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New Forces in Old China An Inevitable Awakening By: Arthur Judson Brown (1856-1963) |
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New Forces in Old China An Inevitable Awakening
by ARTHUR JUDSON BROWN
To my Friends in China Preface THE object of this book is to describe the operation
upon and within old, conservative, exclusive China
of the three great transforming forces of the modern
world Western trade, Western politics and Western religion.
These forces are producing stupendous changes in that hitherto
sluggish mass of humanity. The full significance of these
changes both to China and to the world cannot be comprehended
now. There is something fascinating and at the same
time something appalling in the spectacle of a nation numbering
nearly one third of the human race slowly and majestically
rousing itself from the torpor of ages under the influence of
new and powerful revolutionary forces. No other movement
of our age is so colossal, no other is more pregnant with
meaning. In the words of D. C. Bougler, ``The grip of the outer
world has tightened round China. It will either strangle her
or galvanize her into fresh life.'' The immediate occasion of this volume was the invitation of
the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary to deliver a
series of lectures on China on the Student Lectureship Foundation
and to publish them in book form. This will account in
part for the style of some passages. I have, however, added
considerable material which was not included in the lectures,
while some articles that were contributed to the Century Magazine,
the American Monthly Review of Reviews and other
magazines have been inserted in their proper place in the
discussion. The materials were gathered not only in study and
correspondence but in an extended tour of Asia in the years
1901 and 1902. In that tour, advantage was taken of every
opportunity to confer with Chinese of all classes, foreign
consuls, editors, business men and American, German and British
officials, as well as with missionaries of all denominations.
Everywhere I was cordially received, and, as I look at my
voluminous note books, I am very grateful to the men of all
faiths and nationalities who so generously aided me in my
search for information. No one system of spelling Chinese names has been followed
for the simple reason that no one has been generally accepted.
The Chinese characters represent words and ideas rather than
letters and can only be phonetically reproduced in English.
Unfortunately, scholars differ widely as to this phonetic spelling,
while each nationality works in its own peculiarities wherever
practicable. And so we have Manchuria, Mantchuria and
Manchouria; Kiao chou, Kiau Tshou, Kiao Chau, Kiau
tschou and Kiao chow; Chinan and Tsi nan; Ychou, Ichow
and I chou; Tsing tau and Ching Dao; while Mukden is confusingly
known as Moukden , Shen Yang, Feng tien fu and Sheng
king. As some authors follow one system, some another and some
none at all, and as usage varies in different parts of the Empire,
an attempt at uniformity would have involved the correction
of quotations and the changing of forms that have the sanction
of established usage as, for example, the alteration of
Chefoo to Chi fu or Tshi fu. I have deemed it wise, as a rule,
to omit the aspirate (e. g, Tai shan instead of T'ai shan) as
unintelligible to one who does not speak Chinese. Few
foreigners except missionaries can pronounce Chinese names
correctly anyway. Besides, no matter what the system of spelling,
the pronunciation differs, the Chinese themselves in various
parts of the Empire pronouncing the name of the Imperial
City Beh ging, Bay ging, Bai ging and Bei jing, while most
foreigners pronounce it Pe kin or Pi king. I have followed the
best obtainable advice in using the hyphen between the different
parts of many proper names. For the rest I join the
perplexed reader who devoutly hopes that the various commit
tees that are at work on the Romanization of the Chinese language
may in time agree among themselves and evolve a system
that a plain, wayfaring man can understand without provocation
to wrath... Continue reading book >>
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