92 



CHINA. 



time and inland duties at 6,000,000 taels, the 

 transit duty on foreign and native opium and 

 miscellaneous wares at 11,000,000 taels, and li- 

 cense dues at 2,000,000 taels. The sale of offices, 

 formerly a source of considerable revenue, was 

 abolished by an imperial decree in 1878, although 

 honorary titles are still sold sometimes, and when 

 the Government is in need of money forced con- 

 tributions are exacted from the rich officials. In 

 the returns of the maritime customs is included 

 the commuted likin tax on foreign opium, which 

 produced 6,129,071 taels in 1890. The chief ex- 

 pense of the Government is for the maintenance 

 of the army, which is supposed to cost about 

 $75,000,000 'a year. The foreign debt includes 

 an 8-per-cent. loan of 627,625 raised in 1874 

 and secured on the customs, one of 1,604,276 

 raised in 1878, a silver loan of $7,525.000 con- 

 tracted in 1884, others amounting to $11,250,000 

 contracted in 1886, a loan of $1,250,000 contract- 

 ed in Germany in 1887, and temporary loans 

 floated by provincial Governors in Shanghai and 

 Hong- Kong. 



The only Chinese coin was the copper cash, of 

 which twelve are equal to a cent, until the Im- 

 perial Government in 1890 declared the new sil- 

 ver dollar coined at the Canton mint, current 

 throughout the empire. It has the same value 

 as the United States trade dollar, the Japanese 

 yen, and the Mexican dollar. Hitherto all large 

 payments have been in silver bullion by weight. 

 The haikwan or customs tael was the usual 

 standard, a tael weight of pure silver being 

 worth, at the average rate of exchange for 1890, 

 about $1.25 Foreign silver coins are taken by 

 weight as bullion, except in the treaty ports. 



The Ann jr. The Army of the Eight Banners, 

 or old imperial army, comprising Manchus, Mon- 

 gols, and Chinese of the class that joined the in- 

 vaders in the seventeenth century, is officially 

 reported as numbering 323,000 men. Of these, 

 100,000 are supposed to be reviewed by the Em- 

 peror every year. The guard maintained in the 

 capital numbers only 717 men. all of whom have 

 the grade of officers. The Ying Ping or Chinese 

 army is returned at 6,459 officers and 650,000 

 soldiers. The army of Manchuria is estimated 

 to number 70,000 men, partly armed with Mauser 

 rifles. The army of the center, or of the capital 

 province, of which 50,000 men are constantly 

 under arms, is supplied with Remingtons, and is 

 well drilled and under good discipline. The 

 territorial militia has 209,000 men, and could be 

 trebled in case of war. 



The Navy. The north coast squadron has 2 

 barbette ironclads of 7,280 tons, 1 of 9,850 tons, 

 and 1 of 2,320 tons, 1 turret ship of 2,320 tons, 

 5 deck-protected cruisers of about 2,200 tons 

 each, 4 torpedo cruisers, 23 first-class and 4 small 

 torpedo boats, and 11 gunboats. In the Foochow 

 squadron there are 9 cruisers ranging from 1,300 

 to 2,840 tons, 3 gunboats, 9 dispatch boats, and 

 3 revenue cruisers. The Shanghai flotilla con- 

 sists of 1 armored frigate, of 2,630 tons, 1 gun- 

 boat. 6 floating batteries, and 3 transports. The 

 Canton flotilla has 13 river gunboats. 



Commerce and Production. China is 

 mainly an agricultural country. Rice is the 

 chief food crop in the south. In the north mil- 

 let, beans, wheat, corn, and barley are raised. 

 The production of opium lias increased rapidly. 



Sugar-cane is cultivated in the southern prov- 

 inces and in the island of Formosa. Tea is 

 raised in Fukien and Formosa, Hupeh, Hunan, 

 Che-Kiang, Kiangsi, Anhui, Kwangtung, and 

 Szechuen. Silk is produced in all parts of the 

 country, but the main part of the silk exported 

 and the best grades come from Szechuen, Che- 

 kiang, and Kwangtung. Coal is found in im- 

 mense deposits all over the empire. Mines are 

 worked at Kaiping, north of Pekin, at Keelung 

 in Formosa, and at Hankow. Copper is mined 

 in Yunnan, where expert Japanese engineers 

 have lately been employed by the Government 

 to instruct the people in scientific methods. 



The value of the imports in 1890 was reported 

 by the customs bureau at 127,093,481 haikwan 

 taels, that of the exports at 87,144,480 taels. 

 Deducting from the value of imports the costs 

 of landing, storing, and selling and the im- 

 port duties, and adding to the figure given for 

 exports the price of packing and shipping, com- 

 missions, etc., the corrected figure for the im- 

 ports would be 109,547,087 taels, and that for 

 exports 100,190,682 taels. The official figures 

 for the principal imports were as follow : Cot- 

 ton goods, 45,020,302 taels; opium. 28,956,329 

 taels ; metals and metal wares, 6,872,084 taels ; 

 kerosene oil, 4,092,874 taels ; seaweed and fishery 

 products, 4,857,452 taels ; woolens, 3,642,782 

 taels; coal, 1,973,173 taels; raw cotton, 1,577,- 

 018 taels. The values of the largest exports 

 were as follow: Silk, raw and manufactured, 

 30,255,905 taels; tea, 26,663,450 taels; sugar, 

 2,664,864 taels; straw braid, 2,088,775 taels; 

 paper, 1,359,915 taels; clothing, 1.428,210 taels; 

 chinaware and pottery, 617,491 taels; cow and 

 buffalo hides, 714,967 taels. Of the imports, 

 72,057,314 taels came from Hong-Kong, 24.607,- 

 989 taels from Great Britain, 10,300,101 taels 

 from India, 7,388,685 taels from Japan, 3,676.057 

 taels from the United States, 2,471,075 taels 

 from Europe apart from Great Britain and Rus- 

 sia, and 897,826 taels from Russia in Europe and 

 Asia. Of the total exports, 32,930,551 taels went 

 to Hong-Kong, to be forwarded thence to Great 

 Britain, America, Australia. France, Germany, 

 the Straits Settlements, India, and other coun- 

 tries; 37,703,273 taels were shipped direct to 

 England, 14,100,961 went to the ports of the 

 European Continent, 12,221,122 taels to Japan, 

 11,840,805 taels to the United States, 11.355,978 

 taels to India, and 9,754,408 taels to Russia. Of 

 the tea exported in 1890, Great Britain took 

 433.964 piculs, of 133J- pounds, the United States 

 268,141 piculs, Russia 585,349 piculs, Australia 

 109.155 piculs, and 135,470 piculs were shipped 

 to Hong- Kong, the total export being 1,665.396 

 piculs. The imports of kerosene oil rose from 

 8,256,000 gallons in 1882 to 49,348,000 gallons in 

 1801. In 1889 the exports of American oil were 

 14,989,942 gallons ; in 1890.23,591,113 gallons; 

 in 1891, 39,348,477 gallons. Of Russian oil, 

 5,666,471 gallons were consumed in 1889; in 

 1890, 7,237,611 gallons; in 1891, 10,000,902 gal- 

 lons. There are few manufacturing establish- 

 ments in China besides the Government arsenals. 

 The graving and repair docks and the rope fac- 

 tories, where manilla hemp is made into cord- 

 age are owned by foreigners, and so are most 

 of the cotton mills, breweries, glass works, 

 and other factories organized on' a considerable 



