Dr. Waley's genius for translating from the Chinese will delight all readers of this book." The Times Literary Supplement
It has been no ordinary pleasure for historians of modern China to see Arthur Waley turn his attention to history. In his new volume, mr. Waley has skillfully offered a lively account of the Opium War full of human interest in the most concrete, real, and vivid terms. . . . What he has done, and done admirably, is to account the thoughts and activities of the Chinese as men, not as mandarins and generals. He has stressed what others had neglected, that is, the feelings and sufferings of the common men as affected by the war. The Journal of Asian Studies
Several Englishmen who took part in this unequal struggle wrote about their experiences long ago, but this splendid book provides the first view of the same events, from the opposite side. Mr. Waley has selected . . . a number of eye-witness accounts of hostilities and translated them with a commentary in his inimitable prose. New Statesman