736
CHINA
of both the central and provisional governments to enable China to meet the obliga- tions created by the indemnity paid to the Powers on account of the Boxer rising in 1900. In some districts Lekin and Native Customs were brought under the control of the Imperial Maritime Customs and hypothecations made on the salt revenues. The tariff was raised to an effective 5 per cent, ad valorem. These innovations will obtain till 1940, when the amortization of China's obligations will be complete. Sir Robert Hart, the late Inspector-General of the Imperial Maritime Customs, estimated in 1904 the possible revenue from a reform of the Land Tax at 400 million taels.
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 subsequently exten- sive borrowings had to be made to meet the expenses of the war with Japan and the indemnity, which was Tls. 200,000,000 (at exchange of 3s. 3]d.), with a further Tls. 20,000,000 for the retrocession of the Liaotung Peninsula. The last instalment was paid in 1898, and the total indebtedness of the country up to 1900 was £55,755,000, the princi- pal loans being the Russian of 1895, the Anglo-German of 1896, and the Anglo-German of 1895, each of £16,000,000. The country's obligations in 1901 were increased by a sum of Tls. 450,000,000, the amount of the indemnity paid to the Powers to meet (1) the expenses of the Expeditionary Forces, and (2) claims for compensation for losses to missions, corporations, individuals, etc. Several minor loans were subsequently obtained chiefly for railway construction, and China's total foreign debt outstanding amounts now to about £150,000,000. As a result of the Revolution China's indebtedness will be largely increased. The Chinese Government has been seeking an international loan of £60,000,000, but at the time this work went to press the Government had been unable to come to terms with the banking syndicate.
AREA AND POPULATION
China proper, extending over 1,335,841 square miles, is divided into eighteen provinces, according to the official Estimates for 1911, the area and population of the various prefectures and provinces are as given: --
Province and Population
Province and Population
Szechuen
78,711,000
Fukien
20,000,000
Shantung
38,000,000
Manchuria
17,000,000
Anhwei
35,000,000
Chekiang
11.800,000
Hupeh
31,000,000
Kwangsi
8,000,000
Kwangtung
32,000,000
Yunnan
7,571,000
Chihli
29 400,000
Other Provinces (Shansi, Shensi,
Kiangsi.
Kiangsu
Hunan
24 534,000 23,980,000 22,000,000
Kansu, Honan, Kweichau)
55,000,000
Total..
437,996,000
It is to be noted that the Chinese census, following all Oriental methods of calculation, is not to be trusted. There is no subject on which foreign and native statisticians are more contentious than that of the Chinese population. Experts vary in their estimates between 250,000,000 and 440,000,000.
The total number of foreigners in China in 1910 was 141,868. Of these 65,434 were Japanese, 49,395 Russian, 10,140 British, 4, 106 Germans, 3,377 Portuguese, 3,176 Americans, 1,925 French, other nationalities being represented by less than 2,100. In the year 1,907 the Imperial Maritime Customs compiled a table which showed the number of commercial firms to be 2,595. Japan headed the list with 1,416, followed by the United Kingdom with 490, Germany with 239, America with 112, France with 94, Portugal with 51, Spain with 40, Italy with 21, Russia with 20, Austria-Hungary and the Netherlands each with 17, Denmark with 14, Norway with 9, Belgium with 6, and Sweden and a non-Treaty Power each with 1; but, as the British Commercial Attaché has remarked, much depends on the definition and status of a commercial firm.
The principal dependencies of China have been 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, Outer Mongolia in 1912 assert-
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