was brought within the sociological environment by Christian
travellers. From the tenth to the thirteenth century the north
was occupied by Kitans and Nüchêns, and the whole Empire was under
Mongol sway for eighty-eight years in the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries. Relations of a commercial and religious nature were held
with neighbours during the following four hundred years. Regular
diplomatic intercourse with Western nations was established as a result
of a series of wars in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Until
recently the nation held aloof from alliances and was generally averse
to foreign intercourse. From 1537 onward, as a sequel of war or treaty,
concessions, settlements, etc., were obtained by foreign Powers. China
has now lost some of her border countries and large adjacent islands,
the military and commercial pressure of Western nations and Japan
having taken the place of the military pressure of the Tartars already
referred to. The great problem for her, an agricultural nation, is
how to find means and the military spirit to maintain her integrity,
the further violation of which could not but be regarded by the student
of sociological history as a great tragedy and a world-wide calamity.


Physical, Emotional, and Intellectual Characters

The physical characters of the Chinese are too well known to need
detailed recital. The original immigrants into North China all
belonged to blond races, but the modern Chinese have little left of
the immigrant stock. The oblique, almond-shaped eyes, with black iris
and the orbits far apart, have a vertical fold of skin over the inner
canthus, concealing a part of the iris, a peculiarity distinguishing
the eastern races of Asia from all other families of man. The stature
and weight of brain are generally below the average. The hair is black,