r could bring. In many parts of Yuen-nan, again, conditions
were completely reversed; and one finding himself in Yuen-nan, after
having lived for some time at a port in the east of the Empire, would
assuredly find himself surrounded by everything antagonistic to that to
which he has become accustomed, and the people would seem of a different
race. This may be due to the differences of climate--climate, indeed, is
ultimately the first and the last word in the East; it is the arbiter,
the builder, the disintegrator of everything. A leading writer on
Eastern affairs says that the "climate is the explanation of all this
history of Asia, and the peoples of the East can only be understood and
accounted for by the measuring of the heat of the sun's rays. In China,
with climate and weather charts in your hands, you may travel from the
Red River on the Yuen-nan frontier to the great Sungari in lusty
Manchuria, and be able to understand and account for everything."

However that may be, traveling in China, through a wonderful province
like Szech'wan, whose chief entrepot is fifteen hundred miles from the
coast, convinces one that she has come to the parting of the ways. You
can, in any city or village in Szech'wan--or in Yuen-nan, for that
matter, in a lesser degree--always find the new nationalism in the form
of the "New China" student. Despite the opposition he gets from the old
school, and although the old order of things, by being so strong as
almost to overwhelm him, allows him to make less progress than he
would, this new student, the hope of the Empire, is there. I do not wish
to enter into a controversy on this subject, but I should like to quote
the following from a speech delivered by Tseh Ch'un Hsuean, when he was
leaving his post as Governor of Szech'wan:--

"The officials of China are gradually acquiring a knowledge of the great
principles of the religions of Europe and America. And the churches are
also laboring night and day to readjust their methods, and to make known
their aims in their propagation of religion. Consequently, Chinese and
foreigners are coming more and more into cordial relations. This fills
me with joy and hopefulness.... My hope is that the teachers of both
countries [Great Britain and America] will spread the Gospel more wisely
than ever, that hatred may be banished, and disputes dispelled, and that
the influence of the Gospel may create boundless happiness for my people
of China. And I shall no