First published in 1938, this book aims to be a ‘true and objective’ account of China’s recent history and its present circumstances at the time, drawing on the author’s thirty years of experience as a member of the British consular service in China. The recurrent themes of the period are examined: the efforts of the Chinese leadership to build a new China out of the ruins of the old, their efforts to claim a place of equality among the nations of the world, and the development of the conflict between a resurgent China and the ambitions of Japan. Some of the issues studied were in the process of change and others definitely closed by war — nearly all were affected to some degree.