<EM>Western Enterprise in Far Eastern Economic Development</EM> charts the activities of Western firms in China and Japan from the middle of the nineteenth century, when those countries were opened to foreign trade, until recently. <BR> The organization of the Western business undertakings, the types of firms concerned and relations between the Westerners and the Japanese and Chinese economies are all discussed. <BR> Among the economic activities covered are: merchant banking, finance, manufacturing, mining, shipping and domestic transport. A dominant theme is the contrast presented by China and Japan in their response to Western enterprise.