294
CHINA.
vinces must cover by extraordinary taxation. Occasionally the Treasury is replenished by a liberal sale to their relatives of posthumous honours to the departed and of decora- tions to the living. The public revenue is mainly derived from three sources, namely, customs duties, licences, and a tax upon land, but the receipts from the foreign customs are alone made known. According to the returns published by the Govern- ment, the total receipts from foreign customs were as follow in each of the fourteen years from 1867 to 1880:-
YBAR.
REVENUE.
YEAR.
REVENUE.
1867...
1868.
1869.
1870.
1871.
1872
Haikon 11s.
8,864.817
1874....
9,448,474
1875.
9,878,848
1876.
9,543,977
1877
11.216.146
1878..
11,678,636
1879..
10,977,082
1880.
Haikwan Tls.
11,497,272
11,968,109
12,152,921
12,067,078
12,483,988
13,531,670
14,258,583
1873.
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 95 per cent. through the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, under Imperial authority and secured by the customs' revenue. Three other loans. one in 1877, one in 1878, and the third in 1881, have since been issued by the same Bank under authority of the Chinese Government.
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 as follow in the most recent estimates, partly based on official returns:
་་
PROVINCE.
PROVINCIAL CAPITAL,
AREA ENGLISH SQUARE MILES.
ESTIMATED POPULATION.
Chibli Shantung
Peking Tsinan
58,949
28,114,023
65,104
28,958,764
Shansi
Honan.
Kiangsu
Anhwei
Taiynen
55,268 27,260,281
Kaifung
65,104
23,037,171
Nanking.
37,843,501
92,661
Nganking
34,168,059
Kiangai Fohkien
Nanchang
72,176
30,426,999
Foochow
53,480
38,888,432
Chekiang Hupeh
Hangchow
39,150
26,256,784
Wuchang
Hunan
Changchau
381,724 {
37,370,098
18,652,507
Shensi
Sigan
10,207,256
154,008
Kansuh
Lanchow
15,193,135
Szechuan
Kuangtung
Kuangsi....
Chingtau.. Canton... Kwelin
166,800
21,435,678
79,456
19,147,030
78,250
7,313,895-
Yunnan
Kweichau
Yunnan Kweiyang
107,869
5,561,320
64,554
5,288,219
Total......
1,534,953 405,213,152
The above population, giving 263 souls per square mile throughout China proper, appears to be excessive, considering that some of the outlying portions of the immense territory are by no means densely inhabited. Nevertheless, other returns than those of the above tables, said to be official, give still highor figures. It is stated that in a census taken in 1842 the population of China was ascertained to number 414,686,994, or 320 per English square mile, and that in 1852 it had risen to 450,000,000, or 347 inhabitants per square mile. But there is, probably, less accuracy in the given results of the latter enumerations than in the preceding estimate, which is doubtless considerably over the mark. Rebellions and famines have, in some provinces, greatly