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or other of these all Manchus and all the descendants of the members of other nationalities are yet enrolled. They form the bulk of the population of the "Tartar city" of Peking. Each adult male is by birth entitled to be enrolled as a soldier, and by virtue of his enrolment has a right to draw rations-i.e., his allowance of the tribute rice, whether on active service or not. Detachments from one or other of the banners were also stationed as garrisons in the chief provincial centres, as at Canton, Foochow, and Hangchow, &c., and their descendants still occupy the same position. They are, like their kinsmen in Peking, entitled to draw a pittance from the provincial taxes as rations. Both in the capital and in the provinces the Manchu garrisons are exempt from the jurisdiction of the local authorities, and are justiciable only before their own officers. As a fighting force the Manchu garrisons both in the capital and in the provinces have long become quite effete. In the capital, however, the elite of the Manchu soldiery have been formed into a special corps termed the Peking Field Force. Its nominal strength is 20,000, the men are armed and drilled after the European fashion, and fairly well paid. There are other corps of picked Manchus better paid and better armed than the ordinary soldier, and it is computed that the Manchu army in or near Peking could muster 75,000, all more or less efficient. The second organization is termed the army of the Green Standard, being the Chinese provincial forces. The nominal strength is from 20,000 to 30,000 for each province, or about 500,000 in all; the actual strength is about one-third of this. They are enrolled for the purpose of keeping the peace within their own province, and resemble a militia or local constabulary rather than a national army. They are distributed in small camps or garrisons in the principal towns, and the most serious duty they are likely to be called on to perform is that of putting down a local rebellion. The bulk of each provincial army is under the command of a general-in-chief, but certain brigades are under the orders of the governor and the governor-general. They are generally poorly paid and equally badly drilled and armed. As a fighting force they are of no practical account.

The only real fighting force which China possesses is made up of certain special corps which are not provided for in the constitution, and which consequently used to be termed yung, "braves" or irregulars, but which have now acquired various distinctive names. They are enlisted for service generally,' and have all had some smattering of foreign drill. They are also fairly well paid and armed. Since the Japanese war these corps have been quartered near Peking and Tientsin, and are generally spoken of as the army of the North. They are now grouped in five divisions under the command of Generalissimo Jung Lu, and are supposed to number 75,000 men. In addition to these the Government could count on 20,000 men more who are now scattered in garrisons in Manchuria. Navy. Since the destruction of the northern fleet by the Japanese at the capture of Wei-hai-wei in 1895, the Chinese navy may be said to be non-existent. It formerly consisted of two divisions, the northern and the southern, of which the former was by far the more formidable. The southern was under the control of the viceroy of Nanking, and took no part in the Japanese war. While the northern fleet was grappling in a death-struggle, the southern was lying snugly in the Yangtse waters, the viceroy of Nanking apparently thinking that as the Japanese had not attacked him there was no reason why he should risk his ships. Since the close of the war an attempt has been made to restore the northern fleet, which now consists of five small cruisers and a few torpedo boats. The southern squadron consists of seven small cruisers, old-fashioned, and four torpedo boats. The viceroys of Foochow and Canton possess a few gunboats meant to repress piracy, but of no fighting value.

Arsenals and Dockyards.-Since the loss of Port Arthur, China possesses no dockyard except a small one at Foochow, which cannot dock vessels over 3000 tons. Many years ago the Chinese Government established at Foochow a shipbuilding yard, placing it in the hands of French engineers. Training schools both for languages and practical navigation were at the same time organized, and a training ship was procured and put under the command of a British naval officer. Some twenty-five or thirty small vessels were built in the course of as many years, but gradually the whole organization was allowed to fall into decay. Except for petty repairs this establishment is valueless to the Chinese Government. Well-equipped arsenals have been established at Shanghai and at Tientsin, but as they are both placed up shallow rivers they are useless for naval repairs. Both are capable of turning out heavy guns, and also rifles and ammunition in large quantities. There are also military arsenals at Nanking, Wuchang, Canton, and Chengtu, besides smaller establishments at other provincial centres. Forts. A great number of forts and batteries have been erected along the coast and at the entrance to the principal rivers. Chief among these, now that the Taku forts formerly commanding the entrance to Tientsin have been demolished, are the Kiangyin forts commanding the entrance to the Yangtse, the Min forts at the entrance of the Foochow river, and the Bogue forts at the

entrance to the Canton river. These are supplied with heavy armament from the Krupp and Armstrong factories, but the garrisons share the weakness common to all Chinese military establishments.

