CHINA
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ed her independence of Chinese sovereignty, and obtained the formal recognition of Russia. Inner Mongolia, however, remains a dependency of China. Manchuria has in recent years been steadily and rapidly colonised by Chinese, who greatly outnumber the Manchus in their own land. Tibet, which is also practically a dependency of China, has an area of 643,734 square miles and a population of 6,000,000 souls. Down to 1910 it was ruled by the Dalai Lama, but subject to the Government of Peking, who maintain a Resident at Lhassa. In consequence, however, of the Dalai Lama's refusal to comply with the demands of Peking, a Chinese military expedition was dispatched to Lhassa and he fled to India, where he remained for over year. Meanwhile the great revolution broke out in China. The Tibetans seized the opportunity to proclaim their independence, and again a military expedition was sent to Tibet, but more conciliatory methods had to be adopted; the Chinese troops were withdrawn and the Dalai Lama has returned to the Tibetan Capital.
ARMY AND NAVY
In organization, equipment, personnel and commissariat, the Army is utterly in- efficient, and with the exception of a few brigades of foreign-drilled troops is little better than rabble as far as concerns opposition to European, Indian or Japanese troops. 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 Namoi 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. Three cruisers of 2,950 tons displacement were secured in 1895 from the Vulcan Works at Stetten, and two very fine Elswick sloops of the same size were added in 1899. These, with two corvettes and two training vessels, supplemented by four Elbau destroyers, comprised the Pei Yang Squadron, Northern Fleet. These vessels might be of real value for convoying troop- ships, shelling rebellious towns, etc., but as the Chinese have no naval base and no docking facilities in Northern waters, and as the ships are ill-found and with indifferent personnel, they would be of little use against a resolute foreign enemy. The destroyers were captured at Taku on June 17th, 1900, by the British destroyers Fame and Whiting and appropriated by the allies. The Chinese flagship at the Bar, while not actually seized, was rendered useless by removing the breech-blocks of the guns and by being placed under rigorous supervision. The remainder of the Fleet fled to the Yangtsze. Sir Robert Hart in a scheme of military reorganisation prepared in 1904 recommended the creation of three naval squadrons, the Northern, the Southern and the Central, each to consist of 10 battleships and first-class cruisers, 10 second-class cruisers, 10 torpedo-boat destroyers, and 50 torpedo-boats, with a crew of 10,500 men. The scheme is apparently pigeon-holed at Peking for the present, but in 1909 six torpedo-boat destroyers were built for China in Japane-e yards, and four river gunboats were launched in 1::08 from Hongkong yards. A Commission, headed by H. I. H. Prince Tsai Hsün, visited Europe in 1909 to study naval organisations with the object of developing China's navy, and H. H. Duke Tao (another brother of the Regent) went on a similar mission to Europe in 1910 with a view to a re-organisation of the Army.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
The ports open to trade are:-Newchwang, Chinwantao, Tientsin, Chefoo, Woosung, Shanghai, Soochow, Chinkiang, Nanking, Wuhu, Kiukiang, Hankow, Yochow, Chang- sha, Shasi, Ichang, Chungking, Hangchow, Ningpo, Wênchow, Santu, Foochow, Amoy, Swatow, Canton, Samshui, Wuchow, Kongmoon, Nanning, Kiungchow, and Pakhoi. Lungchow, Mêngtsz, Szemao and Tengyueh, on the frontiers of Tonkin and Burmah, and Yatung in Tibet, are stations under the cognisance of the Foreign Customs. Mukden, Antung and Tatiengkow and many other inland places in Manchuria have recently been opened to foreign trade. The import trade, exclusive of the Colony of Hongkong, centres chiefly at Shanghai, Tientsin, Hankow and Canton, while the bulk of the exports pass through the ports of Shanghai and Canton. The annual value of the trade of China coming under the supervision of the Imperial Maritime Customs was as follows:-
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