Yukichi Fukuzawa 福沢諭吉, who contributed to the modernization of Japan, published a book named Shin-Ei-Kosai-Shimatsu 清英交際始末 (A History of Anglo-Chinese Relations) in 1869. As this book has been paid least attention among his works, the content of it has not been well known to us. There has been misunderstanding that the content of this book deals with the Opium War, but in my opinion it dealt with the Arrow War. Though many books on the Opium War had been published, few on the Arrow War, when he published this history. So, I esteem his role to make known the Arrow War to Japanese people through this book. He also showed his concern on the Taiping Rebellion which occurred at the same time of the Arrow War. He added number of valuable descriptions on the Taiping Rebellion in his other book. I would refer to the facts that Fukuzawa's famous principle of Independence and Self-Respect came from his deep concern to the affairs in China and Asia.

松本信廣先生古稀記念