Production and Industry: Minerals.-The Chinese Government has hitherto shown a great repugnance to permitting foreign companies to work minerals in any part of the country. As a consequence very little is known of the actual resources of the empire, which, however, are believed to be very great. A Bureau of Mines, however, has been created with a view to granting concessions, and probably much progress will be made in the near future. Coal.-This mineral is worked on foreign principles at only one place, viz., the Kaiping collieries in the north-east of the province of Chihli. The mines are connected with the seaport of Taku by a railway. The coal is a soft bituminous coal with a large proportion of dust. The output is about 1,500,000 tons per annum. A mine has also been opened in the province of Hupeh, about 60 miles below Hankow, and near the Yangtse, in connexion with the iron-works recently erected by the viceroy of that province. Numerous small mines have been worked for a long period by the natives in the province of Hunan. There are two principal local fields in this province, one lying in the basin of the Lui river and yielding anthracite, and the other in the basin of the Siang river yielding bituminous coal. Both rivers drain into the Yangtse, and there is thus an easy outlet by water to Hankow. The quality of the coal, however, is inferior, as the stratification has been much disturbed, and the coal seams have been in consequence crushed and broken. No statistics of the output are obtainable, but it is estimated to be over 300,000 tons per annum-mostly destined for local consumption. The largest coal-field in China lies in the province of Shansi. Coal and iron have here been worked by the natives from time immemorial, but owing to the difficulty of transport they have attained only a limited local circulation. The whole of southern Shansi, extending over 30,000 square miles, is one vast coal-field, and contains, according to the estimate of Baron von Richthofen, enough coal to last the world at the present rate of consumption for several thousand years. The coal seams, which are from 20 to 36 feet in thickness, rest conformably on a substructure of limestone. The stratification is throughout undisturbed and practically horizontal. As the limestone bed is raised some 2000 feet above the neighbouring plain the coal seams crop out in all directions. Mining is thus carried on by adits driven into the face of the formation, rendering the mining of the coal extremely easy. The coal-field is divided into two by a mountain range of ancient granitic formation running north-east and south-west, termed the Hoshan. It is of anterior date to the limestone and coal formations, and has not affected the uniformity of the stratification, but it has this peculiarity, that the coal on the east side is anthracite, and that on the west side is bituminous. A concession to work coal and iron in certain specified districts in this area has been granted to a British company, together with the right to connect the mines by railway with water navigation, and it is expected that important developments will follow on this grant. At present the mines, in default of railway facilities, are practically valueless. At the pit's mouth coal can be had for a shilling a ton, but as transport costs from 24d. to 5d. per ton per mile, the price becomes prohibitive after a short distance. In spite of these drawbacks the present output must be considerable, considering the great area and the number of openings that are being worked, but it is impossible to state it with any degree of accuracy. There are various other sources of coal-supply, such as the western hills near Peking, many parts of Szechuen, and some districts in Shantung and Kwangtung, which, however, do not call for detailed notice. It may, indeed, be said generally that there is hardly a province which does not possess coal mines more or less valuable the one drawback to their development being the absence of railways.

Iron.-Iron ore of various qualities is found almost as widely diffused as coal. The districts where it is most worked at present lie within the coal-field of Shansi, viz., at Tse-chou-fu and Ping-tingchou. The ore is a mixture of clay iron ore and spathic ore, together with limonite and hematite. It is found abundantly in irregular deposits in the Coal Measures, and is easily smelted by the natives in crucibles laid in open furnaces. This region supplies nearly the whole of north China with the iron required for agricultural and domestic use. The out-turn must be very considerable, but no data are available for forming an accurate estimate. The province of Szechuen also yields an abundance of iron ores of various kinds. They are worked by the natives in numerous places, but always on a small scale and for local consumption only. The ores occur in the Coal Measures, predominant among them being a clay iron ore. Hunan, Fuhkien, Chekiang, and Shantung all furnish iron ores, but only a petty industry is carried on at any one place. Of other minerals copper comes next in importance. It. is found chiefly in the provinces of Kweichow and Yunnan, where a rich belt of copper-bearing ores is found running east and west

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across both provinces, and including south Szechuen. The chief centres of production are at the cities of Tung-chuan-fu, Chaotung, and Ning-yuan. The mines are worked as a Government monopoly, private mining being nominally prohibited. No concessions have so far been granted to foreign companies. The output is considerable, but no statistics are published by Government. The supply is not, however, enough to meet the requirements of the country, as foreign copper is imported to the extent of about 28,000 tons a year. It is generally supposed that if the mines were thrown open to foreign enterprise, not only would the home demand be met, but there would be a large available supply for export.

