Directory_and_Chronicle_1889 — Page 397

CHINA.

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15,000,000. The latter is being steadily and rapidly colonised by Chinese, who greatly outnumber the Manchus in their own land. Thibet, which is also practically a dependency of China, has an area of 643,734 square miles and a population of 6,000,000souls. It is ruled by the Dalai Lama, but subject to the Government oʻ Peking.

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 men, 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, but has since been greatly strengthened. The fleet of China now includes five armoured ships, namely, the Ting Yuen and Chen Yuen, built at Stettin in 1883, which are of 7,430

lacement, have 14 inches armour, and each carry four 301⁄2 c.m. and two Har Krupp guns, eight machine guns, two light guns, and two launching carriages for corpedoes; the King Yuen and Lai Yuen, built at Stettin in 1887, which are of 2,850 tons displacement, have 94 in. armour, and each carry two 8 in. 10-ton breech-loaders, two 6 in. breech-loaders, seven machine guns, and one torpedo tube and three launching carriages; and the small armoured gunboat Tien Sing, with 14 inches armour on the belt and 3 in, où the turret, and carrying one 17 e.m. Krupp gun. Amongst the unarmoured vessels are two Armstrong cruisers with protected decks, the Chih Yuen and Ching Yuen, built in 1887, and carrying three 8-in. 12-ton breech loaders and four torpedo tubes; the cruiser Tai Yuen, built at Stettin in 1883, wich protected deck, and carrying two 21 c.m. and one 15 cm. Krupp guns, four light guns, six machine guns, and four torpedo tubes: two Armstrong cruisers built in 1881, the Chao Yung and Yung Wei, with partially protected decks, and carrying two 10 in. and eight 41 in. breech-loaders ; the Hai An, a frigate built cruiser, carrying two 21 c.m., four 15 c.m., and twenty 12 c.m. Krupp guns; the cruisers Nan Shuin and Nan Thin, built in Germany in 1884, carrying two 8 in. and eight 4 in. Armstrong breech-loaders; the cruiser Yang Pao, carrying three 8 in. 10-ton and seven 42 inch. breech-loaders; the gun- vessels Mei Yuen and Teing Yuen; and eleven so-called alphabetical gunboats. Of the latter the first four are 118 feet 6 inches long, with a draught of 7 feet 6 inches, and a displacement of 400 tons. They each carry a 27-tonn. The next four, which arrived in China in October, 1879, are built of steel, and a. · double-ended, the stern lines being exactly after the model of the bow rudders. 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, man draught of 9 feet 6 inches, and a displacement of 440 tons. main feature of these boats is the 11-inch 35-ton muzzle-loading gun carried by each. They are further armed with two 12-pounder breech-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, They were all built on the Tyne by the Elswick Company. Lu Shun 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.

The

The ports open to trade are:--Canton, Hoihow (in Hainan). Pakhoi, siwato, Amoy, Foochow, Takow and Taiwan-fu, Tamsui and Kelung, Wenchow, Ningpo, Shanghai, Chinkiang, Wuhu, Kiukiang, Hankow, Ichaug, Chefoo, Tientsin, and Newchwang. Under the provisions of the Chefoo Convention, permission is also

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