ce before readers a
sketch of things as I saw them, and to convey to their minds an idea
of how Europeans live there, of their amusements, of their work, and
of those things which are matters of daily interest to them, so that
my book may serve as a kind of preface to that enthralling volume, the
current history of China, as it is daily revealed in the press, in
magazines and in learned works.

While confining myself herein to the lighter side of narrative, I am
not unconscious of those intricate problems and deep studies connected
with the Far East, but to which profound research and matured judgment
must be applied, though information thereon, even when collected and
published, would appeal mostly to the narrow circle of experts on
matters Chinese.

The vast Empire of China with its hundreds of millions of toiling
slaves, with its old, old civilisation reaching back for untold years
prior to the dawn of history in the West, with its manners and
customs so worn into the national character that they almost form the
character itself, with its fertile plains, its sandy deserts, its
lofty mountains, its mighty rivers, its torrid heat and arctic cold,
its devastating floods, its cruel famines and loathsome epidemics,
represents a _mass_, the contemplation of which staggers the mind and
makes one ask, "What is Europe trying to do here? Does she hope to
conquer, to change or to purify?"

After a residence of twelve years in various parts of the country I
instinctively feel that while military occupation by the Great Powers
may be possible, not only is China in a sense unconquerable, but that
she is eminently a conquering nation, though not by clash of arms.
Insidiously, remorselessly and viciously she will subdue apostles of
the West who are sent to her, and unless persistently restrained will
overflow into adjacent lands and conquer there by cheap labour and
unremitting toil.

For the photographs I am indebted to the generosity of Mrs T. Child,
as well as to T.T.H. Ferguson, A.J.E. Allen, Carlos Cabral and the
late H. Hall, Esquires.

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

I. ANGLO-CHINESE LIFE 1

II. SERVANTS AND TRADESMEN 26

III. SHOOTING 46

IV. RIDING 73

V.