REVIEW. 



The Provinces of China, Together with a History of the First Year of H. I. M. 

 Hsuan Tung, and an Account of the Government of China. Reprinted from 

 "The National Review" (Cliina) us "The National Review Annual," 1910. 

 Pp. 188. Cloth. Shanghai: "The National Review" Olliee, 1910. 



Those among the millions of otherwise well-informed dwellers in 

 Europe and America who plead guilty to the charge of ignorance of 

 matters Chinese, brought against them by Colonel Bruce in his preface 

 to this work, would indeed seem to have reason to be grateful to the 

 publishers for their effort to dispel a part, at least, of that ignorance by 

 offering here a fairly concise survey of the essentials and potentials of 

 each of the provinces of China. 



After an introductory chapter on the extension, the population and the 

 political division of the country in general accompanied by a table sliowing 

 the present condition of Chinese railway enterprise as distributed among 

 the different competing foreign countries, the work dedicates a chapter 

 to each of the eighteen provinces and four dependencies (Tibet, Sinkiang, 

 Mongolia, Manchuria), discussing them fairly uniformly along the follow- 

 ing general lines : position, area, density of population, topography, 

 climate, natural resources, communications, cities and chief towns, and 

 illustrating the text by sketch-maps of each province. The concluding 

 chapters, "The first year of Hsuan Tung" and "the Government of 

 China," give a cursory review of the main political events during the year 

 1910, respectively of the different departments and boards entrusted with 

 the administration of national affairs. Three different indexes facilitate a 

 rapid reference to particular points (places, productions, etc.) on which 

 information is sought. 



The work is in the main a compilation of data collected from the best 

 available sources; i. e., partly from official publications, such as the 

 Customs Reports, and partly from works like those of Richthofen, Little, 

 Hosie, and others. It should prove useful to those who look upon China 

 as a field for the extension of their commercial or industrial activity. 

 In any case, the reader, before opening the book, will do well to make 

 up his mind as to whether the interest he takes in matters Chinese is proof 

 against every once in a while there being flung into his face, between the 

 pages he is expected to read, a flaring advertisement of cement, cooking 

 ranges, pianos, or other foreign commodity. 



Otto Scheerer. 



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