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The military band played the following pro- gramme of music during dinner :— March " Inauguration of Electric Light" Hamm
"Elisa e Claudio "
Overture Valse Selection
Valse
Gavotte
Fairy Visions
"La Mascotle"
Messenger of Love First Primrose "
Mercadante
Coote Audran Coote
Eilenberg Se ection “The Pirates of Penzance" A. Sullivan
Polka
Brica Brac"
REVIEWS.
-:0:
The World's History. Vol. II.
Eastern Asia, and the Indian Ocean.
Coole |
Oceania,
Edited
by Dr. H. F. HELMOT. London: William Heinemann.
THIS is a somewhat bulky quarto volume of about 650 pages. The editor claims for this survey of man's record." as its sub-title is. that it is the first in which it has been possible to trace historical evolution, for the divisions adopted have been made solely with an eye to what have become the historical characteristics of sharply differentiated zones of population in what was once the homogeneous human race. Thus the first volume was dedicated to the American branch of the genus, which has deve loped in the course of centuries into a distinct species; in the third volume (which was second in order of publication) the destinies were followed of that other racial unity, the peoples of Western Asia and Africa; and in the one now before us the gap dividing these two races is filled by depicting the link that connects them, the civilisation of East Asia and Oceania in all
their sub-divisions.
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(June 27, 1904.
THE HONGKONG WEEKLY PRESS AND
horrible barbarities of the sava ve hordes who made it is a good commercial undertaking, but for this lurid page in the history of foreign inter. no other reason. Could innocence go farther? course with China, but these missionary annals True the designs of Russia were not so clearly had to be written, and they form about the most revealed then as they subsequently were, but gruesome of all that the shelves of the missionary Sir Robert Hart's views were certainly not societies contain. The book constitutes "a shared by his fellow countrymen in positions of complete roll of the Christian heroes martyred greater freedom and less responsibility," and in China in 1900, with narratives of survivors." events have amply justified their fears. Mr. Though the writer has confined himself to a
Claude Kinder, C.M.G., the manager of the description of events as they affected Protestant Northern Railway Company, was so far from missionaries only. the reader is often sharing the views of Sir Robert Hart that he incidentally reminded in the narratives that maintained that if an alliance were not formed Roman Catholic Missions suffered the same with America and Japan to keep Russia out of perils and dangers, and he might safely con- Manchuria by force all China, including clude that their roll of martyrs is equally as long Hongkong, would eventually become Russian, as the Protestant list. It is for the same reasons and the conquest of India by Russia and the of time and space that the writer has given downfall of the British Empire would follow. only # selection of the marvellous tales "At the Embassy there was not the apprehen- of the escapes of Protestant missionariession which existed outside as to the injurious from the hands of their enemies.
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The new
The author admits that the propagation of Christianity played an important part in the creation of the ferment aniong the people which culminated in the rising. but would seem to imply that the introduction (by the hated foreign devil) of the national curse of the opium habit was a far more potent cause. This is how the writer puts it: ways introduced by the hated foreign devil, who is responsible amongst other things for the ntroduction of the national curse of the opium, habit, which is eating out the vital powers of the nation. have caused, and are causing. the bitterest spirit of animosity in the people | generally. The supposition underlying this statement that China was inuocent of opium until the hated foreign devil" arrived with the drug from India. is an entirely erroneous one, though sedulously propagated by a goodly number of missionaries, and we should seriously question the statement that the prevalence of the opium habit is or ever was a cause of bitter animosity towards the foreigner.
We have only to add that short, hiographical notes are given in the concluding chapter of the book concerning the martyrs, and interspersed throughout the book there are 144 portraits and
other illustrations.
If we give a brief outline of the method followed in writing the history of Eastern Asia the reader will be able the better to form an idea of the general scope of the work as well as of its great interest and value to the student of history. The chapter on Easteru Asia which em- braces China, Japan, and Corea.covers 121 pages. Each country is separately dealt with, and sub- headings are given to particular epochs. Thus we find the history of China divided into the following sections:-(a) The name; (b) the Far Eastern Impressions. By ERNEST F. G. country and its population; (e) The mythical HATCH, M.P. London: Hutchinson & Co. period; (d) the legendary period; (e) the
It was perhaps a difficult matter to select a religion, philosophy and civilisation of the title for a book like this which would convey to ancient Chinese: (f) the ancient history of
the public a proper idea of its nature, but it is China; (g) Buddhism in China: (h) the medieval
easier to say that the choice of the title is history of
China: () the beginnings of unfortunate than to suggest a better one. Christianity in China (635-1368); (k) China Readers of literature-we ought rather to say during the period of transition from medieval books-concerning the Far East have no con- to modern times: the Ming dynasty (1368-1644)suming desire to read the "Impressions" of a (1) the second period of Christianity in China (from 1581); (m) the modern history of China: (n) retrospect. The remainder of the volume is written much on the same general plan. Herr Max von Brandt, formerly German Resident Minister in Japan and Ambassador to China, is the author of the entire chapter on Eastern Asia, and so far as our knowledge can test it. he has done his work remarkably well. Accuracy is not its only characteristic: the history has the great merit of being succinctly written, and in a style which does not weary the reader.
