12 Through the Yang-tse Gorges 



Leaving (Provinces supplied from Hong-kong) : — 



Kwangtung 29,740,000 



Kwangsi 5,121,000 



Fukien 25,800,000 



60,661,000 



Total population of the eighteen provinces ... 385,047,000 



This calculation, which may be taken as approximately 

 correct, shows that thirty per cent, of the population of 

 China, and tliat the richest and the most in want of foreign 

 piece goods, absorb barely five per cent, of the total imports. 



We now come to the third obstacle to the actual increase 

 in our trade, viz. the multiplicity of inland tax-stations. 



Up to Chung-king, 1500 miles from Shanghai, and the 

 highest treaty port open on the Yang-tse river, the one 

 import duty clears the goods without further charge. 

 Thence onwards to the great consuming districts in the 

 interior of the province, and in the two large neighbouring 

 provinces of Yunnan and Kweichow, and in Tibet, dozens 

 of likin-stations line all the main roads, both by land and 

 water, and have to be visited. 



It is true that, under the transit -pass system, an 

 additional payment amounting to half the import duty clears 



