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THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION 
OF  CHINA 


THE   -TRADE    AND 
ADMINISTRATION  OF 
CHINA' 

HOSEA  BALLOU  MORSE 


SOMITIMS  COMMISStONBK  Or  CUS' 
AKD   STATTSnCAL  SKBBTAKT,  INSPBCTOIIATB  GBNBitAL  OP  CUnOMS 

AUTHOR  OP  "TMS  GILDS  OP  CHI  HA  " 
'*  THS  UrrBRIffATIONAL  BBLATIOHS  OP  THE  CHINBSB  BMPIBB "  BTC 


fFITH  ILLUSTRATIONS,  MAP  AND  DIAGRAMS 


RBVISED  EDITION 


LONGMANS,   GREEN   &   CO. 

39  PATERNOSTER  ROW,  LONDON 
NEW  YORK,  BOMBAY,  AND  CALCUTTA 

I913 

[Higki  cfirtauiaHom  retmmdl 


BAOBX,  WAnON  AHD  VHOBT,  U>,, 

unnxnr  akd  atuesbust. 


I 


I, 


.V*^    -  1 


DEDICATION 
[1907] 


THIRTY-THREE  YEARS  AGO  FOUR  YOUNG 
MEN  CAME  TO  CHINA  DIRECT  FROM  THE 
HALLS  OF  FAIR  HARVARD.  TO  THE  OTHER 
THREE  THE  FOURTH  DEDICATES  THIS 
WORK 


441193 


PREFACE 

This  book  is  intended  to  portray  the  present  state  of  the 

Chinese  Empire,  with  such  record  of  the  past  as  will  show 

by  what  process  of  evolution  the  existing  state  has  been 

reached.    No  attempt  is  made  to  forecast  the  future,  or 

even  to  refer  to  the  revolution  which,  under  the  name  of 

Reform,  has  been  begun.      The   development   of  many 

centuries  is  to  be  recast,  and  within  a  year  or  a  generation, 

according  as  the  pace  is  forced  or  not,  it  will  assume  an 

unaccustomed  garb;    and  the  China  of  that  future  day, 

near  or  distant,  will  not  be  the  China  of  to-day.    Whether 

this  revolution  will  follow  the  precedent  of  the  English 

Revolution  or  of  the  French,  whether  it  will  proceed  by 

logical  development  from  step  to  step,  or  will  rush  on  a 

lieadlong  course,  will  depend  upon  the  wisdom  and  self- 

xestraint  of  the  leaders  in  the  government,  and  in  the  last 

xesort  upon  the  nature  of  that  public  opinion  which  will  be 

created  in  the  Chinese  people.    But,  just  as  the  history  of 

the  England  of  the  Georges  cannot  be  well  understood 

without  some  knowledge  of  the  Stuart  period,  and  as  an 

acquaintance  with  the  France  of  the  Kingdom  and  the 

Empire  is  necessary  to  a  comprehension  of  the  France  of 

the  Third  Republic,  so  also,  to  imderstand  the  China  which 

the  student  of  the  future  will  know,  he  must  be  able  to  study 

its  past.    The  China  of  to-day  is,  with  minor  differences, 

the  China  of  the  past ;  and  in  this  book  it  is  hoped  that  the 

future  student  will  find,  within  the  limits  of  the  dozen 

subjects  treated,  a  succinct  account  of  the  foundation  on 

which  the  China  of  the  future  will  be  erected. 

vii 


viii  PREFACE 

I  have  written  also  for  the  reader  of  to-day.  I  can  add 
little  to  the  knowledge  of  the  sinologue ;  but  the  great 
majority  of  the  men  of  Western  countries  living  in  China 
know  little  of  the  people  among  whom  their  lives  are  spent, 
or  of  the  Empire  within  whose  borders  they  pursue  their 
avocations.  Much  interest,  too,  has  been  aroused  of  late 
in  the  home  lands  in  the  study  of  Cljdnese  affairs,  and  we 
have  seen  members  of  Parliament  and  of  Congress  mani- 
festing an  intelligent  interest  and  some  adequacy  of  know- 
ledge in  matters  connected  with  the  Orient.  All  those 
classes  will,  I  hope,  find  in  these  pages  some  information 
on  subjects  on  which  they  may  seek  knowledge. 

Excuses  must  be  made  to  American  readers  for  giving 
the  equivalence  of  Chinese  currency  values  in  English 
currency  only.  The  statements  of  value  go  back  over  half 
a  century,  and  readers  must  remember  the  state  of  the 
American  currency  from  1861  to  1879. 

To  the  number  of  works  on  China  I  venture  to  add  this 
one,  and  to  commit  it  to  the  kindly  attention  of  the  reading 
public,  in  the  hope  that  in  its  pages  they  will  find  information 
not  readily  accessible  in  other  works. 

H.  B.  M. 

Shanghai, 
December  1907a 


PREFACE  TO   SECOND   EDITION 

The  revolution  has  come,  but  it  is  yet  too  soon  to  declare 
if.  it  will  be  destructive  or  constructive.  China,  however, 
remains  unchanged,  and  a  knowledge  of  the  China  of  the 
past  is  as  necessary  as  ever  to  an  understanding  of  the 
China  of  the  future.  In  this  belief  this  second  edition  is 
prepared  for  a  public  which  has  given  a  kindly  reception  to 
its  predecessor. 

ji.  B.  M« 
QuHTmx^  Lakb  of  Thun« 
October  X9ia« 


CONTENTS 


I.  SKETCH  OF  CHINESE  HISTORY 

n.  THE   GOVERNMENT :     IMPERIAL  CHINA 

III.  THE  government:   republican  china 

IV.  REVENUE  AND  EXPENDITURE  . 
V.  THE   CURRENCY 

VI.  WEIGHTS  AND  MEASURES 

vVU.  EXTRAIERRITORIAUTY 

Vm.  THE   PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS 

IX.  FOREIGN  TRADE       • 

X.  INTERNAL  TRADE   . 

XI.  OPIUM  •  .  .  • 

XIL  THE  INSPECTORATE  OF  CUSTOMS 

Xin.  THE  POST  OFFICE    . 


APPENDICES 
INDEX 


I 
32 

67 
76 
117 
171 
176 
206 
377 
310 

366 
392 
411 

455 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Map  of  Chui  a 


AT  : 


BACmO  VAOB 

DiAOSAM  nXirSTRATING  PKOVIMCIAL  ADMIinSXXATIOM   •           •           •  54 

IXXOSTKATIOlff,   SWOSD  CaSH 11/ 

„              Eablt  Cash •        •  ii8 

„                    LaTBR  CaBB X20 

,,              ToKSN  Conrs 125 

,,              MncG  GovxKNHXNT  Nois 140 

.,             Sbahgbax  Sbob  or  Stcxb 147 

DlAGSAM   nXUSTKATIllO  FORBXGN  TSADB,   I864-I91I       •            •            •  2// 

IixosTRAnoN,  Thb  Wbst  Rivbr  at  Lungchow                  •        •  3xa 

^                  MOMUIIBNTAL  ASCH  AT  WUSIH  ON  GRAMD  CAMAL  •  $20 

M             Pagoda  at  Wusih  on  Grand  Canal  •        •        •  jao 

„            Bridgb  ovbr  Grand  Canal  at  Wusih       •        •  sax 

,,            Grand  Canal  passing  through  Wusih       •        •  3ax 

M            TypBs  OP  Brxxx^bs  on  and  nbar  Grand  Canal      •  3aa 

,»            Shanghai  Custom  Housb,  1854-1893  .        •        •  366 

„            Shanghai  Custom  Housb,  1894  .        •        •        *  367 

Hi 


S    A.    / 


NOTE 


Currency. — ^In  the  following  pages  the  value  of  com- 
modities is  expressed  in  taels  of  silver  as  accepted  at  the 
Custom  House.  The  gold  exchange  value  of  these  Haikwan 
or  Customs  taels  (s}anbol  Tls.)  has  been  as  follows : 


In  1864  . 

.  80  penc 

„  1874  . 

.  76   „ 

„  1884  . 

.  67   .. 

..1894  . 

.  38   „ 

„  1904  . 

.  34   .. 

„  1911  • 

.  32   » 

80  pence  English  currency  (6s.    8i.) 
76       „  „  „        (6s.    4i.) 

(5«.  7(i') 
(3S.  2d.) 
(2S.  loi.) 
(2S.     8d.) 


Weight. — ^Weights  are  expressed  in  piculs,  catties,  and 
taels. 

One  picul   =  133 J  lb.  av.  =  60*453  kilogrammes. 

_    fii  cwt.  English. 

""    \ij  cwt.  American. 
16 '8  piculs  =     I  long  ton. 
15 'o      „      =     I  short  ton. 
16 '54    „      =      I  metric  ton. 
One  catty  =     ij  lb.  av.   =  604  53  granmies. 
One  tael      =      ij  oz.  av.   =  583*3    grains. 

=     37783  grammes. 


xtii 


The  Trade  and  Administration 
of  China 

CHAPTER   I 

SKETCH    OF    CHINESE    HISTORY 

The  autochthonous  peoples  of  China  are  still  to  be  found 
in  the  various  tribes  of  Miaotze,  Lolo,  To,  Li,  and  others 
occupying  the  mountainous  districts  of  the  provinces  of 
Kweichow»  Szechwan,  Yunnan,  Kwangtung,  and  Kwangsi, 
and  of  the  island  of  Hainan,  driven  there  for  refuge  by  the 
conquering  Chinese,  and  preserving  their  own  customs 
and  habits.  They  have  generally  preserved  their  own  tribal 
government  and  given  but  a  nominal  submission  to  the 
established  government  of  the  country,  and,  in  modem 
times,  have  never  been  prominent  in  brigandage  or  in 
rebellion. 

The  Chinese  came  into  the  country  at  a  date  which, 
in  the  absence  of  any  positive  proof,  may  be  assumed  to 
have  been  about  B.C.  2500.    They  first  settled  with  their 

^  flocks  in  what  is  now  the  province  of  Shensi,  west  of  the 
Yellow  River,  and  from  there  spread  to  the  east  and  south 
of  that  river.  From  this  region  they  followed  the  valleys, 
first  westward  by  the  valley  of  the  Wei  toward  Szechwan ; 
then,  crossing  the  Yangtze,  they  occupied  the  basin  of 

^  Kiangsi,  draining  into  the  Poyang  Lake ;  and  later,  by  the 
Tungting  Lake  and  the  valley  of  the  Siang,  they  occupied 


h''  ''y:tItE:iR4J}k  and  ADMimsfRATiol^  OF  CHIliA 

Hunan  and  penetrated  into  the  Two  Kwang.  Their  absorp- 
tion of  the  kingdom  of  Wu,  stretching  along  the  sea  coast 
from  the  Yangtze  south,  was  accomplished  diu-ing  the  Han 
dynasty. 

The  age  of  the  Five  Rulers  begins  with  the  reign  of  Fu- 
hsi  (B.C.  2852),  who  taught  the  people  to  fish  with  nets,  to 
rear  domestic  animals,  and  to  play  on  musical  instruments  ; 
he  also  regulated  the  marriage  laws  and  invented  hiero- 
glyphic writing.  His  successor  was  Shen-nung  (B.C.  2737), 
who  taught  the  people  agriculture  and  herbal  medicine. 
He  was  followed  by  Hwang-ti  (e.g.  2697),  who  devised  the 
Chinese  calendar  and  introduced  the  rearing  of  the  silk- 
worm. The  fourth  was  the  great  Yao  (e.g.  2356),  who 
associated  with  himself  in  the  government  Shun  and  Yu. 
These  three,  whose  doings  were  recorded  by  Confucius 
and  Mencius,  governed  wisely  and  increased  the  happiness 
of  their  people ;  but  their  chief  claim  to  fame  is  derived 
from  their  control  over  great  floods  which  devastated  the 
coimtry,  and  from  a  system  of  canals  by  which  the  land 
was  diuined  and  reclaimed.  Yao  handed  down  the  govern- 
ment to  Shim  (B.C.  2255-2205)  and  he  in  turn  to  Yii,  by 
whom  the  Hsia  djmasty  was  founded. 

The  Hsia  dynasty  lasted  from  b.g.  2205  to  b.g.  1766, 
when  it  was  overthrown  by  a  rebellion  raised  by  Tang, 
the  Prince  of  Shang,  who  founded  the  Shang  or  Yin  dynasty. 
This  was  overthrown  in  b.g.  1122  by  Wu  Wang,  the  Duke 
of  Chow,  who  founded  the  Chow  dynasty,  which  endured 
until  B.C.  255.  Then  followed  a  period  of  confusion  until, 
in  B.C.  221,  the  Duke  of  Tsin  established  himself  on  the 
throne. 

During  the  Chow  dsmasty  the  administration  of  pubUc 
affairs  received  a  high  degree  of  organisation.  A  currency 
was  introduced,  the  token  simulacra  of  swords  and  spades, 
which  had  formed  the  medium  of  exchange,  being  replaced 
by  token  coins  of  copper,  round  and  flat,  with  a  hole  in  the 
middle,  the  earliest  of  this  form  being  assignable  to  about 
B.C.  660.    The  government  was  not  yet  in  name  an  Empire ; 


Sketch  oP  cmiiESB  Hlstoitv  3 

but  the  overlord  governed  through  a  feudal  nobUity  of 
graduated  rank  (duke,  marquis,  count,  etc.),  the  ^nembers 
of  which  were  in  command  each  of  an  assigned  district,  as 
was  the  case  in  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  in  Europe ;  and, 
as  in  that  Empire  in  its  latter  centuries,  these  feudal  nobles 
by  d^;rees  asserted  their  semi-independence,  giving  only  a 
nominal  allegiance  to  their  sovereign. 

The  Chow  dynasty  was  distinguished  by  the  teaching 
of  the  three  great  philosophers  Laotze,  Confucius,  and 
Mendus,  who  were,  respectively,  contemporaries  of  Socrates, 
Plato,  and  Aristotle. 

Laotze  (the  "  Old  One")  was  bom  about  B.C.  604,  in 
the  eastern  part  of  what  is  now  Honan.  His  name  records 
the  tradition  that  at  birth  he  was  aheady  an  old  man,  with 
bald  head  and  a  beard.  His  system  of  philosophy  is  mystical, 
teaching  men  to  live  in  harmony  with  "  Tao  "  (Right  or 
Reason),  the  great  absolute  impersonal  principle  which 
is  the  source  of  all  things  and  immanent  in  all  things. 
Taoism,  one  of  the  religious  cults  of  China,  claims  him  as 
its  founder. 

Confucius  (Kungfutze)  was  bom  B.C.  551  in  the  dukedom 
of  Lu,  in  the  south-western  part  of  Shantung.  He  collected 
and  edited  the  writings  and  historical  records  of  the  past, 
giving  lectures  on  them  to  his  pupils.  A  minister  of  the 
Duke  of  Lu,  he  left  the  Court  when  he  failed  to  persuade 
his  master  to  govern  according  to  the  practice  of  the  wise 
men  of  old  (a  Clarendon  to  a  Charles  II),  and  visited  Court 
after  Court  of  the  feudal  rulers,  seeking  in  vain  for  a  prince 
wise  enough  to  accept  his  counsels.  His  philosophy  was 
collected  by  his  disciples  of  a  later  age  and  has  served 
as  the  ethical  guide  of  the  Chinese  race  for  over  two  thou- 
sand years.  He  died  in  B.C.  479 ;  his  lineal  descendant 
was  created  an  hereditary  duke  in  the  Tang  dynasty ;  and 
he  himself  was  canonised  by  Imperial  decree  in  igo6. 

Mencius  (Mengtze),  also  a  native  of  the  state  of  Lu, 
was  bom  B.C.  372.  In  some  ways  he  was  a  more  original 
thinker  than  Confucius,  whom  he  called  his  master ;  but 


4      The  Trade  aUd  ADidiHtsfkAfioii  oP  emit  a 

in  the  eyes  of  the  Chinese  race  his  chief  claim  to  fame  comes 
from  his  having  collected  and  annotated  the  sayings  of  the 
Master,  and  taught  the  Master's  system  of  philosophy. 

The  Tsin  dynasty  was  established  B.C.  221  by  the  Duke 
of  Tsin,  who  was  the  first  to  adopt  the  title  of  Hwangti 
or  Emperor;  it  ended  soon  after  the  death  of  its  first 
Emperor,  B.C.  209,  but  in  that  short  space  of  twelve  years 
much  was  accomplished.  The  Empire  was  extended  until 
it  included  from  the  Great  Wall  on  the  north  to  the  Yangtze 
on  the  south,  and  from  the  Yellow  Sea  on  the  east  to 
Szechwan  on  the  west.  The  feudal  system  was  abolished 
and  the  government  centralised.  The  currency  and  the 
standards  of  weight  and  measure  were  reformed.  During 
this  reign  the  Great  Wall  of  China,  the  marvel  of  future 
ages,  was  greatly  extended.  It  stretches,  through  a  length 
of  1,500  miles,  from  98°  to  120®  E.  longitude,  and  was  de- 
s^ned  to  protect  the  Empire  from  the  incursions  of  the  wild 
Tartar  tribes  on  the  north,  who  had  then  begun  to  be  a 
menace  to  the  Chmese  and  who  dominated  the  Empire 
during  many  of  the  centuries  following.  The  Emperor 
entirely  reorganised  the  nation,  and,  desiring  that  it  should 
look  forward  and  not  back,  he  decreed  that  all  books  and 
records  relating  to  the  past  should  be  burnt.  In  this  he 
succeeded  only  in  making  his  name  execrated  by  scholars 
in  all  future  ages ;  but  his  reforms  stood  the  test  of  time, 
and,  in  its  organisation,  China  retained  his  impress  for 
two  thousand  years. 

The  Han  dynasty  was  established  B.C.  206  by  Liu-pang, 
Prince  of  Han.  It  carried  Chinese  arms  and  civilisation 
south  of  the  Yangtze  (Kiangsi,  Hunan,  Kweichow,  Kwangsi, 
and  Kwangtung/,  following  the  lines  through  the  Poyang 
and  Tungting  Lakes;  and  it  also  included  Kansu  in  its 
dominion,  and  subjugated  the  northern  part  of  Korea. 
Through  Kansu  the  Chinese  thus  came,  by  the  trans-Asian 
trade  routes,  into  communication  with  the  West.  This 
period  is  looked  back  to  as  the  Golden  Age  of  Chinese  history ; 
and  "  Sons  of  Han  "  is  the  name  given  to  themselves  to 


SKETCH  OF  CHINESE  HISTORY  5 

this  day  by  the  Chinese,  except  the  Cantonese,  who  call 
themselves  "  Sons  of  Tang."  During  this  period,  too, 
the  incursions  of  the  Tartar  tribes  became  more  trouble- 
some, the  most  insistent  being  the  Hiung-nu,  to  whom 
for  many  years  the  Han  Emperors  paid  an  annual  subsidy 
of  silks,  rice,  and  wine. 

The  Han  dynasty  came  to  an  end  a.d.  25,  and  a  period 
of  two  centuries  of  confusion  followed.  In  this  were 
distinguished  the  three  great  traitors  of  Chinese  history, 
Wang-mang,  Tung-cho,  and  Tsao-tsao.  This  was  followed 
by  the  romantic  and  chivalrous  period  of  the  "  Three 
Kingdoms"  (a.d.  221-265) — ^the  kingdom  of  Wei,  com- 
prising the  central  and  northern  parts  of  the  Han  Empire ; 
Wu,  bordering  the  Yangtze  and  comprising  Hunan,  Hupeh, 
Kiangsi,  Anhwei,  Kiangsu,  and  Chekiang  ;  and  Shu,  includ- 
ing Szecfawan  and  adjacent  territory.  These  kingdoms 
waged  incessant  war  with  each  other;  but  finally  the 
kingdom  of  Wei  was  victorious  and,  absorbing  the  others, 
its  ruler  established  the  Western  Tsin  dynasty  (a.d.  265-317). 
During  the  whole  of  this  time  the  country  was  subject  to 
the  incursi(His  of  the  Tartars,  who  seemed  to  consider  the 
Great  Wall  as  only  an  incitement  to  invasion,  and  to  regard 
with  scorn  the  weak  pretensions  of  the  "  man  behind  the 
wall."  Finally  the  Chinese  rulers  were  driven  from  their 
capital  at  Kaifeng  and  pushed  south  of  the  Yangtze,  the 
Tartars  holding  the  country  to  the  north;  and  in  that 
southern  territory,  with  the  capital  at  Nanking,  there  was 
a  succession  of  weak  and  short-lived  dynasties — Eastern 
Tsin  (317-430),  Sung  (420-479),  Tsi  (479-502),  Liang 
(502-557),  Chen  (557-589)  and  Sui  (589-618)— each  throne 
set  up  by  a  strong  commander  and  lost  by  his  degenerate 
successor. 

The  Tang  dynasty  (618-907)  is  another  glorious  period 
of  Chinese  history.  Its  founder  remodelled  his  army  and 
was  able  to  drive  back  the  Tartar  invaders,  establishing 
his  capital  at  Changan  in  Shensi ;  he  reorganised  the  govern* 
ment  and  re-^tabUsbed  order ;  he  brought  the  Cantonese 


6         THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

under  more  perfect  control ;  and  he  encouraged  the  study 
of  the  Confucian  classics,  declaring  that "  Confucian  thought 
is  to  the  Chinese  what  the  water  is  to  the  fish."  The 
culminating  point  in  this  period  was  the  domination  of  the 
Empress  Wu-how,  who  first  ruled  jointly  with  her  husband, 
the  Emperor  Kao-tsung  (650-684)  and  then  as  Empress 
Dowager-Regent  for  her  son  Chung-tsung,  until  in  705 
she  was  forced  by  advancing  age  to  abdicate  her  power. 
Her  ability  has  been  recognised  by  the  Chinese,  but  her 
memory  has  been  execrated  because  of  the  impropriety 
of  her  conduct  in  presuming  to  govern  the  Empire.  In 
fact,  however,  she  was  the  last  of  the  strong  rulers  of  the 
dynasty,  and  for  the  remaining  two  centuries  the  throne 
was  for  the  most  part  filled  by  men  weak  in  character  and 
of  small  capacity.  Literature  flourished  and  the  arts 
advanced;  but  the  coimtry  was  disturbed  by  internal 
rebellions  and  Tartar  incursions.  Korea  was  fully  con- 
quered in  667  and  reduced  to  a  vassal  state,  remaining  in 
that  position  until  1895 ;  this  secured  the  north-eastern 
frontier,  but  along  the  northern  border  for  more  than  two 
centuries  there  was  no  peace. 

Nestorian  priests,  coming  from  Persia,  brought  the  first 
teaching  of  Christianity  into  China  during  this  period. 
They  were  favourably  received ;  and  by  Imperial  sanction 
a  stone  tablet  recording  the  tenets  of  their  Church  was 
erected  at  Siangfu  in  Shensi. 

After  the  Tang  dynasty  followed  the  period  of  the 
Five  Djmasties  (907-9(50) — Later  Liang,  Later  Tang,  Later 
Tsin,  Later  Han,  and  Later  Chow — a  period  of  military 
despotism. 

The  Sung  dynasty  followed  in  960.  Peace  was  again 
restored  and  order  established,  and  for  a  time  one  ruler 
governed  the  whole  Empire.  The  incursions  of  the  Tartar 
tribes  were,  however,  soon  resumed ;  and  in  1125  the  Kin 
or  Nii-chen  Tartars — '*  the  Golden  Horde" — gained  the 
predominance  and  made  serious  inroads  upon  the  Imperial 
domain.    At  an  early  date  they  seized  the  capital,  Kaifeng, 


SKETCH  OF  CHINESE  HISTORY  7 

and  required  the  Emperor  to  pay  an  annual  tribute ;  and 
in  no  long  time  they  drove  the  Imperial  forces  south  of  the 
Yangtze,  establishing  their  own  dominion  over  the  territory 
to  the  north  of  the  great  river.  The  Chinese  rulers  of  what 
is  called  in  history  the  Southern  Sung  dynasty  set  up  their 
capital  at  first  at  Nanking,  and  afterwards  at  Hangchow. 
Incessant  war  was  waged  between  the  North  and  the  South, 
between  the  Chinese  dynasty  of  the  Southern  Sung  and  the 
Golden  dynasty  of  the  Tartars,  across  the  moat  of  the 
Yangtze,  but  neither  side  succeeded  in  gaining  ground; 
and  the  Yangtze  remained  the  frontier  until  the  establish- 
ment  of  the  Yuan  dynasty  of  the  Mongols  in  1280. 

The  Mongols,  originating  in  the  district  south-east  of 
Lake  Baikal,  made  their  first  assaults  on  the  northern 
frontier  in  1135.  Under  Genghis  Khan  (1162)  they  entered 
on  their  marvellous  career  of  conquest.  He  first  con- 
solidated the  loosely  knit  Mongol  confederacy,  and  then 
made  many  successful  raids  into  Northern  China.  In 
1213  three  expeditions,  one  under  Genghis  himself,  overran 
the  country,  subjugating  as  ^  as  the  Shantung  peninsula. 
Next  the  Mongols  set  out  to  conquer  Asia.  They  sub- 
jugated the  country  to  the  south-west  of  China,  pierced  the 
mountain  passes  of  the  Himalayas,  won  a  great  victory 
on  the  Indus,  and  carried  their  victorious  arms  to  the  borders 
of  the  kingdom  of  Poland.  Whenever  Genghis  conquered 
a  city,  he  razed  it  to  the  ground  and  put  its  inhabitants 
to  the  sword.  Genghis  was  succeeded  in  X229  by  his  son, 
Ogotai  Khan,  who  continued  his  father's  career  of  conquest. 
He  repeated  the  raid  into  Eiurope,  pursuing  his  victorious 
course  through  Russia,  Poland,  and  Hungary. 

The  Chinese  Emperor  Li-tsung  (1225-1265)  saw  in  the 
rise  of  the  Mongok  an  opportimity  to  throw  off  the  domi- 
nation of  the  Golden  Tartars  ;  and,  setting  dog  to  eat  dog, 
he  made  an  aUiance  with  the  Mongol  leader.  Their  com- 
bined armies  overcame  the  forces  of  the  Golden  d5masty 
and  conquered  the  country  north  of  the  Yangtze  still  in 
its  possession ;  but  when  the  Chinese  Emperor  proposed  to 


8         THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

reoccupy  Kaifeng  and  re-establish  there  the  capital  of 
his  Empire,  he  found  that  the  Mongols  saw  no  reason  for 
surrendering  conquests  which  their  arms  had  made,  and  was 
smnmoned  to  return  to  his  former  domain  in  the  south. 
War  was  thereupon  declared  between  the  allies,  and  the 
Mongols  entered  upon  the  subjugation  of  Southern  China. 
Their  forces  were  victorious,  and  the  Chinese  Emperor  was 
driven  to  his  last  refuge  in  the  island  of  Yaishan,  south  of 
Canton ;  there  he  was  blockaded,  and  finally,  to  avoid 
falling  into  the. hands  of  his  enemies,  he  and  all  his  family 
committed  suicide  by  throwing  themselves  into  the  sea. 

This  established  the  Yuan  dynasty  (1260-1368),  which 
again,  and  for  the  first  time  under  Tartar  rule,  reunited  the 
whole  of  China  under  one  sovereign.  The  consoUdation  of 
the  Empire  was  mainly  effected  by  Kublai  Khan  (1260-1295). 
He  fafled  in  an  attack  on  Japan,  his  sea  power  being  inferior 
to  that  of  the  island  Japanese ;  but,  after  subjugating  the 
Chinese  provinces,  and  adding  Yunnan  to  his  domain,  he 
conquered  Annam  and  Burma  and  maintained  his  northern 
frontier.  Annam  became  a  vassal  state,  its  king  soliciting 
investiture  from  Peking  (where  the  Mongol  capital  was 
established)  and  sending  periodic  tribute  until  it  became  a 
dependency  of  France — Cochin  China  in  1864,  Tonkin  in 
1885.  Burma  became  a  tributary  state  and  sent  tribute 
until  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century.  China  was,  how- 
ever, but  a  part  of  the  Mongol  dominion ;  in  its  whole  extent 
it  spread  from  the  Black  Sea  on  the  west  to  the  Yellow  Sea 
•on  the  east,  and  from  the  northern  border  of  Mongolia  to  the 
southern  limits  of  Annam. 

