globe of
sufficient extent to make a figure on their map: one of these is
China. With more than three times the population of Russia, and an
almost equal area, in natural advantages she is without a rival,
if one excepts the United States. Imagination revels in picturing
her future, when she shall have adopted Christian civilisation,
and when steam and electricity shall have knit together all the
members of her gigantic frame.

It was by the absorption of small states that the Chinese people
grew to greatness. The present work will trace their history as
they emerge, like a rivulet, from the highlands of central Asia
and, increasing in volume, flow, like a stately river, toward the
eastern ocean. Revolutions many and startling are to be recorded:
some, like that in the epoch of the Great Wall, which stamped the
impress of unity upon the entire people; others, like the Manchu
conquest of 1644, by which, in whole or in part, they were brought
under the sway of a foreign dynasty. Finally, contemporary history
will be treated at some length, as its importance demands; and
the transformation now going on in the Empire will be faithfully
depicted in its relations to Western influences in the fields of
religion, commerce and arms.

As no people can be understood or properly studied apart from their
environment, a bird's-eye view of the country is given.

[Page xi]
CONTENTS

PREFACE
INTRODUCTION

PART I

THE EMPIRE IN OUTLINE

I. China Proper
II. A Journey Through the Provinces--Kwangtung and Kwangsi
III. Fukien
IV. Chehkiang
V. Kiangsu
VI. Shantung
VII. Chihli
VIII. Honan
IX. The River Provinces--Hupeh, Hunan, Anhwei, Kiangsi
X. Provinces of the Upper Yang-tse--Szechuen, Kweichau, Yunnan
XI. Northwestern Provinces--Shansi, Shensi, Kansuh
XII. Outlying Territories--Manchuria, Mongolia, Turkestan, Tibet

[Page xii]
PART II

HISTORY IN OUTLINE, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

XIII. Origin of the Chinese
XIV. The Mythical Period
XV. The Three Dynasties
XVI. House of Chou
XVII. The Sages of China
XVIII. The Warring States
XIX. House of Ts'in
XX. House of Han
XXI. The Three Kingdoms
XXII. The Tang Dynasty
XXIII. The Sung Dynasty
XXIV. The Yuen Dynasty
XXV. The Ming Dynasty
XXVI. The Ta-Ts'ing Dynasty

PART III

CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION