Early Chinese History. By Herbert J. Allen. (S.P.C.K. Es.)— Criticism
has reached the Chinese classics, which, indeed, have always presented a difficulty to the inquirer. Mr. Allen, who has studied the subject on the spot—he is a retired member of the Consular Service—boldly declares that they are a forgery. The books of " History " and "Poetry" were, it is said, destroyed, in obedience to an Imperial decree of the year 213 B.C., and strange story is told of their recovery. The difficulty is vastly increased by the fact that these books stand alone. There is no epigraphic evidence bearing on the contents ; there are no outside records, nothing like the confirmation or correction which, to take a familiar example, is supplied by the cuneiform inscriptions 'or the Moabite Stone to the Hebrew history. The S.P.C.K. thinks that the subject is important enough to warrant the publication of this volume. We cannot go beyond this mention of the fact.
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