The

Precious Metals.-There is no known source of supply in China proper where gold and silver are worked to any appreciable extent. A little gold washing is done in the sandy beds of certain rivers, for instance, the Han river and the upper Yangtse, above Suifu, which here goes by the name of the "Goldsand river. amount so extracted is extremely small and hardly pays the labour of washing, but the existence of gold grains points, no doubt, to a matrix higher up. The whole of south-western China has the reputation of being highly metalliferous, and it is probable that valuable deposits may be found when permission to prospect has been granted by the Chinese Government. Gold is obtained, however, in some quantities on the upper waters of the Amur river, on the frontier between China and Siberia. The washings are carried on by Chinese, no foreigners so far having been allowed to participate. Gold has also been found in quartz veins at Pingtu, in the province of Shantung, but hardly in paying quantities. Manufactures.-In regard to manufactures the only point to be noticed is the recent establishment of cotton spinning and weaving mills by foreign companies at Shanghai. Permission to carry on this industry was refused to foreigners until the right was secured by the Japanese treaty following on the war. Some nativeowned mills had been working before that date, and were reported to have made large profits. Eight mills with an aggregate of 300,000 spindles are now working, five of which are under foreign management. There are also four or five mills at one or other of the ports working 80,000 spindles more. These mills are all engaged in the manufacture of yarn for the Chinese market, very little weaving being done. Chinese-grown cotton is used, the staple of which is short, and only the coarser counts can be spun. So far these mills have not had the financial success which was predicted for them, but many of the initial difficulties were due to inexperience, and it is probable that the cotton manufacturing industry in China will attain considerable proportions. The only other manufacture that deserves mention is that of silk weaving. This is carried on solely by native looms, and chiefly in the cities of Hangchow, Soochow, and Nanking. The native looms have long been famous for their beautiful silks and brocades. The greater part is destined for home consump. tion, but there is now also a considerable export. In 1898 the export of silk piece goods amounted in value to £1,400,000. The reeling of silk cocoons by steam machinery has also come into vogue in recent years, and is gradually supplanting the native methods. Notwithstanding the large foreign importations the spinning and weaving of cotton on native hand-looms is still carried on almost universally. The whole of the large import of Indian yarn, as well as that locally manufactured, is worked up into cloth by the women of the household. Four-fifths of the clothing of the lower classes is supplied by this domestic industry. Commerce. The progress of the foreign trade of China is set out in the following table. The values are given both in currency and sterling, but it is to be remarked that during the period when silver was falling, that is from 1875 to 1893, the silver valuation represents much more accurately variations in the volume of trade than does the gold valuation. Gold prices fell continuously during this period, while silver prices were nearly constant. Since 1893 silver prices have tended to rise, and the gold valuation is then more accurate. The conversion from silver to gold is made at the rate of exchange of the day, and therefore varies from year to year Table of Imports and Exports, exclusive of Bullion.

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The principal exports from the United Kingdom to China are cotton piece goods, woollen manufactures, metals, and machinery. China is next to India the greatest consumer of Manchester goods. The export of plain cotton cloths to China and Hongkong has for some years averaged 500,000,000 yards per annum. The only competitor which Great Britain has in this particular branch of trade is the United States of America, which within recent years has been supplying China with very large quantities of cotton goods. In 1888 China imported 70,000,000 yards of Americanmade goods, but in 1898 the import had risen to 165,000,000 yards. The value in sterling of the total imports into China from the United Kingdom has remained nearly constant for the last 25 years, but inasmuch as the gold prices have been falling the volume of the export has been in reality steadily growing. The imports into mainly through the fact that China tea has been driven out of the England, however, of Chinese produce have fallen off enormously, English market by the growth of India and Ceylon, and also because the bulk of the China silk is now shipped directly to Lyons and other Continental ports instead of to London as formerly was has been very rapid. In 1884 the import was 35,000,000 Ib and the rule. The growth of the import of Indian yarn into China in 1898 it reached 188,000,000 lb. Arranged in categories the imports into China from all foreign countries for the year 1898 were as follows:

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The principal exports from China are silk and tea. These two articles, indeed, up to 1880 constituted more than 80 per cent. of the whole export. Owing, however, mainly to the fall in silver, and partly also to cheap ocean freights, it has become profitable to place on the European market a vast number of miscellaneous articles of Chinese produce which formerly found no place in the returns of trade. The silver prices in China did not change materially with the fall in silver, and Chinese produce was thus able to compete favourably with the produce of other countries. The following table shows the relative condition of the export trade in 1880 and 1898 :

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In the miscellaneous class the chief items of export are beans and beancake, £1,524,000; raw cotton, £473,000; hides, £562,000; mats and matting, £552,000; oils, £475,000; furs and skin rugs, £461,000; sugar, raw, £311,000; tobacco, £576,000; strawbraid, £470,000; and wool, £214,000. The export of all cereals except pulse is forbidden.

Movements of Bullion.-The following table shows the export and import of the precious metals for the past eleven years. The net import or export only is given.

