TNQriRV INTO THE TOPTT.ATION OF f'lllNA. 065 



iiices j'or 185)4; tliis is the wildest o-uess yet made, and foots up a 

 tot;)l of 4-i 1 ,800.000. In lOO-i the Statesman's Year Book (p. 500) 

 published a table ''issued by the Chinese (Jovei-nmeiit as the results 

 of a census taken for the i)uri)ose of the apportionment of the 

 indemnity to the ])OAvers," in which the population is estimated at 

 4()T,iir>:).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 takin<>- one, as the sums levied from the various 

 provinces for the indemnity of l'.)00 were procured by indirect 

 taxation. Here aiiain we have iiolhiuii- more than a guess of the 

 Chinese board of I'evenue. 



II. 



An atti'uipt will now be made to determine the value of the vari- 

 ous enumerations of ])o]ndation since that of 1741, which I am 

 inclined to believe Avas probably a closer approximation to the truth 

 than were any subsecpient ones, the Imperial Government beino; in 

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

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

 enjoying j^erfect peace. I feel confident, however, that it was in 

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

 such as w^e make in this country has ever been 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 would 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 guesswork, and where numbers are guessed 

 they arc always magnified, especially when there is no reason to 

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

 1712, referred to previously. 



China enjoys a salubrious clinuite and a fertile soil, and the people 

 have always 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 which 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 worship. AVe find Mencius (B. C. 

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

 terity is the greatest of them" (pu hsiao yu san, wu hou Avei ta)." 



oTa Cli'ing, Lii-li, 3d Div., Bk. I, Sees. LXXV, LXXVI. 

 6 Mencius. Blc. IV. I't. 1. Cb. XXVI. 