The  collection  of  tribute  and  its  transmission  to  Peking 
were  among  the  most  important  functions  of  the  Mongol 
administration ;  and  one  of  the  first  steps  taken  by  Kublai 
was  the  improvement  of  the  communications  between  the 
north  and  the  south.  As  a  preliminary  measure  a  canal  was 
made  from  Kiaochow  to  the  Gulf  of  Pechihli,  cutting  off  the 
Shantung  peninsula  and  its  stormy  circumnavigation.  Then 
t})e  Gran4  CanjJ  was  ta}cen  ip  }iand.    This  magnificent 


SKETCH  OF  CHINESE  HISTORY  9 

channel  of  commerce  was  begun  as  early  as  b.c.  489,  and 
then  extended  to  the  territory  south  of  the  Yangtze ;  mider 
the  Southern  Sung  its  southern  part,  from  Hangchow  to 
Chmkiang,  was  much  improved ;  and  now,  by  Kublai,  the 
northern  part  was  restored  and  its  course  extended  on  to 
Tientsin,  from  which  city  the  Peiho  provides  a  good  water 
route  to  Peking. 

During  the  reign  of  Kublai,  in  1271,  the  Venetian  traveller 
Marco  Polo  first  arrived  in  China,  and  on  his  retwm  to  Europe 
gave  to  the  world  the  first  of  the  many  accounts  of  the 
wonders  of  that  Empire.  In  many  respects  the  civilisation 
of  China  was  then  ahead  of  that  of  Europe,  and  his  report 
opened  up  a  new  realm  of  thought. 

In  conquering  the  country  the  Mongols  had  no  thought 
of  modifying  the  civilisation  of  the  Chinese,  in  all  respects 
far  higher  than  their  own ;  and  they  recognised  that  their 
own  talents  lay  solely  in  the  direction  of  arms,  and  that  they 
could  not  supply  the  qualities  demanded  for  a  civil  adminis- 
tration. The  actual  administration,  under  the  Mongols, 
as  later  under  the  Manchus,  was  in  the  hands  of  Chinese, 
habituated  to  the  ways  of  government  and  finance ;  and  the 
nominal  masters  of  the  Empire,  based  on  their  northern  home 
and  guarded  by  garrisons  stationed  at  a  few  strategic 
points,  settled  down  to  a  life  of  luxury,  supported  by  the 
tribute  which  was  levied  on  the  conquered  people.  This 
tribute  was  mainly  in  the  produce  of  the  country — silks  for 
currency,  and  rice  and  other  grain  for  subsistence — the 
contributions  in  circulating  medium  of  exchange  consisting 
almost  entirely  of  cowrie  shells.  Of  silver  and  of  copper 
coins  but  little  came  into  the  treasury  otherwise  than  by 
plunder ;  and  the  needs  of  the  Imperial  Government,  other 
than  those  provided  by  the  tribute  in  kind,  were  supplied 
by  issues  of  irredeemable  paper  money,  of  which  during 
most  of  the  short  hundred  years  of  the  Mongol  dynastic  rule 
the  annual  emissions  amounted  to  the  enormous  sum  of 
forty   million   taels.*    The   distress   resulting   from   this 

♦  gf.  Chap.  V, 


10       THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

financial  condition,  combined  with  the  iron  rule  of  the  bar* 
barous  conquerors,  soon  brought  the  d3niasty  to  its  fall ; 
and  the  rebellious  Chinese  found  a  leader  of  ability  in  Chu 
Yuan-chang  (bom  1355),  who  had  spent  his  early  life  in  a 
Buddhist  monastery,  and  now,  inspired  by  patriotism, 
emerged  from  his  retirement  to  fight  the  oppressors  of  his 
country.  Under  his  leadership  the  Mongols  were  driven 
from  the  soil  of  China,  and,  in  1368,  he  declared  himself 
Emperor  and  established  the  Ming  dynasty  (1368-1644), 
restoring  Chinese  rule  over  the  Chinese  people. 

The  first  Ming  Emperor  assumed  the  title  of  Hungwu 
and  established  his  capital  at  Nanking ;  but,  with  the  con« 
tinned  pressure  of  the  Mongols  and  other  Tartar  tribes  on 
the  northern  frontier,  it  was  transferred  to  Peking  in  1421 
by  the  third  Emperor,  Yunglo,  by  whom  the  famous  porce- 
lain pagoda  was  erected  at  Nanking  as  a  solatium  to  its 
people  and  a  memorial  to  his  father,  whose  tomb  was  there. 
This  pagoda  was  destroyed  by  the  Taiping  rebels  in  1853 
as  being  an  instrument  of  idolatry.  NotMrithstanding  the 
constant  conflicts  on  the  northern  frontier,  internal  order 
was  soon  restored ;  and  the  earlier  reigns  of  the  dynasty 
were  marked  by  great  prosperity  and  splendour.  The 
currency  was  restored,  trade  prospered,  the  arts  flourished, 
and  scholarship  was  fostered ;  and  at  the  same  time  the 
power  of  the  Empire  was  maintained  over  the  vassal  states 
coterminous  with  China.  It  was  demonstrated  to  the 
people  of  China  that  Chinese  could  govern  their  country  and 
govern  it  well ;  and  the  Ming  period,  the  period  of  the  finest 
Chinese  porcelain,  shares  in  the  Chinese  mind  in  the  glory  of 
the  Han  and  Tang  periods  of  an  earlier  date. 

It  was  during  the  Ming  period  that  European  traders 
first  entered  into  trade  relations  with  the  Chinese  Empire  ♦ 
— ^the  Portuguese  in  1516,  the  Spanish  from  the  Philippines 
in  1575,  the  Dutch  in  1604,  and  the  English  in  the  dying 
days  of  the  dynasty  in  1637  »  ^^^  Portuguese  traded  solely 
at  Canton,  the  Spanish  permitted  the  Chinese  to  trade  with 
•  Cf.  Chap.  IX, 


SKETCH  OF  CHINESE  HISTORY  II 

them  at  Manila,  and  the  Dutch  and  English  traded  at  first 
at  Amoy  and  in  Formosa. 

The  first  Christian  missionary,  after  the  Nestorians,  to 
arrive  in  China  was  St.  Francis  Xavier,  the  first  disciple  of 
Ignatius  Loyola,  the  foimder  of  the  Jesuit  Society.  The 
jealous  regard  of  the  Chinese  for  their  own  institutions  denied 
him  access  to  the  mainland ;  and,  after  a  glorious  crusade  to 
Japan,  he  died  on  the  island  of  Shangchuen  (now  called  St. 
John's  Island),  south  of  Canton,  in  1555,  the  year  of  the 
abdication  of  Charles  V  of  Spain  and  the  renewal  of  the 
Papal  fight  against  the  Protestant  Reformation  in  Europe. 
He  was  followed  by  Michael  Roger  and  Matteo  Ricci,  who 
were  more  successful  in  their  attempts  to  settle  and  preach 
on  the  mainland.  Father  Ricci  even  succeeding,  in  the  closing 
years  of  the  century,  in  obtaining  a  lodgment  in  Nanking. 
During  the  last  reigns  of  the  Ming  d3masty  the  Jesuit  mis- 
sionaries obtained  a  footing  at  the  Imperial  Court,  and  this 
was  maintained  during  the  first  two  reigns  of  the  Tsing 
dynasty ;  the  most  prominent  among  them  were  Adam 
Schaal  and  Verbeest,  to  whom -was  entrusted  the  care  of 
compiling  the  calendar.  Of  the  beautiful  bronze  astrono- 
mical instruments  which  were  removed  from  their  home  on 
the  walls  of  Peking,  and  carried  to  Europe  in  1900,  the  older 
pieces  dated  back  to  the  Mongol  period,  but  the  greater 
number,  and  of  finer  finish,  were  sent  as  a  present  from 
Louis  XIV  of  France  to  the  Ming  Emperor. 

The  Ming  dynasty  finally  fell,  as  the  result  of  successful 
rebellion  by  ambitious  Chinese  generals ;  but  the  profit 
was  reaped  by  the  Manchus,  a  Tartar  tribe  occupying  what 
is  now  the  province  of  Kirin.  In  1618  the  Ming  Emperor, 
Wanli,  interfered  in  a  faction  fight  among  the  Manchus, 
espousing  the  cause  of  Nikan.  The  Manchu  chief,  Nurhachu, 
having  overcome  his  rival,  at  once  invaded  Chinese  territory 
and  occupied  the  Liaotung  peninsula.  Defeating  the  Chinese 
troops,  he  then  took  the  city  of  Liaoyang,  the  inhabitants 
of  which  were  forced  to  shave  the  front  part  of  their  heads 
and  to  plait  their  back  hair  into  a  queue  after  the  Manchu 


12       THE   TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

custom ;  and  this  rule  was  enforced  whenever  the  Manchus 
later  gained  possession  of  a  Chinese  city.  Nurhachu  then 
advanced  to  force  the  passage  of  the  Great  Wall,  where  it 
touches  the  sea  at  Shanhaikwan,  but  was  unable  to  take  the 
city  of  Ningyuan,  which  barred  his  way  and  was  well  de- 
fended by  the  Chinese  troops,  who  were  aided  by  cannon 
supplied  by  the  Portuguese  in  Macao.  The  greater  part  of 
Manchuria  was,  however,  brought  into  subjection  by  the 
Manchus. 

Meantime  the  country  was  rent  by  civil  war,  two 
Chinese  generals  having  in  1630  raised  the  standard  of  re- 
bellion. Chang  Hsien-chung,  starting  from  Shensi,  con- 
quered the  country  to  the  west  and  south,  and  established 
himsdf  as  sovereign  in  Szechwan,  where  for  some  years  he 
was  left  undisturbed.  Li  Tze-ching,  starting  from  Shansi, 
marched  on  Peking,  defeating  the  Ming  troops  sent  to  bar 
his  way,  and  gained  possession  of  the  capital.  He  then 
assumed  the  title  and  dignity  of  Emperor,  whereupon  the 
last  of  the  Ming  emperors,  Chwanglieh-ti,  committed  suicide 
by  hanging  himself. 

Under  ordinary  circumstances  this  would  have  left  the 
victorious  general  in  possession  of  the  throne  and  enabled 
him  to  found  a  new  dynasty.  But  a  loyal  general  of  the 
Ming  Emperor,  Wu  San-kwei,  resolved  to  avenge  the  death 
of  the  Emperor,  and  for  that  purpose  called  in  the  Manchus 
to  aid  him  in  dispossessing  the  successful  rebel ;  and  the 
allied  forces  of  the  Manchus  and  the  Chinese  army  loyal  to 
the  dynasty  together  gained  a  decisive  victory.  The  fruits 
of  victory  were  reaped  by  the  Manchus,  whose  chief,  a  minor 
at  the  time,  was  placed  on  the  throne,  thereby  establishing 
the  Tsing  dynasty  (1644-1912).  After  the  subjugation  of 
the  Empire  was  completed,  Wu  San-kwei  was  rewarded  with 
the  satrapy  of  Yunnan  and  Kweichow,  to  be  held  in  feudal 
tenure ;  but,  exciting  the  jealousy  of  Kanghi  and  fear  lest 
he  should  set  up  an  independent  kingdom,  he  was  summoned 
to  Peking.  He  refused,  declaring  that  he  would  come  only 
fit  tlie  head  of  eighty  thousand  soldier? ;  this  was  treated 


SKEtCti  OP  CtiWESE  HiSTObV  I^ 

as  contumacy  and  rebellion,  an  expedition  was  sent  to  reduce 
him  to  obedience,  and  he  died  in  1678. 

The  reign  of  the  first  Emperor,  Shunchih  (1644-1661) 
was  spent  principally  in  conquering  the  provinces.  This 
task  was  still  uncompleted  at  his  death,  many  Ming  princes 
and  partisans  being  still  in  arms  in  the  south  and  west, 
and  the  final  conquest  and  pacification  were  completed  by 
his  successor,  the  great  Kanghi  (1662-1723).  The  con- 
quest may  be  considered  to  have  been  accomplished  in  1683, 
in  which  year  Formosa,  then  recently  colonised  by  settlers 
from  southern  Fukien,  was  first  brought  into  subjection 
to  the  Chinese  throne.  That  island  had  first,  within  the 
previous  hundred  years,  been  colonised  from  Amoy ;  it  was 
then  taken  and  held  from  1624  by  the  Dutch  ;  they  were 
dispossessed  in  1662  by  Koxinga,  of  the  name-clan  of  the 
imperial  family  of  the  Ming,  who  made  good  his  hold  on 
Amoy  and  Formosa ;  and  he  in  turn  by  the  Manchu  forces, 
under  the  Emperor's  own  leadership,  in  1683. 

The  Manchus  imitated  the  Mongols  in  leaving  the  civil 
administration  of  the  Empire  to  a  great  extent  in  the  hands 
of  the  Chinese.*    They  organised  the  whole  of  modem 
Manchuria  on  the  military  basis,  and  converted  Peking  into 
an  armed  camp,  with  the  Emperor's  tent  in  the  middle,  sur- 
rounded by  the  troops  of  the  Imperial  clan,  that  in  turn  sur- 
rounded by  the  main  body  of  the  Manchu  army,t  with  the 
Chinese  inhabitants  (the  settlers  of  the  army)  segregated  in 
a  separate  city,  dominated  by  the  walls  of  the  Manchu  city, 
as  shown  in  the  diagram.    (See  next  page.) 

They  further  established  military  colonies  in  twenty- 
five  cities  of  ChihU,  as  an  inner  line  of  defence,  and  selected 
a  dozen  important  strategic  points  %  in  the  other  provinces 
at  which  military  colonies  were  settled  to  serve  as  outposts 
in  holding  the  Empire  in  subjection.  Certain  lucrative  posts 
were  reserved  for  Manchus;  and  an  indefinite  number  of  posts 
in  the  ordinary  administration,  latterly  not  exceeding  a 
fifth  of  the  total,  were  held  by  Manchus ;  otherwise  the  civil 
•  Cf.  Chap.  II.  t  ^Wd.  t  ^^^^ 


14       tHE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CtilNA 

administration  was  in  the  hands  of  the  Chinese,  the  nomin- 
ally subject  race.  The  Court  and  the  Manchu  army  (con* 
ststing  of  all  adult  male  Manchus)  were  maintained  from  the 
grain  tribute,  the  land  tax,  the  salt  gabelle,  and  a  few  minor 
tributes,  the  grain  tribute  being  sent  in  kind  to  Peking  to  be 
issued  as  rations  to  the  army.  The  taxation  covered  by 
these  heads  was  light,  and  the  conquered  race  was  not  dis- 
contented with  its  subjection,  so  long  as  the  government 
was  strong,  official  corruption  was  kept  in  check,  and  justice 
and  protection  secured  to  the  subject. 


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Chinese  Citjr. 

The  reign  of  Kanghi  was  one  of  great  splendour.  The 
arts  flourished,  and  Kanghi  porcelain  was  equal  to  that  of 
the  best  Ming  period.  Order  was  maintained,  and  through- 
out the  Empire  the  farmer  and  trader  enjoyed  full  security 
in  their  occupations.  The  vassal  states  recognised  his  over- 
lordship  without  question.  Scholarship  was  encouraged  ; 
the  Emperor  himself  was  no  mean  scholar,  and  under  his 
patronage  were  pubhshed  the  great  Kanghi  dictionary,  and 
an  encyclopedia  of  universal  knowledge  in  6,026  fascicules. 
He  himself  composed  the  sixteen  maxims,  known  as  the 


^KEtCk  OF  CHINESE  Hl^tonV  ij 

Sacred  Edict,  which,  afterwards  expanded  and  annotated 
by  his  successor  Yungcheng,  have  since  that  time  been 
expounded  in  the  city  temple  of  every  city  in  the  Empire. 

He  was  succeeded  by  Yungcheng  (1723-1735),  whose  reign 
was  also  one  of  great  prosperity  and  good  administration. 

The  Roman  Cathohc  missionaries,  barely  tolerated  at 
first  by  the  Ming  emperors,  had  later  obtained  a  footing  at 
court.    Shunchih,  the  first  Manchu  Emperor,  was  much 
interested  in  their  accounts  of  their  rehgion  and  civiUsation  ; 
and  under  Kanghi  they  attained  to  positions  of  great  im* 
portance  in  the  Imperial  administration.    Though  jealous  of 
any  attempt  to  introduce  unaccustomed  practices,  he  was 
much  inclined  to  lend  a  wiUing  ear  to  what  they  had  to  say, 
until  he  was  suddenly  aroused  by  a  question  of  mere  ter- 
minology.   The  proper  rendering  into  Chinese  of  the  term 
"  God  "  formed  a  subject  of  dispute  between  the  Jesuits  and 
the  Dominicans ;    the  Emperor  interested  himself  in  the 
disputation,  and  gave  his  decision  in  favour  of  the  interpre- 
tation desired  by  the  Jesuits.    The  Dominicans,  however, 
appealed  to  the  Pope  ;   and,  as  the  Jesuits  were  then  in 
disfavour  at  the  Papal  court,  the  Emperor's  judgment  was 
reversed.    The  Emperor  was  dissatisfied  that  his  knowledge 
of  his  own  tongue  should  be  questioned  by  a  Western  bar- 
barian ;  and  he  and  his  Ministers  were  startled  on  discover- 
ing that  an  appeal  from  his  judgment  on  a  question  of 
Chinese  poUty  could  be  carried  to  the  tribunal  of  an  Italian 
priest.    He  therefore  withdrew  the  light  of  his  countenance 
from  the  missioBaries,and  an  exceptionally  favourable  chance 
of  converting  the  Empire  to  Cliristianity  was  lost.    His  suc- 
cessor Yungcheng  went  further  and,  in  1727,  issued  an  edict 
prohibiting  the  propagation  of  the  Christian  faith  and  con- 
fiscating the  property  of  the  missions.    This  prohibition  was 
withdrawn  in  1844. 

Calvinist  pastors  entered  Formosa  in  the  train  of  the 
Dutch,  and  shared  their  fate  in  being  driven  out  in  1662. 
A  number  of  them  were  then  beheaded  or  crucified  by  the 
officers  of  Koxinga. 


i6       THE  TRADS  AUb  ADMmiSTkAftON  OP  CHII4A 

Yungcheng  was  followed  by  Kienlung  (1736-1796). 
There  were  some  internal  disorders  during  his  reign,  but  on 
the  whole  the  administration  was  effective,  and  the  country 
prospered.  He  conquered  and  annexed  eastern  Turkestan, 
and  reduced  Burma,  which  had  rejected  his  suzerainty,  to 
subjection.  The  Gurkhas  having  invaded  Tibet,  he  dis- 
patched an  army  into  that  country  and  drove  them  back 
into  Nipal,  restoring  Tibet  to  obedience  to  the  Chinese  rule. 

During  the  reign  of  Kienlung  the  foreign  trade  of  Canton 
developed  and  assumed  great  proportions,*  the  nations  of 
the  West  sending  their  ships  and  traders  to  obtain  the  tea 
and  silk  of  the  Celestial  Empire.  It  was  during  this  period, 
in  1784,  that  the  Americans  entered  the  commercial  field, 
in  which  they  were  soon  to  occupy  a  place  second  only  to 
that  of  the  English ;  and  by  the  end  of  the  reign  all  the 
trading  nations  of  the  West  were  represented  in  the  factories 
at  Canton. 

Kienlung  abdicated  in  1796,  after  a  reign  of  sixty  years, 
in  order  that  he  might  not  exceed  the  limits  of  the  reign  of 
his  grandfather,  Kanghi.  With  the  accession  of  Kiaking 
set  in  the  degeneration  and  degradation  of  the  Empire.  The 
court  became  corrupt,  the  administration  ceased  to  be 
efhcient,  corruption  among  the  mandarinate  went  un- 
checked, justice  and  protection  were  no  longer  assured 
to  the  people,  the  secret  societies  awoke  from  their  dor- 
mant state,  and  dissatisfaction  manifested  itself  in  many 
parts  of  the  empire.  At  Canton  trade  flourished  and  the 
foreign  merchants  increased  in  nimibers ;  but  their  trade, 
grown  to  larger  proportions,  was  brought  under  more  com- 
plete control,  while  their  personal  freedom  was  restricted 
by  many  vexatious  regulations,  some  petty  and  anno3dng, 
others  making  of  the  trade  a  close  monopoly  in  the  hands 
of  the  officials  at  Canton. 

In  1796  Imperial  edicts  strengthened  the  old  prohibition 
(originally  proclaimed  in  1729)  against  the  smoking  of 
opium — up  to  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  smoked 
♦  Of.  Chatv  IX, 


Sketch  of  Chinese  history  ijr 

entirely  in  conjunction  with  tobacco  ;  and  in  1800  an  edict 
vras  issued  prohibiting  the  growing  of  the  poppy  in  China, 
and  the  importation  of  foreign  opium.  These  restrictions 
changed,  in  immaterial  wa5rs,  the  machinery  of  trade,  but 
they  were  not  enforced,  and  they  in  no  way  diminished  the 
use  of  the  drug. 

Taokwang  (1820-1850)  attempted  to  check  the  corrup- 
tion of  the  Court,  and  to  amend  the  evils  of  the  administra- 
tion ;  but  the  task  was  impossible.  He  succeeded  to  a 
rotten  administration ;  the  finances  were  disordered  by  a 
succession  of  minor  rebellions  in  one  after  another  of  the 
provinces  ;  he  obtained  but  weak  support  for  reform  among 
his  officials,  who  were  the  most  in  need  of  being  reformed  ; 
his  army  had  degenerated  ;  and  he  was  helpless  in  presence 
of  the  Augean  mass  of  corruption  which  it  was  his  task  to 
sweep  away. 

The  restrictions  on  the  trade  of  Canton  were  made  more 
strict  and  the  monopoly  more  close.    The  trade  of  the 
nations  of  Em-ope  was  under  the  control  each  of  an  East 
India  Company  of  its  own  nation,  and  this  system  provided 
some  small  degree  of  check  on  the  working  of  the  Chinese 
monopoly.    But,  by  the  year  1830,  fully  nine-tenths  of  the 
trade  was  in  the  hands  of  the  English  and  Americans.    Of 
these,  the  English  were  compelled  to  trade  through,  or  by  the 
licence  of,  their  East  India  Company — they  could  trade  with 
India  and  other  Asiatic  countries  under  licence,  but  the 
trade  with  their  home  country,  including  the  entire  trade  in 
the  main  staples  of  tea  and  silk,  was  absolutely  prohibited 
to  them.    The  Americans,  on  the  other  hand,  were  free  to 
trade  where  they  would ;   even  the  trade  between  China 
and  Europe,  denied  to  the  English,  was  open  to  them.    An 
agitation  for  freedom  of  trade  started  in  England,  and  in 
1833  the  monopoly  granted  to  the  English  East  India  Com- 
pany was  abolished. 

This  brought  China  face  to  face  with  the  English  Govern- 
ment, without  the  intermediary  of  an  incorporated  com- 
pany ;  and  in  1834  Lord  Napier  was  sent  to  Canton  to  settle 


I&    tME  Trade  aMd  ADMtNtsfRATtoN  oP  cmuA 

the  many  subjects  of  friction  and  dispute  between  the  two 
coimtries.  He  was  not  allowed  to  get  so  far  as  to  open 
negotiations  ;  he  was  met  at  the  outset  by  a  refusal  to  treat 
him  as  an  envoy  of  a  friendly  Power,  enjoying  a  position  of 
equahty  with  China  ;  he  was  refused  an  interview  with  the 
Viceroy,  who  required  him  to  formulate  his  demands  through 
the  committee  of  Chinese  merchants  through  whom  the 
trade  monopoly  was  worked  ;  his  letters  were  not  received, 
and  he  was  required  to  present  his  written  communications 
in  the  form  of  a  humble  petition  ;  and  coercion  was  ap- 
plied to  the  English  merchants  and  their  trade  to  force  him 
to  leave  Canton.  For  public  reasons  he  compUed  with  this 
last  order,  and  returned  to  Macao,  where  he  died,  from  fever 
and  vexation  of  spirit,  just  three  months  after  his  first 
arrival  in  Chinese  waters. 

During  this  same  year  died  Robert  Morrison,  who  had 
arrived  in  Canton  in  1807,  ^^^  ^rs^  Protestant  missionary  to 
be  sent  from  England.  He  was  not  allowed  to  preach  the 
Gospel ;  but,  under  the  protection  of  a  nominal  post  under 
the  English  East  India  Company,  he  studied  the  Chinese 
language,  and  gave  to  the  world  a  translation  of  the  Bible 
and  a  dictionary  which  has  been  the  basis  of  most  of  the 
lexicons  compiled  since  by  others.  The  next  to  follow  him 
was  Elijah  Colman  Bridgeman,  sent  from  America,  arriving 
in  Canton  in  1829.  He  founded  the  Chinese  Recorder,  a 
monthly  magazine  published  at  Canton  from  1831  to  1851  ; 
and  originated  in  1857  ^^^  Shanghai  Asiatic  Society,  being 
its  first  president.  Other  Protestant  missionaries  followed, 
and  in  1845  they  numbered  sixty,  of  whom  (with  one  Ger- 
man) two-thirds  were  American  and  one-third  British.  In 
1907,  the  centennial  anniversary  of  Robert  Morrison's  arrival, 
the  Protestant  missionaries,  including  all  independent 
workers,  men  and  women,  but  excluding  wives  and  children, 
exceeded  four  thousand  in  number,  of  whom  about  a  half 
were  American,  four-tenths  British,  and  one-tenth  of  other 
nationahties. 

The  Emperor  Taokwang  took  the  opium  question  much 


SKEfCti  OF  CHINESE  HISTORV  1^ 

to  heart.    The  restriction  on  its  import  had  in  no  way 
diminished  the  quantity ;   the  ships  under  all  the  foreign 
flags  (excepting  only  the  ships  of  the  English  East  India 
Company)  continued  to  bring  it,  but,  instead  of  coming 
into  port,  they  remained  outside  port  limits  and  dehvered 
it  there  to  Chinese  buyers ;  and  the  officials  continued  to 
levy  their  tax  on  it,  but  it  was  for  their  own  profit  and  not  for 
the  public  fisc.    In  1836,  in  order  to  combat  the  evils  of  a 
clandestine  trade,  the  question  was  seriously  debated  at 
Peking  whether  it  was  not  better  to  legaUse  the  trade,  but 
it    was   decided  in   the  negative.    In   this  decision  the 
Emperor  had  against  him  practically  all  the  tax-collecting 
mandarins,  but  in  Lin  Tse-sii  he  found  a  man  after  his  own 
heart,  prepared  to  over-ride  all  obstacles  and  so  extirpate  the 
curse.    He  was  appointed  High  Commissioner  for  this  pur- 
pose in  1839 ;   and,  on  his  arrival  at  Canton,  put  an  em- 
bargo on  the  foreign  trade,  and  placed  the  English  Super- 
intendent and  the  foreign  merchants  of  all  nationaUties  in 
close  confinement  in  their  houses,  deprived  of  food,  fuel, 
water,  and  servants,  and  demanded  that  the  opium  then  in 
the  "  outside  waters  "  be  brought  in  and  surrendered  to  him. 
With  the  foreign  residents  held  as  hostages  for  the  execution 
of  this  command,  the  English  Superintendent,  to  secure  their 
release,  ordered  all  opium  then  in  Chinese  waters  to  be  sur- 
rendered to  him  on  behalf  of  the  British  Government,  and 
he  in  turn  surrendered  it,  to  the  amount  of  20,291  chests, 
to  the  Chinese  authorities,  who  destroyed  it  to  the  last  ounce. 
Commissioner  Lin  then  demanded  that  each  foreign  resident 
should  sign  a  bond  undertaking,  for  himself,  his  Government, 
and  all  foreign  merchants,  that  there  should  be  no  more 
trade  in  opium.    They  were  wiUing,  in  their  state  of  duress, 
to  sign  for  themselves  individually ;   and,  when  the  High 
Commissioner  foimd  he  could  obtain  no  more,  he  released  the 
imprisoned  foreigners  and  allowed  them  to  take  refuge  on 
board  their  ships  at  Hongkong.    In  the  war  which  followed 
the  Chinese  were  uniformly  beaten  ;  Canton,  Amoy,  Ningpo, 
Chapu,. Shanghai,  and  Chinkiang  were  taken  by  the  British 


4o       TtiB  TRADE  AND  ADMHilSTRATlON  Op  CtitliA 

plenipotentiary,  Sir  Henry  Pottinger,  with  Admiral  Sir 
William  Parker  in  command  of  the  fleet ;  and  on  August  2gth, 
1842,  was  signed  the  treaty  of  Nanking,  by  which  the  Chinese 
conceded  all  that  was  demanded. 

