PREFACE

The history of Japan is of especial importance to China. The proximity of Japan, her racial and cultural affinities with China, the close economic relationships of the two countries, the successes and failures of Japan's recent efforts to modernize herself by the use of Western methods in eastern situations: all these facts demand the attention of every intelligent Chinese to the story of a neighbor's development.For any one who is trying to think clearly concerning the use of modern Western science and institutions in China, Japanese experience is always worth study and should be an important element in the formation of sound opinion and judgment upon such matters. Moreover, the changes of the past seventy five years in Japan can be understood only against the background of her previous history, in which the characteristic customs, institutions, and ideals of her people were evolved.

Unfortunately the history of Japan has been largely ignored in China. A few scraps of information in general textbooks on Eastern Asia; certain works dealing with the Japanese adaptions of Buddhism, of the laws and administrative systems of the Tang dynasty, of the Chinese written language, and of Chinese ethical and philosophical thought; productions of recent years which are filled with violent abuse of Japanese policies but give no understanding of the conditions from which these policies have arisen and translations of unsatisfactory Japanese works, usually written by authors unqualified according to modern historical standards: These are altogether inadequate to furnish to an inquiring Chinese mind the reliable information which ought to be readily available.

The present book is designed to meet the need just described. It is based upon a careful study of the most dependable histories of Japan and the best descriptive work on Modern Japan, those by British and American scholars as well as by Japanese and Chinese. The author is a thorough student of the subject combining an excellent grasp of the main tendencies of Japanese development with careful and accurate attention to the concrete facts on which his general statements are based. His book is the more worthy of interest and confidence, because he is unprejudiced and impartial in his attitude; he seeks neither to blame nor to praise the Japanese, but to tell his readers just what the Japanese have done, and to provide the basis for an intelligent opinion concerning Japan. I predict that this effort will have a lasting and valuable influence in furnishing the first Chinese survey of the whole development of Japan that is both informing and reliable.

M.S.Bates

University of Nanking

May, 1925