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The movement in China then is not exactly parallel to the
enaissance in Europe, for the latter broke up culturally into
its component parts, whereas the former seeks to combine by
establishing one common language which will be simpler than the
classical medium that it replaces, but which will serve precisely
the same purpose, only much more effectively, for it will make
the content of the classical system more accessible, by presenting
it in a form less ornate and less artificially difficult.
The democratic principle demands that knowledge shall be
available in the common language of the people, and not concealed
from them in a language which the people have neither the time nor
the inclination to acquire.
Can the Chinese language be simplified in this way? It is
quite clear that the modern democratic movement demands such a
modification, for the first essential in such a movement is the
control of a language through which the people can rapidly and
easily be acquainted with knowledge to enable them to take an
intelligent part in the new order of government. The modern
scientific movement, the demand for the new western knowledge
makes such a change imperative, and at the same time easier. The
old knowledge which is no longer esteemed as in the past can remain
buried in the old classical language, while the new is communicated
through a simpler and more flexible medium. Until the language
is made a vehicle of thought, such as the lowliest peasant can
hope to possess, both in reading and writing, the future of the
democratic movement is in doubt. Knowledge must always be the key
to power and as that is gained through language in all its forms,
only those who have the mastery of the forms can aspire to control
the country.
Instead therefore of the Chinese language being the end of
education for a select aristocratic few it is necessary that it
should become in the future, for the mass, the means or the
P.T.0.
92
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