I. China Proper II. A Journey Through the Provinces--Kwangtung and Kwangsi III. Fukien IV. Chéhkiang V. Kiangsu VI. Shantung VII. Chihli VIII. Honan IX. The River Provinces--Hupeh, Hunan, Anhwei, Kiangsi X. Provinces of the Upper Yang-tse--Szechuen, Kweichau, Yunnan XI. Northwestern Provinces--Shansi, Shensi, Kansuh XII. Outlying Territories--Manchuria, Mongolia, Turkestan, Tibet [Page xii] PART II HISTORY IN OUTLINE, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY XIII. Origin of the Chinese XIV. The Mythical Period XV. The Three Dynasties XVI. House of Chou XVII. The Sages of China XVIII. The Warring States XIX. House of Ts'in XX. House of Han XXI. The Three Kingdoms XXII. The Tang Dynasty XXIII. The Sung Dynasty XXIV. The Yuen Dynasty XXV. The Ming Dynasty XXVI. The Ta-Ts'ing Dynasty PART III CHINA IN TRANSFORMATION XXVII. The Opening of China, a Drama in Five Acts--God in History--Prologue ACT 1--The Opium War (Note on the Tai-ping Rebellion) ACT 2--The "Arrow" War ACT 3--War with France ACT 4--War with Japan ACT 5--The Boxer War [Page xiii] XXVIII. The Russo-Japanese War XXIX. Reform in China XXX. Viceroy Chang XXXI. Anti-foreign Agitation XXII. The Manchus, the Normans of China APPENDIX I. The Agency of Missionaries in the Diffusion of Secular Knowledge in China II. Unmentioned Reforms III. A New Opium War INDEX [Page 1] PART I THE EMPIRE IN OUTLINE [Page 3] THE AWAKENING OF CHINA CHAPTER I CHINA PROPER _Five Grand Divisions--Climate--Area and Population--The Eighteen Provinces_ The empire consists of five grand divisions: China Proper, Manchuria, Mongolia, Turkestan, and Tibet. In treating of this huge conglomerate it will be most convenient to begin with the portion that gives name and character to the whole. Of China Proper it may be affirmed that the sun shines nowhere on an equal area which combines so many of the conditions requisite for the support of an opulent and prosperous people. Lying between 18° and 49° north latitude, her climate is alike exempt from the fierce heat of the torrid zone and the killing cold of the frigid regions. There is not one of her provinces in which wheat, rice, and cotton, the three staples of food and clothing, may not be cultivated with more or less success; but in the southern half wheat gives place to rice, while in the north cotton yields to silk and hemp. In the south cotton is king and rice is queen of the fields.