To  the  Chinese  opium  appeared  to  have  been  the  sole 
cause  of  the  war,  and  they  honestly  could  not  understand 
that  any  other  cause  existed.  To  their  expressed  surprise  * 
the  opium  question  was  not  included  in  the  English  demands 
formulated  at  Nanking,  and  they  were  informed  that  they 
could  regulate  the  trade  according  to  their  own  laws,  on 
condition  that,  in  doing  so,  they  did  not  injuriously  affect 
the  persons  or  the  other  property  of  foreign  merchants.  The 
treaty  settled  the  equal  status  of  nations,  and  guaranteed 
security  to  the  persons  of  their  representatives  and  mer- 
chants ;  abolished  the  monopoly  of  trade,  and  permitted 
foreign  representatives  to  communicate  direct  with  the 
Chinese  officials ;  designated  five  ports  (Canton,  Amoy, 
Foochow,  Ningpo,  and  Shanghai)  at  which  foreign  merchants 
might  erect  residences  and  warehouses  and  conduct  their 
trade  ;  provided  for  a  uniform  and  published  tariff  of  cus- 
toms duties,  in  lieu  of  the  previous  exactions,  unknown  in 
amount  and  uncertain  in  their  incidence ;  and  exacted  an 
indemnity  of  six  million  dollars  for  the  expenses  of  the 
expedition  and  as  compensation  for  the  opium  surrendered 
to  obtain  the  release  of  the  persons  illegally  detained.  The 
provisions  of  this  treaty,  imposed  at  the  cannon's  mouth, 
indicate  clearly  enough  what  were  the  motives  which  led  the 
British  Government  to  take  up  arms. 

The  concessions  obtained  under  this  treaty  for  the 
British  were  expressly  extended  to  all  other  nations.  In 
1844  the  United  States  of  America  negotiated  a  similar 
treaty,  by  which  the  principle  of  extraterritoriality  t  was 
more  clearly  defined ;  and  in  the  same  year  France  also 
made  a  similar  treaty.    Under  the  new  treaties  the  foreign 

•  "  Is  this  all  ?  "   as  the  principal  Chinese  negotiator,  Kiying, 
said  to  Sir  H.  Pottinger. 
t  Cf.  Chap.  VII. 


SKETCH  OF  CHINESE  HISTORY  21 

trade  developed  ;  but  their  spirit  was  not  fully  accepted  by 
the  Chinese  and,  in  the  succeeding  years,  there  were  much 
hostility  and  friction.  The  Canton  Viceroy,  Yeh  Ming-chin, 
in  particular  showed  himself  hostile  on  all  occasions,  never 
once  consenting  to  grant  an  audience  to  the  foreign  Envoys, 
British,  American,  or  French,  who  requested  one ;  and  finally 
in  1856  he  provided  a  fresh  casus  beUi  by  illegally  seizing 
some  reputed  pirates  on  a  ship,  the  lorcha  Arrow,  flying  the 
British  flag,  for  which  he  refused  reparation,  or  even  ex- 
planation. 

In  the  meantime  Hienfeng   (1851-1861)  had  come   to 
the  throne,  succeeding  to  an  Empire  rent  by  rebellion  and 
rotten  with  corruption.    The  greatest  of  the  rebellions  was 
that   of   the   Taiping.    This  originated  in  north-eastern 
Kwangsi,  and  soon  found  a  leader  in  Hung  Siu-tsuen.    He 
had  been  instructed  by  an  American  Baptist  missionary  in 
the  tenets  of  the  Christian  faith ;   and,  though  his  beliefs 
were  soon  dominated  by  the  practices  of  an  Oriental  despot, 
at  the  outset  he  formed  a  band  of  devoted  adherents,  rigid 
in  their  observances,  unconquerable  in  battle,  and  com- 
parable only  to  Cromwell's  Ironsides.    Breaking  out  from 
Kwangsi  in  the  spring  of  1852,  he  advanced  north  through 
Hunan,  conquering  as  he  went,  but  was  unable  to  take 
Chaogsha.    Yochow  and  Hanyang  fell  to  his  troops  in 
December  1852,  and  Wuchang  in  January  1853.    Thence 
he  pursued  his  conquering  advance  down  the  Yangtze, 
gathering  adherents  as  he  went,  and  devastating  and  plunder- 
ing the  country ;    and,  on  March  19,  captured  Nanking, 
which  he  made  the  capital  of  the  new  Taiping  empire.    For 
the  time  his  troops  advanced  no  further  to  the  east ;   but 
an  army  was  sent  north  to  attack  Peking.    It  defeated 
every  army  sent  to  oppose  it,  and  established  a  fortified 
camp  within  twelve  miles  of  Tientsin ;  but  it  was  a  spent 
force,  and  in  1854  its  remnants  were  driven  back  to  the  south. 
Other  associated  risings  were  also  successful,  and  in  1854 
the  Imperial  Government  was  undisputed  master  of  scarcely 
a  pipvince  in  the  Empire. 


22       THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

This  was  the  time  selected  by  the  Canton  Viceroy  to 
irritate  the  three  Western  Powers,  who  were  then  united  in 
making  joint  representations  to  the  Chinese  Government, 
and  in  demanding  a  revision  of  the  treaties  and  better  pro- 
tection to  foreign  lives  and  property.  The  American  repre- 
sentative could  take  no  positive  action^  since  his  instructions 
forbade  him  to  proceed  to  the  use  of  force,  the  declaration 
of  war  lying  with  Congress  and  not  with  the  President ; 
but  France  was  provided  with  a  casus  belli  by  the  murder  of 
the  missionary  Chapdelaine,  the  rightfulness  of  which  was 
upheld  by  Viceroy  Yeh,  who  refused  any  reparation,  and, 
when  it  came  to  the  clash  of  arms,  France  stood  by  the  side 
of  England.  Canton  was  taken  by  the  allies  at  the  end  of 
1857,  just  twelve  months  after  the  Viceroy  had  burned  the 
foreign  factories  there.  The  forces  then  proceeded  to  the 
Peiho,  at  the  mouth  of  which  stood  the  Taku  forts,  which 
were  taken  almost  without  a  blow ;  and  they  advanced  at . 
once  on  Tientsin,  with  the  American  and  Russian  Envoys 
in  close  attendance.  There  was  no  long  hesitation,  and  the 
negotiations  were  not  protracted.  With  the  Empire  torn 
asimder  by  rebellion,  the  prestigeof  the  Imperial  Government 
was  shattered  by  the  armed  force  of  the  English  and  French, 
and  the  conditions  imposed  were  accepted.  In  June  1858 
the  Treatiesof  Tientsin  were  signed,  the  first  by  Hon.  Wm.  B. 
Reed  on  behalf  of  the  United  States,  the  second  by  Count 
Putiatin  for  Russia,  then  by  the  Earl  of  Elgin  for  England, 
and  the  last  by  Baron  Gros  for  France. 

One  article  of  the  British  treaty  provided  for  the  con- 
tinued residence  of  the  British  Envoy  (and  therefore  of  all 
foreign  Envoys)  at  Peking ;  but,  on  the  earnest  solicitation 
of  the  Chinese  negotiators.  Lord  Elgin  consented  to  defer  the 
execution  of  this  condition,  substituting  for  it  a  stipulation 
that  the  ratifications  of  the  treaty  should  be  exchanged  at 
Peking.  When,  in  June  1859,  the  Envoj^  of  the  four  Powers 
came  to  exchange  the  ratifications,  they  were  refused  a 
passage  past  the  Taku  forts.  The  French  forces  were 
engaged  in  operations  against  Annam,  and  the  only  fleet 


SKETCH  OF  CHINESE  HISTORY  23 

present  was  the  British.  An  attempt  by  these  to  force  the 
passage  was  repulsed  with  heavy  loss.  It  was  on  this 
occasion  that  the  American  Commodore  Tatnall  declared 
that  •*  blood  is  thicker  than  water,"  when  he  sent  boats  to 
tow  the  wounded  English  marines  out  of  the  line  of  fire, 
and  went  himself,  amid  the  dropping  shot,  to  inquire  for  the 
welfare  of  the  EngUsh  admiral,  who  had  been  wounded. 

The  English  and  French  proceeded  to  carry  their  imder- 
taking  to  its  end,  and  sent  a  joint  expedition,  again  with 
Lord  Elgin  and  Baron  Gros  as  plenipotentiaries.  The 
allied  force  took  the  Taku  forts,  after  some  resistance,  on 
August  2ist,  i860,  occupied  Tientsin,  and  took  Peking. 
At  Tungchow  a  party  of  English  and  French  were  captured 
by  the  Chinese,  while  engaged  in  peace  negotiations ;  some 
were  murdered  and  all  were  tortured,  and  as  punishment 
for  the  act  of  treachery,  the  Emperor's  summer  palace  at 
Yuenmingjnien  was  destroyed  by  fire.  By  the  Convention 
of  Peking,  which  was  then  signed,  the  indemnities  were 
increased  and  it  was  provided  that  the  foreign  Envoys  should 
reside  in  Peking. 

The  treaties  of  1858  and  i860  made  a  definite  settlement 
of  the  relations  between  China  and  Western  nations ;  up  to 
1842  it  was  China  which  dictated  absolutely  the  conditions 
of  trade,  but  since  1858  they  have  been  dictated  by  the  West. 
The  opium  question  was  then  settled  by  the  legalisation  of 
the  traffic.  The  smuggling  had  reached  scandalous  pro- 
portions, demoralising  the  officials  whose  duty  it  was  to 
enforce  the  law  and  the  merchants  to  whom  it  was  a  for- 
bidden trade.  The  American  Envoy  was  appalled  by  the 
demoralisation,  and  suggested  legalisation  as  the  lesser  of 
two  evils.  Lord  Elgin,  who  was  in  a  position  to  dictate 
terms,  was  reluctant  to  take  the  initiative ;  but  the  Chinese 
negotiators  were  ready  to  relieve  the  financial  difficulties 
of  the  Empire  by  securing  for  the  Treasmy  the  revenue  which 
prohibition  only  diverted  into  private  pockets;  and  the 
trade  was  legalised  by  mcluding  opitmi  in  the  tariff  which 
was  appended  to  the  treaty. 


24       THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

Meantime  the  Taiping  rebellion  maintained  its  ground. 
For  some  years  the  Heavenly  King  remained  quiet,  with  his 
capital,  Nanking,  as  the  eastern  outpost  of  his  Empire ;  but 
the  devastation  and  depopulation  of  the  country  dominated 
by  his  anarchical  rule  chove  him  to  seek  new  bases  of  supply, 
and,  in  i860,  the  Taiping  forces  broke  into  the  rich  and 
hitherto  imdevastated  country  between  Nanking  and  the 
sea.    They  captured  Soochow  and  Hangchow,  and  the  in- 
tervening country,  but  evacuated  Hangchow,  leaving  the 
corpses  of  70,000  of  its  inhabitants  massacred  within  its 
walls.    They  then  marched  against  Shanghai ;    but  the 
foreign  Envoys  had  decided  to  protect,  against  Imperialists 
and  rebels  alike,  the  neutrality  of  that  centre  of  foreign 
trade ;   and,  on  August  i8th,  while  the  allied  troops  were 
advancing  to  take  the  Taku  forts  from  the  Imperial  forces, 
the  allied  troops  were  engaged  in  defending  Shanghai  from 
the  Taiping  assault.    Shanghai  was,  however,  an  oasis  in  a 
desert  of  Taiping  devastation,  and  the  only  successes  ob- 
tained against  their  armies  were  gained  by  a  force  organised 
and  led  by  the  American,  Frederick  T.  Ward.    To  this  force 
was  given  by  Imperial  decree  the  title  of  *'  The  Ever-Vic- 
torious Army."    Ward  was  killed  in  action  in  1862,  and 
after  the  American  Burgevine  and  the  English  Holland  had 
tried  to  wield  the  baton  of  leadership,  the  British  authorities 
lent  the  services  of  Captain  Charles  E.  Gordon — "  Chinese 
Gordon."    He  continued  the  ever-victorious  career  initiated 
by  Ward,  and  recaptured  city  after  city,  until  finally  Soo- 
chow was  retaken.    Gordon  then  resigned  his  conunand, 
refusing  all  reward,  except  the  Imperial  insignia  of  the 
Yellow  Jacket  and  an  honorarium  of  jf3,ooo.    The  back  of 
the  rebellion  was  broken,  and  in  the  spring  of  1864,  after  an 
investment,  not  always  very  close^  of  eleven  years,  Nanking 
was  taken  by  the  Imperial  forces,  the  Heavenly  King  com- 
mitting suicide. 

Then  followed  twenty  years  of  recovery,  with  no  im- 
portant events,  but  with  a  great  development  of  trade.  The 
tv^pt  post  worthy  of  special  note  was  the  mission  to  foreign 


SKETCH  OF  CHINESE  HISTORY  25 

Powers,  at  the  head  of  which  was  Mr.  Anson  W.  Burlingame, 
with  two  Chinese  associates.  He  had  been  Envoy  of  the 
United  States  during  the  period  of  reconstruction,  and  on 
his  resignation  in  1867  he  undertook  to  establish  the  rela« 
tions  between  China  and  the  West  on  a  new  basis.  China 
was  not  yet,  however,  suj£ciently  advanced  to  enter  on 
equal  terms  into  the  comity  of  nations,  and  this  was  manifest 
to  the  sober  sense  of  the  Western  Governments. 

In  1870  occurred  the  massacre  of  Tientsin.  For  some 
time  before  anti-foreign  and  anti-Christian  literature  had 
been  freely  circulated,  and  the  feelings  thereby  excited  were 
stirred  to  frenzy  by  reports  that  the  sisters  of  the  (French) 
Roman  Catholic  orphanage  were  in  the  habit  of  kidnapping 
children,  and  using  their  hearts  and  eyes  to  compound  the 
marvellously  effective  Western  medicines.  A  riot  ensued  in 
which  the  orphanage  and  cathedral  were  burned  and  all  of 
French  nationaUty  who  could  be  found  were  murdered  with 
horrible  mutilations.  France  was  then  engaged  in  war  with 
Germany,  and  the  settlement  demanded  gave  reparation  for 
the  murders,  but  not  for  the  anti-national  animus  mani- 
fested. 

In  1873  the  Emperor  Tungchih  (1863-1874)  attained 
his  l^al  majority,  and  on  June  29th  the  first  Imperial  audi- 
ence was  granted  to  the  foreign  Envo}^.  This  was  a  not- 
able concession,  but  after  all  only  a  half -concession,  as  the 
audience  took  place  in  the  PaviUon  of  Purple  Light,  a  hall 
ordinarily  used  for  receiving  the  Envoys  of  tributary  nations. 

In  1876  Mr.  A.  R.  Margary,  of  the  British  consular  ser- 
vice, was  murdered  in  Yunnan.  By  the  Chefoo  Agreement, 
signed  on  September  13th,  reparation  for  the  murder  was 
given,  a  better  method  of  regulating  the  opium  traffic  was 
agreed  to,  and  the  jurisdiction  in  piixed  cases  was  placed  on 
a  better  footing. 

In  1883  France  undertook  the  conquest  of  Tonkin,  and 
in  so  doing  came  into  conflict  with  the  suzerain  Power.  In 
1884  the  Chinese  fleet  in  the  port  of  Foochow  was  destroyed 
by  the  French  fleet,  which  had  entered  the  anchorage  before 


26       THE   TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

the  outbreak  of  hostilities.  Formosa  was  then  attacked, 
but  was  successfully  defended  by  the  Chinese.  An  incon- 
clusive war  was  closed  by  a  treaty,  signed  June  9th,  1885, 
by  which  the  French  claim  to  TorJkin  was  recognised,  while 
France  abandoned  all  other  demands  on  China. 

Korea  had  been  a  vassal  state  under  the  suzerainty  of 
the  Chinese  Emperor  since  the  year  667 ;  but  the  subjection 
was  little  more  than  nominal,  being  made  manifest  chiefly 
by  the  formal  approval  and  investiture  of  each  new  Korean 
King,  and  the  annual  sending  of  tribute.  The  suzerain 
Power  generally  maintained  the  land  frontier,  but  gave  no 
protection  against  the  incursions  of  the  Japanese,  the 
most  notable  of  which  was  that  under  Hideyoshi  in  1592  ; 
and  in  that  year  a  Japanese  settlement  was  founded  at 
Fusan.  In  1876  an  unprovoked  attack  on  Japanese  gun- 
boats led  Japan  to  send  an  expedition  against  Korea,  and  as 
a  result  three  Korean  ports  were  opened  to  Japanese  trade 
under  conditions  of  extraterritoriality.  As  a  measure  of 
protection  against  this,  China  required  Korea  to  open  these 
ports  on  the  same  terms  to  the  trade  of  all  nations.  Much 
disorder  followed,  and  on  one  occasion,  in  1882,  the  Japanese 
Legation  was  attacked  and  burned  to  the  ground.  Japan 
sent  troops  to  Chemulpo  to  demand  reparation,  whereupon 
China  despatched  a  force  to  Seoul  to  maintain  order.  A 
clash  seemed  imminent,  but  the  matter  was  settled  by  a 
tnodus  Vivendi  established  by  Li  Hung-chang  and  Count  Ito. 
On  the  ground  that  disturbances  existed  along  the  frontier 
of  her  Siberian  possessions,  Russia  moved  her  troops  in  the 
direction  of  Korea ;  as  a  counter-movement  the  British  fleet 
occupied  Port  Hamilton,  an  island  south  of  the  southern 
point  of  Korea,  but  it  was  abandoned  in  1887. 

In  1894  China  sent  troops  to  Korea  to  suppress  disorder 
which  had  broken  out,  and  Japan  answered  by  sending  a 
force  to  maintain  the  independence  of  Korea.  Both  nations 
were  fully  equipped ;  but  Japan  had  fully  imbibed  the 
spirit  of  Western  military  methods,  while  China  had  acquired 
only  the  material.    The  Japanese  forces    on    land    were 


SKETCH  OF  CHINESE  HISTORY  2/ 

uniformly  victorious,  and  drove  the  Chinese  out  of  Korea, 
across  the  Yalu  and  through  eastern  Manchuria,  with 
scarcely  a  check.  In  the  naval  battle  off  the  mouth  of  the 
Yalu  the  Japanese  gained  a  great  victory,  owing  to  the 
inferior  quality  of  the  Chinese  anmiunition.  The  Japanese 
forces  then  assaulted  and  captured  the  stronghold  of  Port 
Arthur ;  and  at  Weihaiwei  they  captured  the  forts  and  many 
of  the  ships  remaining  to  China,  after  a  gallant  defence 
by  Admiral  Ting  Ju-chang.  The  war  was  closed  by  the 
Treaty  of  Shimonoseki,  signed  April  17th,  1895,  by  which 
it  was  recognised  that  Japan  occupied  a  status  on  an  equality 
wth  any  Western  power ;  the  independence  of  Korea  was 
admitted;  the  Liaotung  peninsula,  Formosa,  and  the 
Pescadores  were  ceded ;  an  indemnity  of  two  hundred 
milhon  taels  was  exacted ;  and  further  Chinese  ports,  all 
inland,  were  to  be  opened  to  foreign  trade.  Ultimately,  on 
the  joint  demand  of  Russia,  France,  and  Germany,  the 
cession  of  the  Liaotung  peninsula  was  waived,  in  exchange 
for  an  additional  indemnity  of  thirty  million  taels. 

China  seemed  to  have  reached  her  lowest  depths,  and 
the  European  Powers  began  to  provide  against  the  im- 
pending break-up  of  the  Empire.  In  1897,  as  compensa- 
tion for  the  murder  of  two  German  missionaries  in  Shantung, 
Germany  demanded  and  obtained  a  "  lease  "  of  Kiaochow. 
Then  in  1898,  in  rapid  succession,  '*in  order  to  restore  the 
balance  of  power  in  the  Ear  East,"  Russia  obtained  a  lease 
of  Port  Arthur,  England  of  Weihaiwei,  and  France  of 
Kwangchowwan.  In  IOT9  Italy  demanded  the  lease,  on 
the  same  footing,  of  Sanmen  Bay  in  Chekiang.  This  was 
too  much :  Italian  interests  in  China  were  of  the  smallest, 
and  Italy  had  never  displayed  her  strength  in  Chinese 
waters ;  and  China,  weak  and  disorganised  as  she  was, 
peremptorily  refused  the  demand.  No  evil  consequences 
followed  on  this  refusal,  and  the  patriotic  party  was  much 
elated. 

China  had  sliunbered  for  half  a  century,  but  the  awaken- 
ing seemed  at  last  to  have  come.    The    Yoxmg    China 


28       THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

party  believed  that  only  by  radical  reforms  could  the 
Empire  be  saved;  and  one  of  the  most  ardent  of  their 
number,  Kang  Yu-wei,  gained  the  ear  of  the  Emperor. 
He  was  carried  away,  and  issued  edict  after  edict,  intended 
to  transform  in  a  few  months  the  institutions  based  on 
thousands  of  years  of  settled  government,  and  to  correct 
the  abuses  engendered  by  a  century  of  corrupt  administra- 
tion. The  tried  Ministers  of  State  took  alarm,  the  Empress 
Dowager  emerged  from  her  retirement  and  soon  restored 
the  Emperor  to  his  natural  obedience,  and  the  wave  of 
impulsive  reform  was  checked.  But  the  feeling  of  dis- 
content among  the  people  was  too  strong  to  be  suppressed, 
and  in  1900  it  manifested  itself  in  the  vague  and  aimless 
national  and  anti-foreign  rising  known  as  the  Boxer  * 
Outbreak. 

The  Boxer  movement  came  as  a  bolt  from  the  blue, 
with  no  warning,  and  soon  the  foreign  communities  at 
Peking  and  Tientsin,  including  the  foreign  Envoys  at 
Peking,  were  beleaguered  by  many  thousands  of  armed 
fanatics,  determined  on  their  extermination  and  the  up- 
rooting of  all  foreign  influence.  The  whole  world  stood 
aghast.  No  such  crime  against  the  comity  of  nations  had 
been  committed  within  historical  times,  and  thousands 
of  troops  were  sent  by  the  principal  Western  Powers  to 
the  succour  of  their  besieged  countrymen  and  their  im- 
perilled Envo)^.  The  defence  of  the  beleaguered  com- 
munities was  gallantly  maintained,  under  conditions  which 
recall  the  siege  of  Lucknow  in  1856  ;  but  they  were  in  daily 
peril  for  nearly  three  months.  One  attempt  to  relieve 
them  was  made  by  an  international  contingent  of  2,000 
sailors  of  all  nations  under  the  British  Admiral  Seymour ; 
but,  while  they  were  on  the  march,  the  Taku  forts  were 
attacked  and  taken  on  June  i6th,  by  the  foreign  fleets, 

•  The  movement  was  conducted  by  a  secret  society  named  the 
"  Yi-ho  "  society,  which,  by  its  sound,  might  be  interpreted  either 
the  "  Society  of  Justice  and  Union  "  or  the  "  Society'  for  Pugilistic 
E^cercises,"    Cf,  Genwji  Turaverein  of  1813. 


SKEtCM  OP  CHII^ESE  HISfORV  ig 

and  the  relieving  force  then  found  itself  confronted  by  the 
Imperial  troops,  who  had  at  once  made  common  cause  with 
the  raw  Boxer  levies,  and  it  found  its  way  back  to  Tientsin 
in  great  peril  and  difi&culty.  Finally  the  troops  of  the 
principal  Powers — American,  British,  French,  German, 
Japanese,  and  Russian — ^gathered  in  their  thousands,  and  after 
taking  the  city  of  Tientsin  and  driving  the  Chinese  from  its 
defences,  they  advanced  on  Peking,  which  they  entered  on 
August  14th.  The  armed  bands  besieging  the  Legations 
dispersed,  and  the  Court  and  Government,  guilty  at  least  of 
constructive  comphcity,  fled,  making  their  way  to  the  old 
historical  capital  of  Sianfu.  Peking  was  then  most  effectively 
looted ;  and  punitive  expeditions  in  the  vicinity  soon 
reduced  the  inhabitants  to  a  condition  of  bewildered  sub- 
mission, all  troops  having  safely  escaped  to  a  distance. 
The  punitive  expeditions  were  renewed  on  the  arrival  of 
Graf  von  Waldersee,  who  had  been  designated  as  senior 
conunander,  but  who  arrived  after  the  peasantry  had  been 
cowed  to  submission. 

While  the  Court  and  the  Ministers  at  Peking  had  general- 
ly elected  to  ride  on  the  wave  of  Boxer  enthusiasm  rather 
than  be  submerged  beneath  it,  the  great  Vicero3rs — Li 
Hung-chang  at  Canton,  Liu  Kun-yi  at  Nanking,  and  Chang 
Chih-tung  at  Wuchang — saw  the  criminal  folly  of  the  out- 
break and  did  what  they  could  to  preserve  the  Empire  from 
its  consequences.  Chang  Chih-tung  went  so  far  as  to 
modify  telegraphic  instructions  sent  in  the  Emperor's  name 
to  "exterminate  all  foreigners,"  and  to  convert  it  into 
"  protect  all  foreigners  " ;  the  two  Yangtze  Viceroys  entered 
into  a  fnadus  vivendi  by  which  foreigners  were  guaranteed 
against  disturbances  in  their  jurisdiction,  provided  that 
foreign  operations  were  confined  to  the  north ;  and  the 
aged  Li  Hung-chang,  for  thirty  years  the  principal  authority 
in  the  administration  of  the  Empire,  hastened  from  Canton 
to  Peking  to  assume  the  r61e  of  negotiator  in  the  final  settle- 
ment. 

During  the  outbreak  the  lives  of  all  foreigners  in  the 


^0       ftt£  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  dhlUA 

north  were  in  imminent  peril.  Baron  von  Kettler,  the 
German  Envoy,  was  murdered  on  June  20th,  while  on  his 
way  to  the  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs ;  many  of  the  foreigners 
at  Peking  and  Tientsin  were  killed  and  wounded  during  the 
sieges,  and  many  more  emerged  with  health  shattered  by 
enteric  and  other  consequences  of  privation  and  exposure. 
Of  the  missionaries  in  Shansi,  Shantung,  and  Chihli  some 
hundreds  were  killed  with  barbarous  cruelty,  the  Governor 
of  Shansi,  Yiisien,  being  present  at  some  of  the  massacres  ; 
and  the  "  secondary  devils,"  the  Chinese  converts,  were  a 
special  object  of  hostiUty. 

