CHINA. 



109 



an active overland trade with the Chinese Em- 

 pire is the only peaceable object which would 

 yield adequate returns for the Russian opera- 

 tions in Central Asia. The monopoly of the 

 Chinese trade has been one of the traditional 

 aims of the Russian Government. The new 

 treaty opens another free passage through the 

 Great Wall besides Kalgan, which has been the 

 terminus of the Russian caravans for two hun- 

 dred years. The new entrance at Souchow, 

 near the western end of the Great Wall, will 

 not probably transfer the business of the old 

 route to that town, but will open up a new 

 trade of uncartain value. The Russians will 

 not be allowed to conduct their caravans be- 

 yond Souchow, but will have consular repre- 

 sentatives in that place, in Turfan, and at other 

 points. The country which is commercially 

 tributary to the new routa is not, however, 

 ona of very rich resources. Souchow lies west 

 of the province of Kansu and within trading 

 distance of K'llja, Kashgaria, and tha neighbor- 

 ing states. The portion of the provinca of Hi 

 which was retained by Russia is a tract which 

 had been colonized by Russian subjects. It 

 extands from the post Baro-Kudzir to the 

 river Kargns, being the northwest abutting 

 corner of tha Kulja district. The indemnity 

 payable by Chin* is ten million rubles. The 

 common frontier between the Chinese and 

 Russian dominions, extending from Kashgaria 

 in the west to the river Tnmen-Dham in the 

 east, has a length of nearly five thousand miles. 

 The difficulties experienced in transporting 

 troops and preparing for the Russian invasion 

 which seemed imminent during certain stages 

 of the Kulja controversy, have had the effect 

 of arousing the practical administrators in China 

 to the necessity of disregarding the prejudices 

 of the court and the academy against rail- 

 roads and telegraphs, and of providing their 

 country with the dafansive advantages of mod- 

 ern means of transport and communication. 

 Apart from the conservative opposition to bar- 

 barian innovations, there have been physical 

 difficulties in the way of the utilization of the 

 telegraph by the Chinese, owing to the com- 

 plexity of their alphabet. This diffi julty would 

 be removed by the adoption of tha autograph- 

 ic system, or still better by the employment of 

 the telephone, the improvements in which in- 

 strument are watched with great interest in 

 China. The Government has authorized Li- 

 Hung - chang to construct a telegraph from 

 Peking to Tientsin and Shanghai. The Gov- 

 ernment has also taken into consideration a 

 project, approved by the principal officers of 

 the army, to build a railroad from the capital 

 to the port of Tientsin, seventy miles distant, 

 and thence to the Yangtse River, five hundred 

 miles farther south. The latter section, if the 

 plan is adopted, can not probably be under- 

 taken soon in the present state of the imperial 

 finances, at least not until the Russian indem- 

 nity is cleared off. 



Two additional gunboats were completed for 



the Chinese navy by Armstrong in the sum- 

 mer. Like the nine which had before been 

 furnished, they are of diminutive size, and are 

 entirely unarmored ; but, unlike the rest of 

 the fleet, they carry large guns of a penetra- 

 tive power only equaled by those of the huge 

 new English and Italian ironclads. They are 

 fleeter than any armored craft; are so small 

 that they can not be easily hit, and if hit are 

 not likely to be disabled, as their vulnerable 

 parts are under water. 



The clearing out of the obstructed water- 

 ways of the metropolitan province has been 

 undertaken at the instigation of Tso-Tsung- 

 t'ang, who proposes to employ several thousand 

 veteran soldiers on the work. Prince Ch'un 

 and Li-Hung-chang supported their political 

 opponent in this costly but necessary improve- 

 ment. The net-work of rivers which intersect 

 this part of China flow through the vast allu- 

 vial plain with a current so sluggish that they 

 become filled with silt if they are not periodic- 

 ally dredged out. Neglect to do this for many 

 years past has occasioned frequent and destruc- 

 tive inundations. 



The Chinese Government seem to have 

 grown more earnest in their efforts to suppress 

 the opium-vice. In England a growing popu- 

 lar sentiment demands the stoppage of the In- 

 dian supplies of the drug. A smaller proportion 

 of the opium consumed in China comes from 

 India than has been commonly supposed. In 

 Western China, where the habit is almost uni- 

 versal and is indulged in openly, the entire sup- 

 ply is locally produced, and in the eastern prov- 

 inces the lower classes use the coarser Chinese 

 product. In Eastern Sze-Chuen, Kwei-Chow, 

 and Southwestern Hu-Pei, and other parts of 

 the west, there is an enormous production, 

 larger considerably than is reported to the Gov- 

 ernment. Tlie province of Yunnan has been 

 restored to cultivation, the leading crop being 

 a winter growth of poppies. A large contra- 

 band trade is carried on with the eastern prov- 

 inces. In Eastern China also there are opium 

 districts on the border-land of Chihli, Ho-Nan, 

 Shantung, and Kiang-Sa. The crop is seven 

 times as remunerative as grain, but is less sure. 

 In famine years the officials sometimes destroy 

 the poppy-crops according to law, but at other 

 times there is usually no interference with the 

 culture. In the treaty recently concluded with 

 Russia, as in the commercial treaty with the 

 United States, the Chinese Government in- 

 serted a clause prohibiting the importation of 

 opium. These provisions indicate an intention 

 to reopen the subject of the Indian imports of 

 opium, either with the design of stamping out 

 the vice, or of preventing India from draining 

 from China through the opium monopoly sums 

 huge enough in the aggregate to pay a large 

 proportion of the enormous expenses of her 

 government. The reports of the trade for 

 1879 show that the imports were larger than in 

 any previous year, and about 15 per cent^ in 

 excess of those of the preceding year, being 



