CHINA
77
namely, custom duties, licences, and a tax upon land, but the receipts from the foreign customs are alone made known. This was
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19
In 1867.........Tis. 8,864,817 In 1877.........Tls. 12,067,078 In 1887.........Tls. 20,541,399
1872.... 11,678,636 1882.. ,, 14,085,672 1892..
22,689,054 China had no foreign debt till the end of 1874, when a loan of £627,675, bearing & per cent. interest, was contracted through the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, under Imperial authority and secured by the customs' revenue. Since then a number of loans have been raised, most of them through the agency of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, several of which have been paid off. The total Foreign debt of China is inconsiderable.
AREA AND POPULATION.
China proper, extending over 73,093 geographical, or 1,534,953 English square miles, is divided into eighteen provinces, the area and population of which are given below:--
Area English Estimated Provincial Capital
Square Miles Population
Province
Chihli.......
Peking
58,949
28,114,023
Shantung
Tsinan
65,104
28,958,764
Shansi
Taiyuen..
55,268
27,260,281
Honan
Kaifung..
65,104
23,037,171
Kiangsu.
Nanking
Anhwei
Ngankin
92,661 {
37,843,501
34,168,059
Kiangsi
Nanchang
72,176
30,426,999
Fohkien.
Foochow
53,480
38,888,432
Chekiang
Hangchow
39,150
26,256,784
Hupeh
Wuchang
37,370,098
381,724
Hunan
Changchau
18,652,507
Shengi
Sigan
10,207,256
154,008
Kansuh
Lanchow
15,193,135
Szechuen
Chingtu..
166,800
21,435,678
Kwangtung
Canton
79,456
19,147,030
Kwangsi
Yunnan
Kweichau
Kwelin
Yunnan...
Kweiyang.
78,250
7,313,895
107,869
5,561,320
64,554
5,288,219
1,534,953 405,213,152
The above population, giving 263 souls per square mile throughout China proper, although partly based on official returns, is not at all reliable. An estimate given by the Board of Revenue of the population in 1887 made it 303,241,969, which is probably much nearer the mark.
The total number of foreigners in China in 1892 was 9,945, of whom 3,919 were subjects of Great Britain, 1,312 of the United States, 862 of France, 732 of Germany, 286 of Sweden and Norway, 212 of Italy, 315 of Spain, 1,087 of Japan, and 659 Portuguese, almost entirely natives of Macao, all other nationalities being represented by very few members. Of 579 mercantile firms doing business at the treaty ports, 363 were British, 78 German, 31 American, and 29 French.
irely
The principal dependencies of China are Mongolia, with an area of 1,288,035 square miles, and some 2,000,000 people; and Manchuria, with an area of 362,313 square miles, and an estimated population of 15,000,000. The latter is being steadily and rapidly colonised by Chinese, who greatly outnumber the Manchus in their own land. Thibet, which is also practically dependency of China, has an area of 643,734 square miles and a population of 6,000,000 souls. It is ruled by the Dalai Lama, but subject to the Government of Peking, who maintain a Resident at Lhassa.
ARMY AND Navy.
The standing military force of China consists of two great divisions, the first formed by the more immediate subjects of the ruling dynasty, the Manchus, and the second by the Chinese and other subject races. The first, the main force upon which the Imperial Government can rely, form the so-called troops of the Eight Banners, and garrison all the great cities, but so as to be separated by walls and forts from the population. According to the latest reports, the Imperial army comprises a total of 850,000 men, including 678 companies of Tartar troops, 211 companies of Mongols, and native Chinese infantry, a kind of militia, numbering 120,000 men. The native soldiers do not as a rule live in barracks, but in their own houses, mostly pursuing some civil occupation.
The Chinese navy is in process of formation. It consisted, prior to the Franco- Chinese war of 1884, mainly of small gunboats built at the Mamoi Arsenal, Foochow, and