Directory_and_Chronicle_1882 — Page 318

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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 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