Village Life in China. A Study in ociolegy. By Arthur H. Smith, p.v. it trations. In cloth gilt, 8vo.
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gH. Revell Ca. Shanghai: Kelly Walsh, La.
The appearance of a fresh work by the author of Chinese Characteristics will be eagerly welcomed by every reader of that most valuable book, and anticipations will be found fully justified. The new book displays the same shrewd observation, the same keen insight into the hidden springs of native character, and the same delightfully dry humour which have made Chinese Characteristics a standard work. There is hardly a statement which can be made about the Chinese that is not open to contradiction: they are a confused mass of inconsistencies. But although they are so puzzling as to be almost incomprehensible to the Western mind, they are intensely interesting for that very reason; and no one has done more than the Rev. Arthur H. Smith to throw light upon the darkness and make them intelligible. It must be explained that by Village Life is not meant life only in such small agglomerations of houses "xs we see around Shanghai, but country life generally as opposed to that in the large and important cities, Consequently the scope of the work is much wider than the title may suggest; since by far the majority of the inhabitants of China live in such villages as are here intended to be understood. The book is divided into three parts, the first dealing with The Village, its Institutions, Usayes, and Public Characters; the second with Village Family Life; and the third discusses the regoneration of the Chinese village and asks what Christiani'y can do for China, The dest way, and only adequate way, of giving an account of this hook would he to enumerate the headings of the chapters, and to say that each subject has been thoroughly treated. We content ourselves, however, with noting certain points which' have especially claimed our atten. tion. From actual investigation Mr. Smith is of opinion that in the plain of North China it is reasonable to estimate 300 persons to the square mile for the more sparsely settled districts, and from 1,000 to 1,500 for the more thickly populated regions. The most densely populated country in Europe is Belgium, with an average of 586 to the square mile, From these figures we get a startling idea of what the struggle for existence is in this undeveloped country, and how marvelously law-abiding the people must be to live peaceably under such grinding pressure, he disregard of personal comfort, sume in'lication of which will be found in every chapter, is the next subject which has excited our attention. Housesare built, without any reference to convenience of position, of unsuitable or perishable materials, and are cold in winter, hot in summer, and smoky all the year round. There are no Proper receptacles for valuables, the only closets being made by leaving out a few bricks from the wall, and everything is in the most hopeless confusion. Roads are described as, each of them, simply a forced contribution on the part of the owners of the land to the general welfare, and as there is no earth available for repairs their state is deplorable. In districts subject to inundation a raised rond which could be used at all seasons is a triple impossibility; the persons whose land must be disturbed would not suffer it; no one would lift a finger to do the work, and no one would find the materials necessary to make the "road permanent. A very
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.