In modern China, the seekers of political office have been able to avoid the appearance of abject venality by professing respectability. Even though they may have been just as corrupt as the politicians of other nations, and more efficiently so, they nevertheless had the saving grace to eschew hard realism and cloak their ambition with a pleasantly virtuous tradition. A military leader could surround himself with a few scholars and give his efforts to reach power the air of a mild and well-mannered crusade. Whenever political strife in China has had no meaning but vanity and greed it has at least worn the decent cloak of the Confucian tradition. NOTES [1] For a good general introduction to Far Eastern history and politics see G. Nye Steiger, _A History of the Far East_, Boston, 1936, the most complete of one-volume works; Harold M. Vinacke, _A History of the Far East in Modern Times_, New York, 1937, especially good for social, economic, and governmental developments; René Grousset, _Histoire de l'Extrême Orient_, Paris, 1929; and Richard Wilhelm, _Ostasien_, Potsdam and Zurich, 1928, a brilliant short outline. Diplomatic history is dealt with by H. B. Morse and H. F. MacNair, _Far Eastern International Relations_, Boston, 1931, the most detailed one-volume work; Paul H. Clyde, A _History of the Modern and Contemporary Far East_, New York, 1937, the most recent; and Payson J. Treat, _The Far East_, New York, 1935. The most useful one-volume history of China is Kenneth Scott Latourette, _The Chinese: Their History and Culture_, New York, 1934. All these works carry bibliographies; those of Steiger and Latourette are particularly informing. [2] Herrlee Glessner Creel, _Studies in Early Chinese Culture, First Series_, p. 254, Baltimore, 1937. Quoted by permission of the author. [3] H. G. Creel, _The Birth of China_, London, 1936, provides a brilliant popular account of the earliest known Chinese culture. [4] Creel, _Studies_, pp. 50 ff. For relevant information the writer is indebted to Professor H. H. Dubs, Duke University. [5] On Confucianism and its immediate background see Marcel Granet, _Chinese Civilization_, New York, 1930; Fung Yu-lan (Derk Bodde, translator), _A History of Chinese Philosophy: The Period of the Philosophers_, Peiping, 1937, an authoritative work; Liang Chi-chao, _A History of Chinese Political Thought_, New York, 1930; and Leonard Shihlien Hsü, _The Political Philosophy of Confucianism_, New York, 1932, brilliant but open to criticism. For a popular portrait of Confucius see Carl Crow, _Master Kung_, New York, 1938. [6] _Confucian Analects_, Book II, Chapter III. [7] For its loss of political support see below, pp. 34 ff. [8] See below, pp. 41 ff. _Chapter_ II THE RISE OF NATIONALISM