CHINA. 
fettled correfpondence with the next through which he 
intends to purfue his route. Before his departure, he 
carries to one of thefe offices a lilt of thofe things he 
wants removed, which is immediately infcribed in a 
book; and if he has occafion for two, three, or four, 
hundred porters, he immediately obtains them. Every 
thing is weighed by the chief, and the hire is five-pence 
per hundred weight for one day’s carriage. An exabf re- 
gilter of every article is kept in the office, and the traveller 
pays the money in advance, after which he has no occa- 
fion to give himlelf any trouble; on his arrival at the 
next city he finds his baggage at the correfponding of¬ 
fice, where it is delivered to him with the molt fcrupu- 
lous fidelity. 
The following is the official ftatement of the permanent 
revenue of China, as given by fir George Staunton. 
Account of Revenue received into the Imperial Treafury at 
’Pekin, from the d'fferent Provinces of China Proper. Taken 
from the Statements of Chovj-ta-Zhin, 
Provinces. 
Tahels, or Ounces, 
of Silver. 
Total Tahels. 
Meafures of 
Rice and 
other Grain. 
Pe-tcheli 
2,520,000 Land 
437,000 Salt 
79,000 other Tax 
j- 3,036,000 
None. 
Kiang-nan 
5,200,000 Land 
2,100,000 Salt 
910,000 Taxes 
8,210,000 
1,440,000 
Kiang-fi 
1,900,000 Land 
220,000 Taxes 
2,120,000 
795,000 
Tche-kiang 
3,100,000 Land 
520,000 Salt 
190,000 Taxes 
3,810,000 
780,000 
Fo-kien 
1,110,poo Land 
87,000 Salt 
8o,oooTaxes 
j- *>277,000 
None. 
!Hou-pe 
Hou-nan 
Hou-quang 
1,300,000 Land 
io,oooTaxes 
^ 1,310,000 
100,000 
1,310,000 Land 
35,000 Taxes 
I 1 , 345,000 
100,000 
Ho-nan 
3,200,000 Land 
13,000 Taxes 
| 3,213,000 
230,000 
Chan-tung 
3,440,000 Land 
130,000 Salt 
30,000 Taxes 
3,600,000 
360,000 
Chan-fi 
3,100,000 Land 
510,000 Salt 
1 !2,oooTaxes 
^ 3,722,000 
None. 
Shen-fi 
x,660,000 Land 
40,000 Taxes 
O 
O 
O 
o' 
0 
tw. 
H 
None. 
Kan-fou 
! 
300,000 Land 
40,000 Taxes 
^ 340,000 
220,000 
'Se-chuen 
640,000 Land 
30,000 Taxes 
^ 670,000 
None. 
| 
Quang-tong 
1,280,000 Land 
50,000 Salt 
10,000 Taxes 
1,340,000 
None. 
Quang-fi 
420,000 Land 
50,000 Salt 
30,000 Taxes 
0 
0 
0 
o' 
0 
None. 
Ymi-nan 
210,000 Land 
2,10,000 
220,000 
Koei-cheou 
120,000 Land 
10,000 Salt 
1 c.oooTaxes 
^ * 45 >°op 
None. 
Tahels - 
36,548,000 
4,245,000 
The greater part of the taxes in China are paid in 
commodities. Thofe who breed filk-wonns pay their 
Vcl. IV. No, 210. 
453 
taxes in filk, the huffiandmen in grain, and the gardener® 
in fruits, &c. This mode of impofing taxes is far from, 
detrimental to the government or the people ; as in every 
province there are in its fervice numbers of mandarins, 
officers, fokliefs, and penfioners, of different kinds, who 
are furniffied with every neceffary for f<j>od and clothing, 
fo that the articles collected as taxes, are nearly all con- 
fumed in thole provinces in which they are levied. If 
any thing remains, it is fold oh account of the empe¬ 
ror, and the amount is depoftted in the imperial treafury. 
The taxes paid in money, arife principally from the fale 
of fait, which belongs exclufively to the emperor; from 
the duties paid by veffels on entering any of the ports; 
from the cuitoms and other imports on various branches 
of manufafture. Thefe excepted, the trader contributes 
little towards the exigencies of the Hate, and the me¬ 
chanic Hill lefs. The weight of the permanent and per- 
l'onal taxes therefore falls on the hufbandman. 
The annual expences of government are immer.fe , and 
the emperor diredts them as he thinks proper : thefe ex¬ 
pences, however, are regulated in fuch a manner as never 
to be augmented but in cafes of the utmoft neceffity. In¬ 
deed, the adminiftration often make great faving.s, which 
lerves to increafe the general treafures of the empire, and 
prevents the impofition of new taxes when war becomes 
unavoidable, or unforefeen calamities defolate the em¬ 
pire. 
The current coin of China confifts only of one kind ; 
it is denominated a caxee, and is made of copper. It is 
of a round figure, and about nine-tenths of an inch in 
diameter, has a fmall .fquare hole in the middie, and is 
infcribed with two Chinefe words on the one fide, and 
two Tartar words on the other. Silver has no proper 
figure, its value is regulated by weight only. 
In this vaft empire there is kept a regifter or general 
enumeration of all the people by families, diftridts, and 
provinces, comprehending every individual, without re¬ 
gard to age, lex, or rank. Befides this, there is a l'econd, 
which is partial, containing only the lower claffes of peo¬ 
ple, from fixteen to fifty. This laftro.ll ferves to regulate 
every thing relating to vafialage, to facilitate public l'ur- 
veys, and to aflilt the operations of the police, &c. By 
means of thefe regifters, a fpeedy and certain method is 
always found of afeertaining the fituation of families or 
individuals in all circumftances, in which government or 
private perlons may be interelled. They alio enable the 
government to judge what number of people have pe- 
rilhed by inundations or epidemical diiiempers; to de¬ 
termine what fuccours are neceffary in years of fcarcity ; 
to know the ftate of agriculture; how far manufadtures 
can be extended; and what number of military people 
each canton can furnifh. The government has alfo an 
accurate and minute account of all the lands in each 
diftridt, of their different degrees of fertility, and what 
is cultivated in them. Public magazines and granaries, 
furniffied with every kind of provifion .neceffary for re¬ 
lieving the ditlreffes of the people, in cafe of public cala¬ 
mities, or unforefeen difalters, are eredted in the dif¬ 
ferent provinces. A dm ini fixation are always provided 
agaihff every event; and as they are acquainted with the 
minuteff expence neceffary to be incurred, every thing is 
done in proper fealon with dignity, and without embar- 
raffment. 
The Chinefe government determines, in the minuted: 
manner, the diefs for each l'eafon, and likewife the price 
of thofe dreffes for every age and condition. The em¬ 
peror himlelf is not excepted in thefe regulations: his 
dreffes of ceremony are more or lefs fumptuous according 
to the religious, political, or domertic, ceremonies, for 
which he ufes them. The particular drels for each clafs 
is to accurately deferibed in the fumptuary code, as to 
dirtinguiffi, on the firrt view, the rank and condition of 
thefe who wear it. 
Of palaces the emperor has a great number. Each ca¬ 
pital of a province contains one, which is made the refi- 
5 Z dehce. 
