158 



CHINA. 



tained also a lease for ninety-nine years oMerri- 

 tory in Kwangtung, opposite Hong-Kong. France 

 obtained in April, 1898, a lease of the Bay of 

 Kwang-Chau-Wan, opposite the island of Hainan. 



The number of foreigners residing in China on 

 Jan. 1, 1897, was 11,667, of whom 4,929 were Brit- 

 ish, 1,564 Americans, 1,106 Japanese, 975 Portu- 

 guese, 950 Germans, 698 French, 439 Swedes and 

 Norwegians, 362 Spaniards, 147 Danes, 120 Ital- 

 ians, 116 Russians, 106 Austrians, 81 Dutch, 68 

 Belgians, and 6 others. There are 28 ports open 

 to foreigners. The most populous and important 

 are Canton, with 2,500,000 inhabitants; Tientsin, 

 with 950,000: Hankau, with 800,000; Hangchau, 

 with 700,000; Fuchau, with 650,000; Suchau, with 

 500,000; and Shanghai, with 457,000. About half 

 the foreigners live in Shanghai. 



Finances. The Chinese Government makes no 

 public reports of revenue and expenditure. The 

 Board of Revenue sends each year to each gov- 

 ernor a requisition for the amounts to be fur- 

 nished by his province for the expenses of the 

 imperial administration. In cases of impover- 

 ished provinces the Pekin Government sometimes, 

 instead of demanding taxes, grants a subvention. 

 Just before the Japanese war of 1894 the total 

 public revenue of China was estimated at 88,979,- 

 000 haikwan taels, of which 25,088,000 taels came 

 from the land taxes paid in silver, 6,562,000 taels 

 from land taxes collected in kind, 13,659,000 taels 

 from the likin and duty on salt, 12,989,000 taels 

 from the foreign maritime customs, 1,000,000 taels 

 from native customhouses, 2,229,000 taels from 

 the duty and likin on native opium, and 5,550,- 

 000 taels from miscellaneous taxes. The cost of 

 the imperial administration, including the Man- 

 chu garrisons and the Emperor's court, was then 

 estimated at 19,478,000 taels; of the Peiyang 

 squadron and the Board of Admiralty, 5,000,000 

 taels; of the southern naval squadrons, 5,000,000 

 taels; coast defenses, forts, and guns, 8,000,000 

 taels; of the defenses of Manchuria, 1,848,000 

 taels; of garrisons in Kansuh and the western 

 dependencies, 4,800,000 taels; aids to Yunnan and 

 Kweichau, 1,655,000 taels; interest and repayment 

 of foreign loans, 2,500,000 taels; of construction 

 of railroads, 500,000 taels; of public works, in- 

 cluding river dikes, sea walls, etc., 1,500,000 taels; 

 of customs administration and maintenance of 

 lighthouses, 2,478,000 taels; of the administration 

 of the 18 provinces, including cost of troops, 36,- 

 220,000 taels; total, 88,979,000 taels, balancing the 

 estimated revenue. The present net revenue of 

 China is estimated at 85,000,000 haikwan taels, 

 equal to $61,200,000. The system of collection is 

 so imperfect and costly and corruption and pecu- 

 lation are so common that over $300,000,000 are be- 

 lieved to be collected to produce this revenue. The 

 Maritime Customs department alone is conducted 

 efficiently and economically under the direction of 

 Sir Robert Hart, a British subject. It makes regu- 

 lar reports of the sums collected, which amounted 

 in 1897 to 22,742,104 haikwan taels, including 

 3,947,607 taels of commuted opium likin duties. 



The debts of the Chinese Government amount 

 to between $250,000,000 and $300,000,000, for 

 which the revenue of the maritime customs is 

 pledged. The Anglo-German loan of $80,000,000 

 issued in 1898 is guaranteed furthermore on the 

 likin taxes of seven provinces. In addition to 

 the Government loans, $20,000,000 borrowed in 

 1898 for the construction of the Lu-Han Railroad 

 to connect Pekin with Hankau and $11,500,000 

 borrowed for the Niuchwang Railroad are guar- 

 anteed by the imperial treasury. 