The  settlement  provided  for  reparation  for  the  murder 
of  the  German  Envoy;  the  execution  of  the  principal 
leaders  and  the  officials  actively  responsible  for  the  murder 
of  foreigners ;  the  demolition  of  the  Taku  forts ;  the 
establishment  of  permanent  foreign  garrisons  in  the 
Legations  and  on  the  route  from  Peking  to  the  sea ;  the 
clearing  of  a  Legation  quarter  in  Peking ;  and  an  inter- 
national indemnity  of  3^67,500,000  (amounting  with  interest 
to  a  total  of  3£i47,335,722)  pa3^ble  in  thirty-nine  years  from 
1902  to  1940. 

The  Boxer  movement  was  crushed,  but  the  nationalist 
spirit  which  created  it  lived  in  the  hearts  of  the  people. 
Even  the  Court  was  influenced  by  the  force  of  a  pubUc 
opinion  which  had  not  before  existed  in  China,  and  mth 
no  long  delay  took  up  some  of  the  reforms  which  it  had 
resisted  in  1898 ;  the  Conservative  party,  which  had  then 
supported  it  in  reaction,  was  now  forced  to  give  its  support 
to  reform.  In  1903  a  Ministry  of  Education  was  created, 
the  examinations  were  remodelled,  and  primary  education 
throughout  the  Empire  was  placed  on  a  new  basis.  Though 
the  principal  initial  result  was  the  creation  of  many  thou- 
sands of  schools  without  financial  support,  and  the  enrol- 
ment of  millions  of  pupils  without  qualified  teachers,  still 
the  reform  was  in  the  right  direction  and  was  of  good 
augury  for  future  progress.  Modem  subjects  were  sub- 
stituted for  the  Chinese  classics  which  had  been  the  sole 


SkETck  OP  cmi^tsB  HtStonV  31 

foundation  of  Chinese  education.  This  dethronement  of 
the  classics  was  met,  as  a  protest  against  the  exclusion  of 
China's  old  civilisation  from  the  education  of  her  youth, 
by  the  canonisation  of  Confucius,  as  no  longer  a  mere 
teacher  of  ethical  philosophy,  but  a  saint  in  heaven ;  but 
even  this  could  not  sweep  back  the  wave  of  progress. 

In  1906  the  ministries  at  Peking  were  reconstructed  on 
a  modem  basis ;  but  there  was  no  evidence  of  any  reform 
in    the    actual   administration  of  the  country,  and,  with 
steadily  increasing  taxes,  discontent  grew  and  the  nation 
simmered  with  rebellion.    The  nationalist  spirit,  which  in 
1900  had  as  its  motto  "  Safeguard  the  d5masty,  extermin- 
ate the  foreigner,"  rapidly  became  ^nti-dynastic  ;   but  the 
risings  which  occurred  were  soon  suppressed  by  the  forces 
of  the  Government  with  modem  weapons  at  their  disposal. 
The  youthful  Emperor  Kwanghsii  died  in  November  1908  in 
his  thirty-seventh  year,  and  was  followed  in  a  few  days  by 
his  adoptive  grandmother  the  Empress  Dowager  Tsesi,  who 
had  guided  the  ship  of  state  through  many  storms  during 
forty-four  years  of  a  troublous  period.    On  October  loth, 
1911,  occurred  an  anti-dynastic  outbreak  at  Hankow,  the 
leaders  in  which  soon  gained  possession  of  the  tripartite 
city  Wuchang — Hankow — Hanyang.    The  movement  spread 
rapidly,  and  independent  risings,  for  the  most  part  bloodless, 
carried  from  the  Imperial  control  all  of  China  south  of  the 
Yellow   River.    It  was  one  vast  general  strike,   and  it 
succeeded  as  strikes  succeed  in  China  ;    and  after  a  vain 
attempt  by  Yuan  Shih-kai  to  preserve  the  dynasty  as  a 
constitutional   monarchy,  the  new  Emperor,  Hsuan-tung, 
of  the  mature  age  of  eight,  abdicated  the  throne.    The 
Republic  of  China  was  then  proclaimed,  with  Sun  Yat-sen 
(Cantonese    for    Shen    Yi-sien)    as    provisional  President. 
With  self-denying  patriotism   he   soon  resigned,  and  the 
leading  Chinese  statesman  of  the  day.  Yuan  Shih-kai,  was 
then  elected  provisional  President  of  the  RepubUc  of  China. 


CHAPTER   11 

THE    GOVERNMENT — IMPERIAL    CHINA* 

The  government  of  China  is  an  autocratic  rule  superposed 
on  a  democracy ;  but  "  the  East  is  East  and  the  West  is 
West,"  and,  having  applied  Occidental  terminology  to  an 
Oriental  system,  it  becomes  necessary  to  define  the  terms. 
When  the  Mongols  under  Kublai  Khan  in  the  thirteenth 
century  invaded  and  conquered  the  country,  they  became 
the  dominant  power  and  de  facto  rulers  of  the  Empire  ;  but 
the  daily  life  of  their  subjects  went  on  as  before,  they  made 
no  change  in  domestic  and  local  institutions,  and  their 
refusal  to  be  absorbed  in  the  sturdy  organisation  of  the 
Chinese  people,  combined  with  the  pressure  of  heavy  tribute 
and  the  evils  of  an  irredeemable  paper  currency,  led  to  their 
expulsion  within  a  centuiy  from  the  first  accession  of 
Kublai  to  the  throne.  The  native  dynasty  of  the  Ming, 
which  then  succeeded  in  the  fourteenth  century,  introduced 
a  better  system  of  government,  based  on  learning  and  states- 
manship, but  made  no  change  in  its  external  form ;  and  the 
relations  between  ruler  and  subject  remained  imaltered. 

The  Manchu  d3aiasty  of  the  Tsing,  coming  to  power  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  was  based  primarily  on  force  of  arms  ; 
but  even  their  conquests  were  effected  by  armies  composed 
as  much  of  Chinese  troops,  stiffened  by  Manchu  battalions 
and  led  by  Manchu  officers,  as  of  the  all-conquering  Manchu 
bowmen.    In  their  civil  government  the  Tsing  emperors 

*  This  chapter  is  no  longer  entirely  applicable  to  the  present 
(1912).  It  is,  however,  left  unchanged  in  the  present  tense,  though 
it  has  now  to  be  read  mainly  in  the  light  of  history. 

3a 


fHE  GOVERliliiENt'^tMPEIiiAL  CHINA  3^ 

and  their  Manchu  advisers  had  the  wisdom  to  recognise 
that  their  own  people,  unlettered  and  without  the  training 
of  generations  in  the  science  of  governing,  were  unequal  to 
the  task  of  providing  an  administration  which  could  stand 
by  its  own  strength ;  and  from  the  very  beginning,  before 
the  smoking  ruins  which  marked  their  military  progress 
were  cold,  they  not  only  continued  the  s}^tem  and  forms 
of   their   predecessors,    but   associated   with   themselves, 
in  the  administration,  the  literate  class  of  their  Chinese 
subjects ;  and  the  mode  of  living  and  customs  of  the  people 
remained  unchanged.    Garrisons  were  established  at  certain 
strategic  points  to  maintain  the  conquest ;  certain  posts  in 
the  central  government  were  reserved  for  Manchu  nobles 
and  leaders ;  certain  "  milking  "  posts  were  created  to  tap 
the  wealth  of  the  provinces ;   and  the  Court,  the  Manchu 
nobles,  and  the  Manchu  garrisons  at  Peking  and  elsewhere 
were  maintained  by  tribute  drawii  from  the  provinces. 
Apart  from  this  the  government  of  the  country  has  been 
more  in  the  hands  of  the  Chinese  than  of  their  conquerors, 
and  the  civil  service  has  been  a  carriire  auverte  aux  talents. 
Some  allowance  must  be  made  for  the  predilection  of  the 
ruUng  powers  for  men  of  their  own  race,  and  it  is  only 
natural  that,  in  the  exercise  of  patronage,  Manchus  should 
be   somewhat  preferred.    This  preference  is  now  shown 
less  frequently  than  in  the  past,  as  the  Manchus  have  become 
more  and  more  assimilated  in  thought  and  in  training  to 
the  Chinese,  and  of  late  years  the  proportion  of  Manchus 
holding  Imperial  appointments  in  the  provinces  has  not 
exceeded  one  fifth,  while  the  numerous  and  important 
extra-official  posts  created  by  modem  conditions  are  seldom 
held  by  Manchus.    To   apply  American   terminology  to 
things  Chinese,  the  Municipal  and  State  (provincial)  govern- 
ment is  almost  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  Chinese,  while 
the  Federal   (Imperial)  administration  is  influenced  and 
controlled  as  much  by  Chinese  as  by  Manchu  minds,  with 
the  further  proviso  that  full  weight  is  given  in  the  Emperor's 
Council  Hall  to  the  shrewd  brains  of  his  Chinese  counsellors. 


54       ^f^E  TRADk  AND  ADMllilSf RATION  OF  CHINA 

The  American  simile  may  be  carried  even  further,  but 
the  Western  reader  must  be  cautioned  not  to  apply  it  ex- 
cept as  specifically  indicated.  American  government  stands 
firm-based  on  the  town  meeting.  This  was  generally  true 
in  De  Tocqueville's  time  (except  for  the  county  system 
of  the  Southern  States),  was  passably  true  at  the  time  of 
Bryce's  inquiry,  and  is  true  to-day  of  the  country  village 
communities.  It  is  also  true,  tnukUis  mutandis,  of  village 
communities  in  China  to-day,  following  the  precedent  of 
many  centuries.  The  village  elder,  Tipao,  is  appointed 
"  with  and  by  the  advice  and  consent  "  of  the  villagers,  and 
represents  them  in  all  official  and  governmental  matters, 
being  also  the  ordinary  channel  of  communication  of  official 
wishes  or  orders  to  his  fellow  villagers.  The  American 
citizen  has  few  direct  dealings  with  any  but  his  township 
officials  so  long  as  he  pays  his  taxes  and  is  law-abiding,  and, 
officially,  hardly  knows  of  the  existence  of  the  Federal 
Government,  unless  he  has  to  deal  with  the  Custom  House, 
or  wishes  to  distil  whisky  or  brew  beer.  This  may  be  said 
also  of  the  Chinese  villager,  and,  moreover,  few  civil  suits 
are  brought  before  the  official  tribunals  in  China,  while 
the  government  exercises  no  control  over  distillation.  The 
American  federal  system  finds  its  counterpart,  too,  in  some 
respects,  in  the  semi-independence  of  the  central  and 
provincial  administrations ;  but  the  means  of  providing  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  Imperial  Government  resemble  much 
more  closely  the  German  system,  based  on  a  combination  of 
Imperial  taxes  and  matriculations  assessed  on  the  federated 
states. 

The  civil  government  of  China  may  be  considered  under 
four  divisions : 

(i)   The  Emperor  and  his  Court,  and  the  Manchu  nobles. 

(ii)  The  Central  MetropoUtan  Government. 

(iii)  The  Provincial  Administration. 

(iv)  The  Township  and  Village. 

To  explain  clearly  the  system  of  Chinese  administration, 
it  would  be  wise  to  begin  with  the  foundation  and  trace  it 


up  to  the  top ;  but  in  many  ways  it  is  more  convenient  to 
trace  the  stream  from  its  mouth  through  its  many  rami- 
fications to  its  sources. 

I.  The  Court 

The  Emperor  rules  by  divine  right.  His  is  no  empty 
"  Dei  grati&/'  based  on  a  parliamentary  title,  or  an  election 
by  a  Diet  or  by  allied  kings  and  princes.  He  is  himself  the 
Son  of  Heaven,  and,  when  he  dies,  he  "  mounts  the  Dragon 
chariot  to  be  a  guest  on  high."  He  is  the  Divus  Augustus 
of  his  Empire,  reverenced,  in  letter  and  in  spirit,  by  his 
subjects.  He  worships  only  at  the  Altar  of  Heaven  and  the 
Altar  of  Earth,  apart  from  his  reverential  worship  of  the 
shades  of  his  ancestors ;  but  he  commands  his  Ministers  to 
propitiate  the  Guardian  Dragon  of  the  River  in  times  of 
flood,  and  the  Spirits  of  the  Air  in  times  of  drought,  and 
leaves  to  his  subjects  their  worship  of  Buddhist  deities  and 
their  adhesion  to  Taoist  tenets,  or  even  to  Christian  and 
Mussulman  practices,  so  long  as  they  remain  a  matter  of 
religion  only.  Apart  from  the  result  of  military  usurpation, 
he  is  selected  by  his  predecessor,  or  by  the  Imperial  family 
acting  under  such  inspiration  as  moves  a  Papal  Conclave. 
He  is  usually  a  son  of  his  predecessor,  but  is  seldom  the 
eldest,  the  Asiatic  practice  of  selecting  the  fittest  among 
certain  qualified  princes  of  the  blood  being  followed.  Not 
one  of  the  Emperors  of  the  present  dynasty  (except  Tung- 
chih,  an  only  son)  was  the  eldest  son  of  his  predecessor: 
Kani^i  was  the  third  son  of  Shunchih  ;  Yungcheng  (1723- 
1735)  was  the  fourth  son  of  Kanghi,  and  was  driven  to 
imprison  some  of  his  brothers,  and  to  banish  others,  because 
they  rebelled  against  him  on  his  accession ;  Kienltmg  was 
the  fourth  son  of  Yungcheng.  Among  the  sons  of  the 
Emperor,  one  of  those  by  the  Empress  Consort  might, 
other  things  being  equal,  be  preferred;  next  in  order  of 
choice  come  the  sons  of  the  Secondary  Consorts,  and  next 
the  sons  of  concubines ;  but  the  son  of  a  concubine  might 
be  preferred  to  others,  and  all  are  equally  recognised  as  the 


36      THE  T6AbE  AND  ADHitmsTRAttOht  OP  CHWA 

sons  of  their  father.    Failmg  a  sod,  the  choice  would  be 
among  the  other  princes  of  the  Imperial  family,  but  re- 
stricted by  the  necessity,  if  possible,  of  going  a  generation 
lower  in  order  that  the  selected  prince  might  be  adopted  as 
the  son  of  the  decedent  Emperor,  and  so  be  qualified  to 
perform  the  due  ceremonies  before  the  ancestral  tablets. 
This  principle  was  violated  on  the  death  of  Tungchih  in 
January  1875,  his  successor,  Kwanghsii — ^adopted  as  his  son 
and  successor — being  natally  his  father's  brother's  son ;  and 
the  coup  d'itat  manqui  of  January  1900  was  based  upon  the 
alleged  necessity  of  providing  an  Emperor  of  the  next  genera- 
tion below,  to  carry  on  fitly  the  ancestral  worship,  and  so  to 
avert  disaster  from  the  Empire.    Princes  of  the  blood  of 
the  same  generation  have  their  first  personal  name  the  same 
(as  Albert  Edward,  Albert  Henry,  Albert  Charles) ;    the 
Emperor  Timgchih  was  "  christened "  Tsairshun,  and  his 
successor,  the  Emperor  Kwanghsii,  Tsai-tien ;   in  the  next 
generation  we  have  the  heir  presumptive,  selected  in  1900, 
Pu-chun,  the  prince  who  went  to  St.  Louis  in  1903,  Pu-lun, 
and  the  present  Emperor,  Pu-yi,  whose  reign  title  is  Hsuan- 
timg.    To  his  people  the  sovereign  is  "  The  Emparor," 
"  His  Sacred  Majesty,"  "  Lord  of  a  myriad  years,"  "  The 
Son  of  Heaven  "  ;   his  personal  name  is  never  mentioned 
from  the  moment  of  his  accession,  and  even  its  distinctive 
initial  word  must  be  avoided  for  ever  thereafter,  a  ssmonym 
or  a  modified  form  being  used :  just  as,  for  example,  with 
a  King  Harry,  now  or  at  some  past  time  during  the  present 
d3masty  on  the  throne,  it  would  not  be  permissible   to 
"  harry"  the  enemy,  but  some  synonym,  if  possible  one 
having  a  similar  sound,  would  be  used  instead.     Each 
Emperor  selects  a  "year  indicator"  or  "reign  title,"  by 
which  to  indicate  the  years  of  his  reign,  1906  being  the 
thirty-second  year  of  the  period  Kwanghsii  (Continuation 
of  Glory) ;   and  foreigners,  from  indolence,  commonly  use 
this  reign  title  as  if  it  were  the  personal  name  of  the  sove- 
reign, speaking  ordinarily  of  His  Majesty  Kwanghsii.    Under 
previous  dynasties  the  Emperors  frequently  changed  their 


THE  GOVERNMEffT-^IMPERIAL  CHINA  37 

reign  title,  bat  this  has  happened  only  once  under  Manchu 
role — in  1861,  when  the  first  reign  title  of  the  infant  Em^ 
peror  was  changed,  concurrently  with  a  coup  d'itat,  from 
Kisiang  (Favouring  Fortune),  to  Tungchih  (Peace  and 
Order).  On  his  death  the  Emperor  is  canonised,  and  re- 
ceives a  temple  name,  by  which  he  is  known  in  history ;  the 
temple  name  of  the  Emperor  we  know  as  Tungchih  is 
Mu-tsung  Yi  Hwang-ti,  "  Our  Reverent  Ancestor  the  Bold 
Emperor."  The  Emperor's  writ  runs  throughout  the  ex- 
tent of  his  dominions,  and  his  edicts  and  rescripts  are  the 
law  of  the  Empire ;  this  is  true  also  of  the  writs  and  Orders 
in  Council  of  the  King  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  and 
the  restrictions  on  the  acts  of  the  two  sovereigns  differ  only 
in  Aegcee  and  kind.  The  Emperor  is  bound,  in  the  first 
place,  by  the  unwritten  constitution  of  the  Empire,  the 
customs  which  have  come  down  from  time  inunemorial, 
throogh  generations  of  both  rulers  and  ruled,  and  further 
I^  established  precedent  as  defined  in  the  edicts  of  his 
predecessors,  even  those  of  previous  d3masties.  Then  he 
is  boond  by  the  opinions  and  decisions  of  his  Ministers, 
whose  position  and  weight  differ  from  those  of  Ministers 
of  constitutional  monarchies  only  in  the  mode  of  their 
selection  and  retention  in  office.  Finally,  shut  Up  within 
the  waUs  of  his  palace,  he  is  more  sensible  of  the  daily 
pressure  brought  to  bear  upon  him  by  his  personal  en* 
tomage  than  his  brother  sovereigns  in  the  West ;  but  it  must 
be  said  of  the  Manchu  rulers  that  eunuchs  have  had  less 
influence  at  Court  than  under  previous  dynasties.  A  strong 
Emperor  may  assert  his  own  will,  and,  given  a  suitable 
opportunity  and  a  justifying  emergency,  may  override  the 
constitution  as  Abraham  Lincoln  did  under  similar  circum- 
stances ;  but  when  an  ordinary  ruler  tries  it,  the  result  is 
wbaX  happened  in  1898,  when  the  Emperor  Kwanghsu  under* 
took  to  modify  in  a  few  months  the  development  of  many 
centuries,  and  impetuously  instituted  reforms  for  which  the 
Empire  was  not  then  ready.  The  Emperor  is  also  the  source 
of  honours  and  of  office ;  but  this  is  no  more  literally  true  in 


38       THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

Chma  than  in  any  other  country  where  patronage  is  exer- 
cised from  above. 

The  Empress  Consort  is  chosen  by  the  Emperor  (with 
perhaps  some  forcing  of  the  cards)  from  a  bevy  of  candi- 
dates selected  by  his  Ministers  from  the  families  of  Manchu 
nobles ;   and  from  the  same  selection,  then  or  later,  he 
chooses  Secondary  Empresses,  not   commonly  exceeding 
four  in  number.    The  concubines  are  not  limited  in  number 
by  any  law  or  custom,  and  are  selected  from  the  daughters 
of  Manchu  nobles  and  freemen.    The  Dragon  is  the  armorial 
emblem  of  the  Emperor,  and  the  Phoenix  of  the  Empress 
Consort,  and  her  title  of  respect  is  '*  Mother  of  the  State." 
When  the  Emperor  Hienfeng  (properly  Wentsung  Hien 
Hwangti)  died  in  1861,  he  left  only  one  son,  five  years 
old,  to  succeed  him,  bom,  not  of  the  Empress  Consort, 
but  of  the  Secondary  Empress,  the  late  Empress  Dowager. 
Motherhood  is  divine  in  China,  and  it  was  quite  in  accord- 
ance with  law  and  custom  that  the  Regency  over  the  infant 
Emperor  should  be  exercised   jointly  by  the  Dowager 
Empress  Consort  (the  "  Eastern  Palace,"  the  east  or  left 
being  the  side  of  honour),  and  the  Empress  Mother  (the 
*'  Western  Palace  ").    Only  one  of  the  two,  however,  had 
capacity  for  government,  and  the  Semiramis  of  the  Far 
East,  the  Empress  Mother,  exercised  alone  the  real  power, 
even  before  the  death  in  1881  of  her  colleague  in  the  regency, 
supported  then  and  after  by  the  counsel  of  Prince  Kimg, 
brother  of  Hienfeng.    The  regency  was  determined  in  1873, 
when  the  young  Emperor,  Tungchih,  then  seventeen  years 
old,  was  declared  of  age,  and  was  again  resumed  in  1875 
(January),  on  the  death  of  Tungchih  and  the  accession  of  the 
infant  Kwanghsii ;   it  was  again  determined  in  1889,  and 
again  resumed  in  1898 ;    and  the  rule  of  this  woman  of 
seventy-one  ♦  over  the  youth  of  thirty-five,  her  nephew- 
adopted-grandson,  was  strengthened  by  the  capacity  of  the 
ruler,  the  necessity  of  the  state,  and  the  devoted  reverence 
due  to  parents  and  grandparents. 

♦  In  1906, 


THE  GOVERNMENT^IMPERIAL  CHINA  39 

The  Imperial  Clanstnen  are  those  who  can  trace  their 
descent  bade  directly  to  the  founder  of  the  dynasty,  Hien^ 
tsu,  1583-1615,  and  are  distinguished  by  the  privilege  of 
wearing  a  yellow  girdle :  collateral  relatives  of  the  Imperial 
house  are  privileged  to  wear  a  red  girdle.  The  titles  of 
nobility  conferred  on  members  of  the  Imperial  house  are 
of  twelve  degrees.  Sons  of  an  Emperor  are  created  Tsin- 
wang  or  Kiin-wang,  Prince  of  the  first  or  second  order; 
their  sons  descend  to  Bei-leh,  Prince  of  the  third  order ;  and 
their  sons  to  Bei-tze,  Prince  of  the  foiurth  order  (Prince 
Pu-lun  is  of  this  rank) ;  then  come  four  grades  of  Duke 
and  four  of  Commanders,  until,  in  the  thirteenth  generation, 
the  descendants  of  Emperors  are  merged  in  the  ranks  of 
commoners  distinguished  only  by  their  privilege  of  the 
yellow  girdle. 

The  Hereditary  Nobility  do  not  descend  in  rank  with 
each  succeeding  generation.  Chief  among  them  are  the 
eight  "  Iron-capped  "  (or  helmeted)  Princes,  direct  descend- 
ants by  rule  of  primogeniture  of  the  eight  princes  who 
co-operated  in  the  Conquest  of  China ;  to  them  is  added 
the  descendant  of  the  thirteenth  son  of  Kanghi.  Certain 
Chinese  families  also  enjoy  hereditary  titles  of  nobility, 
chief  among  them  the  Holy  Duke  of  Yen  (the  descendant 
of  Kung  Fu-tze  or  Confucius),  Marquis  Tseng  (from  Tseng 
Kwo-fan),  Marquis  Li  (from  Li  Hung-chang) :  none  of  these 
titles  carry  with  them  any  special  privileges. 

II.  Metropolitan  Administration 

Of  the  central  government  of  China,  Mayers*  says: 
"  The  central  government  of  China,  so  far  as  a  system  of 
this  nature  is  recognised  in  the  existing  institutions,  is 
arranged  with  the  object  rather  of  registering  and  checking 
the  action  of  the  various  provincial  administrations,  than 
with  that  of  assuming  a  direct  initiative  in  the  conduct  of 
affairs.  .  •  .  Regulations,  indeed,  of  the  most  minute  and 
♦  "  The  Chinese  Government/'  by  ViT.  F,  Mayers,  1878, 


40       THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

comprehensive  character,  are  on  record  for  the  guidance 
of  every  conceivable  act  of  administration ;  and  the  princi- 
pal function  of  the  central  government  consists  in  watching 
over  the  execution  of  this  system  of  rules.  The  bestowal  of 
the  higher  appointments  of  the  civil  and  military  services, 
and  the  distribution  of  the  superior  literary  degrees  as 
rewards  for  proficiency  in  the  studies  upon  which  the  entire 
polity  of  the  Empire  is  based,  comprise  the  remainder  of 
the  attributes  reserved  to  the  government  established  at 
Peking.  The  central  government  may  be  said  to  criticise 
rather  than  to  control  the  action  of  the  twenty-one  pro- 
vincial administrations,  wielding,  however,  at  all  times  the 
power  of  immediate  removal  from  his  post  of  any  official 
whose  conduct  may  be  foimd  irregular,  or  considered 
dangerous  to  the  stability  of  the  State." 

These  words  strike  the  keynote  for  the  part  played  by 
the  Emperor's  Ministers  at  the  capital ;  but,  written  in 
1877,  they  take  too  little  account  of  the  centralising  policy 
forced  upon  the  government  by  the  importance  of  its 
foreign  relations,  and  facilitated  by  the  improvement  in 
the  means  of  communication.  In  its  pristine  form  the 
government  was,  a  generation  only  back,  as  Mayers  describes 
it.  When  Lord  Napier  first  introduced  the  element  of 
national  sovereignty  into  China's  foreign  relations,  he  found 
no  member  of  the  central  administration  or  Envoy  of  the 
Emperor  to  deal  with ;  he  was  not  even  allowed  to  come 
in  touch  with  the  Viceroy  or  the  Governor  at  Canton,  but 
was  ordered  to  communicate  through  the  authorities  at 
Canton,  the  Co-Hong  and  the  Hoppo.  The  British  treaty 
of  1842  was  signed  by  the  Tartar  General  of  Canton  and  the 
Lieutenant-General  of  Chapu,  who,  being  responsible  for 
resistance  to  aggression  on  the  coasts  of  Kwangtung  and 
Chekiang,  transferred  their  headquarters  to  Nanking  to 
settle  matters  with  the  aggressor ;  and  to  them  was  joined 
in  the  signature,  though  not  mentioned  as  plenipotentiary 
in  the  preamble,  the  Viceroy  at  Nanking,  within  whose 
jurisdiction  the  negotiations  for  peace  were  conducted ;  no 


THE  GOVERNMENT-^JMPERIAL  CHINA  41 

Envoy  was  sent  direct  from  the  central  government.  The 
American  treaty  of  1844  ^^  negotiated  and  signed  by  the 
Viceroy  at  Canton  (who  alone  was  named  in  the  preamble) 
and  the  Tartar  General ;  and  the  French  treaty,  later  in  the 
same  year,  was  signed  by  the  Viceroy  alone,  the  Manchu 
Commandant  having  meantime  died.  Then  ensued  a 
period  of  foreign  friction  ending  in  the  second  war;  and 
the  four  treaties  negotiated  in  1858 — the  British,  French, 
American,  and  Russian — ^were  signed  by  two  members  of  the 
central  administration,  both  Presidents  of  Boards,  and  one 
of  them  a  Grand  Secretary  of  State. 

