Directory_and_Chronicle_1881 — Page 284

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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 customs are alone made known. According to the returus published by the government, the total receipts from customs were as follows in each of the fourteen years from 1866 to 1879:—

YEAR.

RKVENUE.

YEAR.

REVENUE.

1866..

1867.

1868...

1869.

1870..

1871.

1872..

Haikwan Tls.

8,781,875

1873...

8,864,817

1874...

9,448,474

1875.

9,878,848

1876.

9,543,977

1877.

11,216,146

1878.

11,678,636

1879...

Haikwan Tls.

10,977,082

11,497,272

11,968,109

12,152,921

12,067,078

12,483,988

13,531,670

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 Two Shanghai Bank, under Imperial authority and secured by the customs' revenue. other loans, one in 1877 and one in 1878, have since been issued by the same Bank under authority of the Chinese Government.

AREA AND POPULATION.

Cina 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.

ARKA ENGLISH SQUARE MILES.

ESTIMATED POPULATION.

Chihli Shantung

Peking. Tsinan

58,949

28,114,023

65,104

28,958,764

Shansi

Taiyuen

55,268

27,260,281

Honan..

Kaifung

65,104

23,037,171

Kiangsu

Nanking.

Anhwei

Nganking

92,661 {

37,843,501

34,168,059

Kiangsi

Nanchang

72,176

30,426,999

Fohkien

Foochow

53,480

38,888,432

Chekiang

Hangchow

39,150

26,256,784

Hupeh

Wuchang

Hunan

Changchau

381,724 {

37,370,098

18,652,507

Shensi Kansuh

Szechuan

Sigan

10,207,256

154,008

Lanchow

15,193,135

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......

1,534,953405,213,152

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 bigher 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

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