about has been kept steadfastly in sight, and due weight given to the improbability of sudden change. The startling rapidity of the development of Japan as compared with that of China is emphasised by a mere comparison of the respective amounts of their foreign trade. Thus in 1907 the foreign trade of Japan, with a population of under 49 millions, amounted to approximately 94¾ million sterling, or only 18 million less than the foreign trade of China with a population of 400 millions.[1] This is a fact of which many are unaware.
There are many other matters of interest connected with the Far East of which the general public in England are unaware, and which might be urged as an excuse for adding yet another to the by no means inconsiderable number of books already in existence upon the Far East. How many people are aware, for instance, that Hong Kong is the first shipping
- ↑ In 1898 the foreign trade of China amounted to £53,180,000, and that of Japan to £47,914,000. The figures for the year 1907 were—China £112,686,000, and Japan £94,619,022. It is interesting to observe that in the ten years the foreign trade of each country has approximately doubled.
