This brightly written little book by the well-known French author, Edmund Plauchut, who has spent many years in China, is the first of the new series known as the “Livres d'Or de la Science”. It gives in a succinct form a very complete account of the Chinese, both past and present, their religion, their literature, and their time-honored customs. Touching but lightly on the many vexed questions of modern diplomacy, it yet presents a very true picture of the problems European statesmen have to solve in connection with the inevitable partition of the Celestial Empire, and will, it is hoped, be found of real service to those who wish to be abreast with the times, yet who have not the leisure to read the longer and more exhaustive books on the subject which are continually appearing.
