This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1913 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER II HIS VIEWS OF CHRISTIANITY If all the writings of Li Hung Chang were to be fully translated, and the parts relating to the various subjects upon which, during a period of over half a century, he continued to express his views, were so segregated that his written comments might follow each other in regular and chronological order, it is to be doubted if a more entertaining subject than that of Christianity could be selected, r As stated in the Preface of this volume, it has been thought desirable to make, under various headings, such selections from the great mass of material received from the hands of the translators as would be in consonance with the chapter or part title, thus affording the reader a more concrete and at the same time comprehensive view of the subject treated by the author. Some of the great topics are, however, treated at such length in many entries of his diary, or in other papers wholly detached from any relationship with it, that the matter would fill a published volume. For instance, his writings concerning the Empress Dowager and the Court are estimated by competent authorities to be the equivalent of half a million English words. On the ever recurring subject of foreigners, missionaries, and Christianity, -- he regards all foreigners as Christians, if not all Christians as foreigners, -- the Viceroy seemed never to tire of writing, and it is likely that two volumes at least of a size similar to this could be filled with the transcriptions of such manuscripts. The following selections, therefore, may be viewed as but a very small proportion of the large number of entries in his memoirs; yet they have been chosen with such discretion as to justify the belief that within the necessarily confined limits...