362
CHINA.
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:-
Chihli Shantung
Shansi
Honan..
PROVINCE.
PROVINCIAL CAPITAL.
Peking. Tsinan
Taiyuen
Kaifung
Nanking
Nganking
Nanchang
Kiangsu Anhwei Kiangsi Fohkien Chekiang Hupeh Hunan Shensi
Kansuh
Szechuan
Kuangtung Kuangsi..
Foochow
Hangchow Wuchang Changchau Sigan Lanchow Chingtau.... Canton......
Kwelin
Yunnan
Kweichau
Yunnan Kweiyang
AREA ENGLISH SQUARE MILES.
ESTIMATED POPULATION,
58,949
28,114,023
65,104
28,958,764
55,268 27,260,281
65,194
23,037,171
92,661 {
37,843,501
34,168,059
72,176 30,426,999
53,480 38,888,432
39,150
26,256,784
રે
381,724
(37,370,098
18,652,507
10,207,256
154,008
15,193,135
166,800
21,435,678
79,456 19,147,030
78,250
7,313,895
107,869
5,561,320
64,554
5,288,219
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. Rebellions and famines have, in some provinces, greatly thinned the population, and there is every reason to believe that the population of China does not now exceed 300,000,000.
According to a return of the Imperial Customs authorities, the total number of foreigners in China was 3,817 at the end of 1877. Among them were 1,851 natives of Great Britain and Ireland, 383 of the United States, 353 of Germany, and 176 of France, all other nationalities being represented by very few members. More than one-half of the total number of foreigners resided at Shanghai, the remainder being scattered over the other ports open to foreign commerce.
In addition to China proper there are its dependencies. The principal of these are Mongolia, with an area of 1,288,035 square miles, with some 2,000,000 people; and Manchuria, with an area of 362,313 square miles, and an estimated population of 15,000,000. The latter is being steadily and rapidly colonised by Chinese, who greatly outnumber the Manchus in their own land. Thibet, which is also practically a dependency of China, has an area of 643,734 square miles and a population of 6,000,000 souls. It is ruled by the Dalai Lama, but subject to the Government of Peking.
ARMY AND Navy.
The standing military force of China consists of two great divisions, the first formed by the more immediate subjects of the ruling dynasty, the Manchus, and the second by 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 is in process of formation. It 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, and the entire navy was manned by about 6,000 sailors and carried 280 guns. Included in these were the revenue cruisers, several of which were built in England. The most formidable vessels now possessed by China unquestionably are the ironclad turret ships Ting Yuen and Chen Yuen,