Intellectual Progress in the East

Abstract

In its attempts to reach a rapprochement with the West, the East sought to Westernize itself; this resulted not in a synthesis of the best elements of both cultures but in a thin Western veneer applied to a solid native base. Instead of try ing to steer this imitative trend into more productive channels, the West was merely flattered by it. As for the East, by indis criminately gulping a frightful mass of Western indigestibles, it gained little but a cultural stomachache. Small wonder, there fore, that, in the first flush of nationalism, reformers and puri tans—proponents of the "New Life"—struck out against cor rupting "foreignisms." Asia for the Asians meant a return to the high spiritual culture of ages past. The wiping out of un wanted Western ways was made easier because they were neither very broadly spread nor deeply rooted. After World War II, Western prestige rose again, and although the East continued to scorn Western materialism as a principle, in prac tice it was willing to bring in the skills, techniques, and tools which gave democracy its strength. Creative energies in the East have been released as the result of national upheavals, and under a more democratic way of life they will surely flourish.— Ed.