Feb 14.
The following review of the past year has been unavoidably delayed. We trust that our readers, to many of whom we are glad to know that this regular feature of several yours standing is acceptable, will pardon its late-eas, in view of the exceptional circumstances. No attempt. wil however, to review the course of the war, 1s, beyond a few bare, outstanding facto, we are still and must remain until peace returns, without that full information om which alone an adequate review can be written.
Cxina's history, like that of the rest of the world in 1915, centres round big issues easily separated from relatively unimportant events. The latter have, of course, their place and need to be touched on in a comprehensive review, but they can be dealt with cursorily and indeed require such treatment if the main events of the year are to be seen in proper perspective. This is due partly to the fact that the intense absorption of Europe in the war has isolated China economically, putting a temporary stoppage to many developments, for example, railways. At the end of 1914 it will be remembered there was much to chronicle under this head: this year there is very little. And such is the case with other aspects of China's life which yield themselves to synoptic treatment in a quite unusual way.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.