Directory_and_Chronicle_1886 — Page 369

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CHINA.

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 riu, 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 250 guns. Included in these were the revenue cruisers, several of which were built in England. The principal vessels in point of size were two wooden frigates, 2,800 tons builder's measurement, after which came the Yang Woo, a wooden corvette of 1,300 tons builder's measurement, 11 guns. [This vessel was sunk by the French at Foochow, together with eight gunboats, in August, 1884.] The most formidable vessels now possessed by China unquestionably aro the ironclad turret ships Ting Yuen and Chen Yuen, built in 1883, and the Tsi Yuen in 1881, at Stettin, and sent out to China in 1885; and two gun-vessels, the Chao Yung and Yung Wei, built on the Tyne in 1881. These vessels have a displace- ment of 1,350 tons, are built of steel, and are propelled by twin screws driven by compound engines of, together, 2,600 indicated horse-power. They each carry two 26-ton breech-loading guns, one mounted forward and the other aft, four 40-pounder breech-loa ling guns, two 9-pounder breech-loaders, two Nordenfelts, and four Gatlings. They are both armed with a formidable steel knife-edged ram, and carry steam-cutters fitted with spar torpedoes. An armoured craiser, called the Nan Thin, built in Germany in 1883, and a steel corvette, the Nun Shuin, launched at Kiel in January, 1884, are also recent important additions to the navy. After these come the eleven gunboats commonly known as the "alphabetical" gunboats. The first four are 118 feet 6 inches long, with a draught of 7 feet 6 inches, and a displace- ment of 400 tons. They each carry a 274-ton gun. The next four, which arrived in China in October, 1879, are built of steel, and are double-ended, the stern lines being exactly after the model of the bow rudders. By this improvement they can be used either as stern racers or bow chasers, and the extreme fineness of the run enables them to steam backward almost as rapidly as forward. They measure 127 feet in extreme length and 125 feet at the water line, with 29 feet beam, a depth of 12 feet 3 inches, mean draught of 9 feet 6 inches, and a displacement of 440 tons. The main feature of these boats, however, is the 11 inci 35-ton muzzle-loading gun carried by each. They are further armed with two 12-pounder breach-loading Armstrong guns and four Gatlings. The last three, which arrived in China in July, 1881, are almost identical in style with their immediate predecessors, and each carry one 35-ton gun, but are also provided with two 13-pounders, two Gatling, and four Nordenfeldt guns. These boats are specially intended for coast and river defence, for which they are eminently suitable. They were all built on the Tyne by the Elswick Company. Lu Shur Kou, re-named Port Li, in honour of the Viceroy of Chihli, on the south coast of Shingking, has lately been selected as a naval depôt, and is being strongly fortified.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY.

Great Britain has, in virtue of various treaties with the Chinese Government- the first and most important signed August 29th, 1842—the right of access to twenty- five ports and cities of the Empire. The ports known as Treaty ports are Canton, Hoihow (in Hainan), Pakhoi, Swatow, Amoy, Foochow, Takao, Tamsui, and Kelung, Wenchow, Ningpo, Shanghai, Chinkiang, Wuhu, Kiukiang, Hankow, Ichang, Chefoo, Tientsin, and Newchwang. Under the provisions of the Chefoo Convention, permission