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BOOK REVIEWS
(2) to instill elementary knowledge of Confucian classics in the mind of the young; and (3) to familiarize children with the most widely used quotations, proverbs and stories from historical and literary writings. This booklet falls into the first of these categories.
Although this type of work had undergone a continuous process of revision and development, some of the early texts had been kept in use since their first appearance in Han period. A few examples of Tang times can still be seen in collections of Tunhuang scrolls preserved in China and abroad. The Sung Neo-Confucian scholars first advocated and worked for a more relevant language teaching method for children and quite a number of standard work in this field were compiled during the Sung and Yuan Periods. But it was only in early Ming Dynasty that illustrations of the kind included in this primer were added.
Thus this slim volume will be of special value to those interested in the study of Chinese educational techniques, particularly in regard to the study of basic language teaching. At the same time it is of considerable use as a historical reference work since the characters and illustrations are drawn from everyday life, thus providing us with additional information on physical surroundings of the period. Professor Goodrich has also given us in his notes, romanizations and brief explanations of individual characters and compounds, which further increase the usefulness of the work as a small but comprehensive source book of the times.
MA MENG
Hong Kong, 1967.
CHINA: THE PEOPLE'S MIDDLE KINGDOM AND THE USA John K. Fairbank; Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, and London, Oxford University Press, 1967, pp. xi, 145. HK$27.50,
How refreshing it is to read a volume of essays on China instead of one of the many tomes which issue from the world's presses on this abstruse country. Professor Fairbank is a famous historian, but his book shows him as what many experts at their own subject cannot manage to be, a populariser in the very best sense of the word. He has been able to distill from his many