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67,298,000

13,406,000

Total

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9,873,000 26,389,000

87,035,000

11 years There has thus been over the whole period a net import of silver of H. taels 73,629,000, equivalent to about 95,000,000 ounces. Nearly the whole of this, however, was imported during the years 1894-95, and was the proceeds of loans raised by the Chinese Government in Europe to meet the costs of the Japanese war. Very little comes into China in discharge of the annual balance of trade, inasmuch as the exports, including gold, and imports nearly counterbalance each other. There is a regular export of gold amounting on an average to about a million sterling per annum. A part of it would seem to be the hoardings of the nation brought out by the high price of gold in terms of silver, but a part is virgin gold derived from gold workings in Manchuria on the upper waters of the Amur river.

Shipping and Navigation.-All the foreign trade of China and a great part of the coasting trade is carried on by foreign-owned vessels. The only Chinese-owned steamers are those of the China Merchants' Steamship Company, which has its headquarters at Shanghai, and a few colliers belonging to the Kaiping Mining Company. The following table shows the nationality and tonnage of the vessels entering and clearing at the ports of China for 1898 :

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In addition to the foregoing, 8,187,572 tons of Chinese-owned shipping entered and cleared at the open ports during 1898. These were wholly small vessels engaged in the coasting trade. Treaty Ports. In addition to the coast and river ports declared open to foreign trade under the treaty of Tientsin, the following places have since been thrown open at various times :

On the Canton or West River, Samshui, Wuchow, and Nanning. On the Yangtse, Wuhu, Shasi, Ichang, Chungking, and Yochow -the last being at the entrance to the Tungting lake.

On the Shanghai inland waters the cities of Soochow and Hangchow were opened by the Japanese treaty of 1895. They are connected with Shanghai by canal.

On the Tongking and Burma frontiers, the cities of Lungchow, Mengtze, Szemao, and Momien. The German naval station in Kiaochow Bay (Tsingtao) is also open to trade, and it is understood that Talienwan, which was similarly acquired on lease by Russia, and which is to be the commercial terminus of the Russian Manchurian Railway, will in due course also be thrown open. An anchorage termed Chingwan-tao, near Shanhai-kwan, in the Gulf of Pe Chili, was opened in 1900. It lies close to the Imperial Northern Railway, and being ice-clear during the winter affords access to Peking when the other northern ports are closed.

Internal Communication-Railways.-The ninth edition article on China closed with the notice of the opening of a short line of railway between Shanghai and Woosung, and the writer hazarded the remark, that notwithstanding the fact that the trains were daily crowded with passengers, the approbation was that of the people only, and that the Government were more determined than ever to withstand the adoption of the iron road (v. 672). The fate of this pioneer railway may be mentioned as an introduction to what follows. It must be admitted that the officials had some justification for their opposition. The railway was really built without any regular permission from the Chinese Government, but it was hoped that once finished and working, the irregularity would be overlooked in view of the manifest benefit. to the people. This might have been accomplished but for an unfortunate accident which happened on the line a few months after it was opened. A Chinaman was run over and killed, and this event, of course, intensified the official opposition, and indeed threatened to bring about a riot. The working of the line was stopped by order of the British minister, and thereupon negotiations were entered into with a view to selling the line to the Chinese Government. A bargain was struck sufficiently favourable to the foreign promoters of the line, and it was further agreed that, pending payment of the instalments which were spread over a year, the line should continue to be worked by the company. The expectation was that when the officials once got the line into their own hands, and found it a paying concern, they would continue to run it in their own interest. Not so, however, did things fall out. The very day that the twelve months were up the line was closed; the engines were dismantled, the rails. and sleepers were torn up, and the whole concern was shipped off to the distant island of Formosa, where carriages, axles, and all the rest of the gear were dumped on the shore and left for the most part to disappear in the mud. The spacious area of the Shanghai station was cleared of its buildings, and thereon was erected a temple to the queen of Heaven by way of purifying the sacred soil of China from such abomination. This effectually put. a stop to all efforts on the part of foreigners to introduce railways into China, and more than twenty years elapsed before the subject was taken up again. It is only within quite recent years that the Chinese Government have been induced to move in the matter. The first short line built was a mineral line, to connect the coal mines of Kaiping in North Chihli with the mouth of the Peiho river at Taku. The Government next authorized the formation line from Taku to Tientsin, which was opened to traffic in 1888. of a Native Merchants' Company, under official control, to build a It was not, however, till nine years later, viz., in 1897, that the line was completed as far as Peking. Meantime, however, the extension had been continued north-east along the coast as far as Shanhai-kwan, and a further extension will connect with the treaty port of Newchwang. The money for these extensions was mostly found by the Government, and the whole line is now known as the Imperial Northern Railway. A loan of £2,300,000 for the Newchwang extension was raised through the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank in 1899, and secured by a mortgage on the completed section as far as Shanhai-kwan. The length of the line is 340 miles, and, including the Newchwang extension, it will be when completed 600 miles in length. Meanwhile the high officials of the empire had gradually been brought round to the idea that railway development was in itself a good thing. Chang Chih-tung, then viceroy of the Canton provinces, memorialized strongly in this sense, coupled, however, with the condition that the railways should be built with Chinese capital and of Chinese materials. In particular, he urged the making of a line to connect Peking with Hankow for strategic purposes. The Government took him at his word, and he was transferred from Canton to Hankow with authority to proceed forthwith with his railway. True to his purpose he at once set to work to construct iron-works at Hankow. Smelting furnaces, rolling mills, and all the machinery necessary for turning out steel rails, locomotives, &c., were erected. Several years were wasted over this preliminary work, and over £1,000,000 sterling was spent only to find that the works after all were a practical failure. Steel rails could be made, but at a cost two or three times what they could be procured for in Europe. After the Japanese war the hope of building railways with Chinese capital was abandoned. A prominent official named Sheng Hsuan-hwai was appointed director-general of railways, and empowered to enter into negotiations with foreign financiers for the purpose of raising loans. It was still hoped that at least the main control would remain in Chinese hands, but the diplomatic pressure of France and Russia caused even that to be given up, and Great Britain insisting on equal privileges for her subjects, the future of railways in China. will be in the hands of the various concessionaires, at least until their redemption by the Chinese Government.

