Whats Wrong with China by Rodney Gilbert - Essay Example

The Chinese language is considered to be one of the romantic languages and it is not phonetic in nature but rather pictorial. Every word is represented by a character.
The Chinese language dates far back into History when their ancient writings were done on Tortoiseshells and on ox bones. But in modern times, many Asian languages have been influenced and derived from Chinese – like Japanese and Korean. Chinese is the only major language system that still continues with the use of pictographs for their writing and which is very much in use in these modern times.

Seeking to learn extensively about China, Gilbert took up a job as a journalist that entailed traveling all across China and learning not only the language but also coming to know of the customs, traditions, and life of the Chinese people. Gilbert drew extensively from his observations and experiences with the different social groups he came in contact with.

The Chinese literati," explained Rodney Gilbert, "always are and always have been a cautious, timid, evasive cult of physical weaklings, with passive rather than active—defensive rather than aggressive—minds." Commoners were tainted with the affliction through historical contact with the literati who "conveyed their attitude to the people. 29 (Gilbert Rodney, New York: 1932. Pp. 203)

When writing on China, Gilbert’s attitude was direct and unsentimental besides being precise and clear. His outlook was that of a “hard-boiled” businessman as described by his publishers. The American Political Science Review, Vol. 27, No. 1 (Feb. 1933), pp. 137-139doi:10.2307/1947368

His description of the countryside was unique and straightforward.
He says that the country is so vast and multifaceted and has every diverse aspect one could think of, but still, everyone remains united under one name “China”. Just as the “Himalayas” has one word “Majestic” to describe it, so also China with all its breathtaking sights of mountains, plains, valleys, and rivers has just one word to describe it -“ Beauty”. (Tales of old China)

Gilbert explains that Chinese culture is so unique and one–of–a–kind that it has inspired and influenced people the world over. This culture that has evolved for thousands and thousands of years has an enchanted beauty that is so meticulously entwined with its history.

According to Gilbert, Chinese culture can be divided into two parts - The Modern culture and the Traditional culture. Before the 1900s the Chinese followed the Traditional culture with their ancient beliefs and lifestyles but after the 1949 war, a whole new change came over China which led to a great change in their way of thinking of their customs and their way of life. Nowadays, though the Chinese mostly follow the Modern style of culture, yet both “subcultures” co-exist.

The Chinese language belongs to the “Han Tibetan” language family and is one of the most commonly used languages in the world. It is the official language of China and therefore the most widely used language in China. Chinese is not an easy language to learn as it consists of 6 different categories of Chinese characters, such as - Pictographs, Self-explanatory characters, Associative compounds, Pictophonetic characters, Phonetic loan characters, and mutually explanatory characters.

There are approximately 56,000 Chinese characters but only 3,000 of them are in common use. The standardized form of spoken Chinese is the Standard Mandarin which is based on the Beijing Dialect. Different ethnic groups had their influence on the Chinese language and that is why between the dialects many common words are found. Different ethnic groups speak different languages collectively called Zhōngguó Yǔwén meaning"speech and writing of China". Because of the variety of these ethnic groups, countries such as Japan, Vietnam, and Korea have a lot of common in their vocabulary. It is hard to point out the origin of respective words.

Though Rodney Gilbert had a great love for China and its culture, yet in his writings, he had passed caustic remarks on some of the burning issues there. The final words in the famous book of Rodney Gilbert's What's Wrong with China (1932):

We have therefore to be grateful to the firebrand element in China which is driving furiously on towards the complete ruin of China as a nation, the utter collapse of foreign trade with this bad-boy people, and very possibly the martyrdom of those of us who are foolish enough to live in China: and out of the great weariness of the spirit and something like Petronian good cheer in the face of what is coming, our toast is: "More power to their elbows!" (Rodney Gilbert, New York: Frederick A.Stokes Company.!932) Read More