no matter what the cost, no matter what she may have
to suffer financially and nationally, no matter how great the obstinacy
of the people towards the reform movement, the change is coming, has
already come with alarming rapidity, and has come to stay. China is
changing--let so much be granted; and although the movement may be
hampered by a thousand general difficulties, presented by the ancient
civilization of a people whose customs and manners and ideas have stood
the test of time since the days contemporary with those of Solomon, and
at one time bade fair to test eternity, the Government cry of "China for
the Chinese" is going to win. Chinese civilization has for ages been
allowed to get into a very bad state of repair, and official corruption
and deceit have prevented the Government from making an effectual move
towards present-day aims; but that she is now making an honest endeavor
to rectify her faults in the face of tremendous odds must, so it appears
to the writer, be apparent to all beholders. That is the Government
view-point. It is important to note this.

In China, however, the Government is not the people. It never has been.
It is not to be expected that great political and social reforms can be
introduced into such an enormous country as China, and among her four
hundred and thirty millions of people, merely by the issue of a few
imperial edicts. The masses have to be convinced that any given thing is
for the public good before they accept, despite the proclamations, and
in thus convincing her own people China has yet to go through the fire
of a terrible ordeal. Especially will this be seen in the second part of
this volume, where in Yuen-nan there are huge areas absolutely untouched
by the forward movement, and where the people are living the same life
of disease, distress and dirt, of official, social, and moral
degradation as they lived when the Westerner remained still in the
primeval forest stage. But despite the scepticism and the cynicism of
certain writers, whose pessimism is due to a lack of foresight, and
despite the fact that she is being constantly accused of having in the
past ignominiously failed at the crucial moment in endeavors towards
minor reforms, I am one of those who believe that in China we shall see
arising a Government whose power will be paramount in the East, and upon
the integrity of whose people will depend the peace of Europe. It is
much to say. We shall not see it, but our chi