 A harsh critique of Chinese society and culture , Ways That Are Dark was written at a time when China was in the grip of considerable civil strife . Townsend claimed that the source of China 's problems lay in fundamental defects in the ethnic characteristics of the Chinese people . Although the book was a bestseller in the United States , it met with highly polarized reactions from its supporters and detractors . Though praised by some periodicals , it was denounced by missionaries and sinologists , including Owen Lattimore who condemned it as " a general indictment of a whole race " . It was banned by the government of China . 
