226 REVIEWS OF RECENT BOOKS 



as "a safe and agreeable place of residence for foreign merchants," 

 which might be studied with advantage by some of the latter day 

 critics of the Shanghai Municipal Council. 



The author's views and statements on all these complex and often 

 controversial questions are supported by copious notes and references, 

 and at the end of each volume are appendixes consisting of extracts 

 from state papers and statistics. It should be mentioned that the 

 volumes are, as is Mr. Morse's habit, well indexed, each chapter being 

 prefaced by a paged abstract of contents and an alphabetical index of 

 subjects, with a map of China, being placed at the end of the second 

 volume. 



Some may consider the cost of these volumes, Ten Mexican Dollars 

 ($10) each, as somewhat excessive at the present rates of exchange and 

 one could wish that it .had been possible to produce a work of such 

 general interest to all foreign residents in China and to many English 

 speaking Chinese at something less than £2.0s.O^. a volume. There are 

 doubtless good reasons for the high price of these volumes, and as far 

 as the writer of this review is concerned he is free to confess that he 

 has since reading through their pages changed his original intention of 

 borrowing the volumes from time to time from the Club Library, and. 

 casting economy to the winds, become the proud possessor of all three 

 volumes ! K. H. F. 



The Land Tax in China. By Han Liang Huang, ph.d. New York. 



Columbia University. 

 Some Aspects of Japanese Feudal Institutions. By Prof. K. 



ASAKAWA. 



"The purpose of Mr. Huang's book is twofold. It is intended first 

 to serve as a basis for the discussion of the land tax reform . . . and 

 secondly to form an introduction to a larger study of the early fiscal 

 system of the country. . . ." Thus the author. He has given Chapters 

 on the Land tax of Antiquity, continuing the narration down through 

 the Ch'in to the Sui Dynasty : from the T'ang to the Ming. The bulk 

 of the book is concerned with the tax since the Ts'ing Dynasty. This 

 is viewed from many points of view and under different heads such as 

 the Land Policy, Holdings, the Acquirement and transferrence of 

 lands : the Development of the tax : Collection and administration, 

 analysis and criticism of the system : concluding with Land tax reform. 

 There are useful appendices^giving Bibliography, Units of Measure, 

 Names and epochs of the Dynasties, etc. The Bibliography is by no 

 means complete. There is for instance not a single reference to articles 

 by French writers. 



