avery good tea, and someone suggested that it was unwise to eat too much teaas it would spoil one’s dinner. I objected to such prudence on the ground thatthe Day of Judgement might intervene. I was right, as it was three monthsbefore I ate another square meal. After tea, I suddenly began to shiver, andafter I had been shivering for an hour or so, we decided that we had better getback to Peking at once. On the way home, our car had a puncture, and by thetime the puncture was mended, the engine was cold. By this time, I wasnearly delirious, but the Chinese servants and Dora pushed the car to the topof a hill, and on the descent the engine gradually began to work. Owing tothe delay, the gates of Peking were shut when we reached them, and it tookan hour of telephoning to get them open. By the time we ?nally got home, Iwas very ill indeed. Before I had time to realise what was happening, I wasdelirious. I was moved into a German hospital, where Dora nursed me byday, and the only English professional nurse in Peking nursed me by night.For a fortnight the doctors thought every evening that I should be deadbefore morning. I remember nothing of this time except a few dreams. WhenI came out of delirium, I did not know where I was, and did not recognisethe nurse. Dora told me that I had been very ill and nearly died, to which Ireplied: ‘How interesting’, but I was so weak that I forgot it in ?ve minutes,and she had to tell me again. I could not even remember my own name. Butchina 345although for about a month after my delirium had ceased they kept tellingme I might die at any moment, I never believed a word of it. The nurse whomthey had found was rather distinguished in her profession, and had been theSister in charge of a hospital in Serbia during the War. The whole hospital hadbeen captured by the Germans, and the nurses removed to Bulgaria. She wasnever tired of telling me how intimate she had become with the Queen ofBulgaria. She was a deeply religious woman, and told me when I began to getbetter that she had seriously considered whether it was not her duty to letme die. Fortunately, professional training was too strong for her moral sense.All through the time of my convalescence, in spite of weakness and greatphysical discomfort, I was exceedingly happy. Dora was very devoted, andher devotion made me forget everything unpleasant. At an early stage of myconvalescence Dora discovered that she was pregnant, and this was a sourceof immense happiness to us both. Ever since the moment when I walked onRichmond Green with Alys, the desire for children had been growingstronger and stronger within me, until at last it had become a consumingpassion. When I discovered that I was not only to survive myself, but to have achild, I became completely indi?erent to the circumstances of convalescence,although, during convalescence, I had a whole series of minor diseases. Themain trouble had been double pneumonia, but in addition to that I hadheart disease, kidney disease, dysentery, and phlebitis. None of these, how-ever, prevented me from feeling perfectly happy, and in spite of all gloomyprognostications, no ill e?ects whatever remained after my recovery.Lying in my bed feeling that I was not going to die was surprisinglydelightful. I had always imagined until then that I was fundamentally pessim-istic and did not greatly value being alive. I discovered that in this I had beencompletely mistaken, and that life was in?nitely sweet to me. Rain in Pekingis rare, but during my convalescence there came heavy rains bringing thedelicious smell of damp earth through the windows, and I used to thinkhow dreadful it would have been to have never smelt that smell again. I hadthe same feeling about the light of the sun, and the sound of the wind. Justoutside my windows were some very beautiful acacia trees, which came intoblossom at the ?rst moment when I was well enough to enjoy them. I haveknown ever since that at bottom I am glad to be alive. Most people, no doubt,always know this, but I did not.I was told that the Chinese said that they would bury me by the WesternLake and build a shrine to my memory. I have some slight regret that thisdid not happen, as I might have become a god, which would have been verychic for an atheist.There was in Peking at that time a Soviet diplomatic mission, whose mem-bers showed great kindness. They had the only good champagne in Peking,and supplied it liberally for my use, champagne being apparently the onlythe autobiography of bertrand russell 346proper beverage for pneumonia patients. They used to take ?rst Dora, andlater Dora and me, for motor drives in the neighbourhood of Peking. Thiswas a pleasure, but a somewhat exciting one, as they were as bold in drivingas they were in revolutions.I probably owe my life to the Rockefeller Institute in Peking which pro-vided a serum that killed the pneumococci. I owe them the more gratitude onthis point, as both before and after I was strongly opposed to