The other chapters in the volume deal in a similar way with Central Asia and Siberia: Australia and Oceania; India; Indonesia; and the historical importance of the Indian Ocean, There are maps and numerous plates interspersed in the book, and it is furnished with an excellent index.
The China Marytrs of 1900. By ROBERT COVENTRY FORSYTH. London: Religious Tract Society.
MANY books have been published during the past three years describing the memorable fanatical rising of the "Boxers" in the northern provinces of China in the year 1900, and the tragic consequences to hundreds of foreign residents in the interior. From none of them will the reader get a more vivid picture of the horrors of the period than is presented to him in the somewhat bulky volume before us. The aim of the writer has been to describe the effects of the rising on missions and missionaries in China, but owing to the wealth of material he has had to confine himself to a description of events affecting only the Protestant missionary body. We need hardly say that it requires a strong nerve to read these vivid accounts of the
Globetrotter, because experience has taught that they are usually of no value and of no interest unless the contortion of facts is so gross as to make them humorous. Mr.Hatch's book.however. is of a different stamp, and is worthy of a place on the bookshelf. Its value to people already acquainted with the Far East consists not so much in the interesting impressions' the author formed of the people of Japan. Corea and China, as on account of the information he has collected with regard to modern develop. ments in China and Corea about which the public generally have very hazy ideas. We get not only the impressions" of a business man, but much of the information he collected dur- ing his tour, and it is information about mining operations in Corea, as well as in China, and about the foreign railway concessions which will interest the " China hand more than any of the other interesting chapters of the book.
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Before coming to this information we are interested greatly in the introductory chapter to the China impressions “in which Mr. Hatch reviews the Far Eastern Problem and quotes from his diary the records he made after conversations with Kang Yu Wei, the Reformer the late Li Hung Chang, and Sir Robert Hart. The march of Russia was the principal political topic of the time, as it has been ever since, and Mr. Hatch rightly places on the shoulders of Li Hung Chang the responsibility for the modern misfortunes of China, for without his aid it would have been impossible for Russia to have won the astoundin diplomatic successes she did. Curiously enough. Sir Robert Hart entertained the opinion that Russia could not if she would, make any great encroachment upon China, and he told Mr. Hatch that Russia would like to buy the Northern Railway because
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consequences which would result from the | purchase of the Northern Railway by Russia," but as Mr. Hatch further on observes, recent events have only strengthened the view entertained by the unofficial community that on no account should we permit the British interests in the line to pass into other hands.
The chapter dealing with the railway conces- sions is, as we have said, a very informing one. Few people are aware of the extent of this rail. way development, and will be surprised to learn that the concessions already obtained represent a mileage of 5,051, while an additional 2,080 miles are covered by the concessions contemplated. If we exclude the Manchurian lines, the great- est mileage in the list is British, but Mr. Hatch points out that we do not occupy the position in the field of Chinese railway development which is ours by virtue of our enormous trade in- terests in the country and (until recent years) our predominating political influence. Less than a fifth of the concessions granted are in respect of British lines. We have only a fourth greater mileage than Belgium, and but an eighth in excess of Germany." And Mr. Hatch goes on to say. If we look at accomplished work We are even less advantageously placed, for what little has been done by British capitalists out- side the Peking Syndicate area, the Belgians, the French and the Germans are all well under weigh with most important schemes." Attention is called by the author to the delay in the con- struction of the Canton-Kowloon line as well as to other notable concessions held by the British and Chinese Corporation which are still to a considerable extent on paper.
Equally interesting are the pages which deal with the valuable mining concessions in Shansi that the Peking syndicate are exploiting In the concluding chapters we have some interesting speculations as to the political future of China and her relations with the Powers. The author looks forward to an alliance of England and the United States as one of the certainties of a future which is not distant. Mr. Hateh pleads for a thoroughly organised and well-equipped Asiatic Department in Foreign Office. In the final chapter he discusses the effect of Japan's successes on the Asiatic mind, and urges that the Japanisa- tion of China must be resisted.
our
The book is well worth reading. The letter- press is interspersed with eighty-eight illustra- tions, and there are three useful maps. Messrs. Kelly and Walsh have the book on sale.
China From Within: A Study of Opium Fallacies and Missionary Mistakes. By ARTHUR DAVENPORT, London: T. Fisher Unwin.
of
There is a technique to be learnt in the trade of authorship as in every other line, and Mr. Davenport has not mastered that technique. But in spite of its technical faults this book should be read for the information it gives on subjects of popular interest about which the public generally have very little accurate know- ledge. In his study of opium fallacies the author analyses the literature of the Anti-Opium League and exposes the fallacies which underlie many its premises. Exeter Hall congregations are told that Great Britain forced the opium traffic on China fifty years ago by a war, but as a matter of fact the Arabs introduced the poppy into China in the eighth century. and Chinese records of the Ming Dynasty men- tion it as among the flora of Yunnan, where it is indigenous. It was first licensed as an article Our readers may be pre- of import in 1722.