676 



INQUIRY IKTO THE POPULATION OP CHINA. 



miiiht l)e twice as Avell oft' as he is now: and this without any revohi- 

 tionary ('han<>v in their present manner of life/'" 



EiuitiicrdfioiiN of the popnidtioii of Clnna, 1761, tS12, 184'2, 1SS2, mid 1SS5. 



Provinces. 



1761. 



1812 



1842. 



1882. 



1885. 



Chih-li 



Sfian-tung . . . 



Shan-hsi 



Ho-nan 



Kiang-su 



An-liui 



Fu-klen 



Che-kiang... 



Hu-pei 



Hu-nan 



Sheii-hsi 



Kan-su 



Ssu-ch'uan . . 

 Kuang-tung 

 Kuang-hsi _ - 



Yiin-naii 



Kuei-chou . . 



Kiang-hsi . . . 



Total.. 



7,412,014 



3, 

 2, 

 3, 

 11, 



l9a 



,782, 

 ,797, 

 947, 

 078, 

 402, 

 006. 



257 



27,990,871 

 28,9.58,764 

 14,004,210 

 23,037,171 

 ;^7,843,501 

 34,ia5,059 

 14,779,158 

 26,2.56,784 

 27,370,098 

 18,652,507 

 10,207,2.5(i 

 15,. 3.54, 875 

 21,435,678 

 19,174,a30 

 7,313,895 

 .5, .561, 320 

 5,288,319 

 2:^,046,999 



360,440,395 



36,879,838 



29,529,877 



17,056,925 



29,069,771 



39,646,924 



36,596,988 



25, 799, 556 



»), 437, 974 



28,584,564 



20,048,969 



l(l,a)9,769 



19,512,716 



23,256,964 



21,1.52,603 



8,121,327 



5,823,670 



5,679,128 



26,513,889 



lH3^21,452 



* 17,937,000 

 36,247,835 

 12,2n,453 

 22,115,827 

 20,90.5,171 



* 20, .596, 988 

 25,000,000 

 11,. 588, 692 

 33,3&5,0O5 

 21,002,604 



* 8, 432, 193 

 *. 5, 411, 188 



67,712,897 

 29,706,249 



* 5, 1.51,327 



* 11,721,576 



* 7, 669, 181 

 34,534,118 



381,309,304 



*17,937,0tt5 

 :i6,545,704 

 10,791,341 

 22,117,036 

 21,259,989 



* 20, .596, 988 

 2.3, .502, 794 

 11,684,348 

 33,600,492 

 21,0a5,171 



3,276,967 

 *5,411,188 

 71,073, 7:» 

 29,740,tt55 



* 5, 1.51, 327 



* 11,721,576 



* 7, 669, 181 

 24,541,406 



377,636,198 



The figures given in the censuses of 1761, 1842, 1S82, and 1885 were supplied 

 to Father Aniiot, Sjicharoff, Popoft", and Rockhill by the Chinese board of reve- 

 nue. Figures in the returns for 1882 and 1885 marked with an asterisk are 

 those given to Sacharoff for the year 1879. They are tlie hitest official esti- 

 mates. 



The figures given under the census of 1812 are taken from Sacharoff, whose 

 authority was presumably t!ie official Ta Ch'ing Ilui-tien. 



a In a most interesting study entitled "Tenure of Land in China and the 

 Condition of the Rural Population" (Journ. Ch. Br. Roy. Asiat. Soc, N. S., 

 XXIII, pp. 50-174) we find it stated (pp. 7(1-79) on excellent authority that " it 

 is impossible to say with any sort of exactness what proportion of the whole 

 soil of China is tilled by peasant owners, but probably it can not be put at less 

 ihan (iiie-half. Tlie other moiety is owned in great measure by retired oiHcials 

 and their families, the class known as the literati and gentry. * * * Con- 

 siderable tracts of bind are owned l.y such families, and it is tlic invariable 

 rule in these cases to lease the land to small farmers. In the central and pojiu- 

 lous i)arts of China these holdings are exceedingly small, often less thin an 

 English acre, seldom larger than three or four acres. * * * Most lands 

 yield one or more subsidiary crops in the course of the year, besides the prin- 

 cipal crop. * '^ * On the frontier provinces, where the soil is poorer and 

 the population more sparse, the size of the holdings is in general nmch larger 

 than in the central provinces, and the people would seem as a ruh> to be better 

 off. But as i)opulation increases there seems everywhere to I)e a sirong tendency 

 tor holdings to t)ecome reduced to the minimum size that will sniii">rt a single 

 family. The mor(> fertile the soil the smaller the farms and the more minute 

 the subdivision. How marvelously fertile the soil is under favor.-ible circum 

 stances will be seen from the fact that * * * one mow ((i.G to an acre) will 

 support one individual. On this basis a square mile is capable of supporting 

 a population of 3,840 persons." 



