CHINA. 



148 



The influence of the Chinese Government 

 extends far beyond its own dependencies over 

 other native states of Asia. An embassy from 

 tho King of Nepaul to Peking last year called 

 attention to tho tributary relation in which 

 tho King of Nepaul (or, as the Chinese call 

 him, the King of the Ghoorkas) places himself 

 with regard to the Chinese Emperor. Nepaul 

 is tho largest of the so-called Himalaya states 

 which line the northern frontier of British 

 India, and, though entirely independent, are 

 sometimes classed among the tributary states. 

 Its area is about 56,700 square miles, and it-; 

 population is estimated at 3,300,000. The ex- 

 act relations between Nepaul and China have 

 hitherto been but imperfectly known. An 

 embassy, it was said, was sent every five years, 

 but no trustworthy accounts of them were 

 published. Early in 1879 the new embassy 

 arrived in the frontier province of Sechuen. 

 They bore a letter from the King of Nepaul 

 dated in July, 1878, and worded as follows: " A 

 dweller in a remote corner of the earth, in a 

 distant and barren land, the King turns with 

 longing toward the civilization of the Middle 

 Kingdom. It has been his practice to gain 

 glory to himself by the dispatch of an envoy, 

 who was admitted to the presence, and he has 

 been entirely dependent upon the rays of his 

 august Majesty's awe-inspiring influence and 

 prosperity for securing peace and tranquillity 

 in his borders." By order of the Chinese Gov- 

 ernment, the tribute and letter of the ambas- 

 sador were, on his arrival at Chingtu, the capi- 

 tal of the province, taken charge of by an offi- 

 cer specially appointed for the purpose, and for- 

 warded to Peking. 



In Burmah, also, the Chinese influence is a 

 far stronger and more active political power 

 than the British. The King is a submissive 

 vassal to his feudal lord in Peking, and he 

 courts the good will of the Chinese frontier 

 generals and governors with as much assidu- 

 ity as if he were dependent on it for his exist- 

 ence. 



The establishment of the first steam cotton- 

 mill in China is regarded as another stage in 

 the commercial development of the empire. 

 Being one of the projects of the young China 

 party of progress, the first mill is, however, to 

 be a semi-governmental institution, with an 

 imperial edict for a charter and mandarins for 

 foremen. The prospectus of the company is a 

 lengthy document consisting of copies of offi- 

 cial correspondence between the promoters and 

 the Governor-General, Li-Hung-Chang. The 

 prospectus begins by reciting that for China to 

 be powerful and wealthy there are two great 

 requisites: Chinamen should export articles 

 which foreign countries require of China, and 

 they should manufacture themselves those ar- 

 ticles which China requires of foreign coun- 

 tries. Scores of millions of taels are sent out 

 of the country to pay for imported cotton 

 piece-goods, and if Chinamen wove these in 

 their own mills this terrible leakage in the 



resources of the country would be stopped. 

 Accordingly, it is proposed to establish a cotton- 

 weaving company in Shanghai to work the 

 native raw cotton, which the promoters assert 

 to bo equal or superior to Indian cotton, into 

 yarn, and to weave it into cotton cloths. For 

 the first three years English workmen will be 

 engaged to teach the Chinese factory-hands, 

 and at the end of that time, if the native work- 

 people are thoroughly expert, the English teach- 

 ers will be dismissed. If, however, the Chinese 

 workmen have not learned the art of weaving 

 in that time, the Englishmen are to be fined. 

 On all piece-goods woven by foreign processes 

 in China shall be levied a tax equal in amount 

 to the import tariff on the same class of goods 

 of foreign make. The factory is to have 800 

 looms, capable of producing from raw cotton 

 260,000 to 460,000 pieces of finished cloth. 

 There is to be no work done on Sundays. It is 

 estimated that 13,000 piculs (of 133 Ibs. each) 

 of raw cotton and 2,000 piculs of starch and 

 clay will be worked yearly. On the lowest 

 scale of production, it is calculated that a prof- 

 it of 30 per cent, will be made. The capital 

 of the company is 125,000, and the annual 

 charge for the wages of the hands is set down 

 as 2,000. 



The mineral wealth of China includes dia- 

 monds in the district of Shantung, on which 

 interesting information was published last year 

 by M. Fauvel. The stones are mostly very 

 minute, varying in size from a millet-seed to a 

 pin's head, though occasionally larger ones are 

 found. One as large as a pea was brought to 

 Chefoo and sold to a mandarin there. A pecu- 

 liar mode has been adopted for collecting the 

 diamonds. Men wearing thick straw shoes 

 walk about in the sands of the valleys and 

 streams of the diamond mountains of Ching- 

 kangling, about fifteen miles southeast of 

 Yichow-foo. The diamonds, which are ragged 

 and pointed, penetrate the straw and remain 

 there. The shoes are then collected in great 

 numbers and burned, the diamonds being 

 searched for in the ashes. As is the case with 

 amethysts and rock-crystal in the Lao-Chan, 

 the priests in the temples of Chingkangling are 

 the principal dealers in these small diamonds. 

 From them they are bought by glaziers at the 

 large fairs held every year at Chuchow, 

 Laichow-foo, and Jlwang-hsien. They are not 

 to be found in shops, and are packed in qnills. 



The insurrection which toward the close of 

 1878 broke out in the southern province of 

 Kwang-si, under the leadership of Li-Yung-tsai* 

 (see "Annual Cyclopaadia" for 1878, p. 101), 

 assumed larger dimensions at the beginning 

 of the new year. Before Li took up arms 

 against the Government, he addressed a letter 

 to the Tartar General of Canton, explaining tho 

 nature and reason for the steps he was about 

 to take. lie states therein that he was on bad 

 terms with the Governor of Kwang-si, who 



* ID some reports the name is given as La-Yong-ChoL 



