Page:L. Richard's ... Comprehensive geography of the Chinese empire and dependencies ... translated into English, revised and enlarged (IA lrichardscompreh00rich).pdf/9

 Origin of this Work. — Richard's "Géographie de l'Empire de Chine" published in 1905, by the T'usewei Press, Shanghai, was so appreciated in the East and at home, that an Enghsh Edition of the work was immediately requested. The Chinese Legation in London, Officials, Railway-prospectors, Merchants, Travellers, Missionaries, and all who take a special interest in China and Things Chinese, have at various times urged the necessity of the work, and augured that it would be of valuable service to the Public. The Translation, undertaken and carried out amidst the drudgery of class-work with Chinese pupils, remote from English surroundings, and without the assistance of the valuable home libraries, was unavoidably slow. As the work proceeded, it was remarked that the various reforms adopted by China, the new status of the Manchurian Provinces, and the progress of events in the Far East would require some recasting of the original. The new part has not been thrown into the shape of additional notes, but has been welded into the old paragraphs, with as little disturbance as possible of the order of the original. The present English Edition is thus enlarged and revised, bringing all information, administrative, statistical and economic, thoroughly up to-date.

Plan of the Work. — This Work given a Physical and Political description of China and Dependencies. The Physical part groups all facts around the 3 natural Regions or Great Basins of China : 1°. the Northern, around the Yellow River; 2°. the Central, around the Yangtze-kiang; and 3°. the Southern, around the Si-kiang or West River. A general outline of each region precedes the description of the Provinces. Each Province is the object of a particular study, in which its area, population and boundaries, its aspect and characteristics, its mountains and rivers, its geology, its fauna and flora, its climate, its agricultural and mineral resources, its people, race and language, its principal towns, its industry and commerce, its land-routes and waterways are minutely and methodically exposed.

The Coast-line, which extends along 6 Provinces of the Empire: Chihli, Shantung, Kiangsu, Chêkiang, Fokien and Kwangtung, is treated in a special chapter. This has the advantage of combining in a general study important notions