Guo Songtao (1818-1891): Diaries from London and Paris

In recent years, when the king of Persia toured London, the British King awarded him medals of honor. TIMES Newspaper reported rather disparagingly: “Why should the half-civilized deserve medals of honors?” To the Westerners, only European countries that govern with the rule of law are civilized. Others like China, Turkey and Persia are half-civilized. The word “ha fu” (Chinese) means half, meaning half civilized and half not. Countries in Africa are referred to as “barbarian,” just like the word “yi di” in Chinese, which is what the Westerners mean by uncivilized. During the time of Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, China alone was the place where there existed such rituals as dress code for mourning the dead; all those places far away from China were disparaged as “Yi Di (the barbarians)”. Since the Han dynasty, the culture of moral education has been steadily on the decline towards extinction, while the culture of rule by law in Europe has risen to prominence. The way they view China is the same as how China used to view “Yi Di (the barbarians)” during the time of the Three Sage Kings. It is sad that Chinese literati do not understand this.

(Diaries of Guo Songtao, 3rd volume, p.439)

郭嵩焘：伦敦与巴黎日记

近年波斯国主游历伦敦君主亦赠以宝星。《代谟斯》新报颇訾之曰：“哈甫色维来意斯里〔得〕何足以当宝星也”盖西洋言政教修明之国曰色维来意斯得欧洲诸国皆名之。其馀中国及土耳其及波斯曰哈甫色维来意斯得。哈甫者译言得半也；意谓一半有教化一半无之。其名阿非利加诸回国曰巴尔比里安犹中国夷狄之称也西洋谓之无教化。三代以前独中国有教化耳故有要服、荒服之名一皆远之于中国而名曰夷狄。自汉以来中国教化日益微灭；而政教风俗欧洲各国乃独擅其胜。其视中国亦犹三代盛时之视夷狄也。中国士大夫知此义者尚无其人伤哉！