CHINA. 



167 



or the district of Kuldja, with an area of 147,- 

 950 square miles, which has been almost de- 

 populated during the recent wars; and East- 

 ern Turkistan, including Kashgar, with an area 

 of 431,800 square miles, likewise nearly de- 

 nuded of inhabitants. The total area of the 

 empire, not including Corea and Annam, is 

 about 4,419,150 square miles, and the aggre- 

 gate population not over 376,000,000. 



The Army. Official statistics give the strength 

 of the Eight Banners as 323,800 men, and of 

 the Ying Ping or National Army as 6,459 offi- 

 cers and 650,000 rank and file. Captain Nor- 

 man divides the effective forces into the Army 

 of Manchuria, numbering 70,000, armed to a 

 large extent with Mauser rifles and with many 

 8-centimetre Krupp field-guns; the Central 

 Army, stationed near Pekin, numbering 50,000 

 in time of peace and twice as many in time of 

 war, recruited from the strong and brave Tar- 

 tar race of northern China, and armed with 

 Remingtons ; the Army of Turkistan, which is 

 permanently required for the defense of the 

 western borders ; and the " Braves," or terri- 

 torial troops, kept at a strength of 200,000 in 

 peace time, and capable of being raised to 

 thrice that number in case of war. In a few 

 of the great cities near the coast there are per- 

 manent Manchu garrisons. European officers, 

 mostly Germans, have been employed largely 

 as instructors and organizers since the begin- 

 ning of French hostilities, and in the armies 

 near the seaboard German drill and tactics are 

 used. 



The Nary. China has armored vessels of the 

 most modern types. The northern squadron, 

 for the defense of the capital, was organized 

 by an English officer. German officers have 

 since introduced European drill in the other 

 squadrons. The military and naval arsenals, 

 under the supervision of Europeans, turn out 

 arms and ammunition in large quantities. There 

 were built at Kiel two ironclads with steel- 

 faced armor, the Teng-Yuen and Chen- Yuen, 

 sister ships of 7,400 tons displacement and a 

 speed of 15 knots. They are plated with 14|- 

 inch armor, and each carries four 12-inch Krupp 

 breech-loaders in two turrets. These were de- 

 tained in Germany until the cessation of the 

 French reprisals; but two armored cruisers, 

 each carrying two 8-inch Armstrong guns, be- 

 sides 40-pounders and machine-guns, were dis- 

 patched from Kiel in 1884. Another armored 

 cruiser, carrying two 8-inch Krupp guns in a 

 barbette, was launched at the same place in 

 1883. The North China squadron has also two 

 swift unarmored cruisers, steaming 16 knots, 

 carrying two 26-ton Armstrong guns and four 

 40-pounders each, and about a dozen gunboats, 

 each armed with a single 26- or 28-ton gun. 

 The Loo-Choo, Shanghai, and Canton squad- 

 rons are made up of 40 or 50 unarmored steam- 

 vessels. Several torpedo-boats of high speed, 

 carrying Whitehead torpedoes, have been ac- 

 quired recently. 



Finance. The revenue from customs in 1884 



was 13,510,712 Haikwan taels, 224,000 more 

 than in 1883, but below 1881, the year of the 

 largest collection, by 1,000,000 taels. The cus- 

 toms duties bear more heavily upon exports 

 than upon imports. The other receipts of the 

 Government are not published. They are de- 

 rived from taxes on land, grain, and licenses. 

 The land-tax in the north does not exceed 75 

 cents per acre ; in the south it rises to $3.25. 

 Agriculture contributes about $45,000,000 of 

 the imperial revenue. The total revenue is esti- 

 mated at about $125,000,000. Only about half 

 of it is actually sent to Pekin. The average 

 expenditure on the army is $75,000,000 per 

 annum; that on canals is about $6,000,000. 

 The foreign debt, contracted since 1874, 

 amounted in 1884 to $17,365,000, including a 

 loan of $7,500,000 raised in that year. The 

 internal debt is about $43,000,000. 



The Imperial Government made arrange- 

 ments in 1885 to float a new foreign loan of 

 100,000,000 florins in Germany and Holland. 



Commerce. The crops of 1884 were excep- 

 tionally good throughout China, yet the conse- 

 quences of the recent financial crisis, the French 

 hostilities, and low prices for silk and tea in 

 Europe, were unfavorable to foreign trade. The 

 total value of the exports was 67,148,000 Haik- 

 wan taels (1 tael = $1.38), a falling off of 3,584,- 

 000 taels as compared with 1883, and very 

 nearly the same as the total for 1882. The 

 decline in the estimated value of the black tea 

 export was 3,584,000 taels, and in raw silk about 

 1,000,000 taels. The principal articles entered 

 into the total value in the following propor- 

 tions: Raw silk, 2'5 per cent. ; refuse silk, 2*5 

 per cent. ; silk piece-goods, 6-5 per cent. ; black 

 tea, 34-5 per cent. ; green tea, 6*5 per cent. ; 

 brick-tea, 2*2 per cent. ; sugar, 5 '7 per cent. ; 

 straw braid, 3 per cent.; hides, 1-4 per cent. 

 The quantity of raw silk exported, which was 

 78,000 piculs in 1880, has varied but little from 

 60,000 piculs for the past four years. Four 

 fifths of the raw silk went from Shanghai, and 

 the remainder from Canton. The price of 

 black tea per picul (133 pounds) fell from 

 17-60 taels in 1880 to 14-80 in 1884, and the 

 quantity exported decreased from 1,661,000 to 

 1,564,000 piculs. The largest quantity is ex- 

 ported from Foochow, Hankow coming next, 

 and then Shanghai, Amoy, Canton, and Tient- 

 sin. The green tea export, nearly all coming 

 from Shanghai, was 202,500 piculs, an excep- 

 tionally large amount. The straw-braid ex- 

 port increased from 36,000 piculs in 1879 to 

 78,000 in 1884. The export of sugar was larger 

 than in 1883, in which year there was a great 

 increase over preceding years. White sugar is 

 sent mainly from Swatow, and brown sugar 

 from Takow. 



The net imports in foreign vessels were of 

 the total value of 72,760,000 Haikwan taels, 

 nearly 1,000,000 taels less than in 1883. The 

 value of the opium import was about the same 

 in both years, and the imports of cotton goods, 

 woolen goods, and other piece-goods, varied 



