INQUIRY INTO THE POPULATION OF Cr[TNA. Of),^) 



inces i'or 1894; tliis is the wildest guess yet made, and foots up a 

 total of 421,800,000. In 190:5 the Statesman's Year Book (]). nOG) 

 published a table " issued b}^ the Chinese Government as the results 

 of a census taken for the purpose of the apportionment of the 

 indemnit}^ to the poAvers/' in which the population is estimated at 

 407,253,000. There is not a scintilla of evidence to show that any 

 census was taken for the purpose stated, and, furthermore, there 

 was no necessity for taking one, as the sums levied from the various 

 provinces for the indemnity of 1900 were procured by indirect 

 taxation. Here again we have nothing more than a guess of the 

 Chinese board of j'cvenue. 



IL 



An attempt Avill now be made to determine the value of the vari- 

 ous enumerations of population since that of 1741, which I am 

 inclined to believe Avas probably a closer approximation to the truth 

 than Avere any subsequent ones, the Imperial Government being in 

 strong, intelligent hands, its mandates executed Avith more faithful- 

 ness and precision than at any other subsequent period, and the Empire 

 enjoying perfect peace. I feel confident, hoAvever, that it Avas in 

 excess of the truth, for it nnist be borne in mind that no census 

 such as Ave make in this country has ever lieen attempted in China. 

 The statutes of the Empire " require, it is true, that all families 

 should make returns of their members, and impose punishments 

 for failure to comply or for falsification of returns; it Avould there- 

 fore seem easy to tabulate these returns at any time, but experience 

 has proved that such is not the case. In China all statements of 

 population are largely guessAvork, and Avhere numbers are guessed 

 they are ahvays magnified, especially Avhen there is no reason to 

 keep them dowai, as was the case prior to the imperial edict of 

 1712, referred to previously. 



China enjoj^s a salubrious climate and a fertile soil, and the people 

 have ahvays been extraordinarly industrious and thrifty. As a gen- 

 eral rule the taxation has been fairly equable, and life and property 

 safe in times of peace. These conditions are all conducive to a large 

 increase in population. There is another reason Avhich should from 

 the remotest times have been potent in producing a larger increase 

 of population in China than in other countries enjoying like nat- 

 ural advantages. I refer to the desire of every Chinese to have pos- 

 terity to keep up the ancestral Avorshij). We find Mencius (15. C. 

 372-289) saying: "There are three unfilial acts, and to lune no pos- 

 terity is the greatest of them " (pu lisiao yu san, avu hou Avei ta).'' 



oTn Ch'ing, Lii-li, M Div., Bk. I, Sees. LXXV, LXXVI. 

 fcMeiK'ius, P.k. IV. Pt. 1, ("li. XXVI. 



