CHINA'S RENAISSANCE. 



389 



possibilities of the first, it has become of wide political import. After 

 noting briefly in this paper the period of beginnings and indicating 

 the present-day aspects of this threefold renaissance, we shall in 

 subsequent papers confine ourselves to a consideration of the educa- 

 tional factors. 



The intercourse between China and the West began when the Portu- 

 guese sent their first trading vessel to her southern ports, of which 

 Canton is the chief, in 1516, and till 1812 it was a purely commercial 

 relation in which the power and civilization of Europe were represented 

 for the most part by the East India Company, seeking only for the 



A typical Street Scene in Victoria, Hongkong. 



advantages of trade and persistently opposing all efforts designed to 

 enlighten the people with whom they dealt. " The attitude of official 

 China during this period was that of supercilious arrogance. China 

 sought no intercourse with outsiders. If they sought trade with her, 

 it was granted as a gracious favor by an officialdom which despised trade 

 and traders too much to attend seriously to the details involved until 

 they became matters threatening international rupture." 



The event which began the new order of things was the ' opium 

 war' between Great Britain and China, which, though little to the 

 credit of a righteous nation, nevertheless has served as the origin of 

 what must ultimately be of immeasurable benefit to the more benighted 

 land. By the treaty of peace of 1812 British subjects were permitted 

 to reside at certain important ports along the eastern coast and to trade 



