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... or the "50 foreigners shaping China's modern development" as the People's Daily calls it. The list includes some people we knew, some that rang a bell, and others that are dim memories from arid history textbooks. The list begins with Jean-Jacques Rousseau and ends with No. 23 -- Michael Jordan. The grammatically challenged introduction says:
There were many foreigners that could have influence upon China in this very period, but generally speaking, 50 of them could doubtlessly best demonstrate the epochal features that China collided with the world.
Here's a sample:
Ivan V. Arkhipov (1907 - 1998): Vice minister of Metallurgy in former Soviet Union;Kim Il Sung (1912 - 1994): Founder of Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK);
Richard Milhous Nixon (1913 - 1994): One of the most influential presidents in American history;
Silas Aaron Hardoon (1849 - 1931): Richest Jewish businessman specialising in real estate through plundering China's wealth before national liberation in 1949;
Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939): Austrian originator of psychoanalysis;
Rabindranath Tagore (1861 - 1941): One of India's greatest poet, writer, artist as well as social activist.
Photo from Rahubandaru's Flickr page.
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The commies all got comparatively low rankings. It would be more interesting to consider whose influence on China is considered positive or negative.
I really enjoy the fact that the hyperlink on Michael Jordan's last name in the China Daily list takes you to a country profile of Jordan!
oops, People's Daily. the snarkiness loses its effect when you make your own factual mistake!
What actual influence have they had on the country? I mean, I can see that Rousseau might have contributed to the French Revolution, which might have a tenuous link with the Chinese one, but his doctrine of individualism and anti-authoritarianism wouldn't go down very well here. Neither would his habit of exposing himself to little girls, I suppose.
And Freud...?
I suppose that should have been 'his doctrine of individualism wouldn't have gone down well here... until very recently'
yes, it's hard to say what direct affect these people if any, had on Chinese life. On the other hand, you could argue that these giants have had so much influence that they *must* have had (in)direct influence of China. Take Freud, in what place has psychology *not* been affectd by his work? On other hand, this list is kind of meaningless in the end, since there is really no way to measur this kind of influence -- how do you compare Tagore to jordan? More people want to be like Mike than want to write poetry. Stalin was influential in a large sense, some of the diplomats and ambassadors were part of historical episodes or events that had far reaching ramifications but were not themselves too famous.
In any case, some of these people had to be on there because China would have looked stupid if they had *not* been included on there.
Shanghaiist would also qualify, don't you thnk?