Hu Shi

Optimistic View of China "is a work by Hu Shi, which mainly expresses his optimistic attitude towards China's abandonment of traditional bad habits and great success in the past few decades. An optimist looks at china 乐观看中国 胡适 （彭萍　译） It is in the direction of abolishing the numerous evils of the old tradition that China has achieved the greatest success in the past few decades. She has successfully prohibited the foot-binding which has been a terrible curse to Chinese womanhood for at least a thousand years. 过去数十年间，中国在抛弃很多传统恶习方面取得了巨大成功。中国已成功废除缠足。要知道，至少一千年来，缠足一直是中国妇女可怕的梦魇。 The hereditary absolute monarchy has been overthrown, and with it are gone all those institutions which for centuries have been its paraphernalia: the imperial household with its unlimited number of wives and concubines, the institution of eunuchism, the parasitic nobility born to power, and many others. 世代沿袭的君主专制制度已经被推翻，与之相关的整个体系也随之瓦解：妻妾成群的皇室、太监、生来就拥有特权并靠他人供养的贵族等等，都已不复存在。 With the revision of Chinese law and the reform of legal procedure, the ancient tortures and inhuman punishments were abolished. The opening of new schools marked the disappearance of the mechanical and exacting form of literary composition, known as the Octopartite, which had been required as the standard form in all state examinations, and for the mastery of which the best years and energies of the whole educated class of the past six centuries…