The travel diaries of Albert Einstein

The far east, Palestine & Spain

1922 -1923

From the diary, Einstein generally identified himself as a Jew instead of a German. He mainly associated and socialized with Jews during the trip.

Nov 10, 1922, Hong Kong

In this way, the Chinese are severely punished for their fecundity by the insensitive economic machine. I think they hardly notice it in their obtuseness, but it is sad to see. ( 94)

I am now convinced that the Jewish race has maintained its purity in the last 1,500 years, as the Jews from the lands of the Euphrates and the Tigris are very similar to ours. The feeling of belonging together is also quite strong. (94)

This morning I visited the Chinese quarter on the mainland side with Elsa. Industrious, filthy, lethargic people. Houses very formulaic, balconies like beehive-cells, everything built close together and monotonous. Behind the harbor, nothing but eateries in front of which Chinese don’t sit on benches while eating but squat like Europeans do when they relieve themselves out in the leafy woods. All this occurs quietly and demurely. Even the children are spiritless and look lethargic. It would be a pity if these Chinese supplant all other races. For the likes of us the mere thought is unspeakably dreary. Yesterday evening three Portuguese middle-school teachers visited me, who claimed that the Chinese are incapable of being trained to think logically and that they specifically have no talent for mathematics. I noticed how little difference there is between men and women; I don’t understand what kind of fatal attraction Chinese women possess that enthralls the corresponding men to such an extent that they are incapable of defending themselves against the formidable blessing of offspring. (95)

Jan 1, 1923, Shanghai

All are unanimous in praising the Chinese but also in regard to his intellectual inferiority in business skills; best evidence: he earns ten times lower wages in an equivalent position, and the European can still compete successfully with him as a business employee. (120)