The Army and Navy. The Chinese general- 

 ly despise the military profession, and the Man- 



chus, though a fighting race, adhere to antiquated 

 weapons and tactics. The imperial Army of the 

 Eight Banners, which still garrisons the Chinese 

 provinces, being descended from the original Man- 

 chu conquerors and their Chinese and Mongolian 

 allies, forms a military caste divided into three 

 classes, representing the different races, inter- 

 marriage within the army being compulsory. 

 The total number of these soldiers is believed to 

 reach 300,000, of whom from 80,000 to 100,000 

 are kept under arms, including 37,000 in the garri- 

 sons of Manchuria and the Imperial Guard of 

 4,000 or 5,000 men at Pekin. The rest of the 

 Eight Banners are cantoned in 25 towns of the 

 province of Pechili, in Turkestan and Mongolia, 

 and in certain garrisons of the provinces. The 

 national or Chinese army, called the Green Flags 

 qr the Five Camps, divided into 18 corps, under 

 the command of the governors and viceroys of the 

 provinces, is estimated variously between 540,000 

 and 660,000 men, though the effective strength 

 can not be over 200,000. In case of war or rebel- 

 lion troops are often raised by enlistment, but 

 they never prove efficient. The irregular Mon- 

 golian cavalry and other local and special bodies 

 are estimated to have a nominal strength of 200,- 

 000, of whom not over a tenth can be relied upon. 

 The various independent and disjointed military 

 organizations have a total strength of about 300,- 

 000 on the peace footing and 1,000,000 on the 

 w r ar footing, but training and discipline, unity 

 of organization, effective and uniform weapons, 

 transport, commissariat, and medical service are 

 totally lacking as judged by modern standards. 

 The trained troops, exclusive of the large body 

 commanded by Gen. Tung-Fu-Sing and the 

 Pekin forces, have been reorganized into two 

 armies, one of 4,750 foot, horse, and artillery, 

 forming two divisions, one to man the Taku 

 forts, the other the forts at Shanhaikwan and 

 Peitang; and one of 11,250 infantry and cavalry, 

 distributed through Pechili province. These 

 troops are armed with Mauser rifles and Krupp 

 mountain and quick-firing guns. The coast 

 fortresses are supported by three armies of the 

 first class, one, under Sung-King, occupying the 

 country on both sides of Shanhaikwan ; one, under 

 Yuan-Shikai, behind Taku; and one, under Nieh- 

 Shicheng, supporting Peitang. The force organ- 

 ized by Gen. Yuan, which has its camp at Hsiao- 

 Chan, near Tientsin, consists of 7,000 infantry, 

 500 cavalry, 1,000 artillery, serving 40 field guns, 

 18 rapid-fire guns, and 12 mountain guns, and 

 500 engineers. It is the model corps of the 

 Chinese army, and has been drilled to a high 

 degree of efficiency by Chinese officers trained 

 abroad or in Chinese military schools. 



The only effective ships of the Chinese navy 

 left after the war with Japan were the cruisers 

 Chen-Hai and Kang-Chi. In 1897 and 1898 the 

 Hai-Chi and Hai-Tien, of 4,300 tons, were added, 

 English-built cruisers, protected with 6 inches of 

 armor on the sides and 5 inches on the deck, 

 carrying 2 8-inch, 10 4.7-inch, and 12 3-pounder 

 quick-firing guns, and capable of making '24 knots 

 an hour. In 1897 the cruisers Hai-Yung, Hai- 

 Shen, and Hai-Shew, of 2,950 tons, were finished 

 at Stettin, and the destroyers Hai-Lung, Hai-Niu, 

 Hai-Ching, and Hai-Hoha at Elbing, the first of 

 them showing at her trial a speed of 33.6 knots. 

 The naval arsenal of Fuchau, under the direc- 

 tion of the French engineer Doyere, has torpedo 

 boats and a torpedo gunboat of 817 tons under 

 construction. The torpedo catcher Fei-Ying was 

 purchased after the war. There are 34 torpedo 

 boats in the various squadrons and 13 under con- 

 struction. 



