140
BOOK REVIEWS
SOUND AND SYMBOL IN CHINESE. By Bernhard Karlgren. Hong Kong University Press, 1962. Paper covers. 97 pages. HK$6.00.
This is the first volume in a series published by the Hong Kong University Press under the title CHINESE COMPANION SERIES, and it is an admirable choice. It consists of a new edition of Professor Karlgren's illuminating study, first published in 1922, which has been revised by the author himself and the Bibliographical Notes brought up to date. Short in length this book is nevertheless of the highest importance and no student of the Chinese language can afford to neglect it. Even those who are not primarily linguists should certainly read it since the subject which it discusses lies at the very roots of Chinese culture. It is written in a pleasant and lucid style which helps to make it easy to understand. The text contains a number of Chinese characters. All students of Chinese will be glad to see that there is a photograph of the author at the front of the book. He is one of the most distinguished living Sinologists.
It is good to see this important work available in an inexpensive but attractive format and the Hong Kong University Press is to be congratulated on an auspicious start to its CHINESE COMPANION SERIES.
J. L. CRANMER-BYNG.
ASIAN PERSPECTIVES. The Bulletin of the Far-Eastern Prehistory Society. Edited by Wilhelm G. Solheim II. Volume V, Nos. 1 & 2, 1961. Hong Kong University Press, 1962. Approx. 130 pages each. Illustrated. HK$25 per number.
Number 1 of Volume 5 contains regional reports from seventeen areas, including a brief note for Hong Kong, and a longer one for China mainland by R. C. Rudolph giving a useful annotated bibliography of recent monographs and Journals dealing with current work on Chinese archaeology. It also includes a few notes and articles including a note on a glazed bowl from Lamma island.