The  hammering  of  twenty  years  had  welded  the  Empire 
together,  and  the  Imperial  Government  was  compelled,  in 
its  foreign  relations,  to  act  as  ruler  and  not  as  mere  super- 
visor, and  to  adopt  a  more  centralised  policy.  This  policy 
was  made  the  more  necessary  from  the  disorganisation 
into  which  the  provincial  administration  was  thrown 
by  the  Taiptng  rebellion ;  and  the  tendency  was  increased 
by  the  practice  of  the  foreign  Envoys  in  demanding  that 
all  important  questions,  in  the  settlement  of  which  by  the 
Consuk  and  the  local  authorities  any  difficulty  presented 
itself,  should  be  referred  to  the  capital,  and  there  settled 
between  themselves  and  the  Imperial  Ministers ;  and  the 
decisions  based  on  such  settlements  went  down  to  the 
provinces  as  orders  from  Peking.  By  degrees,  as  the 
result  of  this  innovation,  the  TsungU  Yamen,  which  had 
been  organised  in  1861  as  a  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs, 
tended  more  and  more  to  become  a  body  of  Cabinet  Ministers 
and  to  displace  the  Grand  Council.  The  first  members,  in 
1861,  were  Prince  Kung,  uncle  of  the  Emperor;  Kwei 
Liang,  Grand  Secretary,  who  had  negotiated  the  treaties 
of  1858 ;  and  Wen  Siang,  then  Vice-President  of  the  Board 
of  War.  This  number  was  increased,  until,  in  1876, 
there  were  eleven  members,  including  Prince  Kung,  as 
President,  including  also  all  the  members  of  the  Grand 
Council,  and  including  none  who  were  not  of  the  Grand 
Council  or  were  not  President  or  Vice-President  of  a  Board, 


42       THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

Thus  was  developed  a  Cabinet,  in  the  sense  common  to 
the  British,  American,  and  French  systems;  and  the 
compulsory  substitution,  in  1901,  of  a  Board  of  Foreign 
Affairs  and  abolition  of  the  Tsungli  Yamen,  leaving  the 
government  without  a  corporate  head,  caused  the  resumptioa 
by  the  Grand  Council  of  its  active  f imctions  as  the  deliberat- 
ing and  deciding  Cabinet  of  the  Emperor,  and  the  executive 
head  of  the  government.  The  Grand  Coimcil,  however, 
inherited  the  centralised  power  of  the  old  Tsungli  Yamen, 
and  the  orders  emanating  from  Peking  were  more  direct 
than  of  old.  In  the  old  days,  too,  communication  was  slow, 
and  two  or  three  months  might  elapse  before  the  authorities 
at  Canton  could  receive  a  reply  to  their  request  for  in- 
structions, with  the  result  that  much  must  be  left  to  the 
man  on  the  spot.  The  introduction  of  steamers  brought 
Canton,  Nanking,  and  Hankow,  the  seats  of  the  most  im- 
portant Viceroyalties,  within  a  week  of  the  capital ;  and 
the  extension  of  the  telegraphs,  which  directly  resulted  from 
the  Russian  difficulty  of  1880,  brought  the  most  remote 
of  the  high  provincial  authorities  into  immediate  touch  with 
the  central  administration,  and  furthered  the  centralisation 
which  had  already  become  established ;  and  now  the  Empire 
is  ruled  from  Peking  to  an  extent  unknown  while  China 
still  played  the  hermit. 

The  powers  of  the  central  administration  are  distributed 
among  several  Ministries  and  numerous  minor  departments  ; 
but  here,  only  those  having  a  direct  influence  in  shaping  the 
policy  of  the  Empire  will  be  described.  Moreover,  as  this 
book  is  a  record  of  the  past  and  present,  and  does  not  forecast 
the  futiu-e,  it  is  right,  in  these  days  of  rapid  transformation 
oi  a  hitherto  immovable  Empire,  to  state  that  this  chapter 
was  written  in  October  igo6.  In  the  Imperial  administra- 
tion there  are  two  superior  Councils. 

The  Nui-Ko,  Inner  Cabinet,  commonly  called  Grand 
Secretariat,  was  the  Supreme  Council  of  the  Empire  under 
the  Ming  Dynasty,  but  since  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century  has  degenerated  into  a  Court  of  Archives,    Active 


THE  GOVERN MENT^IMPERIAL  CHINA  43 

membership  is  limited  to  six,  and  confers  the  highest  dis- 
tinction attainable  by  Chinese  officials.  The  Grand  Secre- 
taries have  the  title  of  Chung-tang,  "  Central  Hall "  (of 
the  Palace),  the  best  known  in  recent  years  being  Li  Hung- 
chang;  under  the  Ming  Dynasty  they  were  designated 
Ko-lao,  "Elders  of  the  Cabinet"  (the  Colao  of  the  old 
Jesuit  narratives).  Sfac  honorary  titles  were  once  attached 
to  the  Grand  Secretariat — Grand  and  Jimior  Preceptor, 
Tutor,  and  Guardian;  but  of  these  the  last  only  is  now 
conferred  as  Junior  Guardian  of  the  Heir  Apparent,  and 
that  not  limited  to  one  incumbent  or  to  Grand  Secretaries. 
One  of  the  latest  to  receive  the  distinction  is  Sir  Robert 
Hart,  who  is  thereby  entitled  to  be  addressed  as  Kung-pao, 
"  Guardian  of  the  Palace." 

The  KuN-Ki-CHU,  "  Committee  of  National  Defence  " 
or  •'  Board  of  Strategy,"  commonly  called  the  Grand 
Council,  is  the  actual  Privy  Council  of  the  sovereign,  in 
whose  presence  its  members,  not  usually  exceeding  five  in 
number,  daily  discuss  and  decide  questions  of  Imperial 
policy.  Its  members  usually  hold  other  high  offices,  gener- 
ally that  of  President  of  a  Board. 

The  TsuNGLi  Yamen,  described  before,  was  organised 
in  1861  and  abolished  in  1901.  The  posts  of  Imperial 
Superintendents  of  Trade  for  the  Northern  Seas  (the  Viceroy 
at  Tientsin),  and  for  the  Southern  Seas  (the  Viceroy  at 
Nanking),  created  also  in  1861,  have  continued  to  be  held  * 
and  their  functions  exercised  by  those  officials. 

The  actual  administration  of  Imperial  affairs  is  in 
the  hands  of  the  "  Six  Boards,"  later  nine  in  number— 
viz. : 

1.  Li  Pu,  Board  of  Civil  Office,  the  dispenser  of 
patronage,  controlling  appointments  to  all  posts  in 
the  r^fular  hierarchy  from  District  Magistrate  (Hsien) 
up. 

2.  Hu  Pu,  Board  of  Revenue,  controls  the  receipt 

•  The  Northern  superintendency  was  attached  to  the  Tientsin 
Viceroyalty  only  in  1870. 


44       Tf^B  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

and  expenditure  of  that  portion  of  the  revenue  and 
tribute  which  comes  to  Peking,  or  is  under  the  control 
of  the  central  administration. 

3.  Lee  Pu,  Board  of  Ceremonies,  an  important 
Ministry  at  an  Asiatic  G>urt. 

4.  Ping  Pu,  Board  of  War,  controls  the  provincial 
forces  only.  The  Manchu  military  forces  are  con- 
trolled by  their  own  organisation  attached  to  the 
Palace.    This  Board  also  controls  the  courier  service. 

5.  HiNG  Pu,  Board  of  Punishments,  a  department 
of  Justice  for  the  criminal  law  only,  and  dealing 
especially  with  the  punishment  of  officials  guilty 
of  malpractices. 

6.  KuNG  Pu,  Board  of  Works,  controlling  the 
construction  and  repair  of  official  residences  through- 
out the  Empire,  but  having  no  concern  with  canals 
or  conservancy,  roads  or  bridges. 

The  new  Ministries  additional  to  the  old  "Six  Boards" 
were  the  following : 

7.  Wai-wu  Pu,  Board  of  Foreign  Affairs,  instituted 
in  1901  in  succession  to  the  Tsungli  Yamen. 

8.  Shang  Pu,  Board  of  Commerce,  instituted  in 
1903. 

9.  HiOH  Pu,  Board  of  Education,  instituted  in 
1903. 

These  Boards  are  organised  on  the  same  plan.  Each 
has  two  Presidents — Shang-shu,  addressed  as  Pu-tang,  "Hall 
of  the  Board  "—of  whom  one  is  by  law  Manchu  and  one 
Chinese.  (An  edict  issued  in  1906  directed  that  this  limita- 
tion should  no  longer  be  observed.)  Viceroys  have,  ex 
officio,  the  honorary  title  of  President  of  a  Board,  usually 
of  the  Board  of  War.  Each  Board  has  also  four  Vice- 
Presidents — Shih-lang,  addressed  as  Pu-yuan,  "  Court-yard 
of  the  Board  " — two  being  Manchu  and  two  Chinese  (subject 
to  the  edict).  Governors  of  provinces  have,  ex  officio,  the 
honorary  title  of  Vice-President  of  a  Board,  usually  of  the 
Board  of  War.    They  all  have  an  equipment  of  Secretaries, 


tH^  GOVenNMENr---tMPERtAL  CHINA  45 

Overseers,  Assistants,  etc.,  quatU.  suff.,  and  are  divided  into 
sub-departments  according  to  their  needs. 

Other  departments  of  the  government  exist  at  Peking, 
with  functions  not  limited  to  any  one  Board  or  one  branch 
of  the  affairs  of  State ;  but  only  the  more  important  need 
be  mentioned. 

Tu-CHA  Yuan,  "  Court  of  Investigation,"  common- 
ly called  the  Court  of  Censors.  Viceroys  have  the 
honorary  title  of  President,  and  Governors  of  Vice- 
President,  of  the  Censorate.  The  "  Censors  "  remind 
one  somewhat  of  the  Censors  and  somewhat  of  the 
Tribunes  of  Ancient  Rome  ;  their  duty  is  to  criticise, 
and  this  duty  they  exercise  without  fear,  though  not 
always  without  favour. 

TxJKG-CHENG  SzE,  "  Office  of  Transmission,"  deals 
with  memorials  to  the  Throne. 

Ta-li  Sze,  "  Coiurt  of  Revision,"  exercises  a  general 
supervision  over  the  administration  of  the  criminal 
law. 

Han-lin  Yuan,  "  College  of  Literature,"  exercised 
control  over  the  education  of  the  Empire  until  super- 
seded by  the  Board  of  Education,  and  continues  to 
exist  as  a  memorial  of  a  glorious  past.  It  is  also 
charged  with  the  custody  and  preparation  of  the 
historical  archives  of  the  djmasty,  but  many  of  its 
records  were  btirnt  in  1900. 

III.   The  Provincial  Administration 

It  has  been  explained  that  the  provinces,  in  actual 
practice  in  the  past  and  in  theory  to-day,  occupy  a  semi- 
autonomous  position  wW*m  the  Imperial  Government ; 
in  some  aspects  they  may  be  said  to  be  satrapies,  in  others 
to  resemble  the  constituent  states  of  a  federation.  Either 
comparison  is  too  sweeping,  however,  without  careful  study 
of  the  diiferaices.  The  comparison  with  states  would  be 
more  «act  if  for  "  state  "  were  substituted  "  territory/' 


46       THEi  fRADE  A^D  ADklNiSf RATION  OP  CHIHA 

such  as  those  of  the  American  Union,  which  have  their 
executive  and  judicial  officers  appointed  by  the  central  power 
and  removable  at  its  pleasure,  but  have  local  autonomy  for 
the  levy  of  taxes  and  the  administration  of  the  law ;  but  in 
this  comparison  the  difference  must  always  be  remembered 
between  the  Occident,  which  insists  on  local  self-govern- 
ment, and  the  Orient,  which  is  always  governed  by  the 
strong  hand.  The  provinces  are  satrapies  to  the  extent 
that  (speaking  of  the  past),  so  long  as  the  tribute  and 
matriculations  are  duly  paid,  and  the  general  policy  of  the 
central  administration  followed,  they  are  free  to  administer 
their  own  affairs  in  detail  as  may  seem  best  to  their  own 
provincial  authorities.  But  no  satrap  has  existed  under 
the  present  dynasty  since  its  first  half-century,  when  Wu 
San-kwei  was  given  the  satrapy  of  Hunan  and  Kweichow 
as  a  reward  for  his  services  in  the  conquest,  and  in  the  end 
had  to  be  brought  to  subjection  as  a  rebel  against  the 
sovereign  power.  With  much  latitude  in  the  exercise  of 
their  power,  many  restrictions  are  imposed  on  the  individual 
officials. 

All  officials  in  the  provinces,  down  to  District  Magistrate, 
are  appointed  from  Peking ;  for  the  lower  posts  the  high 
provincial  authorities  may,  and  do,  recommend ;  but  it  is 
Peking  which  appoints,  and  it  is  only  the  central  govern- 
ment which  can  promote,  transfer,  or  cashier.  This  keeps 
the  provincial  officials,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest,  in  a 
proper  state  of  discipline.  Appointment  to  one  post  is  made 
for  a  term  of  three  years ;  for  Viceroys  and  Governors  this 
limitation  is  often,  even  usually,  disregarded,  as  when  we 
see  Li  Hung^^diang  holding  the  Viceroyalty  at  Tientsin  for 
nearly  thirty  years  continuously;  but  this  exception  is 
explained  by  the  desire  to  utilise  to  the  utmost  the  great 
experience  of  these  high  officials,  and  by  the  strong  party 
backing  which  put  them  in  their  high  positions,  and  which 
is  strengthened  by  the  patronage  which  is  then  at  their 
disposal.  For  officials  lower  in  rank  the  rule  is  almost 
universally  followed ;   they  may  be  reappointed  once,  but 


fti^  GOVERNMENf—iMpERiAl  CMl^A  4^ 

at  the  end  of  their  second  triennial  term  at  latest  they  must 
strike  root  afresh  in  new  surroundings,  and,  incidentally, 
must  again  contribute  to  the  maintenance  of  their  superiors, 
as  is  explained  in  the  next  chapter.  To  some  especially 
lucrative  posts  appointments  are  made  for  one  year  only. 
Another  restriction  is  peculiar  to  China,  and  is  never 
relaxed ;  no  official  is  ever  appointed  to  a  post  in  the 
province  of  his  birth.  The  military  are  an  exception,  but 
they  exercise  little  influence,  and  Manchuria  was  up  to  1907 
governed  by  Manchus ;  otherwise  the  rule  is  invariable. 
The  Chinese  never  voluntarily  abandon  the  homestead,  or 
surrender  their  interest  in  the  ancestral  shrine ;  and  every 
official  is  an  alien  to  the  people  he  rules,  often  unable  to 
understand  the  dialect  they  speak.  He  brings  his  family 
connections  with  him  as  secretaries  and  purveyors^  and, 
if  he  is  a  Viceroy  or  Governor,  he  brings  a  bodyguard  of 
his  co-provincials,  loyal  to  his  person ;  but  otherwise  he  is 
surrounded  by  aliens.  No  Hupeh  man  may  hold  an  official 
post  in  Hupeh,  nor  Kiangsu  man  in  Kiangsu.  When  Li 
Hung-chang  left  the  Viceroyalty  at  Tientsin,  the  post  to 
which  he  would  naturally  have  gone  was  the  other  great 
Viceroyalty,  that  at  Nanking ;  but  his  native  province, 
Anhwei,  is  in  the  Nanking  Viceroyalty,  and  he  went  to 
Canton  instead.  Tsen  Chun-siian,  a  man  of  great  force 
of  character,  native  of  Kwangsi,  made  a  name  as  provincial 
Treasurer  of  Kwangtung,  and  was  promoted  to  be  acting 
Viceroy  of  Szechwan ;  in  1903  he  was  the  obviously  indi^ 
cated  man  to  restore  order  in  the  Canton  Viceroyalty,  and 
was  sent  back  there ;  but  though,  as  a  Kwangsi  man,  he 
could  rule  at  Canton  as  provincial  Treasurer  of  Kwangtung, 
he  could  not  be  substantive  incumbent  at  Canton  of  the 
Viceroyalty  of  whidi  Kwangsi  forms  part,  and  went  there- 
fore as  acting  Viceroy;  in  1906  he  was  appointed  sub- 
stantive VicCToy  to  Yimnan. 

Another  practice  is  a  matter  of  policy  rather  than  of 
rule,  and  is  only  possible  in  a  country  where  all  appointments 
are  made  by  a  central  authority.    Parties  exist  in  China 


48     THE  fRAbU  aUd  ADMiHisfRAfioH  oP  ckiHA 

as  in  other  countries,  and  as  in  other  countries  are  as  often 
the  following  of  a  man  as  of  a  principle.  In  the  exercise 
of  patronage  at  Peking  the  principle  of  diviie  d  impera  in 
the  provinces  is  followed  in  this  as  in  other  ways.  The 
principle  is  that  which  animated  Washington  in  the  selection 
of  his  first  cabinet,  and  may  be  understood  if  we  suppose 
that  in  the  United  States  the  federal  government  appointed 
to  any  state  a  Republican  as  Governor,  a  Democrat  as 
Lieutenant-Governor,  a  RepubUcan  as  State  Secretary,  a 
Democrat  as  State  Treasurer,  and  so  on.  For  three  decades 
from  i860  there  were  two  great  parties  in  China,  the  Hunan 
men  and  their  adherents,  following  Tseng  Kwo-fan,  and 
later  Tso  Tsung-tang,  and  the  Anhwei  men  and  their 
adherents,  following  Li  Hung-<hang  and  Li  Han-chang; 
the  former  were  generally  conservative,  and  the  latter 
generally,  but  moderately,  progressive,  and  the  men  of 
other  provinces,  disregarding  provincial  lines,  ranged 
themselves  with  one  or  other  of  these  parties.  Latterly 
the  Canton  party,  ultra-progressive,  after  a  check  in  1898, 
has  again  come  to  the  front.  In  making  provincial  appoint- 
ments care  is  alwasrs  taken  to  balance  these  parties ;  and  in 
the  general  administration,  exercising  their  functions  at 
the  provincial  capital,  an  official  will  seldom  be  of  the  same 
party  as  his  immediate  superior  or  his  immediate  sub- 
ordinate, while  the  appointments  to  prefectures  and  magis- 
tracies will  be  fairly  divided  between  the  parties.  This, 
of  course,  implies  that  the  Emperor  is  able  to  maintain  the 
same  balance  of  influence  in  his  Ministries,  apart  from  the 
equilibrium  maintained  between  Manchu  and  Chinese.  In 
the  provinces  further  equilibrimn  is  maintained  by  the 
occasional  appointment  of  Manchus,  who  are  above  party, 
and  who  number  usually  about  a  fifth  of  the  official  hierarchy . 
With  all  these  balances  and  checks  much  more  may  be 
left  to  the  local  authority,  and,  so  long  as  the  province 
furnishes  its  quota  towards  the  maintenance  of  the  Imperial 
Government  and  preserves  a  semblance  of  order,  or  settles 
its  disturbances  with  the  means  at  its  disposal,  it  is  left  to 


THE  GOVER^M^Nt'-lMPElitAt  CtiWA  4^ 

go  its  own  way  and  to  have  a  quasi-autonomy.  But,  while 
these  rights  are  granted  and  direct  governance  is  reduced 
to  a  minimum,  there  is  also  an  absence  of  direct  oversight 
and  of  holding  the  provinces  responsible  for  the  due  per- 
formance of  their  duties.  If  a  breach  of  the  Yellow  River 
occurs  in  Honan,  the  Honan  authorities  must  attend  to  it ; 
but  it  is  no  part  of  their  duty  to  so  direct  the  work  of  re- 
storation that  the  adjoining  province  of  Shantung  shall  not 
suffer;  that  is  the  concern  of  the  Shantimg  authorities. 
If  a  rebellion  in  Kwangsi  is  held  in  check,  and  the  rebels, 
cornered,  escape  across  the  Hunan  border,  "  e'en  let  him 
go,  and  thank  God  you  are  rid  of  a  knave  "  ;  they  are  then 
the  affair  of  the  Hunan  authorities.  Salt-smugglers  on  the 
border  between  Kiangsu  and  Chekiang  have  a  merry  time 
dodging  back  and  forth  across  the  border,  and  are  thought 
to  book  only  on  the  rare  occasions  when  the  two  provinces 
loyally  join  forces.  This  will  be  remedied  with  the  further 
centralisation  of  power ;  but  we  are  dealing  with  China  as 
it  has  been  and  is. 

The  administrative  organisation  of  each  of  the  provinces 
is  much  the  same,  and  the  duties  of  each  of  the  officials  will 
now  be  described. 

TsuNG-TU,  commonly  called  Chihtai,  Governor-General, 
ordinarily  styled  Viceroy,  though  there  is  nothing  in  the 
oflSce  or  its  title  of  the  viceregal  idea.  As  ex  officio  Presi- 
dent of  a  Board,  he  styles  himself  and  is  addressed  as  Pu- 
tang.  He  is  the  highest  in  rank  of  the  civilian  officials  of 
the  provincial  administration,  but  in  theory  ranks  after, 
though  he  is  not  subordinated  to,  the  Tartar  General,  when 
one  is  stationed  within  his  viceroyalty  ;  and  he  has  control 
over  the  military  forces,  other  than  the  Manchu  garrison, 
within  his  jurisdiction.  In  some  cases  he  is  actually  Gover- 
nor, though  with  the  power  and  rank  of  Governor-General, 
of  one  province  only ;  in  others  he  has  jurisdiction  over  two 
or  three  provinces,  each  of  which  has  (by  the  old  theory) 
its  own  Governor  ;  and  still  oth^  provinces,  each  with  its 
Governor,  are  subordinated  to  no  Governor-General.    The 


50      THE  TRAD^  Al^D  ADMimsTRATtON  OF  CttlNA 


distribution  is  shown  by  the  following  table,  in  which  "  ex- 
Go  vemor  "  indicates  that  a  Governor  was  installed  up  to 
1905,  in  which  year  an  Imperial  edict  abolished  the  Governor- 
ship of  those  provinces  in  which  a  Viceroy  had  his  seat. 


Metropolitan  Province: — 
ChihU  . .    no  Governor 


Three  adjoining  Provinces  : — 
Shantung       . .     Governor 
Shansi  . .     Governor 

Honan  . .     Governor 


Chihli     (Tientsin) 
Viceroy. 


under     no     Vice- 
roy. 


Outlying  Provinces  :- 


Kiangsu 

Anhwei 

Kiangsi 

Shensi 

Kansu 

Fukien 

Chekiang 

Hupeh 

Hunan 

Szechwan 

Kwangtung 
Kwangsi 
Yunnan 
Kweichow 


Governor* 

Governor 

Governor 

Governor 

no  Governor 

ex-Governor 

Governor 

ex-Governor 

Governor 

no  Governor 

ex-Governor 
Governor 
ex-Governor 
Governor 


Liang-Kiang 
(Nanking) 
Viceroy. 

Shen-Kan     Vice- 
roy. 
Min-Che         Vice- 
roy. 
Hu  -  Kwang 

Viceroy. 
Szechwan       Vice- 
roy. 
1  Liang  -  Kwang 
f      Viceroy. 
\  Yun-Kwei      Vice- 
J      roy. 


For  the  Eighteen  Provinces  there  are  thus  eight  Viceroys, 
and  originally  fifteen  Governors,  now  reduced  to  eleven. 
The  Viceroy,  though  of  higher  rank  and  looming  larger  in 
the  eyes  of  the  world,  is  in  the  provincial  administration 

*  Not  abolished,  because  the  provincial  capital,  seat  of  the 
Governor,  is  Soochow,  while  the  Viceregal  residence  is  Nanking. 


fHB  G0V£Ri4MENT^tMpERiAt  CktltA  31 

a  superior  colleague  to  the  Governor,  and  in  all  matters, 
orders  to  subordinates  or  memorials  to  the  Throne,  the  two 
act  conjointly. 

S(iN-FU,  commonly  called  Futai,  the  "Inspector"  or 
Governor ;  addressed  as  Pu-yuan  by  virtue  of  his  Vice- 
Presidency  of  the  Board  of  War.  He  is  the  supreme  head 
of  the  province,  except  in  so  far  as  his  action  is  restricted  by 
the  presence  of  a  Viceroy,  The  post  has  been  abohshed 
(in  1905)  in  those  provinces  in  which  a  Viceroy  resides. 

Pu-CHENG  Shih-sze,  commouly  called  Fantai,  Provincial 
Treasmrer,  with  some  of  the  functions  of  a  Lieutenant-Gover- 
nor. He  is  the  nominal  head  of  the  civil  service  in  each 
province,  in  whose  name  all  patronage  is  dispensed,  even 
when  directly  bestowed  by  the  Governor,  and  is  treasurer  of 
the  provincial  exchequer,  in  this  capacity  providing  the 
Imperial  Government  with  a  check  on  his  nominal  superior, 
the  Governor. 

Ak-cha  Shih-sze,  commonly  called  Niehtai,  Provincial 
Judge.  He  is  charged  with  the  supervision  over  the  criminal 
law,  and  acts  as  a  final  (provincial)  court  of  appeal  in 
criminal  cases,  and  has  jurisdiction  over  offences  by  pro- 
vincial officials.  He  also  supervises  in  a  general  way  the 
Imperial  courier  service. 

Yen-yun  Shih-sze,  Salt  Comptroller,  in  some  provinces, 
and  Yen-jnin  Tao,  Salt  Litendant,  in  other  provinces,  con- 
trol the  manufacture,  movement,  and  sale  of  salt  under  the 
provincial  gabelle,  and  the  revenue  derived  from  it. 

Liang  Tao,  Grain  Intendant,  in  twelve  of  the  eighteen 
provinces,  controls  the  collection  of  the  grain  tribute,  in 
kind  or  commuted. 

The  last  four  officials,  the  Sze-Tao  (or  as  many  of  them 
as  may  be  found  in  the  province)  next  below  the  Governor, 
constitute  ex  officio  the  Shan-how  Kii,  "  Committee  of  Re- 
organisation," a  deUberating  and  executive  Board  of  pro- 
vincial government ;  and  the  six  enumerated  above  form 
the  general  provincial  administration,  residing  at  the 
capital,  except  that  the  ChihU  Viceroy  now  (since  1870) 


52       ttiE  TRADE  AND  ADMlNlSfRAttOii  OP  CtilhtA 

resides  at  Tientsin,  and  the  Liang-Kiang  Viceroy  has  his 
seat  at  Nanking. 

Below  the  Fantai  in  rank  and  above  the  Niehtai  is  the 
Ti-HIOH  SzE,  G)nimissioner  of  Education,  a  new  post 
created  on  the  institution  of  the  Hioh  Pu  in  1903.  This  is 
not  an  administrative  post,  and  its  incumbent  is  not  a 
member  of  the  Shan-how  Ku. 

The  unit  for  administrative  purposes  within  the  province 
is  the  Hsien,  or  district,  as  will  be  explained  below ;  two  or 
three  or  more  (up  to  five  or  six)  districts  collectively  form 
a  Fu  or  prefecture  ;  and  two  or  more  prefectures  are  placed 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  a  Taotai.  There  are  also  two 
other  classes,  the  Chow  and  Ting,  each  of  two  kinds ;  the 
Chow  and  Ting  proper  are  a  superior  kind  of  Hsien,  being 
component  parts  of  a  Fu  ;  the  Chihli-chow  and  Chihli-ting 
are  an  inferior  kind  of  Fu,  both  having  as  direct  a  relation 
to  the  provincial  government  as  a  Fu,  but  the  latter  dis- 
tinguished from  the  Fu  by  having  no  Hsien  subordinated 
to  it. 

