A CHINAMAN'S OPINION OF US AND OF HIS OWN COUNTRY.
Written by Hwuy-ung. Translated by J. A. Makepeace. (Chatto and Windus, 7s. 6d.)—To see ourselves as others see us is always interesting. This book_ contains the letters written from Melbourne between 1899 and 1912 by a young Chinese exile of revolutionary tendencies. He gives his impressions of Australian life and notes what he regards as the good 'and the had sides of Western civilization. Often his comments are humorous. He observes that his cousin's English wife was annoyed when he gave her a common Chinese salutation by asking how old she was. He remarks on the disrespectful ways of Australian children and on the time wasted by their elders in talking about the weather. He sees that the public-houses are closed on Sundays but that thirsty folk find a way in by the back-door. He describes with wonder the attention given to cricket, football, and racing, and the incessant changes in women's fashions. The translator seems to have aimed at heightening the comic effect by rendering long passages literally, though much of the text is in plain English. We fear that the book is by no means what it purports to be, and that Hwuy-ung is as mythical as Goldsmith's Chinese traveller in The Citizen of the Work!.
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