Excerpt from The Chinese Repository, Vol. 7: May, 1838

Anxious as we are, and ever have been, thht friendly intercourse be opened and maintained with the Chinese, and that to all the inha bitants of the empire the glad tidings' be speedily proclaimed, we would not have the work undertaken without due preparation - such preparation as will lead to success; nor, when undertaken, would we have it prosecuted in a manner or by means, sure to end only in disap pointment, disgrace, and ruin. One of the chief causes of failure in gaining access to the Chinese, in holding intercourse with them, and in exercising any good influence over them, has consisted hither to in our ignorance of their character. They are not made up entirely of peculiarities. When they see a thing to be good and useful to themselves, they know how to appreciate it, and are eager enough to obtain it. 'in modern times, ' say they, 'there have come in from foreign countries three good things vaccination, fire-engines, and a constant flow of rice. Many approaches to the Chinese have failed for want of proper regard to circumstances of time, place, and per sons. There has been here, sometimes, not only a failure in 'suiting the action to the word, and the word to the action, ' but both word and action have been wrong. And sometimes what was de farlo good and well-intentioned on the part of the foreigner, has, through his own ignorance, proved nugatory nay even worse; kindness has been regarded as hostility, and friendly attention deemed an outrage. There are a great many influences acting on the minds of this people, which he almost beyond our observation, and of which we know little more than their mere existence. Hence it frequently happens that prejudices are excited, and are to be encountered, where we least intended or expected them.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.