210 A NATURALIST IN WESTERN CHINA 



China is a continent rather than a country, and everything 

 is so entirely different from and opposite to Western ideas 

 and practice. Hundreds of books have been written on China 

 and the Chinese, yet Httle more than the fringe of the subject 

 has been really broached. There is, indeed, no finality, and 

 in any one book it is impossible to do more than itemize an 

 occasional fact or two. Nearly eleven years of my life have 

 been spent wandering up and down the by-ways of interior 

 China. I was there through the Boxer crisis and the Russo- 

 Japanese War, and also through certain local riots and dis- 

 turbances. My experiences in China, though varied, have on 

 the whole been very pleasant. To speak as we find and 

 courageously is the only just stand to take. With all their 

 peculiarities, conservatism, and faults, the Chinese are a great 

 people. Phoenix-like, China has arisen time and again from 

 the ashes of decadent dynasties, and there is every reason to 

 beHeve she will accomplish this again. Her peace-loving, 

 industrious millions can never be utterly smothered or nation- 

 ally effaced. Sooner or later they must come into their own, 

 and side by side with the people of the Occident help forward 

 the destiny of the world. 



