152 



CHINA. 



houses with revolving and fixed lights are to 

 be met with in chief ports, and of the latter 

 kind several in minor ports. The service is 

 increasing. 



Merchant Marine, There were afloat under 

 the Chilian flag, on April 30, 1885, 35 steamers, 

 with a joint tonnage of 17,265 ; 6 ships, with 

 7,341 tons; 86 barks, with 41,955; 6 brigs, 

 with 1,745 ; 8 schooner-brigs, with 2,405 ; 9 

 schooners, with 989 ; and 16 sloops, with 915 ; 

 together 166 vessels, with 72,614 tons, being 

 an increase for the year of 5 steamers and 3 

 sailing-vessels. 



CHINA, an empire in Asia. The present Em- 

 peror is Hwangti, born in 1871, the son of 

 Prince Ch'un, brother of the Emperor Hien- 

 fung. He succeeded to the throne on Jan. 22, 

 1875. The highest governing body is the Nei- 

 ko, consisting of four members, two Chinese 

 and two Tartars, with two assistants from the 

 Han-lin, or university, who see that their acts 

 are in conformity with the civil and religious 

 laws. Under them are the Liu-pu, or six boards 

 of government, each presided over by a Tartar 

 and a Chinese. A seventh official board, deal- 

 ing with the navy and coast defenses, was es- 

 tablished in the latter part of 1885, in accord- 

 ance with the dying counsels of the great states- 

 man and general, Tso-Tsung-Tang. The Board 

 of Censors is an independent body, any mem- 

 ber of which has the privilege of presenting 

 remonstrances to the Emperor. The governors 

 of provinces exercise a high degree of author- 

 ity, but are removable at the will of the cen- 

 tral power. Entrance into the public service 

 can only be gained by passing severe literary 

 examinations that are held yearly. 



Area and Popnlation. The area of China prop- 

 er is estimated at 1,297,999 square miles, and 

 the population at 383,000,000 ; the area of the 

 dependencies of Manchuria, Mongolia, Thibet, 

 Soongaria, and Eastern Turkistan at 2,881,560 

 square miles, and their aggregate population at 

 21,180,000 making the total area of the em- 

 pire 4,179,559 square miles, and the total 

 population 404,180,000. The area and popu- 

 lation of the eighteen provinces of China pro- 

 per, according to the latest official returns, are 

 as follow : 



There are twenty-two ports on the coast 

 and on the Yangtse river that are open to for- 

 eign commerce under various treaties. Their 

 names and population are as follow : Canton, 

 1,600,000; Tientsin, 950,000; Hankow, 700,- 

 900; Foochow, 630,000; Shanghai, 350,000; 

 Ningpo, 240,000; Nanking, 150,000; Ching- 

 kiang, 135,000; Taiwan, 135,000; Takow, 100,- 

 000; Tamsui and Amoy, 95,000; Wenchow, 

 80,000 ; Kelung, 70,000 ; Newchang and Wuhu, 

 60,000; Kiukiang, 53,000; Ichang, 34,000; 

 Chefoo, 32,000 ; Swatow, 30,000 ; Eiungchow, 

 30,000 ; Pakhoi, 25,000. The number of for- 

 eigners residing in the treaty ports in the be- 

 ginning of 1885 was 6,364, of whom 2,704 were 

 natives of Great Britain, 621 of the United 

 States, 554 of Germany, and 424 of France. 

 About half of the foreigners lived in Shanghai. 



Confucianism is the state religion, but the 

 bulk of the Chinese are Buddhists. The abo- 

 riginal hill tribes are Nature- worshipers. There 

 are about 30,000,000 Mohammedans, chiefly in 

 the southwest and northeast, 1,000.000 Roman 

 Catholics, and 20,000 Protestant converts. 



The Army. Many improvements have been 

 wrought in the Chinese military and naval or- 

 ganizations since the war in Tonquin. The 

 active military forces consist of three armies, 

 that of Manchuria, that of TurkMan, and that 

 of the Center. The Army of Manchuria has a 

 strength of about 70,000 men. It is divided 

 into two army corps, with headquarters at 

 Tsitsisar and Mukden, respectively. The in- 

 fantry are armed to a considerable extent with 

 Mauser rifles, and the artillery with 8-centi- 

 metre Krupp field-pieces. The Army of the 

 Center, with headquarters at Kalgan, north- 

 west of Pekin, has a strength of 50,000 in time 

 of peace, which can be doubled in war-time. 

 The men come from a strong and brave race, 

 and are armed with Remington rifles. The 

 Turkistan Army is employed constantly in 

 keeping order on the western frontier. There 

 are permanent Manchu garrisons in the large 

 cities in the north and along the coast. The 

 territorial militia, called Braves, numbers about 

 200,000 in peace-time, and can be increased to 

 800,000. There is a large Tartar cavalry force, 

 but the horses are small, though strong, and 

 the equipment worthless. 



The Navy. The Chinese Government had two 

 powerful ironclads built at Kiel in 1885. They 

 are sister ships, named the " Ting Yuen " and 

 "Chen Yuen," of 7,335 tons, 6,000 horse-pow- 

 er, and a speed of 14 knots, with 14-inch steel- 

 faced armor. Each carries four 12-inch Krupp 

 breech-loaders in two barbette towers, and 

 two 6-inch guns. A smaller protected cruiser, 

 also built in Germany, carries two 8-inch 

 Krupp guns in a barbette and one 6-inch gun. 

 Two swift unarmored steel cruisers, carrying 

 two 8-inch Armstrong guns each, besides 40- 

 pounders and machine-guns, were launched at 

 Kiel in 1884; and two smaller ones, carrying 

 two 25-ton Armstrong guns, and capable of 

 steaming 16 knots, were constructed in Eng- 



