148 



CHINA. 



in 1892 the American import was 31,884,013 gal- 

 lons, valued at 4,081,706 taels, and the Russian 

 8,649,318 gallons, valued at 967,847 taels. 



The values of the principal exports for 1891 

 and 1892, as returned by the Imperial Maritime 

 Customs, were, in haikwan taels, as follow : 



The total export of tea in 1891 was 1,750,034 

 piculs, of which 636.407 piculs went to Russia. 

 41 1,284 to Great Britain, 275,696 to the United 

 States, 178,460 to Hong-Kong, and 101,557 to 

 Australia. 



The trade with the principal countries in 1891 

 is shown in the following table, giving the values 

 in haikwan taels ; 



Communications. The railroad from Tonc:- 

 ku, at the mouth of the Peiho, to Tientsin, 27 

 miles, begun in 1888 as a result of the alarm 

 caused by the French war of 1884, carried up 

 to the Tungshan and Kaiping coal mines, a dis- 

 tance of 67 miles, for strategical and speculative 

 commercial purposes, through the influence of 

 Li-Hung-Chang, has since been prolonged toward 

 the terminus of the Great Wall at Shanhaikwan, 

 and is being pushed into Manchuria toward 

 Kirin, as an answer to the Russian Transsi- 

 berian Railroad to Vladivostok and a warning 

 that China will defend Manchuria against Rus- 

 sian aggression more strenuously than she did 

 the provinces south of the Amur. At one time 

 the superstitions and economic prejudices against 

 railroads, which caused the short line from 

 Woosung to Shanghai to be torn up in 1877, hav- 

 ing again gained the upper hand in court and 

 governing circles, the work was stopped, but the 

 influence of Li-Hung-Chang finally triumphed. 



The project of a branch road to the river port 

 of Tungchow, 13 miles from Pekin, neverthe- 

 less had to be abandoned in submission to Chi- 

 nese conservatism, and because some statesmen 

 thought that a railroad to the capital would be 

 likely to fall into the hands of a European 

 enemy in case of war and be used to transport 

 the invaders. The opposition to railroads in 

 China arising from the dread that they would 

 offend the Feng Shui, or spirit powers, and dis- 

 turb the repose of the dead, has less practical 

 force than the economic argument that they 

 would throw millions of coolies, carters, and 

 junkmen out of employment. The more intel- 

 ligent of the leading statesmen, even those who 

 are most strongly opposed to the spread of for- 

 eign influence and ideas, and favor the move- 

 ment to exclude foreigners from the position 

 they have already gained, are anxious to have a 

 system of railroads that will enable the Govern- 

 ment to collect forces and materials at threat- 

 ened points in the event of war. Through their 

 influence telegraphs have been extended into the 

 remotest provinces, despite the superstitious ob- 

 jections of the ignorant. The Chinese system is 

 now joined to the Russian, and messages can be 

 sent to all parts of the world by the Chinese 

 telegraph authorities, who made the prices by 

 the overland telegraph to Europe 15 per cent, 

 less than by cable. The long-expected era of rail- 

 roads seemed to be at hand, and European finan- 

 ciers, manufacturers, and engineers rushed into 

 a contest for contracts to float loans, furnish 

 rails, and build the lines. The imperial sanction 

 was retracted because cautious statesmen feared 

 that to pledge the resources of the imperial 

 treasury for a foreign loan and take a large ad- 

 ditional number of foreigners into the service of 

 the Government might give occasion for diplo- 

 matic and military interference, and that this 

 danger to the security of the empire would more 

 than counterbalance new and untried methods 

 of transportation. These counsels appear to have 

 convinced the Chinese that the network must 

 not be undertaken until it can be built with Chi- 

 nese capital and with steel rails manufactured in 

 Chinese furnaces from Chinese iron. 



Defense. China has arsenals or dockyards 

 fitted with the most modern appliances at Foo- 

 chow. Nankin, Shanghai, Tientsin, Port Li. Wei- 

 Hai-Wei, Port 'Arthur, and Kirin, which are 

 capable of turning out turret ships, torpedoes, 

 cannon of large caliber, Gatling guns, rifles, 

 cartridges, powder, and gun-cotton. Her navy, 

 especially the northern squadron, is a powerful 

 force, provided the personnel and organization 

 are equal to a conflict with European ships. The 

 northern squadron consists of 4 seagoing bar- 

 bette armor-clads, one of them having a displace- 

 ment of 9,850 tons, 1 turret ship, 5 deck-pro- 

 tected cruisers, each of 2,200 tons, 4 torpedo 

 cruisers, 23 first-class torpedo boats, 4 small tor- 

 pedo boats, and 11 gunboats. In the Foocho\v 

 squadron there are 9 cruisers ranging from 1,300 

 to 2.480 tons, besides 3 gunboats and 9 dispatch, 

 boats. The Shanghai flotilla contains 1 armor- 

 clad frigate, 1 gunboat, and 6 floating batteries. 

 The Canton flotilla consists of 13 gunboats. 

 The Manchu army, or Army of the Eight Ban- 

 ners, which constitutes the ancient military force 

 of the empire, numbers about 288,000 men, of 



