One of the early American missionaries to China tells us that when he had finally convinced a Chinese scholar that there were schools in America the immediate assumption was: “Then the people of your honorable nation are also acquainted with the books of Confucius.” It was a false assumption, and yet it is a great pity that more Americans are not familiar with the teachings which have moulded the lives of countless millions of our fellow creatures. An easy means of approach is offered by Mr. Miles Menander Dawson in “The Ethics of Confucius”, for he has culled choice passages from the works of the Master and his commentators and gathered them under seven heads, such as “What Constitutes the Superior Man,” “Self-Development,” “The Family,” “The State,” etc., and he has added a running comment of his own to link them together. Dr. Wu Ting Fang has provided a brief “foreword”.
