In the summer of 1928, when the expedition could not have carried on without a very considerable grant of public Swedish funds, I addressed myself to the King of Sweden with a respectful appeal to this end. His Majesty was pleased both personally and in the government to accord the greatest sympathy to my endeavours; and it is chiefly to the King and to the Crown Prince of Sweden that I and my comrades are indebted for the generous response to this appeal. Also in 1931, when for the second time I submitted a similar appeal, I found in my mother country the support that was needed to carry the aims of the expedition to a happy conclusion.
It is with especial gratitude that we all remember the energetic support and the enlightened and informed good-will that the Crown Prince of Sweden was pleased to accord our enterprise during our long years of work in Asia. And not least in connection with the organizing of the part-expedition under Professor T. J . ARNE to northern Iran and in the procuring of funds for the publishing of the results of that expedition.
And it is my very pleasant duty to tender my humble thanks to the Swedish governments that from 1928 to 1943 rendered possible the carrying out of the Swedish expedition and the publication of its results; to Deutsche Lufthansa, that by its powerful support made possible the phase of the expedition described in part I; and to the government that from 1933-35 had its seat in Nanking under Marshal CHIANG KAI-SHEK and Premier WANG CHING-WEI.
The grant that on the government's proposal in the Riksdag of 1936 was made towards the publication of our scientific results was the largest ever made in Sweden to an enterprise of the sort. This generosity amounted to a proof of confidence on the part of the Swedish people for which we cannot be grateful enough, and that encouraged us enormously.
For those who have read the History of the Expedition and glanced at the twenty-three volumes that have already been published at the time of writing, or December 12th 1942, it will be easy to realize how infinitely grateful I must be to my comrades in the field-work on the soil of Asia, and to all the experts who in the various sciences have helped us in the treatment of collections and observations. It is their merit that the whole of this series of learned works has been realized.
Among the Chinese scholars with whom in Peking we were in daily contact I should like first to mention Professor Liu Fu, the chairman of the committee that between 1927 and 1935 watched over our interests, whose too early decease in 1934 was deeply regretted by us, and Professor Sm PING-CH'ANG, the leader of the contingent of Chinese scholars and students who took part in the expedition. To the circle of our best friends belonged also the three doctors V. K. TING, WONG WENHAO and Hu Simi, who all represented a high-water mark of contemporary erudition and could undoubtedly be reckoned among the most learned men in China. Dr TING's death by accident in 1936 was an irreparable loss for China, for science and for ourselves.
IIIF Color HighRes
