11 Preface THE following pages are designed to pre- sent a view of China and the Chinese from the stand-point of industrial development as it exists at present and along the lines it is likely to follow in the future. Such phases of the Chinese question as the missionary problems, and the causes and treatment of the recent politi- cal disturbance, are left entirely to be dealt with by others, as, likewise, are all matters of govern- ment, internal and foreign politics, and personal or national characteristics, except in so far as they may come within the subject scope. In the years 1898 and 1899 the author was in China, under retainer of an American syndicate to ex- amine, survey, and report on an extensive rail- way enterprise, and the duties connected with his professional work placed him in an excep- tional position to study and observe this interest- ing country and its people from a quite different point of view from that taken by other writers. The journey made in the course of the survey had a special interest, in that it traversed Hu-nan, that province of China of which the least was known, and presented the opportunity, success- fully availed of, to obtain an entrance to, and an