CHINA AND ITS OPEN PORTS.
869
The estimates of the public revenue of China vary greatly, and while they are stated by some to exceed 100 millions sterling, are held by others not to come up to half that amount. Official returns of the Chinese Government, published in 1844, stated the annual revenue at that time at Tls. 191,804,189, or £63,934,718. From missionary reports, as well as the accounts published in the Peking Gazette, it would appear that there are almost constant deficits, which the governors and high officers of provinces must cover by extraordinary taxation.
The public revenue is mainly derived from three sources, namely, customs duties, licenses, and a tax upon land, but the receipts from customs alone are made known. According to the returns published by the government, the total receipts from customs were as follows in each of the five years from 1869 to 1873 :-
Yeurs.
1889 1870... 1871 1872... 1873
•
AR
Tuels. 9.880.189
9,545,848
11,216,146
11.678.636
10,977,082
Customs Receipts.
£
3.293,399
3.181.949
3 738.382 3,892,878
3,659 027
The customs duties fall more upon exports than imports. To the customs revenue of the year 1873, the duties on imports contributed Tls. 3,804,855, or £1,268,285, and the duties on exports Tls. 6,137,117, or £2,045,706, the remainder being derived from minor customs charges.
China had no foreign debt till the end of 1874. It was announced on December 30th, 1874, that the government had contracted a loan of £627,675, bearing 8 per cent. interest. The loan was issued at $5 per cent. through the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, under Imperial authority and secured by the customs revenue. It is not known whether the Government has raised, or is responsible, for loans con-
tracted at home.
Population, Trade, and Industry.
The population of China is very dense, but nothing accurate is known respecting the number of inhabitants, although official enumerations of the same are stated to have taken place at intervals since the year 708, or for more than eleven centuries. One of the causes of uncertainty regarding the population of the empire is that its limits are undefined, the imperial government claiming the allegiance of the in- habitants of many of the neighbouring territories, which appear to be more or less independent. According to the most reliable estimates, based upon Chinese official returns, the area of the empire and its dependencies, embraces 186,887 geographical, or 8,924,627 English square miles, with a population of 425 millions, distributed as follows:-
China proper Dependencies:-
Manchuria Mongolia ...
...
Thibet
Corea...
...
***
Lieukbieu Islande
Liaotong
AREA.
Engl. sq. miles.
1,534,953
POPULATION.
405,213,152
862,313 1,288,035
3,000,000
2,000,000
643,734
6,000,000
...
90.300
8,000,000
2,3'0
1,000,000
2,982
Total
3.924,627
425,213,152