CHINA. 



147 



been brought into full sympathy with Li's plans. 

 The polie\ proposed by Li is to build slowly and 

 with Chinese capital, avoiding the incubus of a 

 foreign debt. Joint-stock companies have been 

 organi/i'd under the viceroy's encouragement for 

 various indust rial enterprises, such as silk, cotton, 

 woolen, glass, and iron manufactures, and Chi- 

 nese capitalists are learning and following the 

 methods of Western finance as applied to indus- 

 try. All this awakening has been mainly the work 

 of Li-Hang-Chang, whose tenacity has never 

 lost its grip, in spite of the numerous and almost 

 insuperable difficulties that are imbedded in the 

 very structure of Chinese society. He has now 

 overcome the main obstacles, and he and his 

 successors for there are a number of able of- 

 ficials trained in his school of thinking will 

 have an easier task in hastening progressive 

 movements throughout the empire. 



Area and Population. The area of China 

 proper is estimated at 1,336,841 square miles, 

 with, a population of 349,250,000. Mongolia, 

 with an area of 1,288,000 square miles, has about 

 2,000,000 inhabitants ; Manchuria, 362,310 square 

 miles in extent, has 7,500,000 ; Tibet, with an 

 area of 461,000 square miles, is estimated to 

 have 1,500,000; and the countries under impe- 

 rial administration, containing 1,823,000 square 

 miles, have a population of about 3,500,000. 

 The number of foreigners residing in the open 

 ports in 1891 was 9,067. There were 345 British 

 commercial houses, in which 3,746 individuals 

 were employed ; 27 American, having 1,209 ; 31 

 Japanese, with 883 ; 24 French establishments, 

 with 681; 82 German, with 667; 7 Portuguese, 

 with 659; 5 Spanish, with 316; 1 belonging to 

 Sweden and Norway, with 270: 12 Russian, with 

 146; 4 Italian, with 133 resident foreigners; and 

 Austria and Denmark were represented by 5 con- 

 cerns, employing 210 foreigners, while there were 

 36 Dutch and 111 other Europeans. About half 

 of the foreign mercantile population is in Shang- 

 hai. The population of Pekin, the imperial city, 

 is variously estimated to contain from 500,000 to 

 1 .<;:>< i.OOO inhabitants. The population of the 

 other great cities is likewise very uncertain. The 

 commonly accepted estimates for the largest of 

 the treaty ports are : Canton, 1,600,000 ; Tientsin, 

 950,000; Hankow, 800,000; Foochow, 636,000; 

 Shanghai, 400,000 ; Ningpo, 250,000. 



Finances. The accounts of the Imperial 

 Government are not published, excepting the re- 

 ceipts from maritime customs. The revenue 

 from ordinary sources for 1889 was estimated at 

 78,500,000 haikwan taels, the sources of which 

 were : Land tax collected in money, 10,000,000 

 taels ; commuted likin tax or transit duty on 

 imported opium and other merchandise. 13,000,- 

 000 taels; maritime customs, 15,000,000 taels; 

 salt duty, 12,000,000 taels ; licenses, stamps, and 

 registration, 15,000,000 taels; other sources, 

 8,500,000 taels. The income of the Government 

 is more than this, and when a war or famine or 

 other emergency arises the Government can mul- 

 tiply its receipts, especially by forced contribu- 

 tions from the officials who have grown rich in 

 the provincial administrations. The Chinese 

 Government has thus far avoided incurring a 

 foreign debt beyond two loans, one of 627,675. 

 contracted in 1874, and one of 1,604,276, issued 

 in 1*78, both secured on the customs revenue 



and paying 8 per cent, interest. The internal 

 debts amounted in inn2 to ao,ooo,ooo taHs. 



Navigation. During 1891 there were 33,992 

 VI-M 'Is, of 27,710,788 tons, entered and cleared 

 at the ports of China. Of these, 28,040. of 26,- 

 720,841 tons, were steam vessels. Of the total 

 number, 17,718, of 17,438,995 tons, were British ; 

 11,802, of 6,642,273 tons, Chinese; 2,520, of 

 1,911,897 tons, German; 604, of 515,236 tons. 

 Japanese ; 172, of 264,660 tons, French ; and 113, 

 of 67,095 tons, American. The heavy coasting 

 trade is carried on in native junks and foreign- 

 built vessels belonging to Chinese and under 

 foreign flags. There is a large Chinese steam- 

 ship company whose vessels ply between the 

 ports of China and visit other ports of the East. 



Commerce and Production. The official 

 returns for imports in 1891 make the total value 

 134,003,863 haikwan taels, against 127,093,481 

 taels in 1890, 110,884,355 taels in 1889, and 124,- 

 782,893 taels in 1888. The exports for 1891 were 

 valued at 100,947,849 taels, against 87,144,480 

 taels in 1890, 96,947,832 taels in 1889, and 92,- 

 401,067 taels in 1888. The net imports are here 

 meant, the value of re-exports having been de- 

 ducted ; but the values are based on the prices in 

 the ports of China, which include the duty paid 

 and the cost of landing and storage and the mer- 

 chants' profit. When these are deducted, the 

 value of the imports for 1891 is found to be 115,- 

 023,051 taels. The value of the exports, on the 

 other hand, is placed too low, as the export duty, 

 the exporter's profit or commission, and the cost 

 of packing, storing, and shipping, should be 

 added to obtain the true export value, which is 

 115,553.640 taels for 1891. For 1892 the official 

 value of the imports was 135,101,198 taels, and 

 of the exports 102,583,525 taels. The values in 

 haikwan taels of some of the principal imports 

 for 1891 and 1892 are given in the following 

 table, the exchange value of the haikwan tael 

 being in 1892 about f 1 : 



The quantity of opium imported decreased 

 from 77,227 to 70,929 piculs of 183$ pounds. 

 The import of gray shirtings increased from 

 5,985.598 to 6,460,792 pieces, and in value from 

 10,206,236 to 10,992.034 taels; that of Indian 

 cotton yarn from 1.138,084 to 1.254,490 piculs, 

 and in value from 19.396.855 to 21,056,464 taels. 

 Of the kerosene oil, 89,348,477 gallons, valued at 

 4,308,839 taels, was American, and 10.000.902 gal- 

 lons, valued at 958,212 taels, Russian in 1891 ; and 