them politically,and they regarded me with as much horror as was felt by my nurse.The Japanese journalists were continually worrying Dora to give theminterviews when she wanted to be nursing me. At last she became a little curtwith them, so they caused the Japanese newspapers to say that I was dead.This news was forwarded by mail from Japan to America and from Americato England. It appeared in the English newspapers on the same day as thenews of my divorce. Fortunately, the Court did not believe it, or the divorcemight have been postponed. It provided me with the pleasure of reading myobituary notices, which I had always desired without expecting my wishes tobe ful?lled. One missionary paper, I remember, had an obituary notice of onesentence: ‘Missionaries may be pardoned for heaving a sigh of relief at thenews of Mr Bertrand Russell’s death.’ I fear they must have heaved a sigh ofa di?erent sort when they found that I was not dead after all. The reportcaused some pain to friends in England. We in Peking knew nothing aboutit until a telegram came from my brother enquiring whether I was still alive.He had been remarking meanwhile that to die in Peking was not the sortof thing I would do.The most tedious stage of my convalescence was when I had phlebitis,and had to lie motionless on my back for six weeks. We were very anxiousto return home for the con?nement, and as time went on it began to seemdoubtful whether we should be able to do so. In these circumstances it wasdi?cult not to feel impatience, the more so as the doctors said there wasnothing to do but wait. However, the trouble cleared up just in time, and onJuly 10th we were able to leave Peking, though I was still very weak and couldonly hobble about with the help of a stick.Shortly after my return from China, the British Government decidedto deal with the question of the Boxer indemnity. When the Boxers hadbeen defeated, the subsequent treaty of peace provided that the ChineseGovernment should pay an annual sum to all those European Powers whichhad been injured by it. The Americans very wisely decided to forgo anypayment on this account. Friends of China in England urged England in vainto do likewise. At last it was decided that, instead of a punitive payment, theChinese should make some payment which should be pro?table to bothChina and Britain. What form this payment should take was left to be deter-mined by a Committee on which there should be two Chinese members.china 347While MacDonald was Prime Minister he invited Lowes Dickinson and me tobe members of the Committee, and consented to our recommendation ofV. K. Ting and Hu Shih as the Chinese members. When, shortly afterwards,MacDonald’s Government fell, the succeeding Conservative Governmentinformed Lowes Dickinson and myself that our services would not be wantedon the Committee, and they would not accept either V. K. Ting or Hu Shih asChinese members of it, on the ground that we knew nothing about China.The Chinese Government replied that it desired the two Chinese whom I hadrecommended and would not have anyone else. This put an end to the veryfeeble e?orts at securing Chinese friendship. The only thing that had beensecured during the Labour period of friendship was that Shantung shouldbecome a golf course for the British Navy and should no longer be openfor Chinese trading.Before I became ill I had undertaken to do a lecture tour in Japan afterleaving China. I had to cut this down to one lecture, and visits to variouspeople. We spent twelve hectic days in Japan, days which were far frompleasant, though very interesting. Unlike the Chinese, the Japanese provedto be destitute of good manners, and incapable of avoiding intrusiveness.Owing to my being still very feeble, we were anxious to avoid all unnecessaryfatigues, but the journalists proved a very di?cult matter. At the ?rst port atwhich our boat touched, some thirty journalists were lying in wait, althoughwe had done our best to travel secretly, and they only discovered our move-ments through the police. As the Japanese papers had refused to contradictthe news of my death, Dora gave each of them a type-written slip saying thatas I was dead I could not be interviewed. They drew in their breath throughtheir teeth and said: ‘Ah! veree funnee!’We went ?rst to Kobe to visit Robert Young, the editor of the Japan Chronicle.As the boat approached the quay, we saw vast processions with bannersmarching along, and to the surprise of those who knew Japanese, some of thebanners were expressing a welcome to me. It turned out that there was a greatstrike going on in the dock-yards, and that the police would not tolerateprocessions except in honour of distinguished foreigners, so that this wastheir only way of making a demonstration. The strikers were being led by aChristian paci?st called Kagawa, who took me to strike meetings, at one ofwhich I made a speech. Robert Young was a delightful man, who, having leftEngland in the eighties, had not