Page:The Chinese Empire. A General & Missionary Survey.djvu/17



the years 1902-1903 the writer edited a series of articles on the Provinces of China, accompanied with maps, in China's Millions, the monthly organ of the China Inland Mission. Subsequently repeated requests were received, both from friends in China and at home, asking for the republication in book form of these articles. Instead of this, an entirely new work has been undertaken, which, it is hoped, will be of much more permanent value.

In view, also, of the fact that the year 1907 would be the Centenary of Protestant missionary effort in China, it appeared desirable and fitting to publish a comprehensive survey of the Chinese Empire. It was therefore decided to publish a large and new Atlas of the Chinese Empire, the Atlas to be accompanied by a book giving a geographical, historical, and missionary survey of each Province and Dependency of that Empire. The preparation of the various articles was entrusted to those who, by long residence in the field, were specially qualified to write as experts upon their own particular Provinces. The present volume contains the articles thus written, and is intended, though published separately, to be a supplementary volume to the Atlas of the Chinese Empire.

It needs but a glance at the Contents Table to see that each author writes from personal experience, the date of each writer's arrival in China being given in that table. If