REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS 179 



was deeply hurt at the impiety of the rites, not because of any 

 personal affront. That is why he left Luh. 



The book has many illustrations and helpful maps. And the 

 foreign student as well as English speaking Chinese students will not 

 fail to find great help in this compendium of Chinese history. 



M. 



Li Hung Chang. By J. 0. P. Bland. London : Constable & Co., Ltd. 



We are inclined to think that Mr. Bland's writing is seen at its 

 best in the last chapter of his life of Li Hung Chang. He rises to 

 flights of eloquence that is impressive, considering that his subject is 

 a man, — and a man of such extraordinary contradictions in character 

 as Li, it is all the more remarkable. It was' a many-sided character 

 true, and the great reaches of Li's experiences afford ample and 

 generous room for the use of a facile pen and a broad treatment. In 

 the chapter on human equation Mr. Bland has possibly found a subject 

 peculiarly adapted to his kind of writing and which has given him an 

 opportunity for general conclusions that are instructive. There is too 

 about this chapter a moral warmth and fervour which is quite edifying. 



Li was not a man that could evoke the spirit of hero worship in 

 the mind of any one except those who based their own line of conduct 

 on his. The man who did so had needs to suppress conscience and the 

 teaching of the Sages before he could bend the mind in esteem of Li. 

 And of course when these two factors are eliminated it is likely that 

 there is lacking that which forms the true hero worshipper. It must 

 then be the relation of valet and master rather than the devoted offer- 

 ing of a warm heart alive in admiration of its hero. 



Li was not a man easy to write about. There was much in him 

 that was likeable, much that was admirable, but more that was base 

 and double-faced. A sentence in the memoir is very striking and hits 

 off the character excellently. 'While he professed to see the danger 

 of the opium curse, he was still one of the greatest poppy growers in 

 the land.' Video jjroboque bona sed seqvor mala, is an old experience 

 illustrated in every age. Li is a glaring example. Mr. Bland has we 

 think, in striking a fair balance, drawn a true resultant of such a 

 character as Li, at least so far as words can do so, based on possibly 

 insufficient data. And he is to be heartily congratulated on this vivid 

 pourtrayal of a statesman who if he at times tried to help China, and 

 he did render much aid in many critical affairs, yet who at the same 

 time undoubtedly is responsible for much that troubles China to-day. 

 The lack of foresight, failure to realise the seriousness of certain 

 actions, inability to rise above circumstances, inordinate love of family, 



