Excerpt from Chinese Researches The publication of this volume has been long delayed. Some years passed after Mr. Wylie's death before it was decided to issue a selection of his essays. As only fragments of time, from a busy life, could be given to the examination of the boxes full of papers and manuscripts which Mr. Wylie had written, many months passed before this preliminary work was done. When the Essays to be pub lished had been selected, considerable time and labour were absorbed in preparing them for the press. It was then found that the book could not be printed in England, and two efforts to get it published in China failed. But when the Rev. W. Muirhead, D.D., of Shanghai, was in England, he generously took charge of the manuscripts, and undertook to carry the book through the press when he returned to China. It is to his kindness its publication is now due. Only by dividing the manuscripts between two printing establishments could the work of printing be completed in a year. This accounts for the want of continuity in the numbering of the pages. The Essays chosen for publication have been selected in order to show the great variety and wide scope of the Author's researches and attainments. The number of Essays still in manuscript is sufficiently large to fill two volumes of similar size to this. I intended to publish a fuller biography of the distinguished Author, but special circum stances compelled me to abandon this, and Dr. Muirhead has therefore republished my little sketch of Mr. Wylie's life and Mr. Cordier's paper read at the meeting of the Royal Asiatic Society in London. 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.