Competitive national consciousness – the consciousness that one’s individual dignity is inseparably tied to the prestige of one’s “people” – worked its way into the minds of China’s best and brightest between 1895 and 1905. In 1895, China was defeated by Japan, a tiny aggressor whom the Chinese dismissively called wa (the dwarf).
La conscience nationale concurrentielle (la conscience selon laquelle la dignité individuelle d'une certaine personne est indissociablement liée au prestige d'un certain « peuple ») a fait son chemin parmi les plus grands et les plus brillants esprits de la Chine entre 1895 et 1905.