The following is a list of the several railway concessions which have been granted up to date :

(1) English.-1. (a) Shanghai to Nanking; (b) Shanghai to

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Hangchow and Ningpo; (c) Pukou (on the north bank of the Yangtse opposite Nanking) to Siuyang, a station on the Luhan line. Total length 650 miles. 2. Hongkong to Canton, 100 miles. 3. In the provinces of Shansi and Honan, the Peking Syndicate, besides mining rights, have the right to connect mines with navigable waters. Lines not yet determined, but will probably extend to 300 or 400 miles.

(2) Anglo-German.—A trunk line from Tientsin to Chinkiang, 600 miles. Northern or Shantung half to be built and equipped by the German syndicate; the southern or Yangtse half by English syndicate. Total length 600 miles.

(3) Anglo-American.-A trunk line from Canton to Hankow, .600 miles.

(4) German.-Lines in Shantung. Kiaochow to Tsinanfu, and Kiaochow to Yihsien, 420 miles.

(5) Russian. (a) Permission to carry the Siberian main line now in course of construction from Stretensk through Chinese territory via Petune to Vladivostock, 1000 miles. () A line to connect Port Arthur and Talienwan with the above, 400 miles. (c) A line from Taiyuenfu, the capital of the province of Shansi, to connect with the Luhan line at Chengting, 130 miles.

(6) Belgian or Franco-Belgian.-A trunk line from Hankow to Peking, generally termed the Lu-Han line, length 700 miles.

(7) French.-(a) From Tongking up the Red river to Yunnanfu, 200 miles. (b) Langson to Lungchow and Nanning, 100 miles. (c) Pakhoi to Nanning, 120 miles.

The British Government has also obtained the right to extend the Burma railway system through Yunnan and north to the Yangtse so soon as a company is prepared to take it up.

Many years will doubtless elapse before these lines are made, involving as they do an outlay of something like 60 or 80 millions of capital, and some of them will probably not be made at all. The Russian lines are being pushed on with activity, and the Belgian, or more properly Franco-Belgian syndicate, which has the Peking-Hankow, commonly called the Lu-Han line in hand, has .commenced work from the Hankow end. The section Peking to Paotingfu has been already built, and has been transferred for operation to the Belgian syndicate. The lower Yangtse lines as well as the Hongkong-Canton line will no doubt be made, and passing as they do through the richest and most populous districts of China, they ought to pay well.

Roads and Canals.-In regard to these nothing new need be said. The Chinese Government spends nothing on these objects. Occasionally the local authorities make an effort by employing the corvée system to dig out the bed of a canal, but as a rule roads are left to take care of themselves. Even the Grand Canal has been suffered to silt up, so that for nearly half its length it is quite useless for through traffic. It is only employed by the annual fleet of tribute rice boats, which are still required by unyielding regulations to carry their freight by this route. They choose the time of high water, when the country is more or less flooded, and even then it is only by dint of sheer hauling for miles along a muddy bottom that they are got through. Pages are filled by the reports of the officer in charge, describing the superhuman exertions of himself and his men in getting the boats hauled through. It does not appear to occur to anyone that a moderate sum spent in dredging, with a few locks here and there, would make the passage cheap and easy.

