ABSTRACT
In The Life of Reason, Spanish American philosopher George Santayana famously wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” In order to understand the attitudes of the Chinese people towards other nations and China’s foreign policy, one must take this well-known quote to heart. The past that the Chinese do not want to repeat is known as the Century of Humiliation, from 1839 (the start of the First Opium War) to 1945 (the end of World War II). China’s guiding principle in foreign relationships, quite simply, is to avoid repeating that history at all costs and, if possible, to rectify that humiliation. On this point, all Chinese citizens are united.