shared in the subsequent deterioration ofideas. He had in his study a large picture of Bradlaugh, for whom he had adevoted admiration. His was, I think, the best newspaper I have ever known,and he had started it with a capital of ￡10, saved out of his wages as acompositor. He took me to Nara, a place of exquisite beauty, where Old Japanwas still to be seen. We then fell into the hands of the enterprising editorsof an up-to-date magazine called Kaizo, who conducted us around Kyoto andthe autobiography of bertrand russell 348Tokyo, taking care always to let the journalists know when we were coming,so that we were perpetually pursued by ?ashlights and photographed even inour sleep. In both places they invited large numbers of professors to visit us.In both places we were treated with the utmost obsequiousness and doggedby police-spies. The room next to ours in the hotel would be occupied by acollection of policemen with a typewriter. The waiters treated us as if wewere royalty, and walked backwards out of the room. We would say: ‘Damnthis waiter’, and immediately hear the police typewriter clicking. At the par-ties of professors which were given in our honour, as soon as I got into at allanimated conversation with anyone, a ?ashlight photograph would be taken,with the result that the conversation was of course interrupted.The Japanese attitude towards women is somewhat primitive. In Kyoto weboth had mosquito nets with holes in them, so that we were kept awake halfthe night by mosquitoes. I complained of this in the morning. Next eveningmy mosquito net was mended, but not Dora’s. When I complained again thenext day, they said: ‘But we did not know it mattered about the lady.’ Once,when we were in a suburban train with the historian Eileen Power, who wasalso travelling in Japan, no seats were available, but a Japanese kindly got upand o?ered his seat to me. I gave it to Dora. Another Japanese then o?ered mehis seat. I gave this to Eileen Power. By this time the Japanese were so disgustedby my unmanly conduct that there was nearly a riot.We met only one Japanese whom we really liked, a Miss Ito. She was youngand beautiful, and lived with a well-known anarchist, by whom she had ason. Dora said to her: ‘Are you not afraid that the authorities will do some-thing to you?’ She drew her hand across her throat, and said: ‘I know theywill do that sooner or later.’ At the time of the earthquake, the police cameto the house where she lived with the anarchist, and found him and herand a little nephew whom they believed to be the son, and informed themthat they were wanted at the police station. When they arrived at the policestation, the three were put in separate rooms and strangled by the police,who boasted that they had not had much trouble with the child, as they hadmanaged to make friends with him on the way to the police station. Thepolice in question became national heroes, and school children were set towrite essays in their praise.We made a ten hours’ journey in great heat from Kyoto to Yokohama. Wearrived there just after dark, and were received by a series of magnesiumexplosions, each of which made Dora jump, and increased my fear of amiscarriage. I became blind with rage, the only time I have been so since Itried to strangle Fitzgerald.2I pursued the boys with the ?ashlights, but beinglame, was unable to catch them, which was fortunate, as I should certainlyhave committed murder. An enterprising photographer succeeded in photo-graphing me with my eyes blazing. I should not have known that I could havechina 349looked so completely insane. This photograph was my introduction toTokyo. I felt at that moment the same type of passion as must have been feltby Anglo-Indians during the Mutiny, or by white men surrounded by arebel coloured population. I realised then that the desire to protect one’sfamily from injury at the hands of an alien race is probably the wildestand most passionate feeling of which man is capable. My last experience ofJapan was the publication in a patriotic journal of what purported to be myfarewell message to the Japanese nation, urging them to be more Chauvinistic.I had not sent either this or any other farewell message to that or any othernewspaper.We sailed from Yokohama by the Canadian Paci?c, and were seen o? bythe anarchist, Ozuki, and Miss Ito. On the Empress of Asia we experienced asudden change in the social atmosphere. Dora’s condition was not yet visibleto ordinary eyes, but we saw the ship’s doctor cast a professional eye uponher, and we learned that he had communicated his observations to the pas-sengers. Consequently, almost nobody would speak to us, though everybodywas anxious to photograph us. The only people willing to speak to us wereMischa Elman, the violinist, and his party. As everybody else on the shipwished to speak to him, they were considerably annoyed by the fact that hewas always in our company. After an uneventful journey, we arrived inLiverpool at the end of