Fen-sCn  Tag,  the  "  Sub-Inspector,"  commonly  trans- 
lated Intendant  of  Circuit,  and  usually  called  Taotai ;  has 
administrative  control  over  a  circuit  comprising  two  or 
three  Fu,  or  sometimes  one  or  two  Fu  and  a  Chihli-chow 
or  a  Chihli-ting,  and  is  in  certain  matters  the  intermediary 
of  communication  between  them  and  the  provincial  govern- 
ment ;  but  the  circuit  is  not  an  official  division  of  the 
province,  and  is  nowhere  marked  on  any  map.  He  is  the 
civil  authority  in  control  of  the  mihtary  forces  within  his 
jurisdiction,  and  as  such  is  distinguished  from  Salt  and 
Grain  Taotais  by  the  title  Ping-pei  Tao,  "  the  Taotai  (in 
charge  of)  military  preparation."  He  is  usually  the  Super- 
intendent (colleague  of  the  Commissioner)  of  the  Custom 
House,  if  any,  within  his  circuit,  and  is  then  styled  Kwan 
Tao,  *'  Customs  Taotai "  ;  but  this  is  not  the  case  in  the 
Kwangtung  ports,  where  formerly  the  Hoppo,  and  since 
1904  the  Viceroy,  is  Superintendent,  nor  in  the  Fukien 
ports,  of  which  the  Tartar  General  holds  the  post.    At 


THE  GOVERNMENT^IMPERIAL  CHINA  53 

Tientsin  there  is  a  special  Customs  Taotai  in  addition  to 
the  territorial  Taotai. 

Chih-Fu,  the  "  Knower  of  a  Prefecture,"  commonly 
translated  Prefect.  He  is  supervising  officer  of  the  largest 
political  division  within  a  province,  the  Fu,  of  which  each 
province  has  from  seven  to  thirteen,  with  a  total  of  183  for 
the  Eighteen  Provinces.  He  deals  more  with  the  external 
relations  of  his  Fu  than  with  its  internal  administration, 
and  is  more  a  channel  of  communication  than  an  executive 
officer,  but  acts  as  a  court  of  appeal  from  the  Hsien's 
court.  He  has  no  separate  Fu  city,  but  the  Hsien  city 
in  which  he  resides  is  known  generally  by  the  Fu  name, 
though  on  Chinese  maps  both  the  Fu  and  Hsien  names 
are  printed. 

Tung-Chih,  the  "  Joint  Knower  "  or  Deputy  Prefect,  is 
either  in  charge  of  a  Chow  or  Chihli-ting,  or  exercises  the 
delegated  power  of  a  Prefect  in  a  branch  of  his  functions, 
such  as  maritime  defence,  water  communications,  control 
of  aboriginal  tribes,  etc. 

Tung-pan,  Assistant  Deputy  Prefect,  holds  office  imder 
the  Prefect,  n  charge  of  police  matters,  revenue,  etc. 

Chih-Chow,  "  Knower  of  a  Chow,"  is  either  in  charge 
of  a  Chihli  or  independent  Chow,  with  prefectural  functions, 
and  subordinated  to  no  Prefect  but  reporting  direct  to  the 
provincial  government ;  or  is,  hke  a  Tung-chih  of  the  first 
class,  in  charge  of  a  subordinated  Chow.  Under  this  grade 
are  also  Chow-tung  and  Chow-pan. 

Chih-Hsien,  "Knower  of  the  Hsien,"  or  District 
Magistrate,  whose  functions  will  be  described  below.  In 
the  Eighteen  Provinces  there  are  1,443  Hsien  and  27  in 
Manchuria,  making  1,470  in  all.  Below  the  Chih-hsien 
are  subordinate  officials— Deputy  Magistrate,  Sub-Deputy 
Magistrate,  Superintendent  of  Police,  Jail  Warden,  etc.,  etc., 
but  they  have  no  independent  status. 

The  "  Fu  Chow  Hsien "  constitute  the  general  ad- 
ministrative body  of  the  provincial  civil  service.  They  are 
charged  in  varying  degrees  with  the  collection  of  revenue. 


54       THE   TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

the  maintenance  of  order,  and  the  dispensation  of  justice 
as  well  as  with  the  conduct  of  literary  examinations  and 
of  the  government  courier  service,  and  in  general  with  the 
exercise  of  all  the  direct  functions  of  public  administration. 
A  specimen  proclamation,  given  by  Mr.  Parker,*  well 
illustrates  the  gradations  of  rank  of  the  provincial  officials 
from  highest  to  lowest. 

"The  Magistrate  has  had  the  honour  to  receive 
instructions  from  the  Prefect,  who  cites  the  directions 
of  the  Taotai,  moved  by  the  Treasurer  and  the  Judge, 
recipients  of  the  commands  of  their  Excellencies  the 
Viceroy  and  Governor,  acting  at  the  instance  of  the 
Foreign  Board,  who  have  been  honoured  with  His 
Majesty's  commands.  .  .  .  [commands  end.]  Respect 
this.  Duly  communicated  to  the  Yard,  or  Yards 
[end  of  line],  who  command  the  sze  [end  of  line],  who 
move  the  Jao  [end],  who  instructs  the  fu  [end],  wl^o 
sends  down  to  The  Hsien,  etc.  [Note  how  the  Hsien, 
as  imperial  agent,  gives  himself  capital  letters.]  We 
therefore  enjoin  and  command  all  and  several,  etc." 

The  same  gradation  is  also  exemplified  in  the  accom- 
panying diagram,  in  which,  however,  the  exigencies  of  space 
require  the  apparent  subordination  of  the  Taotai  to  the 
Sze,  while  he  is  actually  "  with  but  after  "  the  Sze.  His- 
torically the  Governor  is  an  interloper,  dating  back  only  to 
the  Ming  D3masty,  being  originally  a  visiting  inspector 
delegated  by  the  Imperial  Government  to  supervise  and 
report  on  the  working  of  the  provincial  administration,  but 
tending  by  degrees  to  become  a  fixture  ;  in  some  important 
functions  of  govenmient  the  Pu-cheng  Shih-sze,  the  original 
Governor,  the  present  Provincial  Treasurer,  still  in  theory 
remains  the  chief.  The  Viceroy  dates  back  only  to  the  last 
century  of  Ming  rule.  The  Taotai  is  still  more  modem, 
dating  from  the  beginnings  of  the  present  dynasty.  So  is 
the  Fu,  but  historically  he  is  the  modern  representative  of 
♦  *'  China,  Her  History,  etc/'  by  E.  H.  Parker,  1901. 


THE  GOVERNMENT— IMPERIAL  CHINA  55 

the  thirty-six  proviBcial  rulers  of  the  Tsin  dynasty  (b.c.  221) 
and  of  the  Han  which  followed  it.  The  Chow  is  also  a 
modem  revival,  representing  the  rulers  of  provincial  areas 
(Chow)  instituted  B.C.  140.  The  Hsien  is  perhaps  the 
oldest. 

A  few  words  must  be  said  on  the  functions  of  government 
in  the  provinces  which  are  not  provided  by  the  official 
hierarchy.  Every  Chinese  official  is  supposed  to  be  qualified 
to  undertake  every  branch  of  human  enterprise,  from 
railway  engineering  to  street  scavenging,  from  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  law  to  the  execution  of  criminals,  and  to 
accept  full  responsibiUty  for  the  consequences  of  his  acts 
or  the  acts  of  his  subordinates.  In  effect,  however,  this 
Jack-of-all-trades  attitude  is  offset  by  the  natural  wish  for 
expert  aid,  and  by  the  equally  natural  tendency  to  create 
a  gainful  office  whenever  possible.  Extra-official  functions 
are  delegated  by  the  responsible  officials,  just  as  in  Mas- 
sachusetts the  elected  executive  delegates  certain  of  his 
functions  to  police,  railway,  insurance  and  charity  com- 
missions nominated  by  himself — i,e,  by  the  exercise  of 
patronage.  In  China  this  delegated  employment  is  actually 
so-called,  Chai-shih ;  and  the  Director  of  an  arsenal  con- 
trolling the  expenditure  of  miUions,  the  officials  of  the 
hkin  collectorate,  the  Viceroy's  adviser  on  international 
or  on  railway  matters,  and  a  deputy  who  does  little  more 
than  carry  messages,  are  ahke  in  theory  only  the  delegates 
ad  hoc  of  the  appointing  power.  These  imofficial  officials 
are  selected  from  the  official  class,  the  class  known  as 
'* expectant"  Hsien,  Fu  or  Tao,  men  quaUfied  to  serve  in 
the  posts  for  which  they  are  expectant,  inscribed  on  the 
register  of  the  Board  of  Civil  Office,  but  not  yet  nominated 
to  a  substantive  post.  Entry  to  this  state  of  expectancy 
is  in  theory  the  result  of  examination  in  hterature ;  this 
is  a  glorious  tradition ;  a  hundred  years  ago  it  was  in 
the  main  probably  true,  but  to-day  money  and  poUtical 
influence  are  the  keys  which  open  the  gates  of  poUtical 
preferment. 


56       THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

IV.  The  Township  and  Village 

The  Hsien  is  the  civic,  political,  judicial  and  fiscal  unit 
of  Chinese  life  ;  it  comprises  one  walled  city,'*'  or  in  the  case 
of  many  of  the  provincial  capitals  the  half  of  a  walled  city 
(in  the  case  of  Soochow  the  third  of  the  city),  with  the 
country  immediately  aroimd  it.  In  it  every  Chinese  sub- 
ject is  inscribed,  and  this  inscription  he  does  not  willingly 
forfeit  or  abandon,  no  matter  to  what  part  of  the  Empire 
or  of  the  outer  world  his  vocation  may  call  him.  Here  is 
his  ancestral  temple  if  he  is  of  the  gentry,  his  ancestral 
home  in  any  case  ;  here  will  he  return,  if  permitted,  in  the 
evening  of  his  life,  and  here  will  his  bones  be  sent  should  he 
die  abroad.  During  the  whole  of  his  Ufe  he  is  identified 
with  his  Hsien ;  it  may  be  convenient,  and  may  elucidate 
his  pohtical  policy,  to  speak  of  Li  Hung-chang  as  an  Anhwei 
man,  but  to  his  fellow-countryman  he  is  the  Hofei(hsien) 
man. 

The  official  head  of  this  district  is  the  Chih-hsien,  who 
may  be  called  Mayor,  if  it  be  understood  that  the  municipal 
Umits  extend  until  they  meet  the  territory  of  the  adjoining 
municipalities.  His  official  salary  may  be  firom  Tls.ioo 
to  Tls.300  (£15  to  £50)  a  year,  with  an  allowance  "  for  the 
encouragement  of  integrity  among  officials"  amounting 
to  three  or  four  times  his  salary ;  the  emoluments  of  his 
office,  however,  may  be  from  a  hundred  to  a  thousand  times 
his  nominal  salary,  but  from  them  he  has  to  provide  for 
the  maintenance  of  his  subordinates  and  his  superiors,  as  is 
explained  in  the  next  chapter.  He  is  appointed  to  his  post 
generally  from  the  Ust  of  expectants,  either  because  he  is 
the  son  of  his  father,  or  because  of  a  sufficient  contribution 
to  what  in  Western  countries  would  be  the  party  campaign 
fund,  or  because  of  good  work  done  in  a  Chai-shih  ;  occa- 
sionally, even  now,  a  high  scholar  is  appointed  because  of 
his  scholarship,  but  it  is  seldom  to  a  lucrative  post.    To 

*  The  cases  of  cities  without  walls,  in  outlying  comers  of  the 
Empirei  are  so  very  few  as  not  to  afiect  the  general  statement. 


THE  COVERNMENT-^IMPERIAL  CHINA  57 

the  different  districts  of  the  Empire  are  applied,  accx>rdiiig 
to  the  facts  of  the  case,  none  or  one  or  two  or  three  or 
all  of  the  four  qualifying  adjectives,  "  busy,  troublesome, 
wearisome,  difficult."  ♦  The  Hsien  is  duly  equipped  with 
Treasurers,  Collectors,  Secretaries,  Clerks,  Jailers,  Runners, 
Constables,  etc.,  many  of  whom  hold  their  position  by 
hereditary  right  or  custom  ;  but  an  official  in  China,  though 
he  may  delegate  his  functions,  can  never  delegate  or  absolve 
himself  from  responsibility,  and  the  Hsien  is  personally 
responsible  for  every  act  of  what  we  may  call  the  municipal 
government.  He  is  everything  in  the  municipaUty,  and 
some  of  the  most  important  of  his  fimctions  must  be 
described. 

The  judicial  function  is  the  most  important.  He  is 
Police  Magistrate,  and  decides  ordinary  poUce  cases.  He  is 
Court  of  First  Instance  in  all  civil  cases ;  the  penalty  for 
taking  a  case  fffst  to  a  higher  court  is  fifty  blows  with  the 
bamboo  on  the  naked  thigh  ;  appeal  from  his  court  Ues  to 
the  Fu,  and  by  that  time  the  resources  of  the  litigants  are 
usually  exhausted.  Civil  cases  are  usually  settled  by  the 
gilds  in  towns,  and  by  village  elders  or  by  arbitration  of 
friends  in  the  coimtry ;  but  they  may  come  before  the 
official  tribunal,  when  the  plaintiff  wishes  his  pound  of 
flesh  and  the  blood  of  his  victim  as  well.  The  Hsien  is  also 
Court  of  First  Instance  in  criminal  cases,  though  a  first 
hearing  may  for  convenience  be  held  by  an  Assistant  Magis- 
trate ;  appeal  Ues  to  the  Fu,  and  cases  involving  the  death 
penalty  are  reviewed  by  him ;  death  warrants  are  signed 
by  the  Niehtai,  except  in  case  of  rebellion  or  of  riot  capable 
of  being  stigmatised  as  such,  when  summary  justice  is 
inflicted.  Appeal  from  the  death  penalty  may  also,  and 
in  the  case  of  officials  does,  go  to  the  Hing  Pu  at  Peking. 
The  Hsien  is  also  coroner,  with  all  the  duties  of  that  office, 
and  hears  suits  for  divorce  and  breach  of  promise ;  he  is 
also  prosecuting  attorney,  while  a  defendant  may  employ 

*  "  The  Office  of  District  Magistrate  in  China,"  by  Byron  Brenan. 
JounuU^  North  China  Bramch  of  the  Royal  Asit^tic  Society,  1898, 


56       THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

a  lawyer  only  to  draw  up  his  plea,  but  not  to  conduct  his 
defence ;  he  is  also  sherifi  to  execute  all  judgments  of  his 
own  or  a  superior  court ;  and  is  jail  warden,  responsible  for 
the  custody  and  maintenance  of  prisoners  before  and  after 
trial.  If  there  is  any  part  of  the  judicial  function  which 
has  been  omitted,  he  is  that  too. 

The  fiscal  function  comes  next  in  importance.  As  is 
explained  in  the  next  chapter,  the  Hsien  is  the  agent  of  the 
provincial  and  of  the  Imperial  administrations  in  collecting 
the  land  tax  and  the  grain  tribute,  but  he  has  no  concern 
with  the  special  tributes  or  with  the  salt  gabelle  or  Ukin ; 
with  them  his  sole  connection  is  the  duty  of  protecting  the 
collectors. 

He  is  also  Registrar  of  Land,  and  the  system  of  verifica- 
tion is  so  thorough  that  a  deed  of  sale  certified  by  his  seal 
may  be  accepted  as  a  warranty  of  title. 

He  is  Famine  Commissioner  for  his  district.  It  is  his 
duty  to  see  that  the  pubUc  granaries  are  kept  full,  and  to 
distribute  relief  in  time  of  distress.  He  is  also  Moth  and 
Locust  Commissioner  to  combat  those  plagues,  and,  except 
along  the  Yellow  River,  is  solely  responsible  for  the  pre- 
vention of  floods  and  reparation  of  their  damage. 

He  is  the  local  representative  of  the  Kung  Pu  and 
the  Provincial  Treasurer  in  the  custody  of  official  buildings, 
and  sees  to  the  maintenance  in  order  of  city  walls,*  prisons, 
official  temples,  and  all  other  pubUc  buildings ;  and  must 
maintain  the  efficiency  and  provide  for  the  expenses  of  the 
Government  courier  service  from  border  to  border  of  his 
district.  From  his  own  funds  he  must  execute  such  repairs 
as  are  ever  effected  to  bridges  and  the  things  called  roads, 
must  see  that  schools  are  maintained,  and  must  call  upon 
the  wealthy  to  contribute  for  public  and  philanthropic  pur- 
poses. He  maintains  order,  sees  to  the  physical  well-being 
of  his  district,  and  is  the  guardian  of  the  people's  morals. 

♦  In  cities  like  Soochow,  divided  between  two  or  three  Hsien, 
the  maintenance  of  the  walls  is  not  also  divided,  but  is  entrusted  to 
the  superior  officer^  the  Fu«  .         . 


THE  GOVERNMENTS-IMPERIAL  CHINA  59 

These  are  the  principal  functions  of  the  Mayor  of  the 
Chinese  municipium,  and  under  the  paternal  government 
of  this  "  Father  and  Mother  of  the  People  "  the  ruled  might 
be  expected  to  be  a  body  of  abject  slaves.  This  is  far  from 
being  the  case.  In  most  countries  the  people  may  be 
divided  into  the  law-abiding  and  the  lawless ;  in  China  a 
third  division  must  be  noted — those  who,  though  innocent 
of  offence,  come  within  the  meshes  of  the  law  through  the 
machinations  of  enemies.  This,  however,  only  serves  to 
redress  the  balance,  since  the  Chinese  are  essentially  a 
law-abiding  people,  and,  in  the  country  at  least,  are  guilty 
of  few  crimes  below  their  common  recreations  of  rebeUion 
and  brigandage.  These  they  indulge  in  periodically  when 
the  harvest  is  in,  if  for  any  reason,  such  as  flood  or  drought, 
the  crops  have  been  deficient ;  but,  apart  from  this  and 
apart  from  the  regular  visits  of  the  tax-collector,  it  is 
doubtful  if  the  actual  existence  of  a  government  is  brought 
tangibly  to  the  notice  of  a  tenth,  certainly  not  to  a  fifth, 
of  the  population.  The  remaining  eighty  or  more  per  cent, 
live  their  daily  life  under  their  customs,  the  common  law 
of  the  land,  interpreted  and  executed  by  themselves.  Each 
village  is  the  unit  for  this  common-law  government,  the 
fathers  of  the  village  exercising  the  authority  vested  in 
age,  but  acting  under  no  official  warrant,  and  interpreting 
the  customs  of  their  fathers  as  they  learned  them  in  their 
youth*  The  criminal  law  is  national ;  but,  with  a  more 
or  less  general  uniformity,  each  circumscription  has  its  own 
bcal  customs  in  civil  matters.  Questions  of  land  tenure, 
of  water  rights,  of  corv6es  (when  not  Imperial),  of  temple 
privileges,  of  prescriptive  rights  in  crops,  may,  in  details, 
differ  from  district  to  district,  will  probably  differ  from 
Fu  to  Fu,  and  moU  certainly  differ  from  province  to  province. 
Such  differences  are,  however,  immaterial ;  the  man  of 
the  country  knows  possibly  only  his  own  village  and  is  not 
concerned  with  any  district  other  than  his  own.  That 
bcal  custom  in  an  adjoining  district  would  aUenate  from 
him  the  foreshore  accretion  to  his  own  farm  concerns  him 


6o       THE   TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

but  little,  if  the  custom  of  his  own  district  grants  it  to 
himself ;  while  the  resident  in  the  former  does  not  think 
of  claiming  rights  which  were  never  claimed  by  his  fathers. 
In  matters  of  taxation,  too,  custom  is  the  guiding  principle. 
The  government  and  the  tax-collector  are  always  tr5ang 
to  get  more  ;  this  is  understood  ;  but  the  people,  strong- 
based  on  custom,  maintain  an  unending  struggle  to  pay 
this  year  no  more  than  they  paid  last  year,  and  increment 
is  wrung  from  them  only  after  an  annually  renewed  contest. 
In  case  of  a  general  and  marked  increase  the  struggle  is 
more  pronounced,  and  may  lead  to  riot  and  arson  in  the 
case  of  viUagers,  and  in  the  case  of  traders  to  the  peculiarly 
Chinese  method  of  resistance,  the  "  cessation  of  business," 
a  combination  of  lock-out,  strike,  and  boycott — a  strong 
weapon  against  the  magistrate,  whose  one  aim  is  to  serve 
his  term  without  a  disturbance  sufficiently  grave  to  come 
to  the  notice  of  his  superiors. 

The  official  head  of  the  village  is  the  Tipao,  "Land 
Warden,"  nominated  by  the  magistrate  from  the  village 
elders,  but  dependent  upon  the  good  will  of  his  constituents. 
Several  small  villages  may  be  joined  under  one  Tipao,  and 
a  large  village  will  be  divided  into  two  or  three  wards,  each 
with  its  Tipao  ;  while  a  village  which,  as  is  often  the  case, 
consists  of  the  branches  of  one  family  holding  its  property 
in  undivided  commonalty,  will  have  naturally  as  its  Tipao 
the  head  of  the  family.    The  Tipao  acts  as  constable,  and 
is  responsible  for  the  good  conduct  and  moral  behaviour 
of  every  one  of  his  constituents  ;  he  is  also  responsible  for 
the  due  payment  of  land  tax  and  tribute.    He  is  the  official 
land-surveyor  of  his  village,  and  has  the  duty  of  verif5dng 
titles  and  boundaries  on  every  transfer  of  kiid ;   and  the 
fees  and  gratuities  from  this,  and  the  power  over  his  fellows- 
villagers  given  by  the  other  duties  of  the  post,  endow  the 
Tipao  with  so  much  local  importance,  that  the  old  com* 
munal  theory  is  lost  to  a  great  extent,  and  the  appointment 
is  often  in  practice  a  matter  of  purchase. 

The  town  i$  cop^idered  ^  collection  of  villagjes,  bein^ 


ftiS  GOVEkNMEkf^mPEklAL  CHINA  6l 

divided  into  chia,  "wards,"  each  with  its  Tipao,  whose 
duties  are  the  same  as  those  of  his  country  colleague.  The 
town  has,  however,  its  commercial  questions,  but  these 
are  ahnost,  if  not  quite,  invariably  settled  by  the  Gild 
concerned,  in  accordance  with  guild  rules,  and  are  seldom 
brought  to  the  cognisance  of  the  officials. 

Of  the  relations  between  town  and  country  it  may  be 
said  that  the  interests  of  the  countryman,  peaceful  and 
law-abiding,  are  sacrificed  to  those  of  the  town  dwellers, 
rowdy  and  competitive.  The  direct  taxes,  land  tax  and 
tribute,  are  assessed  on  rental  value  for  farming  land,  and 
town  property  is  subjected  to  no  great  increase  from  this 
rating.  The  movement  of  food  suppUes,  too,  is  prohibited 
or  sanctioned,  not  according  to  the  interests  of  the  producing 
farmer,  but  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  consuming  townsman. 

The  Army 

The  military  organisation  of  the  Chinese  Empire  is 
divided  into  two  branches,  the  Manchu  and  the  Chinese. 

MANCHU    MILITARY    ORGANISATION 

Dating  from  the  time  of  the  Manchu  conquest  during 
the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  Manchu 
"  nation  in  arms  "  has  been  divided  into  eight  '*  Banners," 
three  superior  and  five  inferior.  The  three  Superior  Banners 
are :  (i)  The  Bordered  Yellow  (yellow  being  the  colour  of 
the  Imperial  family) ;  (ii)  The  Plain  Yellow  ;  and  (iii)  The 
Plain  White.  The  five  Inferior  Baimers  are :  (iv)  The 
Bordered  White ;  (v)  The  Plain  Red ;  (vi)  The  Bordered 
Red ;  (vii)  The  Plam  Blue  ;  and  (viii)  The  Bordered  Blue. 
Each  of  the  eight  Banners  is  further  divided  into  three 
"  nations  " — viz.,  (a)  Manchu,  (b)  Mongol,  and  (c)  Chinese, 
the  last  consisting  of  the  descendants  of  the  natives  of 
North  China  who  joined  the  Manchu  invaders  during  the 
time  of  the  conquest.  Just  as  every  Chinese  is  inscribed 
in  his  native  district,  in  which  he  is  liable  (in  theory)  to 


6i      THE  TRADE  Ahtb  ADMI^tSTRATiO^  OF  dfUNA 

tribute  while  living,  and  to  which  his  bones  are  taken  when 
dead,,  so  all  Uving  Manchus  and  all  descendants  of  the 
Mongol  and  Chinese  soldiery  of  the  conquest  are  inscribed 
in  their  proper  Banners,  under  which  they  (are  supposed  to) 
fight  to  maintain  the  conquest  and  receive  their  quota  of 
the  tribute  and  other  (theoretic)  benefits  of  the  conquest. 
Each  Banner  (Ki)  has  for  each  of  its  nations  (Kusai)  a 
Lieutenant-General  (Tutung),  a  Deputy  Lieutenant-General 
(or  Brigadier),  and  Adjutant-Generals,  two  each  for  the 
Manchu  and  Chinese,  and  one  for  the  Mongol  nation  of  the 
Banner.  Each  Banner  is  divided  into  regiments  (chala), 
five  Manchu,  five  Chinese  and  two  Mongol,  each  with  its 
Colonel  (Tsanling),  Lieutenant-Colonel,  and  Adjutant. 
Under  them  are  Captains  (Tsoling),  each  charged  with 
command  and  supervision  over  70  to  100  households  of 
the  Banner,  Lieutenants,  and  Corporals.  The  main  force 
of  the  eight  Banners  is  "  encamped  "  in  Manchuria  and  in 
and  around  Peking,  and  is  provided  in  the  capital  with 
rations  drawn  from  the  tribute  rice,  of  which  some  two 
million  piculs  (125,000  tons)  are  received  annually.  Outside 
Peking  is  the  *'  mihtary  cordon  "  of  twenty-five  cities  of 
Chihli,  at  which  are  settled  miUtary  colonies  drawn  from 
the  eight  Banners,  Outside  these,  again,  are  the  provincial 
garrisons. 

When  the  conquest  was  completed,  the  Manchus  had 
the  good  sense  to  associate  the  Chinese  with  themselves  in 
the  government  of  the  Empire  and  to  hold  the  country  by 
garrisons  stationed  at  a  few  strategic  points ;  and,  in  the 
original  scheme,  the  garrisons  in  the  provinces  made  a 
total  of  half  the  garrison  of  the  capital.  Of  the  provincial 
garrisons  about  half  were  in  a  northern  belt,  designed  partly 
as  an  outer  defence  to  the  capital,  partly  to  look  out  on 
Mongolia  ;  these  are  the  following  places  : 

Shantung  :  Tsingchow  and  Tehchow. 

Honan :  Kaifeng. 

Shansi :  Kweihwa,  Suiyuan,  and  Taiyuanfu. 

Shensi :  Sianfu, 


THE  GOVE6NM£Nt—tMPEJttAL  CHINA  63 

Kansu  :  Ninghia,  Liangchow,  and  Chwangliang. 
The  garrisons  designed  primarily  to  hold  down  the  con- 
quered Chinese  were  stationed  at  the  following  places  : 

Szechwan :  Chengtu. 

Hupeh  :  Kingchow  (guarding  the  outlet  of  the  Yangtze 
Gorge), 

Kiangsu :  Nanking,  with  sub-garrison  at  Chinkiang. 

Chekiang  :  Hangchow,  with  sub-garrison  at  Chapu,  once 
its  seaport,  now  silted  up. 

Fulden :  Foochow. 

Kwangtung:  Canton. 
In  six  inrovinces  there  are  n6  garrisons — five  of  them  in 
the  air  strategically,  Kiangsi,  Hunan,  Kweichow,  Yunnan, 
and  Kwangsi,  and  the  sixth,  Anhwei,  being  until  Kanghi's 
time  administratively  part  of  Kiangsu. 

