Preface to the Second Edition

THE author gratefully acknowledges the kindness with
which his book has been received not only in this
country but in England and China. In this edition
he has corrected a number of errors that appeared in the first
edition and has availed himself of later statistical information.
He is under special obligations to the Rev. W. A. P. Martin,
D. D., LL. D., of Wuchang, and the Rev. Arthur H. Smith,
D. D. LL. D., of Pang-chwang, for valuable counsel. These
distinguished authorities on China have been so kind as to
study the book with painstaking care and to give the author
the benefit of their suggestions. All these suggestions have
been incorporated in this edition to the great improvement of
its accuracy.

The result of the Russia-Japan War is noticeably accelerating
the new movement in China. The Chinese have been as
much startled and impressed by the Japanese victory as the
rest of the world and they are more and more disposed to follow
the path which the Japanese have so successfully marked
out. The considerations presented in this book are therefore
even more true to-day than when they were first published.
The problem of the future is plainly the problem of China and
no thoughtful person can afford to be indifferent to the vast
transformation which is taking place as the result of the operation
of the great formative forces of the modern world.

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