Product Description
Originally published in 1894.This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies.All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Reading it is an art
This book is great knowing where the average Chinese is coming from. You all can still see some of these characteristics in today's China.

However, as insightful the book maybe, just remember to read it with a critical mind. The author is viewing it from a late 19th century Missionary standpoint. There maybe some points in there, especially religion, which today's readers might not find applicable. However, it would have made sense from the author's viewpoint. Perspectives from non-missionaries, non-males, non-Americans or non-Westerners might be slightly different.

Short history lesson here. By the turn of the 20th century, a lot of Westerners were already a couple generations removed from the times before steam and electricity. Before the late 1800s, the opportunity to prosper was still very limited unless one was related to someone powerful. The status and living conditions of women, children and the average man wasn't entirely great either. That is looking at it from the standards of those times and today. Western observers in the 18th century still wrote about China being comparably respectable to their own societies. The writing also became slightly different as the 20th century progress. Even though the Chinese "characteristics" sort of stay the same. So, if you all decide to read other books regarding China, make sure you all know the date it was written. You all can see that a lot can change within a short period of time.

Other than the few deplorable actions like female infanticide, there is quite a bit in there which today's Americans can relate to. Some issues didn't make sense to the author but they would today. Overall, it's worth a read.

Great Book. Not just to understand the Chinese but also ourselves
This book was written more than 100 yrs ago however, many of the cultural manifestation still valid today.More importantly, our perceptions of the Chinese and of ourselves 100 yrs ago versus today's.For example, Smith mentioned that the Chinese are very frugal to the extreme that it did not make sense at all (he cited an example of a day laborer who did not buy his lunch and waited for 27 hours before he ate the next meal because he could not find a restaurant selling the food at his price which was only fraction less).It may not make sense to Smith back in 100 yrs ago but now, as most Americans are loaded with overwhelming debts and uncontrolled spending, and China, a country with one of the lowest per capita income ended up funding most of the U.S. Treasury's deficits ($650 billion and counting).As President Obama embarks on his "rebuilding of America" and the new "big society" "new deal" programs, U.S. is becoming even more dependent on the Chinese to fund our operations.It is timely to re-read Smith's "Chinese Characteristics" and re-assess Smith's observation and attempt to understand the rational behind the chinese characteristics.This is a great book to read but definitely requires a careful mind to decipher and understand as the writer produced a lot of observation but short on analysis and explanation.A great companion book to read after this book would be James McGregor's One Billion Customers.

Wish I could give it SIX stars!
I'd been living in China about a year when I came across this extraordinary book.Actually, I think the word "stunning" better describes it for me, if for no other reason than the sheer elegance of the language.

For clarity of thought and depth of insight I'd rank the author with de Tocqueville, and as an observer of daily life, I'm not sure I've ever come across a better or more interesting one.

The author possesses a scholarly sensibility and a genuinely humane nature that, when combined with his other gifts, allows him to draw conclusions based on his observations that are, for someone reading the book while actually living in the country, remarkably enduring.

What a pleasure!

If that weren't enough, since he wrote in the 19th Century, the author is blessedly free of all the cultural relativism, or political correctness, or whatever you want to call it, that renders so many modern Westerners incapable of saying anything interesting, or accurate, or thoughtful at all about China.

Mr. Smith is honest and even-handed (and, therefore, a true friend of China); his observations are blunt, which, while sometimes uncomfortable to a modern sensibility, is ...well...very Chinese.

craig [at] projectusa.org ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
This is an OCR edition without illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from GeneralBooksClub.com. You can also preview excerpts from the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Volume: 1; Original Published by: F. H. Revell Co. in 1901 in 467 pages; Subjects: China; China 1900; History / Asia / General; History / Asia / China; History / Middle East / Egypt; Religion / Christian Ministry / Missions; Travel / Asia / China; ... Read more

Product Description
Originally published in 1907.This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies.All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's large-scale digitization efforts. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the original text that can be both accessed online and used to create new print copies. The Library also understands and values the usefulness of print and makes reprints available to the public whenever possible. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found in the HathiTrust, an archive of the digitized collections of many great research libraries. For access to the University of Michigan Library's digital collections, please see http://www.lib.umich.edu and for information about the HathiTrust, please visit http://www.hathitrust.org ... Read more

Product Description
Originally published in 1907.This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies.All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume. ... Read more

Product Description
General Books publication date: 2009Original publication date: 1907Original Publisher: F.H. Revell CompanySubjects: Eastern question (Far East)United StatesChinaEastern question (Far East)History / GeneralHistory / Asia / GeneralHistory / Asia / ChinaPolitical Science / International Relations / GeneralReligion / Christian Ministry / MissionsNotes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free.Excerpt: IllOLD CHINAAn inherent difficulty in the forming of any adequate conception of China by a Westerner is that he is almost certain to regard it as a mysterious entity which, Minerva-like, sprang into being at one place and at one time. The truth is, however, that whatever may have been their origin, the Chinese are no exception to the universal law of human evolution. Their history differs from that of other peoples with which Occidentals are familiar in the co-operation of five factors nowhere else to be found in combination: namely, comparative isolation; extended duration; extremely gradual progression; superiority to environment, and the overwhelming influence of resident forces as compared with the relatively unimportant effect of those from without.The Chinese are at once the oldest, the most numerous, and the most homogeneous people existing upon the earth. Their history begins with a mythical period not unlike those of Greece and Rome, passing which we come to what Occidentals term the legendary period, whose opening is almost thirty centuries B. c. This is the age of the Five Rulers, who were "much more like great tribalchieftains than kings in the true sense of the word. Each of these five is said to have ruled for a long period of time and to have done much for the civilisation of the people." The... ... Read more