CHINA. 



93 



There are match factories managed l>y 

 Chinamen, but mo>t of their manufacturing en- 

 terprises an- small shops employing 15 or % .'H 

 liaiuls ami using h'W ami simple machines in 

 tin- prore-ses of making bamboo articies, silver 

 ami ainlirr articles, fruil preserves, glas>waiv, 

 paper, etc. Europeans who have established 

 factories with the ooject of taking advantage of 

 tin- cheap labor of the country nave deceived 

 themselves, because Chinese laborers refuse to 

 work in factories for four times their ordinary 

 waives, and demand the full pay of Western 

 workingrnen. The import of machinery in 1890 

 amounted to about $5,000,000, an increase of 18 

 per cent, over the previous year. The bulk of it 

 ((insisted of sewing machines and cotton gins, 

 mainly from the United States. 



Navigation. The number of vessels entered 

 and cleared at Chinese ports in 1890 was 81.183, 

 of 24,876,459 tons. Of these, 25.838, of 23,928,- 

 557 tons, were steamers. In respect to nation- 

 ality, 16,897 vessels, of 16,087,895 tons, were 

 British; 10,603, of 6,334,906 tons, were Chinese: 

 2,140, of 1,843,1)64 tons. German ; 629, of 505,181 

 tons, Japanese; 174, of 239,700 tons, French; 

 and 155, of 82,946 tons, American. 



Communications. An enormous internal 

 traffic is carried on by means of the canals and 

 navigable rivers and in part over the roads that 

 traverse China in all directions. The Kaiping 

 Railroad, which was recently extended from Pe- 

 tung to Tientsin, is being continued to Shanghai. 

 In 1889 the Emperor ordered a railroad to be 

 built from Pekin to Hankow, on the Yangtse- 

 Kiang, and he transferred the Viceroy Chang- 

 Chi-Tung from Canton to Hankow, in order that 

 the latter might co-operate with Li-IIung-Chang, 

 viceroy of the imperial province, in carrying 

 out the project. Through lack of financial 

 means and owing to the popular prejudice 

 against railroads, they have not yet been able to 

 begin the work, which is important in a commer- 

 cial way, and still more so from a strategic point 

 of view. There is a short railroad in Formosa. 

 The telegraph lines already connect the princi- 

 pal cities of the coast and of the interior with 

 the capital, and they are being extended rapidly. 

 The delivery by a German house of rails in 1892 

 for another short coal road in Hunan aroused 

 expectations among Europeans that the long- 

 awaited era of railroad building had at last 

 opened. The difficulties in the way of con- 

 structing railroads are little understood. The 

 ethical repugnance of the Chinese, with whom an- 

 cestor worship takes the place of religion, to hav- 

 ing the graves disturbed that are scattered every- 

 where about the country, is known but not appre- 

 ciated. The engineering difficulties in the wav of 

 bridging the rivers and building a high viaduct 

 over the intricate interlacing network of canals 

 has been little considered. Then there are the 

 economic obstacles arising from the fact that a 

 large proportion of the population are depend- 

 ent for their living on the occupation of carry- 

 ing merchandise by the roads and canals, and 

 the mandarins derive a large part of their reve- 

 nues from the tolls. 



The Disturbances in Mongolia. The rebel- 

 lion of the Chi nose set tiers in Mongolia and Man- 

 churia, in which towns were sacked and many 

 native Christians were murdered, was due, accord- 



ing to a report made by Gen. Li-JIung-Chang, to 

 the cruel exactions of the Mongol prince, con- 

 tinued for many years, and to the barbarities 

 committed by the Chaoyang tribesmen, who 

 oppressed and plundered the Chinese emi- 

 grants who leased their lands. The Chinese, 

 when redress was denied them, rose at last 

 and killed the prince's family and every Mon- 

 gol who fell into their power. They attacked the 

 Christians at Je-Ho because the latter, who were 

 a strong and compact community, treated them 

 haughtily, and the authorities were either help- 

 less or connived at their outrages. Contrary to 

 the first reports, no foreigner was killed. The 

 Belgian Government demanded 100,000 taels 

 damages of the Chinese Government for the de- 

 struction of the Je-Ho mission. The disturb- 

 ances were suppressed by an army from Pekin, 

 led by Li-IIung-Chang, which returned from the 

 expedition in February, 1892, having suffered 

 greatly from cold and privations. 



In a battle at Chihli the imperial troops lost 

 300 killed and 1,500 wounded, besides many 

 prisoners. This reverse was ascribed to the lack 

 of light guns, and on his return the viceroy 

 ordered a large number of mounted Krupp 

 howitzers. During the expedition 8,000 of the 

 insurgents are said to have been put to the 

 sword. In the district of Ching-Chang out of 

 1,300 rebels who fell into the hands of the im- 

 perial troops, SCO were burned, while the rest 

 were cut down. 



The Audience Question. After the foreign 

 ministers had so far overborne the barriers that 

 divide them from the imperial court as to obtain 

 an audience with the Emperor in 1891, they 

 discovered that the building was not comport- 

 able with their dignity. It was the hall of audi- 

 ence in which the envoys of tributary states, 

 like Nepaul and Tibet, were received. As this 

 was emblematic in the eyes of the Chinese of 

 the superiority of China, the European ministers 

 had always refused to be received in this build- 

 ing, and they had consented this time on the 

 understanding that a new hall should be built 

 for them. They demanded that the next recep- 

 tion, on the Chinese New Year of 1892, should be 

 held in the palace. Prince Tching suggested 

 that they should present a memorial to the 

 Emperor. Observing that there was no chance 

 of their gaining their point, the German doyen 

 of the diplomatic corps was in favor of having 

 the audience under any conditions, and in this 

 he was supported by the rest of the envoys ex- 

 cept those of Russia and France, who made the 

 question of saluting the Emperor in the palace 

 or not at all an occasion to break with their 

 colleagues. The British minister suggested as 

 a compromise that they should go where they 

 were asked this year on condition that in the 

 following year they should have their audi- 

 ence in the palace. All accepted the sugges- 

 tion, and a memorandum was presented to the 

 Prince President of the Tsungli-Yamen, who 

 when he had read the first words of the 

 preamble, " Whereas the sovereigns of tl.e Wot 

 ern states are the equals of his Imperial Majesty." 

 threw aside the document and refused to hold 

 any further discussion. The Austrian minister. 

 Herr von Biegeleben, on Oct. 27. 1891, had 

 presented his credentials to the Emperor in 



