e doing to China is wanton
and cruel, the destruction of something delicate and lovely for the sake
of the gross pleasures of barbarous millionaires. One of the poems
translated from the Chinese by Mr. Waley[39] is called _Business Men_,
and it expresses, perhaps more accurately than I could do, the respects
in which the Chinese are our superiors:--

Business men boast of their skill and cunning
But in philosophy they are like little children.
Bragging to each other of successful depredations
They neglect to consider the ultimate fate of the body.
What should they know of the Master of Dark Truth
Who saw the wide world in a jade cup,
By illumined conception got clear of heaven and earth:
On the chariot of Mutation entered the Gate of Immutability?

I wish I could hope that some respect for "the Master of Dark Truth"
would enter into the hearts of our apostles of Western culture. But as
that is out of the question, it is necessary to seek other ways of
solving the Far Eastern question.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 31: _The Truth about China and Japan_, Allen & Unwin, 1921, p.
14. On the other hand Sih-Gung Cheng (_Modern China_, p. 13) says that
it "killed twenty million people," which is the more usual estimate, cf.
_China of the Chinese_ by E.T.C. Werner, p. 24. The extent to which the
population was diminished is not accurately known, but I have no doubt
that 20 millions is nearer the truth than 150 millions.]

[Footnote 32: In January 1922, he came to Peking to establish a more
subservient Government, the dismissal of which has been ordered by
Wu-Pei-Fu. A clash is imminent. See Appendix.]

[Footnote 33: The blame for this is put upon Sun Yat Sen, who is said to
have made an alliance with Chang-tso-lin. The best element in the Canton
Government was said to be represented by Sun's colleague General Cheng
Chiung Ming, who is now reported to have been dismissed (_The Times_,
April 24, 1922). These statements are apparently unfounded. See
Appendix.]

[Footnote 34: The soya bean is rapidly becoming an important product,
especially in Manchuria.]

[Footnote 35: There are, however, no accurate statistics as to the
birth-rate or the death-rate in China, and some writers question whether
the birth-rate is really very large. From a privately printed pamphlet
by my friend Mr. V.K. Ting, I learn that Dr. Lennox, of the Peking Union
Medical College, from a careful study of 4,000 families, foun