PREFACE

This  book  is  intended  to  portray  the  present  state  of  the
Chinese  Empire,  with  such  record  of  the  past  as  will  show
by  what  process  of  evolution  the  existing  state  has  been
reached.  No  attempt  is  made  to  forecast  the  future,  or
even  to  refer  to  the  revolution  which,  under  the  name  of
Reform,  has  been  begun.  The  development  of  many
centuries  is  to  be  recast,  and  within  a  year  or  a  generation,
according  as  the  pace  is  forced  or  not,  it  will  assume  an
unaccustomed  garb  ;  and  the  China  of  that  future  day,
near  or  distant,  will  not  be  the  China  of  to-day.  Whether
this  revolution  will  follow  the  precedent  of  the  English
Revolution  or  of  the  French,  whether  it  will  proceed  by
logical  development  from  step  to  step,  or  will  rush  on  a
headlong  course,  will  depend  upon  the  wisdom  and  selfrestraint
  of  the  leaders  in  the  government,  and  in  the  last
resort  upon  the  nature  of  that  public  opinion  which  will  be
created  in  the  Chinese  people.  But,  just  as  the  history  of
the  England  of  the  Georges  cannot  be  well  understood
without  some  knowledge  of  the  Stuart  period,  and  as  an
acquaintance  with  the  France  of  the  Kingdom  and  the
Empire  is  necessary  to  a  comprehension  of  the  France  of
the  Third  Republic,  so  also,  to  understand  the  China  which
the  student  of  the  future  will  know,  he  must  be  able  to  study
its  past.  The  China  of  to-day  is,  with  minor  differences,
the  China  of  the  past  ;  and  in  this  book  it  is  hoped  that  the
future  student  will  find,  within  the  limits  of  the  dozen
subjects  treated,  a  succinct  account  of  the  foundation  on
which  the  China  of  the  future  will  be  erected.
I  have  written  also  for  the  reader  of  to-day.  .  I  can  add
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