Directory_and_Chronicle_1896 — Page 499

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CHINA

that amount. Official returns of the Chinese Government, published in 1844, stated the annual revenue at that time at Tls. 191,803,139, or £63,934,713. According to the memorials from officials published in the Peking Gazette, it would appear that there are almost constant deficits, which the governors and high officials of provinces must cover by extraordinary taxation. The public revenue is mainly derived from three sources namely, custom duties, licences, and a tax upon land, but the receipts from the foreign customs are alone made known. This was in 1894 Tls. 22,523,605.

China had no foreign debt till the end of 1874, when a loan of £627,675, bearing 8 per cent. interest, was contracted through the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, under Imperial authority and secured by the customs' revenue. Afterwards a number of other loans, of comparatively moderate amount, were contracted, mostly through the agency of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, and several of them have been paid off, Up to 1894 the total Foreign debt of China was inconsiderable, but in 1895 extensive borrowings had to be made to meet the expenses of the war with Japan and the first instalment of the indemnity. The exact figures are not available, but the total existing debt is between £21,000,000 and £25,000,000, including the Russian loan of £10,000,000. As the total indemnity payable to Japan is Tls. 200,000,000 under the Shimonoseki Treaty, with a further Tls. 20,000,000 for the retrocession of the Liaotung Peninsula, further borrowing will have to be resorted to.

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 below:-

Area English Estimated

Provincial Capital

Province

Square Miles Population

Chihli......

Peking

58,9-19

28,114,023

Shantung

Tsinan

65,104

28,958,764

Shansi

Taiyuen.

55,268

27,260,281

Honan

Kaifung..

65,104

23,037,171

Kiangsu.

Nanking

Anhwei

Ngankin

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

37,370,098

381.724

Hunan

Changchau

18,652,507

Shensi

10,207,256

15 1,008

Kansuh

15,193,135

Szechuen

166,800

21,435,678

Kwangtung

79,456

19,147,030

Kwangsi

....

78,250

7,313,895

Yunnan

107,869

5,561,320

Kweichau

64,554

5,288,219

Sigan Lanchow Chingtu. Canton Kwelin Yunnan Kweiyang.

1,534,953 405,213,152

The above population, giving 263 souls per square mile throughout China proper, although partly based on official returns, is not at all reliable. An estimate given by the Board of Revenue of the population in 1887 made it 303,241,969, which is probably much nearer the mark.

The total number of foreigners in China in 1894 was 9,350, of whom 3,989 were subjects of Great Britain, 1,294 of the United States, 807 of France, 767 of Germany, 356 of Sweden and Norway, 206 of Italy, 380 of Spain, 253 of Japan, and 780 Portuguese, almost entirely natives of Macao, all other nationalities being represented by very few members. Of 552 mercantile firms doing business at the treaty ports, 350 were British, 85 German, 31 American, and 32 French.

The principal dependencies of China are Mongolia, with an area of 1,288,035 square miles, and some 2,000,000 people; and Manchuria, with an area of 362,313 square miles, and an estimated population of 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 6,000,000 souls. It is ruled by the Dalai Lama, but subject to the Government of Peking, who maintain a Resident at Lhassa,

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