Two interpretations

The oriental peoples reacted in two ways to the Western cultural challenge, beginning with the early nineteenth century. And we must not forget that the challenge was overwhelming. The invaders brought Racine and Shakespeare but also battle-ships and rifled guns. There was no way to stop them. Moreover the human nature being what it is, power was accompanied by arrogance. The West had left the Orient behind, not only in knowledge and technology but also in the organisation of trade. So even an illiterate Western soldier treated the "lower races" with contempt.

Savages had no problem dealing with the impact. They simply turned into Englishmen, Frenchmen etc at least in appearance if not in reality. But those who had a developed culture of their own, though by now stagnant and decaying, had to make a choice and all did, some earlier than others. Most tried to modernise what they had, instead of attempting to replace it. The Egyptian and Levantine Arabs chose to model new Arab literature and theatre on the European haute culture. Egypt built an opera house, for whose opening Puccini composed his Thais.