The present work aims at introducing to readers the development of the Chinese ideology from the earliest to modern times. It is not an exposition in detail; what it affords is no more than a brief account by way of introduction. But it does enteavour to give a general description about what constituted the characteristic features of the main currents of thought in each historical era and what the chief contriboutions of the most outstanding thinkers were in various fields of the Chinese ideology, how thought came about as a product of its specific historical background and how it influenced the decelopment of history itself. Hence it will not assume the form of a record of specific thought, or of the narration of certain philosophical or scientific concepts, but will be an attempt at a comprehensive survey intended to summarize all the main intellectual elements in the history of China.
