The Three Peoples' Principles

There was also Yan Fu, who translated Huxley, Adam Smith, Herbert Spencer, John Stuart Mill, and Montesquieu. There was Lin Xu, who had an incredible ability. He could listen to a friend read aloud a literal Chinese translation of a foreign novel. And then he could write out a translation in elegant classical Chinese. So along with the classic Western literature and philosophy, they absorbed some pretty strong strains of social Darwinism, unfortunately.