Japan has already done much, but especially because she has done so much in so short a time, and because the immense majority of her inhabitants had no idea thirty years ago of European affairs, and therefore have no means of comparison, they are apt to exaggerate their progress, however marvellous it may be, and consequently they are not in a position to notice that certain European importations come to them slightly deteriorated. Foreigners act the part of critics, and even if their criticism is sometimes severe, it is nevertheless useful. The functionaries and the young men who are sent on foreign missions also fulfil the same critical office, and this is an additional reason why the Government is so wise in maintaining these missions. Unless, indeed, from time to time the new civilization which has been imported in Japan is refreshed at its primary source, it will soon run a risk of losing strength, and, for the matter of that, any people, even European, that isolated itself too much and became absorbed in self-admiration, would inevitably deteriorate. It is not belittling the extraordinary progress so rapidly accomplished by the Empire of the Rising Sun to say that it can only be perfected if the people of that wonderful country remain in contact with the inhabitants of Europe and America. PART III.—CHINA CHAPTER I THE CHINESE PROBLEM Actual position of the Far Eastern Question—The Sick Man of Peking—The wealth of his heritage—The immense resources of the soil and subsoil of China, the latter of which is still virgin—The results which may be expected from the opening up of China—Change in the attitude of the Powers towards the Celestial Empire since the Japanese victories revealed its weakness—The origins of the Far Eastern problem.