CURRENT LITERATURE
TICE situation in China is of grave import to Great Britain, and yet is almost entirely incomprehensible to most British
readers. In these circumstances the new edition of Mr. Woodhead's massive year-book deserves special commenda- tion. In over 1,800 closely printed pages it supplies an abundance of trustworthy information on Chinese affairs. The chapter on " Labour " puts the Shanghai riots in their true perspective as a pretext for, rather than the cause of, the violent anti-British agitation ; the report of the Child Labour Commission of 1924 is given in full, but it is pointed out that
child labour is universal in China and that the factory worker! are a very small section of the population. The chapter on " Defence " gives a summary of the recent civil wars, province by province—a terrible record of violence, greed and treachery, with Peking unable to do anything but confer empty titles on the successful Tupans or Tuchuns, as the military despots are variously called. China, the editor :says, has now a million and a half men under arms, preying on the 400 millions of poor and hard-working peasantry and traders. The paper constitutions, finance, trade, railways and other topics are exhaustively treated, and there is a most useful " Who's Who " of notable Chinese. If one of them could display sufficient courage and ability, China might soon regain her ancient peace.
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