The Lore of Cathay - Or the Intellect of China #245020

While the Manchu rulers have made grudging concessions to superior force, they have always, with the exception of Kuang Hsu, contrived to maintain a latent hostility in the minds of their people. That hostility has diminished - strange to say - with each defeat by foreign powers, and it almost disappeared during the reform movement under the young Emperor, which followed the war with Japan.<br><br>To prevent the recurrence of outrages it is necessary to foster a fellow-feeling with the rest of the world. As Captain Mahan says: "Toward Asia in its present condition Europe has learned that it has a community of interest that may be defined as the need of bringing the Asian peoples within the compass of the family of Christian States. They will have to insist that currency be permitted to our ideas - liberty to exchange thought in Chinese territory with the individual Chinaman. The open door, both for commerce and for intellectual interaction, should be our aim everywhere in China."<br><br>One essential to this intellectual interaction is mutual intellectual comprehension. If China is to be a part of the family of civilized States - Chinese thought, the principles at the basis of Chinese history and life must be understood. It is with the hope that this may be furthered that "The Lore of Cathay" is offered to the Anglo-Saxon public.