This book is a selection of articles from Chinese periodicals of the past few years, translated and edited by members of the research staff of the Secretariat of the Institute of Pacific Relations. This particular publication forms part of the Institute}s programme of research into problems of With regard to Hongkong we see none of those forces operating "which Would stimulate a strong movement for educational development. Philanthropy and charity, associated with the Christian religion, play their part of fashioning the minds of the local youth, but the efforts are more. prominent in connection with the middle class than with the populace as a whole. The system therefore is like a bunding with a heavy, ornate root and very poor basement. This follows from the nature of things. There is no strong community spirit, no sense of belonging together nor of mutual responsibility.
The Colony is a convenient pied d t ere, a kind of caravanserai in which travellers are temporarily housed, do their business, and depart.
Professor Forster's opinion education of the masses must be taken seriously in hand ifa nation is to survive. "Art Chronicle" by Mr. Chun Kum-wen, deals chiefly with land utilization, population and rural Chinese war time cartoonists, and standards of living in Pacific countries. It supplements Professor J. Lossing Buck's statistical investigation of Chinese agriculture. In the past, Western students of the Chinese language devoted themselves more to the ancient history and culture of China. It is better, as in this case, that research by Chinese scholars is being made on contemporary Chinese society. The investigations recorded in' this collection are from such diverse sections as Yunnan, Suiyuan, Kiangsu, Kansu, Shantung, Szechuen, Manchuria and Fukien, The subjects treated are divided into sections; the land situation itself; the farming problem; exploitation.by capital; auxi bary income for peasant families and the problem of rural migration.
China's problem of land tenure seems to be more involved than was that of feudal Europe. Statistics published in 1918 by the Department of Agriculture and Commerce estimate that 50 per cent. of the peasants were occupying owners, 30 per cent. were tenants and 20 per cent. owned part of their farm land, while renting the remainder. The investigations of the bool show an astonishing concentration of land into the hands of fewer and fewer people.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.