 E. Francis Brown, writing for Current History, approved of the book's comprehensive and frank discussion of conditions within China. Though the book takes a strongly negative stance towards China, Brown argued that "this very unfriendliness makes the book a welcome antidote to much that has been written in recent years and some of its conclusions might be well pondered by those who shape America's Far Eastern Policy." Willis J. Abbot of the Christian Science Monitor especially praised Townsend's study of the social life and customs of the Chinese and claimed that "Any capable observer with a few weeks at his disposal in China will corroborate much that appears in this volume." His praise was echoed by Douglas Jerrold of The English Review who found the work "brilliant and outspoken".
