TIL that Xi is an avid reader who is deeply familiar with Western literature. Speaking of Russian writers, he noted that: „Dostoevsky is the deepest Russian writer, while Tolstoy is the widest. Comparing the two of them, I prefer Tolstoy.”

To those reading this, you should Google Hegel master slave dialectics and read the idealized saga and its interpretation on the Wiki page. It maps to the US vs China relationship in the most fascinating way. The US being the master, China the slave... It’s a shame that the president of China knows Western classics than many Western presidents. None of it needed to happen. The West has had its glorious centuries... only to allow itself to collapse into materialist decadence. It can’t even define itself properly anymore. Should it derive its identity from Christianity? Or Catholic Monarchism? The Protestant Ethic which gave rise to Capitalism? The ideals of the French Revolution? To quote Heidegger: “In Nietzsche’s view.... nihilism is not a worldview which occurs at some place and at some time... but rather the basic character of Occidental history.”

/r/China Thread Link - scmp.com