86
CHINA
that amount. Official returns of the Chinese Government, published in 1844, stated the annual revenue at that time at Tls. 191,803,139, or £63,934,713. According to the memorials from officials published in the Peking Gazette, it would appear that there are almost constant deficits, which the governors and high officials of provinces must cover by extraordinary taxation. The public revenue is mainly derived from three sources namely, custom duties, licences, and a tax upon land, but the receipts from the foreign customs are alone made known. This was in 1894 Tls. 22,523,605.
China had no foreign debt till the end of 1874, when a loan of £627,675, bearing 8 per cent. interest, was contracted through the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, under Imperial authority and secured by the customs' revenue. Afterwards a number of other loans, of comparatively moderate amount, were contracted, mostly through the agency of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, and several of them have been paid off, Up to 1894 the total Foreign debt of China was inconsiderable, but in 1895 extensive borrowings had to be made to meet the expenses of the war with Japan and the first instalment of the indemnity. The exact figures are not available, but the total existing debt is between £21,000,000 and £25,000,000, including the Russian loan of £10,000,000. As the total indemnity payable to Japan is Tls. 200,000,000 under the Shimonoseki Treaty, with a further Tls. 20,000,000 for the retrocession of the Liaotung Peninsula, further borrowing will have to be resorted to.
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
Province
Square Miles Population
Chihli......
Peking
58,9-19
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
Shensi
10,207,256
15 1,008
Kansuh
15,193,135
Szechuen
166,800
21,435,678
Kwangtung
79,456
19,147,030
Kwangsi
....
78,250
7,313,895
Yunnan
107,869
5,561,320
Kweichau
64,554
5,288,219
Sigan Lanchow Chingtu. Canton Kwelin Yunnan Kweiyang.
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 1894 was 9,350, of whom 3,989 were subjects of Great Britain, 1,294 of the United States, 807 of France, 767 of Germany, 356 of Sweden and Norway, 206 of Italy, 380 of Spain, 253 of Japan, and 780 Portuguese, almost entirely natives of Macao, all other nationalities being represented by very few members. Of 552 mercantile firms doing business at the treaty ports, 350 were British, 85 German, 31 American, and 32 French.
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 a 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