Directory_and_Chronicle_1880 — Page 285

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1.70

CHINA.

aces 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- sions to the living. The blic revenue is mainly derive from three sources, namely, customs duties, licences, and a tax upon land, but the receipts from customs are alone made known. According to the returus published by the governmen', the total receipts From customs were as follows in ach of the fourteen years from 1865 to 1878:-

1865 1866

1867.

1868..

1869

YEAR.

REVENUE.

Haikwan Tls.

8.289.281

8,781,875

1872..... 1873.

8,864.817

1874.

9,448.474

1875..

9,878,848 1876.

9,543,977 11,216,146

1877.

1878.

YEAR.

REVENUE.

Haikwan Tls.

11,678,636

10,977,082

11,497,272

11.968,109

12.152,921

12,067,078

12,483,988

1870...

1871

China had no foreign debt till the end of 1874. It was announced on December 20th, 1874, that the Government had contracted a loan of £627,675, bearing 8 per ont. interest. The loan was issued at 95 per cent. through the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, under Imperial auti.ority and secured by the customs' revenue.

Two ther loans, one in 1877 and one in 1878, have since been issued by the same Bank nder authority of the Chinese Gover: ment.

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 follows in the most recent estimates, partly based on official returns :-

PROVINCE.

PROVINCIAL CAPITAL.

ARRA ENGLISH SQUARE MILES.

ESTIMATED POPULATION.

Chihli Shantung

Peking... Tsiuun

58,949

28,114,023

65,104

28,958.764

Shansi

Honan.... Kiangsu

Anhwei Kiangsi Fohkien Chekiang

Hupeh Hunan

Taiynen

55,268 27,260,281

Kaifung

65,104

23,037,171

Nanking.

Nganking

92,661 {

37,843,301

34,168,059

Nanchang

72,176

30,426,999

Foochow

53,480

38,888,432

Hangchow

39,150

26,256,784

Wuchang

37,370,098

Changchau

381,724

18,652,507

Shensi

Kansuh

Sigan Lanchow

10,207,256

154,008

15,193,135

Szechuan

Chingtau

166,800

21,435,678

Kuangtung

79,456

19,147,030

Kuangsi...

78,250

7,313,895

Yunnan

Kweichiau

107,869

5,561,320

64,554

5,288,219

1,534,953 405,213,152

Canton...... Kwelin

Yunnan Kweiyang

Total...

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 higher 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 nhabitants 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

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