Review and Notices India

Abstract

ciated With the Bergstraesser' Institute in Freiburg/Breisgau, fulfils some of those needs which Professor Bergstraesser had in mind. The author has carefully selected a large number of documents essential for an understanding of the history of China and has provided us also with an excellent introduction in which he discusses the method which he had used in selecting these documents. He gives us as well an interesting comparison of Confucianism and Communism; and with a great deal of insight he has also discussed the influence of Sun Yat-Scnism on present day China. The two facts which are very often ignored in one's approach to the problem of China, are, first, the disappearance of the Confucianist Empire as a result of the national revolutionary movements of Sun ·vat-sen in 1911, and secondly, the thirty years of civil war which brought eventually communism to China. The author has in this book provided us at the same time with some documents which elucidate the changes from the time of Hu Shih to Mao. The Document No. 1 which summarises Hu Shih's interpretation of Chinese ·History reveals at the same time Hu Shih's opposition to Indian influence on Chinese thought, and, in fact, as Shih asserts, it seemed to most Chinese thinkers for a long time that Chinese rationalism and humanism would be submerged by Indian thought and superstition., But it was owing to the revolt against Indian Buddhism organised by Han Yu (768-824) with the slogan ~hat the Chinese should . become human bei:1~ and not "monks and nuns" that Indian influence could eventually be eliminated from Chinese life. This document should at last open the eyes of those Romantics who had built up in their imagination a picture of China deeply embedded in Indian tradition and culture. The importance of the book has been greatly enhanced by the addition of an excellent bibliography of books on ancient and modern China. If this book is translated into English; it would inqeed be of invaluable help to those students of China who arc not acquainted with the German language.