100 



CHINA. 



rilla warfare. For some years past the Arau- 

 canians have gradually been shut in by a circle 

 of forts, which circle has gone on narrowing, 

 and a railway has been pushed all the way to 

 Angol, into the very heart of Araucania, a city 

 founded only fifteen years since. Now the ter- 

 ritory makes good agricultural headway, so 

 that wheat and wine are for some years past 

 exported from there on an extended scale. 

 Two passes, or 'boquetes,' across the Andes, 

 however, remain open, and thence the Arau- 

 canian and Argentine Pampa Indians occasion- 

 ally make raids into that portion of Chili. An 

 expedition has been set on foot from Angol for 

 the purpose of building forts at the entrance 

 of the ' boquetes ' named, and the Government 

 has proposed to Congress the construction of a 

 railroad from Angol to Valdivia. This matter 

 is to be pushed through without delay. The 

 railroad will run all the way through the cen- 

 ter of the valley situate between the Cordille- 

 ras and the coast-range from Valparaiso in a 

 southerly direction, with three intersecting 

 lines at suitable distances to connect the Cor- 

 dilleras with the seaports that may be selected. 

 This entire railway is to be built out of a $6,- 

 000,000 surplus which the republic will have 

 at its disposal early this year after paying off 

 $10,000,000 of the public debt. As soon as 

 20,000 men of the army of occupation return, 

 after peace shall have been concluded, pros- 

 perity in Chili will make still more extraor- 

 dinary strides." 



CHINA, an autocratic empire in Asia, em- 

 bracing the eighteen provinces of China prop- 

 er, the province of Liautung outside the wall, 

 the dependencies of Mantchooria, Mongolia, and 

 Thibet, and the vassal kingdom of Corea, and 

 possessing undefined suzerain powers over the 

 kingdoms of the Malay Peninsula. Tsaifien, 

 the present Emperor, is a child, horn in 1871, 

 who succeeded to the throne by proclamation 

 on the demise of T'oung-che in 1875, who died 

 in his eighteenth year without appointing his 

 successor. The proclamation was the result 

 of an intrign.e of the Empress Regent, widow 

 of the Emperor Hienfung, and Prince Ch'un, 

 his brother and Tsait'ien's father. Tsait'ien is 

 the ninth Emperor in the Tartar line of Tsing, 

 which succeeded the native dynasty of Ming in 

 1644. The government is regulated by the 

 principles laid down in the book of Ta-tsing- 

 hwei-tien and the writings of Confucius. The 

 administration is directed by the Interior Coun- 

 cil Chamber, consisting of four members, two 

 of Tartar and two of Chinese origin, with two 

 religious and legal advisers who see that their 

 acts conform to the fundamental laws. There 

 are under them six boards, each presided over 

 by a Tartar and a Chinese : the board of civil 

 appointments; of revenues, or finances; of 

 rites and ceremonies; of the army; of public 

 works ; of criminal jurisdiction. 



AREA AND POPULATION. The area and popu- 

 lation of the eighteen provinces are officially 

 returned as follow : 



These returns are probably excessive. The 

 population was formerly greater, being re- 

 turned in 1840 as 414,686,994, or 320 to the 

 square mile, and in 1852 as high as 450,000,- 

 000, or 347 to the square mile. Intestine wars 

 and famines have since reduced the population 

 to probably not more than 300,000,000. The 

 extent of the outlying provinces and dependen- 

 cies can be only vaguely determined, as their 

 population and area are a matter of estimate, 

 and the limits of the actual rule of the Chinese 

 Government are shifting and uncertain. Ac- 

 cording to estimates of the missionaries the 

 total area and population of the Chinese Em- 

 pire are as follow : 



The foreign population was returned in 1879 

 as 3,995, the majority residing at Shanghai. 

 The number of British was 2,070 ; of Ameri- 

 cans, 469; of Germans, 364; of French, 225. 



MILITARY. There are two distinct bodies of 

 soldiery 1. The Mantchoo, Mongol, and Chi- 

 nese Bannermen, distributed in permanent 

 garrisons in the great cities, and representing 

 the army with which the Mantchoo Tartars 

 conquered and occupied China in 1644; and, 2. 

 The native Chinese army, stationed in a great 

 number of commands, each capable of muster- 

 ing from 20,000 to 100,000 men in time of war, 

 and performing police duties in time of peace. 

 The foundation of a modern navy was first 

 laid by the purchase of some ironclad gun- 

 boats in 1877. An ironclad man-of-war was 

 completed in Germany in 1881. 



FINANCES. The public revenues, derived 

 from land, grain, and license taxes, and from 

 import and export duties, are estimated to be 



