Before the beginning of the eighties such books as W. A. P. Martin's translation of Wheaton's International Law were finding serious readers. Fascinating vignettes are given of K'ang Yiu-wei, the leader.of the Hundred Days of Reform in 1898 and of his disciples, Tan Ssu-tung and Liang Chu-chao, What an amazing, electrifying influence K'ang had on those who gathered round him. For him learning was not, as it had been with the literati in general, the mumbling of old. saws and triting with elegant verse. It was stern attention to the real lessons of history and being a Confucianist of the best tradition it seems to have been born in on him with the force of an apocalyptic vision that a day of salvation for mankind was dawning, and that he had a leading part to play. He played it so well that any nation would be proud of his record. In such a man we see an instance, "not of a struggle between East and West, but of the way in which the Chinese mind presented with a whole new world of political experience could retain its initiative and derive inspiration." As K'ang did not approve of republican principles, when, under Sun Yat-sen's influence, China turned in that direction he was left behind, Nevertheless he continues to exert a spiritual influence down to the present day, The Emperor's Millions The forces which gave birth to that extraordinary figure, Sun Yat-sen, are outlined and we are able to follow the growth of the Revolutionary Party. It is said that when China was being urged to appoint diplomatic representations abroad, one argument employed was that she could thereby protect her emigrant subjects, A certain official replied that his master, the Emperor, had so many millions of subjects that it was immaterial to him what happened to the few hundreds who went abroad.
Peking's lordly-disregard of her emigrants proved a costly mistake since in the first decade of the twentieth century the total ran into millions, and it was among these that Dr. Sun found his first supporters. Every student knows the result. After 1905 Dr. Sun's republican gospel attracted more and more support, and this continued down to the fateful year of 1911 when the Republic came to birth, The influence of such European thought @s that taught by Montes-quiet and Bluntschle is painted and it is noted how deep were the impressions their principles made on the minds of the reformers at the end of the nineteenth century. This led to codified law becoming a popular field of study and the effect of this is seen in the period 1912-1925 when, on the one hand, groups of intellectuals were carried away by enthusiasm for foreign political institutions but having no practical knowledge as to how to make them work; and on the other hand, mercenary groups of adventurers built up spheres of military interest without the least concern for any political principles, Western or Chinese. The shock of the World War however was so staggering to Chinese minds that it led to a gradual revulsion against the idea of western superiority.
Education Old and New If foreigners are to understand the significance of education in China, they must realize the peculiar religious sacredness attaching to it. In the fourth Chapter there is a delightful outline of the old Chinese education, of its humanism, its moral and intellectual values and of its limitations, Thereafter we see the destruction of the old education and the enormous difficulties of building up the new. There is the controversy over missionary schools which some regard as a great benefaction to the Chinese people and others regard as the reverse, The extraordinary influence of the Pai or "plain language" movement is seen and the intellectual revolutionary effects of the visits of Professor Dewey, Dr. Monroe and Bertrand Russell. A hopeful note is struck when it is pointed out that to responsible-minded educators it is a matter of life and death that the soul of Chinese education should be saved from western materialism.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.