REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS 



Before Sunset. 

 Near Wtjsih. 

 The min baa ceased, the fields of young green rice become bright 



gelds of living gold. 

 Tha mirroring canals and ponds gleam like polished silver. 

 |. r ,, m tl„. two horizons springs the full clear curve of a brilliant 



rainbow. 

 Near one end of the rainbow a bronze fisherman, clad in a turquoise 



cloth, stands in his ebony boat. 

 About bis head he slowly whirls a net, woven of gold and flame; 

 It tails with a hissing sound into the cool still waters disturbing for 



a moment the dreaming image of a ruined pagoda. 

 From the further bank, two herons, glistening white, rise up into 



the pale green sky where the evening star burns for ever before 



the high altar of God. 



F. A. 



The British in China and Far Eastern Trade. By C. A. Middleton 

 Smith, M.Sc. London : Constable and Co., Ltd. 1920. pp. 

 ix— 295. 

 This work is a very British production, by a Britisher, for Britishers, 

 and chiefly about Britishers. If the writer possesses an international 

 mind, he puts it aside for the most part, and gives free play to his 

 frank admiration for his countrymen, and his serene assurance that 

 the British first, and next the Anglo-Saxon, are the salt of the earth, 

 whose savor the Chinese need if they are to be preserved. The 

 reader will be inclined to wonder whether the saw is right which says 

 that "An Englishman is conceited but not boastful; an American is 

 boastful but not conceited." 



The author begins by stating as his problem, the responsibili- 

 ties and opportunities of Anglo-Saxons in China, in view of 

 the awakening there. Taking trade as his text, he gives a short 

 history of trade relations between China and other nations, and a 

 \ icw of the outlook ; then he takes up particular problems, such trade 

 difficulties, chambers of commerce, banks and exchange, the machinery 

 market. Then he expands in interesting, if somewhat irregular 

 fashion, and gives brief biographies of Britons who have served China, 

 and of a Chinese captain of industry; describes Hong Kong (which 

 1»' always hyphenates), Canton and South China, Shanghai and the 

 valley, shipping, railways, mines, and some British Hongs. 

 chapter on all forms of mission work except the form which 

 lionaries themselves regard as the most important is provided under 

 the title -Philanthropic Efforts." But that is doubtless due to the 



