While overseas he saw many Chinese people in a state of ignorance and superstition, with a low level of cultural cultivation. In his hometown he saw old private schools in a state of decay, and the new Western-style schools corrupt. Many children in the village already over the age of ten were still naked and played in the streets: "It almost returned to a prehistoric state of barbarity.
在海外，他看到許多華人文化低落，蒙昧迷信；在家鄉，他又看到舊私塾沒落，新制洋式學校腐敗，而許多村野孩童，十多歲還赤身裸體、成群嬉戲：「幾將回復上古野蠻狀態，觸目心驚，弗能自己」，他在回憶錄中這樣寫到。