In  each  of  the  eleven  provinces  thus  constituting  the 
Marches  of  the  Manchu  Empire  is  stationed  a  Warden  of 
the  Marches,  the  Manchu  Generalissimo  or  Field  Marshal 
(Tsiang  Kim),  commonly  called  Tartar-General,  ranking 
with,  but  before  the  Viceroy  or  Civil  Governor-General,  not 
generally  interfering  with  the  civil  government,  but,  though 
now  innocuous,  originally  able  to  impose  his  will  upon  his 
civilian  colleague.  Notwithstanding  his  high  rank,  he  has 
now  no  more  power  or  influence  in  the  defence  of  the  Empire 
than  the  Warden  of  the  Cinque  Ports  has  in  that  of  England. 

CHINESE    MILITARY    ORGANISATION 

Apart  from  the  effete  Manchu  army,  the  military  forces 
of  the  Empire  may  be  divided  into  two  classes :  (a)  the 
ineffective  official  army  under  miUtary  command ;  (6)  the 
effective  unofficial  army  under  civihan  command.  The 
official  army,  constituting  the  provincial  militia,  is  designated 
the  Army  of  the  Green  Standard,  and  in  the  coast  and 
riverine  provinces  is  divided  into  land  and  water  forces. 
The  greater  part  constitutes  the  Ti-piao  or  Commander-in- 
Chief's  force,  being  under  his  direct  command  ;    a  small 


64      THE  TRADE  AlfD  ADMimSTRAflOft  Of  CHlUA 

body  constitutes  the  Fu-piao,  or  Governor's  command  ; 
and,  where  there  is  a  Governor-General,  there  is  also  a 
Viceroy's  command,  Tu-piao.  The  army  divisions  are 
territorial,  the  province  being  the  highest  unit.  The 
provincial  Commander-in-Chief  is  the  Titu,  commonly 
styled  Titai  and  addressed  as  Ktinmen  ("  Gate  to  the 
Camp").  The  forces  under  his  command  are  divided 
into  brigades,  chen-piao,  under  the  command  of  a  Brigadier, 
Tsungping,  commonly  styled  Chentai.  The  brigades  are 
divided  into  territorial  regiments,  hieh,  under  a  Colonel, 
Futsiang,  commonly  styled  Hiehtai ;  and  these  again  into 
battalions,  ying  (or  "cami*").  Under  the  Hiehtai  are 
Lieutenant-Colonel  (Tsantsiang),  Major  (Yuki),  Senior 
Captain  (Tusze),  Junior  Captain  (Showpei),  Lieutenant 
(Tsientsung),  Sergeant  (Patsimg).  The  official  hierarchy 
of  this  army  exists  solely  for  the  purpose  of  personal  profit 
and  self-maintenance,  the  last  thing  they  desire  being  to 
lead  their  brave  followers  into  action,  even  against  an 
unarmed  mob ;  while  the  rank  and  file  exists  mainly  on 
paper,  but  partly  in  the  shape  of  gaudy  uniforms  to  be 
filled,  for  inspection  purposes,  by  temporary  recruits  en- 
listed for  the  day.  Only  at  some  places,  such  as  the  Kwangsi- 
Tonkin  frontier,  the  provincial  Commander-in-Chief  is 
associated  in  the  conunand  of  effective  troops,  outside  his 
own  official  organisation,  for  the  preservation  of  peace  and 
order  and  the  protection  of  his  district. 

The  effective  army  is  entirely,  except  for  the  possible 
intervention  of  the  Titai  alone,  outside  the  official  military 
organisation  of  the  Empire  or  of  the  province.  In  this  too 
the  unit  is  the  province,  and  the  effective  armed  forces  of 
the  provinces  are  under  the  direct  command  of  the  civil 
authority,  the  Viceroys  and  Governors,  who  themselves 
lead  them  in  chief  for  the  suppression  of  serious  rebellion. 
This  force  dates  from  the  Taiping  rebeUion  (1850-1864),  when 
the  official  organisation  was  found  inefiective  and  un- 
warlike,  and  the  provincial  rulers,  such  as  Tseng  Kwo-fan 
in  the  west  and  Li  Hung-chang  in  the  east,  were  driven 


Tlt£  GOVBRNMENf --^IMPERIAL  CHINA  65 

to  raise  bodies  of  irregulars  or  volunteers,  styled  yung 
(brave),  after  the  fashion  of  the  volunteers  of  the  French 
Revolution  or  of  the  year  of  Leipzig.  In  these  the  highest 
unit  of  organisation  was  the  battalion,  ying  (camp),  nomin- 
ally of  five  hundred  men,  commanded  by  a  battalion-chief, 
ying-kwan,  divided  into  five  companies,  shao,  commanded 
by  a  Shao-kwan.  For  combined  action  any  number  of 
iKLttalions  from  two  to  ten  or  more  formed  a  command, 
with  no  distinctive  name,  under  a  Tung-ling.  This  con- 
stituted the  fighting  army  of  China,  such  as  it  was,  until, 
forty  years  after  its  first  formation,  its  best  representative, 
the  "  foreign  drilled  "  army  of  the  north,  went  down  before 
the  Japanese  in  1894  ;  and  on  this  foundation  is  erected  the 
"  New  Model  "  army  now  in  process  of  organisation. 


Note 

The  devolution  of  responsibility  in  the  repression  of 
disorder  is  shown  in  the  following  item  of  news  : 


Peking,  December  14A,  1906. 

On  December  nth,  the  Grand  Councillors  personally  received 
an  Imperial  Decree  to  the  effect  that  the  rioters  on  the  borders 
of  Kiangsi  and  Hunan  are  furiously  raging  and  that  Tuan  Fang 
(Wceroy  at  Nanking),  Chang  Chih-tung  (Viceroy  at  Hankow), 
and  Tsen  Chun-ming  (Governor  of  Kiangsi)  are  ordered  to 
despatch  troops  to  the  scene  of  the  troubles  in  order  to  suppress 
the  same  and  capture  the  culprits  and  at  the  same  time  to  give 
protection  for  the  railway  between  Pingsiang  and  Liling  as 
well  as  the  mines  at  Pingsiang  and  all  the  foreigners  there.  In 
case  of  failure  the  said  Viceroys  and  Governors  will  be  held 
responsible. 

On  December  12th  the  Provincial  Judge  of  Kiangsi,  Ching 
Ping-chih,  is  ordered  to  take  command  of  the  armies  from  the 
three  provinces  to  settle  the  troubles  in  the  districts  affected 
by  rioters. 


66       THE  TRADE  A^fD  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

Nanchang,  December  14A. 

Ching  Ping-chi,  Provincial  Judge  of  Kiangsi,  left  Nanchang 
on  December  14th  for  Pingsiang  at  the  order  of  the  Peking  Govern- 
ment, and  General  Liu,  who  is  the  commander  of  the  Nanchang 
Brigade  of  the  Standing  Army,  and  Admiral  Hung  Wei-lin,  with 
then:  forces,  followed  the  Provincial  Judge. 


CHAPTER   111 

THE  GOVERNMENT — ^REPUBLICAN  CHINA 

"  These  two  problems,  each  forming  the  counterpart  of  the 
other,  necessarily  arise  in  the  history  of  every  nation,  and  in  every 
age :  the  problem  of  order,  or  how  to  found  a  central  government 
strong  enough  to  suppress  anarchy  ;  and  the  problem  of  freedom,  or 
how  to  set  limits  to  an  autocracy  threatening  to  overshadow  indi- 
vidual liberty."— W.  S.  McKechnie,  "Magna  Carta." 

These  are  the  problems  of  the  West.  In  the  East,  as 
exemplified  by  China,  there  has  been  only  one  problem, 
that  of  establishing  order ;  and  the  problem  of  securing 
individual  liberty  is  one  which  has  never  seriously  occupied 
the  attention  of  Chinese  statesmen  or  thinkers.  The 
intellect  of  the  nation  has  ever  been  drawn  into  the  service 
of  the  government — ^the  agency  for  establishing  order — 
and  that  service  has  been  the  one  channel  for  the  accumula- 
tion of  wealth  ;  while  agitators  and  enthusiasts  have  been 
driven  into  the  ranks  of  the  secret  societies,  finding  all  vested 
interests  arrayed  against  them. 

Asiatic  nations  are  normally  satisfied  with  a  government 
which  will  give  them  order,  provided  that  their  traditional 
customs  are  not  interfered  with ;  and  each  succeeding 
Chinese  dynasty  has  satisfied  the  aspirations  of  the  Chinese 
people  so  long  as  it  gave  a  strong  and  orderly  government, 
and  at  the  same  time  admitted  the  intelligence  of  China  to 
a  share  in  the  administration.  This  was  the  case  during  the 
re^  of  the  first  four  emperors  of  the  Tsing  d3niasty  of  the 
Mancbus  ;  but  with  the  accession  of  Kiaking  in  1796  corrup- 
tion and  weakness  set  in,  and  the  discontent  of  the  people 

67 


6d       TtiE  TRADU  and  ADMtNtSTRATtOif  OF  CHWA 

gave  birth  to  many  rebellions.  These  cuhninated  in  the 
great  Taiping  rebeUion,  which,  coming  after  the  government 
had  been  discredited  by  defeat  in  a  foreign  war,  overspread 
the  country,  until,  in  1853,  not  one  of  the  eighteen  provinces 
of  China  Proper  was  wholly  imder  the  dominance  of  the 
Imperial  authority.  With  this  came  defeat  in  another  series 
of  conflicts  with  foreign  Powers — England,  France,  and 
Russia — and  in  i860  the  djjoiasty  was  utterly  discredited, 
and  seemed  tottering  to  its  fall.  But  the  Taiping  dominion 
was  negative.  Its  chief  characteristics  were  bloodshed  and 
devastation,  and  it  attracted  to  its  ranks  none  of  the  ad- 
ministrators of  the  nation;  and,  in  1864,  the  Imperial 
authority  was  re-established  in  all  the  provinces,  with  the 
full  sympathy  of  the  Western  Powers. 

An  opportunity  was  now  given  to  China  to  recover  and 
to  regenerate  herself.  She  did  neither,  and  for  thirty  years 
she  slumbered.  Then  came  the  rude  awakening  of  the  war 
with  Japan,  1894-1895,  when  she  was  beaten  to  her  knees 
by  a  Power  which  previously  she  had  despised ;  and  her 
people  began  dimly  to  feel  that  the  nation's  equipment  for 
its  task  was  antiquated  and  ineffective.  In  1898  Kang 
Yu-wei  persuaded  the  Emperor  to  institute  reforms,  excellent 
in  themselves,  but  too  radical  for  the  rulers  of  the  Empire ; 
and  reform  was  yet  again  deferred.  The  Boxer  outbreak 
in  1900  was  an  expression  of  the  feelings  of  an  ignorant 
populace,  dimly  conscious  that  things  were  wrong,  but  not 
knowing  how  to  put  them  right ;  it  was  a  mad  outburst, 
and  it  properly  failed,  but  it  awoke  the  people  to  a  sense  of 
nationality.  Then  the  Russo-Japanese  war,  in  1903-1904, 
fought  on  Chinese  soil  and  resulting  in  the  victory  of  the 
Asiatic  Power,  began  to  show  to  the  Chinese  people  great 
possibilities  in  the  future. 

After  1900  education,  on  lines  outside  the  limits  of  Con- 
fucian philosophy,  was  seen  to  be  the  essential  condition 
of  progress.  In  1877  selected  students  had  been  sent  to 
America,  and  had  there  acquitted  themselves  with  credit 
in  the  imiversities.    In  1885  they  were  recalled,  and  were 


THE  GOVERNMENT^REPUBLICAN  CHINA  69 

declared  by  the  hide-bound  statesmen  of  the  Empire  to  have 
lost  their  touch  with  China  and  to  be  imfit  for  responsible 
posts ;  they  were  then  given  employment  as  interpreters, 
telegraph  operators,  etc.,  which  duties  were,  it  was  declared, 
all  they  were  fitted  for ;  but  from  their  number  China  has  in 
recent  years  foimd  some  of  her  most  capable  administrators. 
For  some  years  the  modem  education  of  the  Chinese  youth 
was  left  entirely  to  the  American  and  English  mission  schools 
established  in  China ;  but  after  1900  even  the  rulers  of  the 
Empire  realised  the  necessity  of  reforming  education,  and 
in  1903  the  Ministry  of  Education  was  created.  Schools 
were  established  and  colleges  founded,  and  the  practice  of 
sending  selected  students  abroad  was  resumed.  These 
students  were  sent  principally  to  America  and  to  Japan — 
some  hundreds  to  the  former  and,  owing  to  its  proximity 
and  the  relatively  lower  cost,  many  thousands  to  Japan ; 
and  it  was  from  the  Empire  and  not  from  the  Repubhc  that 
the  students  of  China  derived  their  revolutionary  ideas. 
From  Tokio  came  the  impulse  to  cast  off  entirely  the  ancient 
civilisation  of  the  Chinese  people,  and  from  the  students 
educated  in  Japan  came  the  agitation  which  was  the  greatest 
danger  to  a  peaceful  reform. 

A  few  isolated  risings  against  the  government  were  easily 
suppressed,  and  order  was  maintained,  mainly  by  paper 
reforms,  during  a  few  years ;  for  the  national  demand  for 
reform  was  so  pronounced  that  even  the  statesmen  who  had 
resisted  it  in  1898,  now  felt  that  resistance  was  no  longer 
possible.  Even  the  death  of  the  old  Empress  Dowager,  in 
November  1908,  momentous  as  it  was,  seemed  to  make 
no  change ;  and  order  was  still  maintained  and  re-organisa- 
tion of  the  government  continued. 

In  September  1906  an  Imperial  edict  was  issued,  promis- 
ing reform  of  the  official  system,  the  laws  and  the  finances  of 
the  Empire,  and  re-organisation  of  the  army  and  navy,  and 
undertaJdng  to  introduce  constitutional  government  within 
a  few  years.  On  November  6th  a  further  edict  abolished 
the  old  ministries,  substituting  for  them  thirteen  ministries, 


yo       THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

and  creating  a  National  Assembly  of  elected  representatives. 
In  September  1907  an  edict  placed  the  National  Assembly 
on  a  working  basis  ;  and  in  October  Provincial  Assemblies 
were  created.  An  edict  issued  on  December  25th,  1907, 
held  out  a  promise  of  a  future  Parliament ;  and  on  August 
27th,  1908,  a  second  edict  laid  down  a  programme  for 
nine  years,  at  the  expiration  of  which  a  Parliament  was 
to  be  summoned,  and  full  constitutional  government  estab- 
lished ;  the  intervening  time  was,  it  was  announced,  required 
for  the  training  of  legislators  in  their  duties.  At  the  same 
time  the  draft  of  a  proposed  constitution  was  published,  of 
which  the  first  article  declared  that  "  the  Tatsing  dynasty 
shall  rule  over  the  Tatsing  Empire  for  ever,  and  shall  be 
honoured  through  all  ages."  Other  articles  defined  the 
powers  of  the  Emperor,  the  privileges  and  obhgations  of  the 
subject,  the  rights  and  procedure  of  the  Parliament,  and 
the  qualifications  for  the  franchise. 

ITie  first  Provincial  Assemblies  were  held  in  October 

1909.  Their  duties  were  consultative  and  critical,  and  not 
legislative  or  executive.  With  this  limit  placed  on  their 
power,  they  could  be  little  more  than  debating  societies ; 
and  the  principal  result  of  their  discussions  was  a  collective 
demand  that  the  summoning  of  the  first  national  Parliament 
should  take  place  within  two  years.  This  demand  was 
rejected  in  an  edict  of  January  20th,  1910. 

The  first  National  Assembly  was  opened  by  the  Prince 
Regent  at  Peking  on  October  3rd,  1910,  and  its  presidency 
was  assumed  by  Prince  Pu-Lun.  It  at  once  pressed  the 
question  of  an  earlier  summoning  of  the  first  Parliament ; 
and,  after  some  hesitation,  an  edict  was  issued  fixing  it  for 
the  year  1913.  This  did  not  satisfy  the  Assembly,  which 
demanded  that  a  Parliament  be  summoned  without  delay  ; 
and  it  further  insisted  on  the  responsibility  to  it  of  the 
members  of  the  Grand  Cotmcil.  The  government  still 
resisted  the  demand,  but,  after  many  agitated  debates,  the 
matter  was  compromised  by  an  edict  of  December  25th, 

1910,  directing  that  an  inquiry  and  early  report  on  the  two 


THE  GOVERNMENT—REPUBLICAN  CHINA  71 

questions  be  made.    The  Assembly  was  then  prorogued  on 
January  nth. 

Ahnost  simultaneously  with  the  second  meeting  of  the 
National  Assembly  in  October  1911  occurred  the  revolu- 
tionary rising  at  Wuchang,  by  which  possession  of  that  city, 
with  Hanyang  and  Hankow,  was  secured  to  the  forces  of 
the  party  opposed  to  the  Manchu  dynasty.    This  rising  was 
premature,  but  the  plans  of  the  revolutionaries  had  been 
well  laid,  and,  as  soon  as  success  had  crowned  their  efforts 
at    Wuchang,    risings    occurred    throughout    middle    and 
southern  China,  and  in  city  after  city  the  people  renounced 
their  allegiance  to  the  Empire.    Yuan  Shih-kai,  who  had 
been  driven  from  office  three  years  before,  was  recalled  to 
the  rescue  of  the  Imperial  Court  and  given  full  powers.    He 
was  able  to  hold  the  north  and  even  to  recover  Hanyang  and 
Hankow,  the  latter  prosperous  mart  being  almost  entirely 
destroyed  by  fire  in  the  process ;  but  the  imited  and  resolute 
'attitude  of  the  RepubUcans  in  the  centre  and  south,  and  the 
irresoluteness  and  Bomrbonism  of  the  Manchu  Court  and 
nobiUty  combined  to  make  impossible  the  task  he  had 
undertaken  of  preserving  the  dynasty  as  head  of  a  con- 
stitutional monarchy.    On  February  12th,  1912,  the  Em- 
peror abdicated  and  the  Court  withdrew  to  Jehol,  which 
had  been  its  city  of  refuge  when  the  English  and  French 
occupied  Peking  in  i860.    During  the  intervening  fifty  years 
the  Great  Tsing  dynasty  had  been  kept  in  power  by  the 
genius  and  ability  of  the  Empress  Tse-si,  the  Manchus  Prince 
Kung  and  Grand  Secretary  Wen-siang,  and  the  Chinese 
Tseng  Kwo-fan,  Li  Hung-chang  and  Chang  Chih-timg  ;  but 
it  had  forgotten  nothing  and  had  learned  nothing,  and  in 
the  end  was  a  mere  anachronism. 

The  Cantonese  Sun  Yat-sen  had  been  in  exile,  with  a 
price  on  his  head,  since  1898,  and  diuring  that  time  had  been 
the  moving  spirit  in  the  movement  for  establishing  the 
Republic  of  China.  On  the  evident  success  of  the  revolution 
he  returned  to  his  native  land,  and  was,  by  the  Provisional 
Assembly  at  Nanking,  declared  provisional  President  of  the 


72       THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

Republic.  On  the  abdication  of  the  Emperor  he,  with  self- 
denying  patriotism,  resigned,  and  Yuan  Shih-kai  was 
designated  as  provisional  President ;  and  at  the  same  time 
the  regtdar  National  Assembly  at  Peking  had  its  powers 
restored  to  it.  The  struggle  between  the  centralising 
influence  of  a  strong  national  administration  and  the 
decentralising  influence  of  provincial  autonomy  is  yet  to 
be  fought  out,  and  on  the  result  of  this  struggle  will 
depend  the  form  to  be  ultimately  taken  by  the  govenmient 
of  China. 

The  constitutional  government  which  had  been  drawn 
up  for  the  re-organised  Empire  sufficed  for  the  Republic,  and 
may  be  outlined  in  a  lew  words. 

Metropolitan  Administration 

The  President  occupies  the  position  formerly  filled  by  the 
Emperor  as  ruler  of  the  nation.  He  is  an  executive  President, 
Hke  that  of  the  United  States,  and  not  a  ceremonial  President, 
as  in  France  ;  and  the  reality  of  his  power  will  depend  on 
the  extent  to  which  questions  of  policy  and  patronage  may 
be  controlled  by  Parliament. 

The  Premier  was  designed  to  be  the  Chief  Minister  of  the 
Empire,  as  in  Germany ;  and  with  a  ceremonial  President 
he  would  have  been  the  real  ruler,  as  in  England  and  France. 
With  an  executive  President  he  is  a  fifth  wheel  to  the  coach ; 
and  the  first  incumbent  of  the  post,  Tang  Shao-yi,  the 
leader  of  the  Cantonese  or  ultra-Radical  party,  promptly 
resigned  on  discovering  how  little  power  he  exercised. 

The  Cabinet  consists  of  the  Premier,  as  ex  officio  Presi- 
dent, and  the  Ministers  of  Foreign  Affairs,  Civil  Affairs, 
Finance,  Education,  Justice,  Commerce,  Communications, 
and  Dependencies.  It  is  the  central  office  for  governing 
the  country. 

The  Privy  Council  consists  of  a  President,  a  Vice-presi- 
dent, thirty-two  advisory  Ministers,  and  ten  Councillors. 
Its  duty  is  to  advise  the  ruler  of  the  nation,  especially  on  the 


THE  GOVERNMENT-^REPUBLICAN  CHINA  73 

interpretation  of  the  constitution  and  the  conduct  of  foreign 
affairs. 

The  Ministries,  each  with  its  Comptroller-General, 
President  and  Vice-president,  are,  in  order  of  precedence, 
as  follows: 

Wai-wu  Pu,  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs. 

Tu-chih  Pu,  Ministry  of  Finance. 

Hioh  Pu,  Ministry  of  Education. 

Lu-chiin  Pu,  Ministry  of  War  (the  Army). 

Hai-chiin  Pu,  Minist^  of  the  Navy. 

Fa  Pu,  Ministry  of  Justice. 

Min-cheng  Pu,  Ministry  of  the  Interior. 

Nung-kung-shang  Pu,  Ministry  of  Agriculture, 
Industry,  and  G^mmerce. 

Yu-chuan  Pu,  Ministry  of  Posts  and  Communica- 
tions. 

Li-fan  Pu,  Ministry  of  Dependencies. 

Besides  these  several  Boards  were  provided  by  the 
constitution,  but  of  some  the  duties  will  be  merely  nominal 
since  the  abdication  of  the  Emperor. 

Tien-li  Yuan,  Board  of  Ceremonies. 

Tu-cha  Yuan,  the  old  Censorate. 

Shui-wu  Chu,  the  Council  charged  with  control  of 
affairs  under  the  administration  of  the  Inspectorate 
General  of  Customs. 

Kin-ta-chen,  Board  of  Astronomy. 

Han-lin-Yuan,  the  old  Hanlin. 

Nui-wu  Fu,  Imperial  Household. 

Tsung-jen  Fu,  Imperial  Clan  Court. 

Provincial  Administration 

The  powers  of  the  Provincial  AssembUes  are  limited  to 
discussion,  suggestion,  and  criticism ;  but,  if  the  Chinese 
people  can  develop  properly  the  principle  of  representation 
and  the  enforced  acceptance  by  minorities  of  the  decisions 


74       THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

of  majorities,  there  seems  no  reason  why  in  time  these  as- 
semblies should  not  grasp  the  power  of  the  pm^e  and  the 
control  of  the  executive.  Meantime  the  officials  of  the 
provinces  are  left  much  as  they  were  in  matters  of  ad- 
ministration and  taxation,  as  described  in  Chapters  II  and 
IV.    The  present  organisation  is  as  follows : 

The  Governor-General  remains  unaltered ;  but  he  is 
specially  charged  with  the  control  of  international  and 
military  affairs  within  his  jurisdiction. 

The  Governor  remains  as  before. 

The  Commissioner  of  the  Treasury  assumes  the  duties  of 
the  old  Fantai. 

The  Commissioner  of  Education  has  charge  of  education 
and  the  supervision  of  schools  in  the  province. 

The  Commissioner  of  Justice  replaces  the  old  Niehtai  and 
has  charge  of  the  administration  of  justice  in  the  province. 

Taotais  are  appointed  for  the  province.  Two  are  in- 
variable :  one  in  charge  of  agriculture,  industry,  and  com- 
merce, and  of  the  postal  service ;  the  other  charged  with 
police,  census,  and  sanitation.  In  provinces  which  require 
them  other  Taotais  are  charged  with  (a)  Salt  Gabelle,  (J) 
Grain  Tax,  (c)  Customs,  and  {d)  River  Conservancy. 

Fu,  Chihli  Chow  and  Chihli  Ting  remain  as  before. 

The  subordinate  divisions  Chow,  Ting,  and  Hsien  remain 
as  before. 

Under  each  magistrate  of  these  three  classes  are  the 
following  officers : 

Chief  of  PoUce. 
Superintendent  of  Education. 
Superintendent  of  Agriculture,  Industry,  and  Com- 
merce. 
Inspector  of  Prisons. 
Supervisor  of  Taxes. 

In  each  district  of  these  three  classes  are  to  be  an  Execu- 
tive Council  and  a  Deliberative  Council,  the  powers  of  which 
are  not  yet  determined. 


THE  GOVERNMENT-^REPUBLICAN  CHINA 


75 


The  Army 

The  reorganisation  of  the  army  was  taken  in  hand  in 
1901,  and  the  full  numbers  planned  for  were  to  be  reached  in 
1912.  The  plan  included  a  national  force,  Luchtin,  and 
provincial  troops,  Siin-fang-tui ;  and,  as  projected,  the 
total  force,  officers  and  men,  was  to  consist  of  the  following 
numbers:* 


Guns. 

National 
Force. 

Troops. 

Total. 

Pteking 

202 

33,581 

7,000 

40,581 

Fengtien 

82 

17,^5 

24,600 

42,295 

Kirin 

112 

24,736 

8,350 

33,086 

Heihmgkiang 

14 

I,68l 

8,140 

9,821 

Chihli     . . 

94 

25,617 

25,700 

51,318 

Shantung 

36 

9,296 

14.347 

23,643 

Honan    . . 

42 

6,067 

10,000 

16,067 

Shansi    . . 

18 

5,347 

5,200 

10,547 

Kiangsu 

124 

24,466 

6,500 

30,966 

Anhwei  .. 

24 

4,961 

7,500 

12,461 

Kiangsi  .. 

18 

5,324 

6,500 

11,824 

Hupeh    . . 

84 

17,688 

11,800 

29,488 

Hunan    .. 

40 

6,029 

10,025 

16,054 

Szechwan 

28 

10,789 

13,600 

24,389 

Fukien    .. 

12 

8,435 

3,341 

11,776 

Chekiang 

18 

2,680 

13,800 

16,480 

Kwangtung 

i8 

6,025 

31,300 

37,325 

Kwangsi 

12 

2.317 

24,348 

26,665 

Yunnan  .. 

60 

12,368 

18,470 

30,838 

Kweichow 

6 

2,065 

7,400 

9,465 

Shensi    . . 

12 

4,713 

4,800 

9.513 

Kansn    .. 

18 

4,969 

1,350 

6,319 

Sinkiang 

18 

3,966 

12,900 

16,866 

Total 

1,092 

240,815 

276,981 

517.796 

•  Compiled  from  "  The  China  Year  Book,  1912. 