The treaty

Telegraphs. Here the case is different. Every important city in China is now connected by wire with the capital, and the service is reasonably efficient. Connexion is also established with the English lines in Burma and the Russian lines in Siberia. The Great Northern Telegraph Co. (Danish) and the Eastern Extension Telegraph Co. (English) connect Shanghai by cable with Hongkong, Japan, Singapore, and Europe. An imperial postal service has also been recently established under the general control of the Maritime Customs. It serves all the open ports, and is gradually being extended to the interior. Powers, however, still maintain their separate post offices at Shanghai for the despatch and receipt of mails from Europe. Mining Concessions.-The only mining concession of any value granted to a foreign company is that secured by the Peking Syndicate, which gives the right to work coal, iron, and petroleum in the province of Shansi. It is expected that this concession will lead to very important industrial developments. Several preliminary contracts have been entered into for mining conces sions in other provinces, but they are clogged with conditions imposed by recent regulations issued by the Chinese Government, and for the present they seem of doubtful value.

Banks and Banking.-Native banks for purposes of inland exchange are to be found in most large cities. They are private banks using their own capital, and seldom receiving deposits from the public. The best known are the Shansi banks, which have branches all over the empire. They work on a small capital, seldom over £50,000 each, and do a small but profitable business by selling their drafts on distant places. None of these issue notes, although they are not debarred from doing so by

law. They lend money on personal security, but do not advance against shipments of goods. In some places there are small local banks, usually called cash shops, which issue paper notes for small sums and lend money out on personal security. The notes never reach more than a very limited local circulation, and pass current merely on the credit of the institution. There is no law regulating the formation of banks or the issue of notes. Pawnshops occupy a prominent position in the internal economy of China. They lend on deposit of personalty at very high rates, 18 and 24 per cent., and they receive deposits of money from the public, usually allowing 6 to 10 per cent. They are the real banks of deposit of the country, and the better class enjoy good credit.

Currency. The currency of China consists of:-(1) Silver, which may be either uncoined ingots passing current by weight, or imported coins, Mexican dollars and British dollars; and (2) Copper "cash," which has no fixed relation to silver. The standard is silver, the unit being the Chinese ounce or tael, containing 565 grains. The tael is not a coin, but a weight. Its value in sterling consequently fluctuates with the value of silver; in 1870 it was worth about 6s. 8d., it is now worth rather less than 3s. The name given in China to uncoined silver in current use is "sycee. It is cast for convenience sake into ingots weighing about 50 taels each. Its average fineness is 916 66 per 1000. When foreign silver is imported, say into Shanghai, it can be converted into currency by a very simple process. The bars of silver are sent to a quasi-public office termed the “Kung Ku,” or public valuers, and by them melted down and cast into ingots of the customary size. The fineness is estimated, and the premium or betterness, together with the exact weight, is marked in ink on each ingot. The whole process only occupies a few hours, and the silver is then ready to be put into use. The Kung Ku is simply a local office appointed by the bankers of the place, and the weight and fineness are only good for that locality. The Government takes no responsibility in the matter, but leaves merchants and bankers to adjust the currency as they please. For purposes of taxation and payment of duties there is a standard or treasury tael, which is about 10 per cent. heavier than the tael of commerce in use at Shanghai. Every large commercial centre has its own customary tael, the weight and therefore the value of which differ from that of every other. Silver dollars coined in Mexico, and British dollars coined in Bombay, also circulate freely at the open ports of trade and for some distance inland, passing at a little above their intrinsic value. Carolus dollars, introduced long ago and no longer coined, are retained in current use in several parts of the interior, chiefly the teagrowing districts. Being preferred by the people, and as the supply cannot be added to, they have reached a considerable premium above their intrinsic value. Provincial mints in Canton, Wuchang, and other places, have recently been issuing silver coins of the same weight and touch as the Mexican dollar, but very few have gone into use. As they possess no privilege in debt-paying power over imported Mexican dollars there is no inducement for the people to take them up unless they can be had at a cheaper rate than the latter, and these are laid down at so small a cost above the intrinsic value that no profit is left to the mint. The coinage has in consequence been almost discontinued. Subsidiary coins, however, are coming largely into use, issued by the local mints. The only coin officially issued by the Government is the so-called copper cash. It is a small coin which by regulation should weighth of a tael, and should contain 50 parts of copper, 40 of zinc, and 10 of lead or tin, and it should bear a fixed ratio to silver of 1000 cash to one tael of silver. In practice none of these conditions are observed. Being issued from a number of mints, mostly provincial, the standard was never uniform, and in many cases debased. Excessive issues lowered the value of the coins, and for many years the average exchange was 1600 or more per tael. Within the last few years the rise in copper has led to the melting down of all the older and superior coins, and as for the same reason coining was suspended, the result has been an appreciation of the "cash," so that a tael now exchanges for only 1180 or 1200. Inasmuch as the "cash" bears no fixed relation to silver, and is moreover of no uniform composition, it forms a sort of mongrel standard of its own, varying with the volume in circulation at any particular time. It is, however, the universal medium of exchange for all retail transactions, and the quantities in circulation are enormous. The fluctuations in regard to silver give rise to great complaints among the people. The introduction of a uniform system of coinage is one of the most pressing wants of China.

