January i i, 1900] 



NATURE 



down relating to geographical area and population, and 

 the constant soil-creating and fertilising functions of the 

 great river. The Yangtze and its many tributaries are 

 described, supplemented by an account of the inestimable 

 value of these affluents as highways of commerce. The 

 annual rise of the Yangtze is dealt with, and its influence 

 over the districts flooded during part of the year. 



The burning questions of " spheres of influence " and 

 the open door are noted as modes of expression de- 

 signed to conceal (especially spheres of influence) " much 

 greed for ourselves not always dexterously cloaked, and 

 much jealousy and suspicion of our neighbours, and much 

 interest in the undisguised scramble for concessions, in 

 which we have been taking our share at Peking." All 

 this while we ignore the men who have 

 been for two thousand years making China 

 worth scrambling for. The author dreads 

 " breaking up the most ancient of earth's 

 civilisations without giving any equivalent." 

 After having read the book throughout, the 

 impression left on one's mind is that 

 China's most antiquated type of civilisation 

 is not without its grave defects, and that 

 it might be replaced with advantage by 

 a fresh importation from any European 

 state. 



Theoretically, there is much virtue and 

 goodness in the paternal government of 

 China, while its practical results, as one 

 sees them in the condition of the people, 

 are far from satisfactory. The rulers have 

 fallen away from the ancient paths of 

 righteousness, and lapsed into iniquity. 

 The malfaisance of Mandarins may not 

 prove so oppressive in the interior of 

 Szechuan as in other parts of China, where 

 nature is less bountiful, and the'consequent 

 struggle for existence harder. The author 

 says: "The human product of Chinese 

 civilisation and government is to us the 

 greatest of all enigmas," and so he remains 

 to those who know him best. His best 

 points are then catalogued correctly, and 

 the qualities which are the making of him 

 when an immigrant under a liberal and 

 enlightened government in a colony such 

 as the Straits Settlements, and which, at 

 the same time, render him a most objec- 

 tionable addition to a community where his 

 thrift, sobriety and industry enable him to 

 compete successfully in the lower fields of 

 white labour. One peculiar phase of 

 Chinese character may be noted, that is, 

 the dignified gravity of the race, which 

 one is disposed to think is the product of 

 mingled vacuity and conceit, rather than 

 the expression of deeply sensitive Con- 

 fucian minds. 



" The Yangtze basin is a magnificent 

 sphere of influence for all the industrial 

 nations for fair, if not friendly rivalry, and 

 to preserve the open door there." 



This squares with the consensus of opinions of tra- 

 vellers in that favoured region. It offers no field for 

 emigration ; it is now over-populated, hardly producing 

 food enough for the requirements of its people, who 

 during failure, or partial failure of crops, perish in 

 thousands of famine and pestilence. It is alone to the 

 •commercial possibilities that will follow opening up the 

 country', and exploiting its vast coal-fields and stores of 

 mineral wealth, that foreign enterprise nmst look for its 

 reward. 



Shanghai is described and illustrated. The value of 

 the exports and imports of this great trading centre is 



NC. 1576, VOL. 61] 



set down at 37,000,000/. sterling per annum. Here 

 British, American and Frfench settlements adjoin, and 

 one notes that nothing is said in praise either of the 

 French settlement or French colonial aspirations. Civili- 

 sation of an antique and obsolete sort may have its 

 charms ; but the contrast drawn between the model 

 European settlement of Shanghai and the Chinese city of 

 like name leaves no shade of doubt as to the respective 

 merits of the two civilisations — the old and the new. 

 Here one is confronted with another enigma. For the 

 past half century the Chinese city, in insanitary and 

 withal dignified apathy, has been looking on this splen- 

 did European settlement, a fitting outpost of all that is 

 best in modern advancement. 



Mrs. Bishop says : "On returning to the broad, clean, 

 well-paved and sanitary streets of foreign Shanghai, I 

 was less impressed than before that many of its residents 

 are unacquainted with the dark, crowded, dirty, narrow, 

 foul and reeking streets of the neighbouring city. So 

 native Shanghai, with its 5,600,000 souls, goes its swelter- 

 ing way as of yore, breathing the mingled precepts of 

 Confucius, and malodours of the waste products of cen- 

 turies." 



We breathe again freely as the author conveys us 

 to Hangchow, giving a popular description of its pic- 

 turesque surroundings, the present condition [of the 



