It is impossible to understand the way Chinese diplomats think and act without appreciating the power of this conviction. “National humiliation” has become a mainstay of the Communist Party’s domestic propaganda, which amplifies and sometimes distorts events. But for Zhou and many of his contemporaries, humiliation was a lived experience.
继续读书，十九世纪末开始中国知识分子的Zeitgeist就是现在洗脑教育一直宣扬的“百年屈辱史”。我们知道这些屈辱有些的确发生。但问题在于当时社会的问题不仅仅是“外交受辱”，有很多重要的社会问题。但是“外交受辱”是最震动人心，引起巨大凡响的问题。