Recent journal entries by Albert Einstein were published where he disparaged people on his travels to the Middle East and Asia during the 1920s. Einstein described the Chinese as "filthy" and "obtuse."
Now Chinese people are coming to his aid saying that there is nothing wrong about his comments.
Einstein's Thoughts On The Chinese
Einstein's journals depict his attitude and observations during his travels. His observations are racist even though the scientist came out against racism. Einstein went as far as calling racism "a disease of white people" but his writings suggest that he may have suffered from it as well.
In the entries, he makes observations about Chinese people. He said that they don't sit while they eat instead they squat just like Europeans do when they use the bathroom in the woods. He calls them quiet and demure and describes the Chinese children as spiritless and obtuse.
Einstein also said that it would be a shame if the Chinese supplant all other races. He calls the thought unspeakably dreary. He also referred to the Chinese as filthy and industrious then he referred to China as a peculiar herd-like nation.
Chinese People Defend Einstein
People in China instead of boycotting Einstein have chosen to defend his thoughts on the early years of the Chinese republic. One user on Weibo says that the scientist had visited the country at the wrong time. They say that this is the beginning of a new nation after centuries of imperial rule.
They say that hunger, war, and poverty were affecting the Chinese people at the time. That user goes on to say that with all the problems the Chinese people were facing at the time, how was Einstein going to respect the country like that.
Another user said that to call his comments insulting was ridiculous. They say that when Einstein calls the Chinese people dirty it's because they were dirty at the time. The user goes on to say that Einstein is providing a true picture of the conditions that the Chinese were facing at the time.
Einstein's comments were also compared with Lu Xun. Lu Xun is a writer that is considered the father of modern Chinese literature and wrote satire poking fun at the state of China in the early 20th century.
China's state-run newspaper Global Times wrote an editorial that commended the Chinese people for their response on social media. Another editorial in the South China Morning Post said that if people's thoughts from the past were looked at with today's standards that very few of those people would not be seen as racist.
