Readers may wonder at the differences of opinions expressed in the course of these pages—­a hundred pages on one may get a totally different impression.  But the absolute differences of conditions existing are quite as remarkable.  From Chung-king to Sui-fu one breathed an air of progress—­after one had made allowance for the antagonistic circumstances under which China lives—­a manifest desire on every hand for things foreign, and a most lively and intelligent interest in what the foreigner could bring.  In many parts of Yuen-nan, again, conditions were completely reversed; and one finding himself in Yuen-nan, after having lived for some time at a port in the east of the Empire, would assuredly find himself surrounded by everything antagonistic to that to which he has become accustomed, and the people would seem of a different race.  This may be due to the differences of climate—­climate, indeed, is ultimately the first and the last word in the East; it is the arbiter, the builder, the disintegrator of everything.  A leading writer on Eastern affairs says that the “climate is the explanation of all this history of Asia, and the peoples of the East can only be understood and accounted for by the measuring of the heat of the sun’s rays.  In China, with climate and weather charts in your hands, you may travel from the Red River on the Yuen-nan frontier to the great Sungari in lusty Manchuria, and be able to understand and account for everything.”

However that may be, traveling in China, through a wonderful province like Szech’wan, whose chief entrepot is fifteen hundred miles from the coast, convinces one that she has come to the parting of the ways.  You can, in any city or village in Szech’wan—­or in Yuen-nan, for that matter, in a lesser degree—­always find the new nationalism in the form of the “New China” student.  Despite the opposition he gets from the old school, and although the old order of things, by being so strong as almost to overwhelm him, allows him to make less progress than he would, this new student, the hope of the Empire, is there.  I do not wish to enter into a controversy on this subject, but I should like to quote the following from a speech delivered by Tseh Ch’un Hsuean, when he was leaving his post as Governor of Szech’wan:—­

“The officials of China are gradually acquiring a knowledge of the great principles of the religions of Europe and America.  And the churches are also laboring night and day to readjust their methods, and to make known their aims in their propagation of religion.  Consequently, Chinese and foreigners are coming more and more into cordial relations.  This fills me with joy and hopefulness....  My hope is that the teachers of both countries [Great Britain and America] will spread the Gospel more wisely than ever, that hatred may be banished, and disputes dispelled, and that the influence of the Gospel may create boundless happiness for my people of China.  And I shall not be the only one to thank you for coming to the front in this good work....  May the Gospel prosper!”