The problem was that the humiliations and disasters which plagued China from the 19th century on were enough to confuse even someone as knowledgeable as Lin Qinnan. For the past century and more, the militaristic national pride of the rich Western states has been sufficient to make even the best informed people unconsciously look through Eurocentric spectacles when looking back across this stretch of the history of East-West exchange.
問題是，十九世紀以來接踵而至的「國恥國難」，豈止把個學富五車的林琴南給悶糊塗了；而百餘年來，西方國富兵強的「民族驕傲」，也足讓一般有識之士，在回顧這段東西交流的歷史時，不自覺地戴上了歐洲中心的眼鏡。