PREFACE

ix

form  it  is  rather  long,  but  I  give  it,  because  I  do  not  know
of  any  other  work  in  which  the  information  is  to  be  found
in  a  readily  accessible  form.  The  chapter  on  the  Post
Office  is  compiled  chiefly  from  the  excellent  official  reports
on  the  working,  during  the  years  1904  and  1905,  of  the
department  of  which  he  is  the  working  head,  by  the  Postal
Secretary,  Mr.  T.  Piry.
Excuses  must  be  made  to  American  readers  for  giving
the  equivalence  of  Chinese  currency  values  in  English
currency  only.  The  statements  of  value  go  back  over  half
a  century,  and  readers  must  remember  the  state  of  the
American  currency  from  1861  to  1879.
To  the  number  of  works  on  China  I  venture  to  add  this
one,  and  to  commit  it  to  the  kindly  attention  of  the  reading
public,  in  the  hope  that  in  its  pages  they  will  find  information
not  readily  accessible  in  other  works.
H.  B.  M.

Shanghai,  December,  1907.