Was JY influenced by Jean Jacques Rousseau (French philosopher 1712-1778)? If one reads JY's novel 'Xia Ke Xing' this is seemingly the case.
In XKX, two types of human beings are juxtaposed:
Shi Po Tian - a pure soul ('noble savage') excluded from society,
Xie Yan Ke - a man with 'smooth outside - rotten inside' behaviour.
Doesn't this comply with J.J. Rousseau's idea of :
mankind is innately/basically good before he is contaminated and corrupted by society.
In the end JY even let the illiterate hero SPT succeed against his cultured opponents.
Your opinions please.