Excerpt from The Chinese Recorder and Missionary Journal, 1912, Vol. 43 What are the signs of hope in the present crisis in China? On the surface things look anything but hopeful. The Empire is without any government whose authority is universally recognised. The Manchu dynasty has lost its power, and Yuan Shih-k'ai, under the title of Premier, is the ruler of northern China, and directs civil and military affairs at his will. The southern provinces have declared their separate independence and those who have directed the Revolution are pledged to establish a republic, but there is, as yet, 110 single governing body to which all yield allegiance. The two parties are at this moment in conference and are endeavoring to reach a settlement and to restore peace. Meanwhile, in a great part of the country, a state of anarchy prevails. Cities and towns are plundered, brigandage is wide spread, the roads and waterways are unsafe, and property is at the mercy of the strongest. A careless observer would say that China was falling to pieces, that a great catastrophe was destroying the unity of the Empire and that we are fated to see a period of unexampled disorder in which the warring fragments of the nation will reduce everything to ruin before law and order are restored under a stable government. 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.