﻿rockhill] the population of china 315 



the average population to the square mile is one-fifth less than 

 in the Prefecture of Wen-chou I say 325 to the square mile), the total 

 population of the province in 1881 would have been about 11,145,000 

 — a figure substantially agreeing with that given by the Governor of 

 the Province for 1879 and tnat supplied Popoff in 1882. 



The population of Che-kiang, according to the above figures, in- 

 creased from 1879 to 1882 — say about three years (1880-81) from 

 1 [.541,054 to 11,588,692, or 47,638. From 1882 to 1885 (also three 

 years) it increased from 11,588,692 to 11,684,348, or 95.656. This 

 would be an annual increase from 1879 to 1882 of 0.206 percent, 

 and from 1882 to 1885 of 0.275 percent, or an average yearly rate 

 from 1879 to 1885 of 0.240 percent — this under the most favorable 

 possible circumstances, the country being blessed with peace and 

 plenty during all that period and for some years previously. At this 

 rate the population of Che-kiang would double itself by natural in- 

 crease in 417 years. 



Newsholme, 1 calculating the average birth-rate and death-rate 

 for the five years 1891-95, found that in Prussia the population 

 would double itself by natural increase in 49.2 years ; in England in 

 59.1 years; in Italy in 65.7 years; in Austria in 74.1 years; and in 

 France in 591 years, the annual increase in the period named aver- 

 aging in the latter country only 0.08 per 1,000. Conditions of life in 

 other provinces of the Empire of China are approximately the same 

 as in Che-kiang — in fact, in a number they are worse, particularly 

 as regards the frequency of famines, floods, and epidemics ; neverthe- 

 less, Chinese enumerations would have us believe that the popula- 

 tion in China increases more rapidly than in the most favored coun- 

 tries of the world. 



In the case of China, natural increase is the only one to be taken in 

 line of count ; immigration into China is practically nil, and emigra- 

 tion from China proper to other portions of the Empire, excluding 

 Asia, has only within quite recent times become of considerable size, 

 and even now it is not sufficient to appreciably affect the sum total 

 of the population in the approximate count we are trying to make of 

 it. The only migratory movements of the Chinese have been from 

 province to province of the Empire. Without going far back into 

 the past, it will suffice to mention the repopulation of the provinces of 



Che-kiang show just the contrary of what I am seeking to prove, but it must 

 be seen at once how fanciful must be the returns of population when the total 

 number in a vast province is deduced from a rough count in a small district. 

 This is substantially the method the Chinese follow. 

 1 Elem. Vital Statistics, p. 15. 



