Introduction, Paul Bailey; Chapter 1 A Letter to Li Hongzhang on Overseas Study (1878); Chapter 2 Reply from Marseille to a Friend (1878); Chapter 3 A Discussion of Railroads (1879); Chapter 4 On the Use of Loans to Build Railroads (1879); Chapter 5 On Enriching the People (1890);

Ma Jianzhong was a close adviser to the powerful Qing government official, Li Hong-zhang, and wrote several essays between 1878 and 1890 outlining his plans for economic and administrative reform. He was the first Chinese to advocate the creation of a specialized and professional diplomatic corps. His contribution to the late nineteenth-century Chinese discourse on the state and the economy has hitherto been neglected. Paul Bailey's translation of his essays will contribute to a wider understanding of the origins and circulation of reform ideas in the late Qing.