August. It was raining hard, and everybody com-plained of the drought, so we felt we had reached home. Dora’s mother wason the dock, partly to welcome us, but partly to give Dora wise advice, whichshe was almost too shy to do. On September 27th we were married, havingsucceeded in hurrying up the King’s Proctor, though this required that Ishould swear by Almighty God on Charing Cross platform that Dora was thewoman with whom I had committed the o?cial adultery. On November16th, my son John was born, and from that moment my children were formany years my main interest in life.LETTERSFrom Johnson Yuan6 Yu Yang LiAvenue Jo?reShanghai, China6th Oct. [? Nov.] 1920Dear SirWe are very glad to have the greatest social philosopher of world to arrivehere in China, so as to salve the Chronic deseases of the thought of ChineseStudents. Since 1919, the student’s circle seems to be the greatest hope of thefuture of China; as they are ready to welcome to have revolutionary era in thethe autobiography of bertrand russell 350society of China. In that year, Dr John Dewey had in?uenced the intellectualclass with great success.But I dare to represent most of the Chinese Students to say a few wordsto you:Although Dr Dewey is successful here, but most of our students are notsatis?ed with his conservative theory. Because most of us want to acquirethe knowledge of Anarchism, Syndicalism, Socialism, etc.; in a word, we areanxious to get the knowledge of the social revolutionary philosophy. We arethe followers of Mr Kropotkin, and our aim is to have anarchical society inChina. We hope you, Sir, to give us fundamentally the thorough Social phil-osophy, base on Anarchism. Moreover, we want you to recorrect the theoryof Dr Dewey, the American Philosopher. We hope you have the absolutefreedom in China, not the same as in England. So we hope you to have agreater success than Dr Dewey here.I myself am old member of the Peking Govt. University, and met you inShanghai many times, the ?rst time is in ‘The Great Oriental Hotel’, the ?rsttime of your reception here, in the evening.The motto, you often used, of Lao-Tzu ought to be changed in the ?rstword, as ‘Creation without Possession . . .’ is better than the former transla-tive; and it is more correctly according to what you have said ‘the creativeimpulsive and the possessive impulse’. Do you think it is right?Your Fraternally ComradeJohnson Yuan(Secretary of the ChineseAnarchist-CommunistAssociation)From The General Educational Association of HunanChangshaOctober 11th, 1920Dear SirWe beg to inform you that the educational system of our province is just atinfancy and is unfortunately further weakened by the fearful disturbances ofthe civil war of late years, so that the guidance and assistances must be soughtto sagacious scholars.The extent to which your moral and intellectual power has reached is sohigh that all the people of this country are paying the greatest regard to you.We, Hunanese, eagerly desire to hear your powerful instructions as a compass.A few days ago, through Mr Lee-Shuh-Tseng, our representative atShanghai, we requested you to visit Hunan and are very grateful to have yourkind acceptance. A general meeting will therefore be summoned on the25th instant in order to receive your instructive advices. Now we appointchina 351Mr Kun-Chao-Shuh to represent us all to welcome you sincerely. Please comeas soon as possible.We are, SirYour obedient servantsThe General EducationalAssociation of Hunan(Seal)I wrote the following account on the Yiangtse:To Ottoline Morrel328th October, 1920Since landing in China we have had a most curious and interesting time,spent, so far, entirely among Chinese students and journalists, who are moreor less Europeanised. I have delivered innumerable lectures – on Einstein,education and social questions. The eagerness for knowledge on the part ofstudents is quite extraordinary. When one begins to speak, their eyes have thelook of starving men beginning a feast. Everywhere they treat me with amost embarrassing respect. The day after I landed in Shanghai they gave avast dinner to us, at which they welcomed me as Confucius the Second. Allthe Chinese newspapers that day in Shanghai had my photograph. BothMiss Black and I had to speak to innumerable schools, teachers’ conferences,congresses, etc. It is a country of curious contrasts. Most of Shanghai is quiteEuropean, almost American; the names of streets, and notices and advertise-ments are in English (as well as Chinese). The buildings are magni?cento?ces and banks; everything looks very opulent. But the side streets are stillquite Chinese. It is a vast city about the size of Glasgow. The Europeans almostall look villainous and ill. One of the leading Chinese newspapers invited usto lunch, in a modern building, completed in 1917, with all the latest plant(except linotype, which can’t be used for Chinese characters). The editorialsta? gave us a Chinese meal at the top of the house with Chinese wine made