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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 decorations 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 Government, the total receipts from foreign customs were as follow in each of the fourteen years from 1868 to 1881:-
1868...
1869..
1870....
1871...
1872
1873...
1874..
YEAR.
REVENUE.
Haikwan Tls.
9,448,474
1875...
9,878,848
1876
9,543,977
1877.
11,216,146
1878.
11,678,636
1879....
10,977,082
1880....
11,497,272
1881....
YEAR.
REVENUE.
Haikwan Tls.
11,968,109
12,152,921
12,067,078
12,483,988
13,531,670
14,258,583
14,685,162
Chin 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.
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
Folkien
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 Lanchow
154,008 {
10,207,256
15,193,135
Kuangtung
Kuangsi. Yunnan
Kweichau
Chingtau.. 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 a certained 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 accu acy 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
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
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