REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS 227 



Touen-houang (fjlfei. named Tunhwang in the Postal Guide) is 

 ■a hsien city, in the extreme north-west of China proper. Kansu 

 province is, roughly speaking, bottle-shaped, with the neck pointing 

 north-west, and Touen-houang is not far from the cork. Situated on 

 a historic highway, it "put all the civilisations of inner Asia in 

 communication with the Far East." Fifteen kilometers to the south- 

 east of the town are found the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas. 

 Within these caves (which total 171 in number), are Buddhist 

 sanctuaries whose walls are covered with frescoes almost all of 

 which date from some time between the fifth and the eleventh 

 centuries A.D. The dryness of the climate and the forgetfulness 

 of man has preserved these records of a time long past, and the 

 evolution of Buddhist art during the period can be studied with the 

 exceptional facility which the completeness of the record affords. 



The reproductions themselves are above praise ; no one accustomed 

 to use a camera in China will fail to be moved by the statement that 

 it was necessary to make the original pictures with plates more than 

 two years old. Truly the results are superb, and are really worthy of 

 the importance for the student of the subjects involved. We shall await 

 with much impatience the later descriptive text which it is promised 

 will deal with dates, meanings, descriptive borders, inscriptions, etc. 

 The fact that the work is not complete makes impossible a review of 

 the half that is under our eye ; that will come more suitably when the 

 whole is at hand. We must content ourselves with urging all who have 

 any interest in Buddhist Art to acquire these most recent spoils of 

 scholarly conquest. H. K. W. 



China, Japan and Korea. By J. 0. P. Bland. Published by 



Heinemann, London. 

 Is there any scientific explanation of the fact which we all recognize 

 that some people cannot live in China without an overwhelming impulse 

 to explain this conundrum of a country to the world in general, whilst 

 other persons eschew giving expression to their views more and more as 

 the tale of their years of residence mounts up? For our own part all 

 we are prepared to say on the subject is that to be as free from doubt 

 as Confucius or Mr. J. 0. P. Bland should be an incentive to instruct- 

 ing one's fellows. 



Mr. Bland has in addition an excellent style marred by a fondness 

 for repeating catchwords. His latest volume is lively reading and 

 contains much commonsense, very wholesome at this period of China's 

 history when on the solid mass of her peaceful and vast population 

 stolidly following the ways of its primeval fathers floats a froth of 



