Page:Chinese Pictures.djvu/7

 INTRODUCTION.

little book is the outcome of talks with Mrs. Bishop over some of the photographs which were taken by her in one or other of her journeys into and across China. Some of the photographs have already appeared in her published works, "The Yangtze Valley and Beyond" and "Korea and Her Neighbourhood" (2 vols., Murray). The notes were, in substance, dictated by Mrs. Bishop. It is hoped they contain some real information on the people, their surroundings, and habits which, though slight in form, may be helpful to a better understanding of a very difficult problem.

According to our newspaper press to-day, the Chinese are simply cruel barbarians. According to Mrs. Bishop, when you know them they are a likeable people—and she has formed this opinion in spite of the fact that, in their deeply-rooted hatred of the foreigners, they twice attacked her with violence. A real understanding of the people is for us, with our different modes of thought, most difficult to arrive at; but we shall not advance towards it by accepting all the evil reports and shutting our ears to the good ones. That the problem of China is, and will for some time continue to be, the most interesting question to the rest of the world is certain. The future of its people is all unknown, but there are in it possibilities which make it a terror to all other nations.