104
CHINA
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 consisted, prior to the Franco-Chinese war of 1884, mainly of small gunboats built at the Mamoi Arsenal, Foochow, and at Shanghai, on the foreign model, but was afterwards greatly strengthened. Five ships were lost, however, in the battle of the Yalu, when the Japanese inflicted a severe defeat upon the Chinese, and the remainder of the fleet was captured or destroyed at the taking of Weihaiwei in February, 1895. A new fleet is now being acquired, and three cruisers of 2,950 tons displacement each built in Germany, arrived in 1898.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
The ports oven to trade are:--Newchwang, Tientsin, Chefoo, Chungking. Ichang, Shasi, Hankow, Kinkiang, Wuhu, Chinkiang. Shanghai, Soochow, Ningpo. Hangchow, Wenchow, Foochow, Amoy, Swatow, Canton, Wuchow, Samshui, Kiungchow, and Pakhoi. Lungchow, Mêntszu, Szemao, and Hokeow, on the frontiers of Tonkın and Burmah are stations under the cognisance of the Foreign Customs. The import trade, exclusive of the Colony of Hongkong, centres chiefly at Shanghai, Canton, and Tientsin, while the bulk of the exports pass through the ports of Shanghai, Hankow, Foochow, and Canton. The annual value of the trade of China coming under the supervision of the Imperial Maritime Customs was as follows:--
Net Imports from Foreign Countries.
Net Exports to Foreign Countries.
1880...Hk. Tls. 79,293,452 Hk. Tls. 77,883,587
Total of Foreign Trade. Hk. Tls. 157,177,039 153,205,729 214,237,961 234,951,712
Net Imports of Native Goods, Hk. Tls. 56,896,447
1885...
**
88,200,018
65,005,711
**
1890...
127,093,481
87.144,480
**
57,117,407 74,017,519
"
1891...
134,003,863
14
100,947,849
80,085,179
1892...
135,101,198
1893...
151,362,819
102.583,525 116,632,311
•
**
11
1894...
1895...
162,102,911 171,696,715
128,104,522
**
**
143,293,211
够帮
1896...
1897...
202,589,994 202,828,625
带警
131,081,421
"
"
163,501,358
་་
237.684,723 267,995,130 290,207,433 314,989,926 333,671,415 366,329,983
76,717,666
80,079,119
80,377,259
་་
83,405,382
P6.488,98
91,443,935
1897 equals at
Mex. $137,165,902 £13,621.33
Ex. 1.50, Mex. $304.242.937
Ex. 2s. 113d.. £30,213,014
Mex. $245,252,037
£24,354,889
Mex. 8549.494.974 £54,567,903
The increase in the last ten years is partly accounted for by the Native Customis stations outside Hongkong and Macao having been placed under the Foreign Inspectorate. The trade passing these stations was not formerly included in the returns.
The following was the net value of commodities imported direct from and extorted direct to Foreign Countries in 1897. These figures do not include the trade carried ou with neighbouring countries in Chinese junks, which does not come within the control of the Foreign Customs:--
Hongkong
Great Britain
Japan (including Formosa).
Imports
Total
Exports
Hk. Tls. 90.125,897
60,402.222
156,526,100
**
40,015,587
12,945,229
52.96,816
22,564,284
16,626,738
11
39.191.02
Continent of Europe, except Russia.. India.
*
8,565,807
25,878,118
34.44392
20,068,183
*
1,045,931
21.114.11
United States of America
12.440,302
"
17,828,406
30.268.708
Russia (sea and overland)
3,442,419
16,410,439
19,852.84
19
Straits and other British Colonies Macao
9,440,494
2.896,500
•
12,336,944
**
3,514,878
5.894.314
9,400.192
Other Foreign Countries
2.057,123
3,573,461
5.630,54
212,234,994 163,501,358 375,736,325
Imports to the amount of Hk. Tls. 9,406,369 were re-exported to foreign countries. namely, to America Tls. 3,241,101, to Corea Tls. 1,529,240, toRussian Manchuria Tls. 1,451,432, to Japan (including Formosa), Tls. 1,301,912, to Hongkong Tls. 1,233,674 to other countries Tls. 649,010.