This book represents the last in a series dealing with the civilizations
of China, Japan, and India. It contains source readings that tell us what
the Chinese have thought about themselves, the universe they lived in,
and the problems they faced living together. It is meant to provide the
general reader with an understanding of the background of Chinese
civilization, especially as this is reflected in intellectual and religious
traditions which have survived into modern times. Much attention is also
given, however, to political and social questions which the ordinary history
of philosophy or religion would not treat. Indeed, as compared to Japan
and India, the dominant traditions of Chinese thought have been less
markedly religious in character, there being a noticeable disjunction be-
tween the popular practice of religion and the intellectual activity of the
ruling elite, which had a more secular orientation. To compensate some-
what for this relative neglect of religious matters by the articulators and
preservers of formal tradition, the Appendix in Volume II is devoted to
popular religious movements and secret societies.

As in the other volumes of this series, the readings are drawn from
contemporary literature as well as classical. Since in the modern period
the urgency of political and social problems has been uppermost in the
minds of educated Chinese, it is natural that such tendencies as reformism,
nationalism, liberalism, and Communism should be the center of atten-
tion in contemporary writings. If this means that other currents of
thought -- the influence of Western religions, formal philosophy, and
art -- are inadequately represented, we can only regret that a survey which
spans so many centuries allows less scope than one might want for dealing
with the variety of thought in any given period -- with significant under-
currents and counter trends, or with distinctive individual contributions
which nonetheless had little general influence. We have striven for variety

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