Preface to the Second Edition
THE author gratefully acknowledges the kindness with which his book has been received not only in this country but in England and China. In this edition he has corrected a number of errors that appeared in the first edition and has availed himself of later statistical information. He is under special obligations to the Rev. W. A. P. Martin, D. D., LL. D., of Wuchang, and the Rev. Arthur H. Smith, D. D. LL. D., of Pang-chwang, for valuable counsel. These distinguished authorities on China have been so kind as to study the book with painstaking care and to give the author the benefit of their suggestions. All these suggestions have been incorporated in this edition to the great improvement of its accuracy.
The result of the Russia-Japan War is noticeably accelerating the new movement in China. The Chinese have been as much startled and impressed by the Japanese victory as the rest of the world and they are more and more disposed to follow the path which the Japanese have so successfully marked out. The considerations presented in this book are therefore even more true to-day than when they were first published. The problem of the future is plainly the problem of China and no thoughtful person can afford to be indifferent to the vast transformation which is taking place as the result of the operation of the great formative forces of the modern world.
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