136 



CHINA. 



of a viceroy. Peking has its own government, 

 subordinate to the Board of Works. 



The Emperor Kwangsu is the ninth in suc- 

 cession from Aisin Gioro, the Manchu conquer- 

 or who founded the dynasty in 1644. He was 

 born August 15, 1871, and proclaimed Emperor 

 January 22, 1875, on the death of Tungche. 

 The Empress Tse Hi, the mother of Tungche, 

 became sole Regent upon the death, in 1881, of 

 Tse An, the principal widow of the Emperor 

 Hienfung. 



Commerce. The total value of the foreign and 

 coast trade in 1882 was $586,202,000. In the 

 foreign trade the imports amounted to $109,- 

 940,000, the exports to $95,350,000; the coast- 

 ing trade inward to $205,030,000, outward to 

 $175,202,000. Of the total carrying -trade, 

 the share borne in British vessels was 61-47 

 per cent. ; in Chinese, 26'16 ; in German, 3'85 ; 

 in French, 3 '55 ; in American, 0'92 ; in Japan- 

 ese, 1*81 per cent. A large portion of the 

 Chinese carrying - trade is with the English 

 colonies. Of the total foreign commerce, about 

 80 percent, is conducted with the markets of 

 Great Britain, India, Australia, Hong-Kong, 

 Singapore, Africa, and America. Continental 

 Europe takes 8-41 and Eussia 1'17 per cent. 

 Besides the regular export trade to Hong-Kong, 

 which consists mainly of rice, and the importa- 

 tion of industrial products from that port, a 

 large fraudulent traffic is carried on in junks. 

 The opium-trade has declined rapidly in recent 

 years, the decrease in 1882 amounting to $14,- 

 000,000. The decline is due to the spread of 

 poppy cultivation in China, the improved 

 quality of the Indian drug, and the efforts of 

 the Chinese Government to suppress the opium- 

 vice. The trade in piece goods showed a fall- 

 ing off of $7,500,000. The cause was the de- 

 ficiency in the silk and tea crops, together 

 with droughts in Shan si and Mongolia, floods 

 in Shantung and along the Yangtsze-Kiang, 

 and small sugar and rice crops in South China. 

 Silk was exported in the same quantities as the 

 year before ; but the value was $5,000,000 less, 

 owing to the break-down in prices caused by 

 the financial difficulties of large speculative 

 holders. Tea exports showed a decline of $2,- 

 500,000. The Chinese and English duties, and 

 the manipulation of the market, make the price 

 in London twelve times that paid to the grower 

 in Foochow. Consequently, the teas of Japan 

 and Assam are driving the Chinese growths 

 from the market. Only in Formosa are Euro- 

 pean merchants allowed to introduce improved 

 methods, cheapening the cost of cultivation and 

 curing, and adapting the product to European 

 taste. The silk -trade has passed from the 

 hands of London merchants 'into those of 

 Lyonnese firms, who now supply with partly 

 manufactured materials their successful Ger- 

 man and Swiss competitors in Lyons fabrics. 

 The export of tea, which was 90,066,000 pounds 

 in 1860-'61, reached the maximum of 174,- 

 514,000 pounds in 1880-'81, and then de- 

 clined to 149,101,000 pounds in 1882-'83, and 



151,140,000 pounds in 1883-'84. The silk 

 export declined from 79,199 bales in 1861- 

 '62, the highest point, to 22,891 bales in 1882- 

 '83, and 17,869 bales in 1883-'84. The silk- 

 trade has suffered through Japanese compe- 

 tition and disease in the silk -worm. The 

 year 1883 witnessed a financial panic in which 

 nearly all the native banks collapsed. Four 

 or five years of prosperity and the prospect 

 of the introduction of the steam-engine, the 

 railroad, and the telegraph, and the opening 

 of the interior to foreign trade, induced a 

 spirit of speculation. The success of foreign 

 joint-stock concerns led to the establishment 

 of innumerable Chinese trading, mining, and 

 manufacturing companies, and to inordinate 

 speculation in their shares. Few even of the 

 enterprises that were honestly projected were 

 in working order when the crisis arrived. 

 Crop failures and the trouble with France 

 brought on a general crash. The telegraph 

 was actually introduced by the Government, 

 which has long lines in operation, connecting 

 the main divisions of the empire. Railroads 

 will probably be. introduced before long. The 

 first railroad built in China was constructed 

 secretly by the engineer of the Kaiping coal- 

 mines, about seventy miles northeast of Tient- 

 sin, and is used for carrying coal from the mine 

 to the canal, seven miles distant. A railroad 

 that was built between Shanghai and Woo- 

 sung to carry passengers encountered riotous 

 opposition, and was finally torn up by order of 

 the authorities. In 1884 Li Hung Chang in- 

 duced the Government to authorize for military 

 purposes a railroad between Peking and Tient- 

 sin. Mines meet with the same superstitious 

 objections; yet in order to render the navy 

 and arsenals independent of the Japanese coal- 

 supply, Li Hung Chang had large mines opened 

 at Kaiping and others at Kelung. 



The foreign trade of the various treaty ports 

 in 1882 was, in millions of taels, as follows: 

 Shanghai, 50; Canton, 29; Tientsin, 22; 

 Swatow, 19f; Chin Kiang, 14f; Foochow, 

 14f; Ningpo, llf; Amoy, 11; Chefoo, 9; 

 Newchwang, 6|; Tamsui, 4; Wuhu, 3|; Ta- 

 kow, 3 ; Kiungchow, If ; Pakhoi, 1$ ; Wen- 

 chow, % i total, 196 millions, equal to $270,- 

 000,000. The Yangtsze river affords the only 

 avenue of trade into the interior. The river 

 ports of Chinkiang, Wuhu, King Kiang, Han- 

 kow, and Ichang absorb one third of the for- 

 eign commerce, without reckoning the share 

 of Shanghai in the Yangtzse trade. There are 

 districts in southern and western China more 

 productive and prosperous than those on the 

 river. Many of the foreign merchants wel- 

 comed the conflict with France, believing that, 

 if humiliated by a European military power, 

 China would yield to diplomatic pressure with 

 regard to inland tolls, aggravated by extortion- 

 ate "squeezing" on the part of provincial gov- 

 ernors, which now render the customs tariff 

 and commercial rights secured by treaties large- 

 ly illusory. 



