CHINA
AREA AND POPULATION
563.
China proper, extending over 1,335,841 square miles, is divided into eighteen provinces. Considerable trouble and care were taken in 1919 by the Postal Administra- tion to obtain an estimate of the population of China. Recourse was had to the assist- ance of the provincial officials, which in most cases was willingly accorded. Below are given the results obtained. These, while they cannot be regarded as accurate, may be taken as a close approximation to actual figures. The footnote will show the limitations that have so far been imposed to a full record of the outlying districts:-
Province.
Anhui Chekiang.
Area,
Province.
Area, square miles
square miles.
54,826
Kwangtung.
100,000*
36,680
Shantung.
55,984
Chihli Fukien Hunan
115,830
Szechuen
218,533-
46,332
Yunnan....
146,718
•
83,398
Shansi
81,853
Hupeh
Kiangsi.
Kiangsu
Kwangsi
71,428
Shensi
75,290
69,498
Kansu
125,483
38,610
Honan
67,954
77,220
Kweichow
67,182
Total....
1,532,819-
Manchuria (Chinese estimate)
363,000
Population
Population
Peking.
4,014,619
Hunan
28,443,279
Chihli
30,172,092
Kiangsi
24,466,800
Shansi
11.080,827
Kiangsu
28,235,864
Honan
30,831,909
Shanghai
.5,550,200
Shensi
9,465,558
Anhui
19,832,665
Kansu
5,927,997
Chekiang
22,043,300
Sinkiang.
2,519,579
Fukien
13,157,791
Manchuria
13,701,819
Kwangtung
37,167,701
Shantung
30,803,245
Kwangsi..
12,258,335
Szechuen
49,782,810
Yunnan
9,839,180
Hupeh....
27,167,244
Kweichow
11,216,400
TOTAL: 427,679,214
Not included in the above (no data available) :-
(a.) 1 Hsien and Mongolia in Peking District. (b.) 3 Hsien in Manchuria District. (c.) Tibet.
The total number of foreigners in China was ascertained in 1921 to be 240,769. Of these. 144,434 were Japanese, 68,250 Russian, 9,298 British, 1,255 Germans, 3,493 Portuguese, 8,230 Americans, and 2,453 (including protéges) French, other nationali- ties being represented by 3,356. In spite of the war, the number of Europeans has increased since 1915, and the total of Japanese residents has risen by nearly fifty per cent. in the same period. The Russians have increased by over 300 per cent. in three years. The number of foreigners in China in 1920 was 326,069, the exodus in 1921 being probably accounted for by the adverse trading conditions prevailing during that year. The Chinese Maritime Customs Returns for 1921 showed the number of commercial firms to be 9,511. Japan headed the list with 6,141, followed by Russia with 1,613, the United Kingdom with 703, America with 412, Germany with 92, France with 222, Portugal with 152, Italy with 42, Holland with 31, Belgium with 27, Denmark with 28, Spain with 7, Norway with 12 and Sweden with 9; but, as the British Commercial Attaché has remarked, much depends on the definition and status of a commercial firm.
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