INQIHRY INTO THE POPULATION OF CHINA. 007 



paiiied In- floods, tvphiis, :uul other scourges. Freciucntly these 

 (h'oiig-hts histed in the same section of country for several successive 

 years or occurred at such close intervals that the country had not 

 time to recover from them. To cite but two cases: from A. D. IGOl 

 to 1G43 drought is recorded in some one province of China in thirty 

 years, in fifteen of which it occurred in the province of 8han-hsi, and 

 in eleven in that of Chedciang. 



The fearful loss of life which has marked every calamity that has 

 visiti'd any part of Cliina, and tlie nearly incredibk^ cruelty which has 

 been shown in the sui)pivssi()U of e\'ery uprising that has takeu place 

 from the earliest days down to the preseut time, ai'e unfortunately 

 too well authenticated to he denied. 



Without going Inu-k to the eai'ly annals of the C-hinese for examples 

 of the terrible nu)rtality \\ hich has always attended natural calamities 

 and warfare in China, a few in the last three centuries, vouched for 

 b'V reliable European writers, or by foreigners residiMit in the country 

 at the time of their occni-rence, may be cited here. 



Father I)u Halde ;' states that in the year 1582 "•there was such a 

 great drought in the Province of Shandisi, that it was impossil)le to 

 count the mnnber of those who died of starvation. There were dug 

 in various localities some sixty great ditches, each of which held a 

 thousand corpses, and were thei'eafter called Van gin keng." (Wan 

 jen k'eu.g), '' Grave of a myriad men." 



The same author'' says that on Septemljer -J, KiTS, there was an 

 earthquake in the I^rovince of Chihdi when over ;)(),00() persons lost 

 their lives in the town of T'ung-chou alone. On November 30, 1731, 

 there was another earthquake in the same province, when over 100,- 

 000 persons lost their lives in Peking, and more than that numl)er in 

 the adjacent country. 



Father Amiot,^ writing from Peking, May 20, 1T8(), tells of a 

 terrible drought which for the three past 3'ears liad visited the i)rov- 

 inces of Kiang-nan, Ilo-nan, and Shan-tung. The })eople in vast num- 

 bers sought to reach other provinces, but thousands u])on thousands 

 died on the roads and their corpses were devoured l)y the survivors. 



As regards the extraordinary loss of life attending military opera- 

 tions in China, Du Ilalde states^' that in 1035 the Chinese, to defend 

 the city of K'ai-feug Fu in Ilo-nan against the rebels, cut the "^'ellow 

 River dikes. The whole city was submerged and ;»00.000 persons lost 

 their lives. 



" Descvipt ion, I, p. ."»22. The expression Wan jen k'eni,' is coljociuially used 

 to designate a iiit into wliicli llie jiodies of executed criminals are tin-own. See 

 H. A. (Jiles, ("hin. Diet., s. v., k'en.LC. 



6 Ibid. I. p. .")1.".. 



c Mem concernant les C'liinois, XIII, p. 42,'">. 



<?0p. cit, I,, p. r>m 



