Excerpt from The World and Its People, Vol. 6: Life in AsiaAsia affords a greater variety of profitable topics for study than any of the other continents.The vast extent of its lands, the great variety of its climate and productions, its magnificent scenery, including the loftiest mountains in the world and many of the noblest rivers, cannot be Omitted from a child's study without leaving his conception of the world very imperfect.It is remarkable that the ancient civilizations of India, China, and Japan grew to such perfection while the world was comparatively young, and have continued through so many centuries. The manners and cus toms of a people do not necessarily indicate character. Because a Chinaman shakes his own hand, when an American would shake his friend's hand, it does not follow that the Chinaman's greeting is any the less cordial. Every American child needs this knowledge to counteract his imperfect and exaggerated view of the civilization of his own country.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.