BOOK REVIEWS
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seem to arise from an invincible conviction of the superiority of some western ways, of the inferiority of some Chinese practices, and of the inevitability and desirability of a general westernisation of China in at least religion, and some social customs. Lethbridge rightly draws attention to these remarks in his short but clear introductions. At the same time, it is abundantly clear from all these books that these remarks arise only from routine acceptance by the writers of the common assumptions of their time and class. Bredon's Peking, indeed, makes it abundantly clear that some of these beliefs, and particularly the belief that traditional religious practices were "superstitious", were also held by many Chinese at this time, particularly by the new revolutionary groups. In most of their work these western writers were recording facts, from a depth of personal acquaintance with the Chinese that few modern writers can even begin to emulate. What is more, the China these writers knew was the traditional, pre-modern society of the late Ch'ing: the society that so many modern scholars labour so hard to comprehend was lived and breathed by them.
For me at least, my first introduction to Dyer Ball's Things Chinese has led to a very real admiration for a work which is still of the greatest value as a prime source for traditional China. Similarly, I have never been to Peking, but Bredon's Peking is so well and clearly written that the later Imperial capital now seems very real and vivid to me. Again, there can be little doubt that Bredon and Mitrophanow's The Moon Year represents, for all time, the fullest, clearest, and most sympathetic treatment of northern religious practices: these differ markedly from those in the Cantonese speaking parts of China. Reading The Moon Year leads me to regret that no writer of similar stature was moved to record southern ritual practices at the same date.
It would be invidious to attempt to judge between these works. Peking and The Moon Year are clearly classics which will stand for all time as the best statement obtainable of a vanished world, but Things Chinese will almost certainly be the most consulted of the three, at least from my bookshelves. This is for two reasons. First is Dyer Ball's clarity, lack of bias, common sense and accuracy: his articles spell out well the traditional attitudes of the Hong Kong area. His comments are, indeed, a better insight into traditional practices than almost