II. RECENT HISTORY.

In the article in the ninth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, the history of China was carried down to the accession of the Emperor Kwang Su in January 1875. As an introduction to what

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follows we shall first take a brief survey of the condition of the empire at that period. The decade 1854-64 had witnessed lowwater mark in the political fortunes of the Manchu dynasty. The central provinces had been overrun and devastated by the Taiping rebels. Nanking, the ancient capital of the empire, was in their hands, and throughout the whole of the lower Yangtse valley, even down to Shanghai and Ningpo, bands of marauders burnt, pillaged, and murdered at their will. In the south-west the province of Yunnan was the scene of another rebellion. Mahommedan tribe known as Panthays had risen in revolt, captured the city of Talifu, and proclaimed a chief Tu Win Siu as their sultan. In the north-west a similar Mahommedan rebellion broke out in the province of Kansuh. This was followed by a revolt of the whole of the central Asian tribes, which for 2000 years had more or less acknowledged the imperial sway. Kashgaria, a native chief termed Yakoob Beg, otherwise known as the Atilik Ghazi, had made himself Ameer, and seemed likely to establish a strong rule. The fertile province of Kuldja or Ili, lying to the north of the Tien shan range, was temporarily taken possession of by Russia in order to put a stop to the prevailing anarchy, but with a promise that when China should have succeeded in re-establishing order in her central Asian dominions it should be given back. To add to all these misfortunes, and even when they were at their height, the Chinese Government embroiled itself in a foreign war. Redress being refused for longstanding grievances, a combined British and French expedition was sent to operate in the north. The emperor fled to Mongolia, Peking was surrendered, and terms of peace were dictated within the walls of the capital (24th October 1860). This last calamity, which might have seemed to some the worst of all, was in reality the salvation of the country. The foreign Powers had gone there for the sole purpose of establishing fair and equitable terms of trade-terms which would be just as advantageous to the people of China as to themselves. The treaty having once been made with the imperial Government, it was their interest to uphold its authority, and to see a speedy end to the forces of anarchy and disorder. No sooner, therefore, had the war with China been finished, than Great Britain and France proceeded to lend the Chinese active assistance. The services of General Gordon at this juncture are too well known to need further mention. With the first of his victories the tide began to turn, and from that time fortune smiled on the imperial arms. By degrees the Taiping rebellion was crushed; indeed the movement had for some years been collapsing through internal decay; and, with the fall of Nanking in 1864, it finally disappeared. The next ten years (1864-74) witnessed a general revival of the strength of the empire. The Panthay rebellion in Yunnan was put down in 1873, and order had been re-established somewhat earlier in the northwestern provinces of Shensi and Kansuh. The central Asian states still remained under the rule of the Ameer Yakoob Khan, and China was at this time strongly counselled by many to leave things alone in that region. Russia had in the course of the disorder possessed herself of the khanate of Khokand, and it was pointed out that a strong state like that of Kashgaria under Yakoob Khan might be a convenient buffer against farther progress on that side from the great western Power. This counsel, however, as will be seen, did not prevail.

Such, briefly, was the state of affairs at the accession of the reigning emperor, Kwang Su, in January 1875. He was not then four years old, and his accession attracted little notice outside or China, as the supreme power continued to be vested in the two dowager empresses whose long regency had been only nominally determined in favour of the emperor Tung Chi when the latter attained his majority in 1873-the empress Tsu An, principal wife of the emperor Hsien Fung, and the empress Tsu Tsi, secondary wife of the same emperor, and mother of the emperor Tung Chi. Yet there were circumstances connected with the emperor Kwang Su's accession which might well have arrested attention. The emperor Tung Chi, who had himself succumbed to an ominously brief and mysterious illness, left a young widow in an advanced state of pregnancy, and had she given birth to a male child her son would have been the rightful heir to the throne. But even before she sickened and died—of grief, it was officially stated, at the loss of her imperial spouse the dowager empresses had solved the question of the succession by placing Kwang Su on the throne, a measure which was not only in itself arbitrary, but also in direct conflict with one of the most sacred of Chinese traditions. The solemn rites of ancestor-worship, incumbent on every Chinaman, and, above all, upon the emperor, can only be properly performed by a member of a younger generation than those whom it is his duty to honour. The emperor Kwang Su, being a son of Prince Chun, brother to the emperor Hsien Fung, and thus first cousin to the emperor Tung Chi, was not therefore qualified to offer up the customary sacrifices before the ancestral tablets of his predecessor. So profound was the prejudice created against the young emperor on this score, that fifteen years later, when, having reached the age of manhood, he proceeded for the

