Again, what we see here is an author grappling with some of the fundamental issues that have bedeviled Chinese culture and politics ever since the impact of the West: independence versus development, national pride versus self-strengthening, iconoclasm versus tradition.
於是我們又一次看到一位作者，掙扎於西方衝擊以來就困擾中國文化與政治的基本議題：獨立自主對上開發，民族自尊對上自強，破除迷信對上保存傳統。