first time to the Temple of Heaven to perform the ancestral rites, one of the censors committed suicide in his presence as a protest against so grave a breach of the dynastic tradition. The accession of an infant in the place of Tung Chi achieved, however, for the time being what was doubtless the paramount object of the policy of the two empresses, namely, their undisturbed tenure of the regency, in which the junior empress Tsu Tsi, a woman of unquestionable ability and boundless ambition, had gradually become the predominant partner.

of Mr Margary.

The first question that occupied the attention of the Government under the new reign was one of the gravest importance, and nearly led to a war with Great Britain. The Indian Government was desirous of seeing the old trade relations between Burma and the south-west provinces, which had been interrupted by the Yunnan rebellion, re-established, and for that purpose proposed to send a mission across the frontier into China. The Peking Government assented and issued Murder passports for the party. Mr A. R. Margary, a young and promising member of the China consular service, was told off to accompany the expedition as interpreter. All went well until the mission, which was under the command of Colonel Browne, was nearing the Chinese frontier, when rumours of trouble ahead began to reach them. Mr Margary, who had a month previously crossed overland from Shanghai with no difficulty, made light of the reports, but offered to ride on ahead and ascertain the state of affairs. He left, accompanied only by his Chinese servants, and never returned. Two days afterwards news reached Colonel Browne that he had been treacherously murdered by Chinese at the small town of Manwyne, and almost simultaneously an attack was made on the expedition by armed forces wearing Chinese uniform (January 1875). Colonel Browne with difficulty made his way back to Bhamo and the expedition was abandoned. Demands were made on the Peking Government for a thorough inquiry on the spot in the presence of British officers. The Chinese reply was that the murder and the attack were alike the work of irresponsible savages and hillmen, animated with a desire for plunder. Enough evidence was collected on the Burma side to show that this was not true, and it could not be doubted that the orders for the attack emanated from the provincial government of Yunnan, if not from higher quarters. After infinite shuffling and delay an imperial commission was despatched to hold an inquiry, three British officers being sent at the same time to watch proceedings. The trial proved an absolute farce. Eleven half-naked savages were produced as the culprits, and the only evidence tendered was such as had manifestly been manufactured for the purpose. The British officials protested and withdrew from the burlesque. The trial, however, proceeded, and the eleven hillmen were sentenced to death. A report in that sense was addressed to the throne, and with this it was hoped the British sense of justice would be satisfied. Sir Thomas Wade, then British minister at Peking, promptly declared that if this report were published or acted on he would at once haul down his flag, rightly deeming that such a reparation was a greater insult than the original offence. Tedious negotiations followed, which more than once threatened to end in a rupture, but finally, more than eighteen months after the outrage, an arrangement was come to on the basis of guarantees for the future, rather than vengeance for the past. The arrangement was embodied in the Chefoo convention, dated 13th September 1876. The terms of the settlement comprised (1) a mission of apology from China to the British court; (2) the promulgation throughout the length and breadth of the empire of an imperial proclamation, setting out the right of foreigners to travel under passport, and the obligation of the authorities to protect them; and (3) the payment of an indemnity. The convention comprised besides a number of clauses which, though meant to improve commercial relations, were severely criticized by the mercantile communities. The stipulation most objected to was one by which the Chinese Government were debarred from levying likin within the area of the foreign concessions, thereby implying, it was argued, the recognition of the right to levy it ad libitum elsewhere. Ratification of this article was refused by the British Government, and additional articles were subsequently signed in London relative to the collection of likin on Indian opium and other matters.

While these events were going on the imperial authority had been re-established in the north-western provinces of Shensi and Kansuh under Tso Tsung-tang as governor-general, and preparations were made for the reconquest of Kashgaria. Money was supplied by a foreign loan for £1,600,000, being the first appearance of China as a borrower. It was a formidable expedition; not so much from the warlike nature of the enemy, as from the immense distances to be traversed and the extreme difficulty of transport. Nevertheless after two years of dogged perseverance China succeeded. Manas, the last stronghold of the Jungaris, was captured (November 1876), and the death of the Ameer Yakoob Khan in the following year greatly facilitated the com

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