CHAPTER   IV 

REVENUE  AND  EXPENDITURE 

China  is  an  Asiatic  country.  It  seems  absurd  to  re-state 
this  truism,  but  in  nothing  is  the  fact  more  clearly  marked 
than  in  its  S3^tem  of  taxation  and  its  methods  of  providing 
for  the  expenses  of  administration.  The  Western  mind  is 
accustomed  to  the  system  of  the  conmion  purse  for  one 
administrative  area,  into  which  all  receipts  are  covered 
'  without  being  ear-marked  for  a  definite  purpose,  and  from 
which  all  payments  are  made  irrespective  of  the  source 
from  which  the  funds  are  derived  ;  it  is  also  accustomed 
to  a  complete  severance  of  the  budgets  of  the  different 
administrative  areas — ^national,  state  and  municipal  in 
America,  national  and  municipal  in  Great  Britain,  Imperial, 
Royal,  and  municipal  in  Germany — with  some  exceptions, 
such  as  educational  expenditure  in  Great  Britain,  and 
those  due  to  more  centraUsed  forms  of  government,  as  in 
France.  This  makes  it  difficult  for  the  Occidental  to 
project  his  mind  into  the  system  which  prevails  in  China, 
and  still  more  difficult  for  him  to  distinguish,  in  the  mass 
of  what  appears  to  him  gross  irregularity,  what  is  due  to 
the  system  and  what  to  administrative  and  financial  cor- 
ruption. The  student  of  history  will  recall  the  admini- 
strative S3^tem  of  Europe  of,  say,  five  centuries  ago,  and, 
if  he  has  any  knowledge  of  China,  will  find  many  points  of 
resemblance  in  matters  which  we  to-day  have  come  to 
reprobate  ;  but  any  comparison  is  vitiated  by  the  real 
difference  between  the  feudal  organisation  of  Europe  of 
that  time,  and  the  consolidated  government  of  China,  with 

76 


kEVENVb  A^D  EXPEifDtfUkn  ^f 

the  Son  of  Heaven  at  the  top  and  the  mass  of  the  people 
at  the  bottom,  the  Emperor's  representatives,  the  ofl&cials 
appointed  by  his  centralised  power,  forming  the  link  be- 
tween the  two.  It  is  a  matter  of  common  knowledge  that 
the  income  of  the  Chinese  official  is  not  in  any  degree 
measured  by  his  official  salary,  that  the  annual  proiBt  of 
his  office  may  be  Tls.ioo,ooo,  with  an  official  salary  not 
exceeding  Tls.i,ooo.  This  sounds  terrible  to  us  ;  and  yet 
we  do  not  have  to  go  very  far  back  to  find  a  condition 
similar  in  kind,  though  perhaps  not  in  degree,  existing  in 
Western  coimtries. 

The  Chinese  official  is  nowadays  less  an  administrator 
than  a  tax-collector ;    but  an  inffiiitesimal  portion  of  his 
revenues  is  wasted  on  such  heads  of  expenditure  as  police, 
justice,  roads,  education,   fire-prevention,    sanitation,  or 
others  of  the  numerous  expenses  falling  on  the  official 
purse  in  the  West ;   so  far  as  we,  with  our  hmited  Occi- 
dental mind,  can  see,  he  exists  solely  for  his  own  main- 
tenance and  that  of  his  fellow-officials,  his  superiors  and 
his  subordinates.    This   principle   he,   with   his  superior 
innate   capacity,   has   developed   further   than  was  ever 
done  in  the  West ;  but  the  West  can  furnish,  within  com- 
paratively  modem   times,    some   simiHtudes   which   will 
enable  present-day  readers  to  understand  more  clearly  the 
system  as  it  is  to-day  in  China.    The  revenue  returnable 
from  each  administrative  area  in  China,  town,  county,  or 
province,  is  assessed  at  a  certain  fixed  sum,  which,  more 
or  less,  is  the  minimum  which  must  be  accounted  for,  and  in 
practice   this   minimum   constitutes   the   maximum   sum 
which  is  returned :  what  is  this  but  the  system  which,  in 
the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  furnished  the 
bloated  fortunes  of  the  farmers-general  of  France  ?    The 
administration  of  justice  in  China  creates  no  charge  upon 
the  official  revenues,  but  maintains  itself  from  fees  and 
exactions :    Judge  Jeffreys  is  infamous  in  history,  but  he 
furnished  no  exception  to  the  practice  of  his  day  in  swelling 
the  revenues  of  his  king  and  his  country  from  the    fees 


78       THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

and  fines  of  his  coiirt,  and  in  augmenting  his  official  income 
from  the  same  source.  Every  Chinese  official  takes  for 
himself,  without  question,  the  interest  on  his  official  balances; 
so  did  the  EngUsh  Paymasters  of  the  Forces  up  to  the  time 
of  Pitt,  and  probably  for  many  years  after  this  time  ;  cer- 
tainly until  after  Fox  was  appointed  to  the  post.  Even 
modem  America,  with  the  foundations  of  its  government 
freed  from  all  feudal  substructure,  in  some  of  its  legitimate 
and  legalised  practices  furnishes  a  moderate  example  of 
what  in  China  is  immoderate.  Up  to  a  very  few  years 
ago,  the  office  of  the  SheriflE  of  the  County  of  New  York 
was  maintained  on  principles  inherited  from  the  England 
of  the  eighteenth  century;  he  received  a  salary  ($5,000) 
and  fees  (averaging  $60,000),  and  himself  paid  the  salaries 
of  his  deputies,  and  provided  for  the  expenses  of  his  office  : 
this  is  the  Chinese  system,  except  that,  in  China,  the  fees 
are  taken  and  the  work  not  done.  The  American  consular 
system,  up  to  the  year  of  Grace  1906,  furnished  another 
illustration :  the  income,  perfectly  legitimate  and  legal, 
of  the  Consul  to  Mesopotamia,  let  us  say,  would  consist 
of  his  salary,  $3,000,  and  fees  ranging  from  $1,000  to 
$10,000.  These  instances  are  adduced,  not  in  any  way 
to  beUttle  the  (what  we,  with  our  twentieth-century  views, 
call)  administrative  corruption  of  the  Chinese  Empire, 
but  to  bring  home  to  the  Western  mind  the  underlying 
principle  upon  which  the  Chinese  system  is  based. 

Another  distinction  between  the  fiscal  systems  of  the 
East  and  the  West  is  in  the  "  common  purse."  In  England 
all  national  official  revenue  is  covered  into  the  Exchequer, 
in  America  into  the  Treasury.  In  China,  theory  and  practice 
are  divergent ;  in  theory,  everything  is  subject  to  the 
Sovereign,  land,  property,  and  revenue ;  in  practice,  the 
revenue  is  assigned  piecemeal  from  certain  sources  of  collec- 
tion to  certain  defined  heads  of  Imperial  expenditure,  and 
must  be  remitted  independently  for  the  purposes  assigned. 
One  province,  for  example,  may  be  assessed  Tls.500,000 
as  the  Likin  collection  for  the  year ;   instead  of  remitting 


REVENUE  AND  EXPENDITURE  79 

ttiis  to  the  Imperial  Treasury,  or  holding  it  subject  to  the 
order  of  the  Treasury,  Tls.ioo,ooo  will  be  remitted  direct 
to  the  Shanghai  Taotai  for  the  service  of  the  foreign 
debt,  Tls.50,000  will  be  remitted  to  the  same  ofl&cer  for 
account  of  Legations  abroad,  Tls.200,000  will  be  sent  to 
Honan  for  Yellow  River  Flood  Prevention  account, 
Tls.50,000  will  be  retained  for  renewal  of  the  provincial 
coast  defences,  Tls.50,000  will  be  sent  to  Peking  for  the 
Imperial  Household,  and  Tls.50,000  will  be  assigned  for 
the  upkeep  of  the  Imperial  Mausolea.  From  some  other 
source  of  revenue  grants  may  be  made  to  supplement 
the  revenues  of  a  poorer  province ;  of  the  eighteen  pro- 
vinces, thirteen  forward  such  grants-in-aid,  and  nine  receive 
them,  five  both  granting  and  receiving.  We  may  even 
have  province  A  remitting  to  B,  B  in  turn  to  C,  and  C 
remitting  to  A,  but  each  one  of  the  three  will  remit  in  full ; 
no  attempt  is  ever  made  to  strike  a  balance  and  receive 
or  remit  the  difference ;  to  do  this  would  deprive  some 
hard-working  ofl&cial  of  the  fruits  of  his  industry,  in  the 
profit  derivable  from  the  mere  act  of  remitting.  To  prepare 
a  national'  budget  of  revenue  and  expenditure  would,  in 
Parker's  phrase,*  *'  puzzle  the  shrewdest  firm  of  chartered 
accountants." 

Another  element  of  perplexity,  sufficient  to  prevent  the 
ordinary  mind  from  penetrating  the  mysteries  of  taxation 
in  China,  is  found  in  the  question  of  exchange.  As  will  be 
seen  in  a  later  chapter,  China  has  no  coinage  except  the 
copper  "  cash,"  of  which  to-day  it  takes  about  10,000  to 
equal  a  pound  sterling  and  2,000  an  American  dollar.  Her 
silver  currency  has  no  one  uniform  standard,  and  the  hun- 
dreds of  standards  known  in  the  Empire,  or  the  dozen  known 
in  one  place,  vary  within  a  range  of  over  10  per  cent.  Even 
the  Imperial  Treasury  tael  is  an  actuaUty  only  at  the 
Imperial  Treasury  itself,  and  ekewhere  in  China  is  only 
a  money  of  account.  A  typical  case  will  be  referred  to 
later,  where,  on  the  tax-note.  Treasury  taels  were  converted 
•  "  China,  Past  and  Present,"  by  E.  H.  Parker,  1903. 


8o       TtiE  TRADE  AND  ADMtNtStnAttON  OP  CtiWA 

into  cash  at  2,600  and  converted  back  at  1,105,  whereby 
a  tax  of  Tls.70'66  was  converted  into  a  payment  of 
Tls.i66*20.  But  let  us  take  an  ordinary  everyday  incident 
of  revenue  collected  in  Kiangsu  and  remitted  as  a  grant- 
in-aid  to  Kansu.  The  tax-note  will  be  in  Treasury  taek  ; 
it  will  be  paid  in  local  taels ;  the  proceeds  converted  into 
Tsaoping  taels  for  remittance  to  Shanghai,  where  it  is 
converted  into  Shanghai  taels ;  again  converted  into 
Tsaoping  taels  for  remittance  to  Hankow  and  thence  to 
Kansu  (assuming  that  it  is  remitted  by  draft),  where  it 
is  received  in  local  taels ;  these  are  converted  into  Treasury 
taels  for  accounting  with  Kiangsu,  and  back  again  into 
local  taels  for  deposit  in  a  bank,  and  again  into  Treasury 
taels  for  accounting  with  the  Imperial  Treasury,  and 
again  into  local  taels  or  into  cash  for  disbursement.  This 
is  no  burlesque,  but  an  exact  account  of  what  happens, 
and  we  have  a  series  of  ten  exchange  transactions,  each  of 
which  will  yield  a  profit  of  at  least  a  half  of  one  per  cent, 
on  the  turn-over,  apart  from  the  rate  of  exchange  on  actual 
transfer  from  place  to  place,  and  altogether  outside  any 
question  of  "squeezing"  the  taxpayer.  Moreover,  as  we 
are  dealing  with  the  past  more  than  with  the  future,  it  is 
right  to  record  that,  regularly  in  the  past  and  frequently 
in  the  present,  the  remittance  is  made  by  actually  sending  the 
silver  from  Kiangsu  to  Kansu,  not  reducing  the  exchange 
operations  noted  above  by  a  single  step,  but  adding  enor- 
mously to  the  cost  by  the  expense  of  transport  and  escort 
for  a  journey  which  must  be  counted  by  months  and  not 
by  days. 

All  these  considerations  must  be  borne  in  mind  in  any 
study  of  figures  ♦  purporting  to  represent  the  revenue  and 
expenditiure  of  the  Chinese  Empire.  In  Western  budgets 
the  receipt  side  includes  the  entire  sum  taken  from  the 
taxpayer  for  the  maintenance  of  the  fabric  of  government, 

^  The  principal  authorities  for  the  taxation  and  expenditure  of 
China  are  £.  H.  Fsarker  and  George  Jamieson,  and  any  figures  quoted 
will  generally  be  from  their  writings. 


REVENUS  AUD  EXPEHDtTVEE  8l 

and  the  payment  side  gives  the  entire  amount  expended 
for  administrative  purposes.  In  China  this  is  not  so.  A 
few  heads  of  revenue  may  be  regarded  as  strictly  Imperial, 
such  as  the  tribute  and  the  receipts  of  that  new  and  semi- 
foreign  institution,  the  Maritime  Customs.  Other  receipts 
of  the  Imperial  Treasury  consist  rather  of  surpluses  handed 
over  after  providing  for  all  costs  of  collection  and  all  ex- 
penses of  local  administration  ;  they  correspond  somewhat 
to  the  matriculations  of  the  German  Empire ;  they  corre- 
spond more  closely,  perhaps,  to  the  surplus  remitted  from 
C3rprus  to  Constantinople,  after  providing  for  the  administra- 
tive expenses  of  the  island.  There  are  no  figures  available 
to  show  the  enormous  sums  taken  from  the  taxpayer  and 
devoted  to  the  maintenance  of  the  army  of  officials  engaged 
in  collecting  the  revenue — sums  the  larger  for  being  left, 
in  the  collecting,  to  the  unregulated  and  uncontrolled 
discretion  of  the  Collectors. 

Revenue 

The  heads  of  revenue  collection  may  be  divided  into 
old  and  new.  The  old  comprise :  i.  Land  Tax ;  2,  Tribute ; 
3,  Customs ;  4,  Salt ;  and  5,  Miscellaneous  (taxes,  fees, 
tenures  and  licenses) ;  the  new  are :  6,  Foreign  Customs  ; 
and  7,  Likin ;  with  some  new  license  fees  which  will  fall 
under  5. 

I.  Land  Tax 

The  foundation  of  Asiatic  government  is  conquest,  not 
the  consent  of  the  governed.  When  the  various  dynasties 
who  have  ruled  China  came  into  possession  of  the  throne, 
they  held  the  country  in  the  hollow  of  their  hand — Dieu 
et  mon  droit  their  motto — ^and  the  land  and  the  fruit  thereof 
became  their  property.  Even  an  Asiatic  government, 
however,  does  not  carry  all  its  theories  into  full  practice, 
and  the  usufruct  of  the  land  of  China  is  left  to  its  occupiers, 
with  full  rights  of  transfer  of  possession ;  but  the  rights  of 

6 


82       THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

overlordship  are  recognised  by  the  payment  of  land  tax 
proportioned  to  the  (original)  rental  value  of  the  land. 
This  revenue  was  fonneriy  the  main  dependence  of  the 
government  in  providing  for  its  own  needs,  the  amount 
remitted  to  Peking  constituting,  a  hundred  years  ago, 
probably  two-thirds  of  the  cash  receipts  of  the  Imperial 
Treasury ;  but  a  hundred  years  ago  China  had  no  urgent 
northern  frontier  question  and  no  navy,  and  the  remittances 
to  the  capital  were  required  only  for  the  maintenance  of 
the  Court  and  garrison  and  for  the  metropolitan  administra- 
tion. Two  hundred  years  ago,  in  1713,  the  Emperor,  quite 
in  keeping  with  the  Manchu  practice  of  considering  and 
conciliating  their  Chinese  subjects  in  every  way,  decreed 
that  the  land  tax  throughout  the  Empire,  as  shown  by  the 
records  of  that  year,  was  to  be  fixed  and  immutable  for  all 
time,  no  increase  being  permitted  under  any  circumstances. 
This  permanent  settlement  endures,  in  theory,  to  this  day ; 
the  tax-note  for  each  lot  of  land  to-day  gives  the  rate  of 
assessment  of  1713,  and  the  returns  of  the  total  collection 
are  based  upon  the  permanent  settlement,  subject  to 
authorised  reductions  for  the  effects  of  rebellion,  drought, 
and  flood,  and  to  re-augmentation  on  recovery  when  re- 
ported by  the  provincial  authorities. 

Th^  primary  unit  in  China  for  fiscal,  as  for  administrative 
and  judicial,  matters  is  the  Hsien  or  township,  commonly 
called  district,  constituting  what  in  America  would  be 
called  an  incorporated  city  with  the  surrounding  country 
and  its  villages.  The  Chih-hsien  or  Magistrate  (often 
called  simply  the  Hsien),  in  addition  to  his  other  numerous 
functions,  is  registrar  of  deeds  and  assessor  and  collector  of 
taxes.  All  ownership  and  all  transfers  of  land  are,  in  theory, 
registered  in  his  of&ce,  against  a  fee  (see  under  5,  Miscella- 
neous taxes),  and  validated  by  his  seal  affixed  to  the  deeds  ; 
the  seal  being  impressed  in  vermilion ;  these  regularised 
deeds  are  called  "  red  deeds."  In  practice  this  obligation  is 
often  evaded,  and  the  deeds,  not  being  sealed,  are  then  called 
"  white  deeds."    This  evasion  is  so  common  that  the  Hsien 


REVENUE  AND  EXPENDITURE  83 

and  his  officers  ordinarily  disregard  the  register  of  titles  and 
go  direct  to  the  occupant ;  and  so  much  is  the  payment  of 
land  tax  an  incident  of  possession,  especially  in  the  case  of 
farm  lands^  that  holding  land-tax  receipts  for  three  successive 
years  is,  in  the  absence  of  deeds,  accepted  as  prima  facie 
proof  of  ownership.  The  tax-collector  goes  to  the  taxpayer 
and  delivers  the  tax-note  itemised  in  accordance  with  law 
(the  permanent  settlement)  and  precedent  (the  accretions 
resulting  from  many  a  battle  and  sanctioned  by  the  custom 
of  years).  The  amount  shown  as  the  total  on  the  note  is  the 
amount  which  must  be  turned  into  the  Hsien's  treasury, 
and  takes  no  accoimt  of  the  actual  cost  of  collection,  though 
an  amount  is  always  included  for  it ;  for  the  Hsien,  more 
sinico,  pays  his  subordinates  little  or  nothing  as  salary,  but 
compels  them  to  scratch  around  for  their  maintenance; 
and  even  a  tax-collector  must  live.  The  Hsien,  however, 
arms  his  collectors  with  power,  and  thus  armed  they  are 
enabled  to  extract  their  "  costs  of  collection  "  from  the  tax- 
payer. The  amount  to  be  exacted  is  indeterminate,  and 
forms  the  subject  of  a  battle  annually  renewed  between 
payer  and  payee ;  but  on  an  average  it  is  quite  safe  to  put 
it,  at  the  very  lowest  estimate,  at  ten  per  cent,  on  the  sum 
officially  demanded.  The  official  accretion  is  the  accumu* 
lated  result  of  repeated  battles.  As  Jamieson  puts  it: 
"  The  fixing  of  these  surcharges  and  the  rates  of  commutation 
appears  to  be  left  mainly  with  the  district  magistrates,  with 
the  consent  probably  of  the  provincial  treasurer.  The 
Imperial  Government  does  not,  so  far  as  I  know,  attempt 
to  regulate  such  matters.  The  magistrates  are  mainly 
bound  by  old  custom ;  what  has  been  done  before  is  tolerated, 
but  there  is  always  a  tendency  to  seize  on  every  occasion  to 
try  to  obtain  a  Uttle  more.  This,  if  too  much,  provokes  a 
riot,  the  magistrate  gets  into  trouble  with  the  people,  and 
a  haggling  ensues  until  either  the  extra  impost  is  abandoned 
or  a  modus  vivendi  is  arrived  at  on  some  middle  ground." 

In  one  district,  as  shown  in  the  cases  given  below,  44 
per  cent,  is  added  for  meltage  fee,  and  26  per  cent,  for  an 


84       THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

illusory  "  cost  of  collection  "  :  in  another  the  amount  in  taels 
is  converted  into  cash  at  2,600  to  the  tael,  and  converted 
back  into  taels  at  1,105,  being  an  addition  of  135  per  cent., 
and  then  50  per  cent,  is  added  for  "cost  of  collection." 
The  latter  method  is  the  more  usual,  and  cases  are  common 
and  well  known  where  the  conversion  into  cash  was  at  the 
rate  of  between  5,000  and  6,000,  with  the  effect  of  increasing 
the  land  tax  to  over  five  tiines  the  statutory  amoimt. 

For  the  province  of  Honan  we  have  an  illuminating 
statement  ♦  by  Mr.  George  Jamieson  giving  the  amounts 
levied  on  land  acquired  for  the  railway  with  which  he  was 
officially  connected.  Land  was  bought  in  six  different 
hsiens  through  which  the  line  ran,  to  the  amount  of  9,216 
mows  (the  mow  is  roughly  a  sixth  of  an  English  acre). 
Regular  deeds  of  transfer  were  obtained,  and  in  due  course 
tax-notes  were  presented,  the  correctness  of  the  charges 
being  vouched  for  by  the  deputy  of  the  Governor  specially 
appointed  to  manage,  from  the  Chinese  side,  the  affairs  of 
the  railway.  The  tax-notes  included  land  tax  and  com- 
muted grain  tax,  and  they  are  so  informing  that  two  of  them 
are  given  in  full. 

In  Hsun  Hsien  the  syndicate  bought : 


Land  held  on  ordinary  tenure  ("  min  t'ien  ") 
„       „      ,,  military  tenure  ("  tun  t'ien  ") 

Total 


1*493*753 
91-870 


i.585'^3 


The  taxes  account  presented  by  the  magistrate  of  this 
district  translates  as  shown  at  top  of  next  page. 

The  Kuping  tael  being  a  theoretical  tael,  the  above  was 
paid  by  converting  it  into  local  currency  at  the  rate  of 
103 71  local  taels  to  100  Kuping,  giving  151*43  local  taels 
as  the  equivalent. 

Here  we  have  the  land  tax  as  settled,  "  fixed  and  im- 
♦  "  Land  Taxation  in  the  Province  of  Honan,"  1905. 


REVENUE  AND  EXPENDITURE 


85 


Land  tax  proper  on  1,585-623  mow  at  0*0368355  tael 
per  mow 

For  inferior  touch  or  meltage  fee,  44  per  cent,  on  the 
above 

Expenses  of  collection  at  the  rate  of  300  copper  cash 
on  every  tael  of  land  lax.     Cash,  17,520    . . 

Grain  tax  at  the  rate  of  0*005468  "  shih  "  per  mow  on 
1,493*75  mow  (no  levy  on  military  land),  equal  to 
8*169  "  shih  "  or  piculs  at  6,400  copper  cash  per 
picni.     Cash,  52,282 

X  OU&l  ••  ••  ••  ■•  •• 


Amount. 


Kuping  tads. 

58-407 
25*690 

46-316 


146 


mutable/'  in  1713,  increased  by  accretions,  as  legal  and 
as  regular  as  any  tax  in  any  country,  from  Tls.58-407  to 
TTs.99-684,  an  addition  of  71  per  cent. ;  and  the  commuted 
grain  tribute,  if  we  take  the  market  price  of  grain  at  the 
very  high  rate  of  2,000  cash  a  picul,  increased  from  Tls.  14-474 
to  TIs.46"3i6,  an  addition  of  220  per  cent. 
In  Hsin  Hsiang  the  syndicate  bought : 


Mows. 

Land  on  ordinary  tenure          

„    „    military  tenure           

1,203-512 
105-845 

Total         

1,309-357 

The  taxes  accoimt  was  presented  as  follows : 


Land  tax  proper  on  1,203-512  mow  of  common  land 
at  0*0548392  tael  per  mow    . .         

Land  tax  proper  on  105-845  mow  of  military  land  at 
0-044  tael  per  mow 

Total        •  •         • . 


AmotiAt. 


Tads. 
65-9996 

70657 


86       THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 


Amoimt. 


Cuping  taels. 
i66'20 

3506 

82-02 


payable  at  the  rate  of  2,600  copper  cash  per  tael. 

Cash,  183,710  

Expenses  of  collection  at  the  rate  of  30  copper  cash 

per  mow  on  common  land  and  25  cash  on  military 

land.     Total  copper  cash,  38,752,  equal  to 
Grain  tax  at  the  rate  of  0*01255  piculs  on  conmion 

land    (nothing  on    military  land),   total   15' 1075 

piculs,  payable  at  the  rate  of   6,000  copper  cash 

per  picul.     Total  cash,  90,645,  equal  to     . . 

Total         283-28 

Note. — Equivalent  in  local  currency  to  Tls.293-82. 

Here  we  have  this  fixed  and  immutable  land  tax  in- 
creased from  Tls.70'657  to  Tls.20i-26,  an  addition  of  186 
per  cent.,  and  the  grain  tribute  increased  from  a  legal  maxi- 
mum of  Tls.27-34  to  Tls.8202,  an  addition  of  200  per  cent. 
The  extreme  accuracy  of  calculation  also  is  to  be  noted 
to  seven  places  of  decimals  of  a  unit  of  ciuxency  with  a 
present  vsJue  of  three  shillings.  The  two  accoimts  give  an 
average  addition  to  the  land  tax  of  128  per  cent.,  and  to  the 
grain  tribute  of  210  per  cent. 

Mr.  Jamieson  goes  on  to  show  that  these  six  districts 
in  which  land  was  bought  are  fairly  representative  of  the 
soil  of  the  whole  of  Honan ;  and  after  noting  that  the 
average  taxation  (land  tax  and  grain  tribute  together)  was 
Tls.O'1882  per  mow,  he  proceeds  to  apply  this  average  to 
the  province. 

The  area  of  Honan  province  is  about  60,000  square  miles. 
Assuming  that  two-thirds  of  this  is  under  cultivation,  the 
taxable  area  would  be  over  25,000,000  acres,  or  at  6  mow 
to  the  acre,  say  150,000,000  mow  of  ground.  In  the  Hwei 
Tien,  the  standard,  though  a  somewhat  antiquated  statistical 
record  of  the  Empire,  the  area  actually  registered  as  culti- 
vated is  given  as  63,986,185  mow.  This  was  on  the  authority 
of  the  returns  of  the  17th  year  of  Kiaking  (1812).  The 
amount  is  likely  to  have  increased  since,  and  may  now  be 


REVENUE  AND  EXPENDITURE  87 

approximately  150,000,000  mow.  But  take  it  on  the 
Kiaking  retmns,  and  supposing  the  taxation  levied  on  the 
lands  held  by  the  syndicate  is  general,  the  yield  of  the  land 
tax  for  the  whole  province  should  be  Tls.12,042,200.  Or 
if  we  suppose,  as  seems  more  probable,  that  approximately 
150,000,000  mow  pay  taxes,  the  sum  levied  from  the  people 
wotdd  be  well  over  Tls.28,000,000,  a  sum  which  is  not  very 
far  short  of  what  is  now  returned  for  the  whole  Empire  of 
China. 

Compared  with  the  insignificant  sum  of  less  than 
Tls.3,000,000  now  returned  by  the  province  of  Honan, 
these  figures  may  well  seem  incredible,  but  I  simply  state 
facts  as  I  find  them. 

It  wiD  be  well  to  proceed  in  another  way  in  which  we 
shall  be  on  safer  ground.  It  must  be  assumed  that  the 
railway  corporation,  a  financially  strong  body,  extraterri- 
torialised,  and  officially  supported  by  the  govenunent,  pays 
its  taxes  by  cheques  direct  to  the  Hsien,  and  is  not  compelled 
to  submit  to  the  mediation  of  the  tax-collectors  and  pay  them 
their  expenses.  It  may  further  be  safely  assumed  that  the 
total  collection  reported  for  the  province,  even  less  in 
amount  now  than  half  a  century  ago,  represents  the  tax 
of  the  pennanent  settlement.  On  these  assumptions  the 
land  and  grain  tax  collected  in  Honan  may  be  calculated 
as  follows: 

Legal  land  tax,  return  of  collection  for  year         Taels. 

1900 2,380,000 

Accretion  at  the  rate  of  128  per  cent 3,046,400 

Collectors'  expenses  at  assumed  rate  of  10  per 

cent 542.640 

6,969.040 
Grain  tribute  commuted,  return  of  1900         . .         480,000 

Accretion  at  the  rate  of  210  per  cent 1,008,000 

Collectors'  eiq)enses  at  10  per  cent 148,800 

1,636,800 
Total  land  and  grain  taxes        8,605,840 


88       THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

against  Mr.  Jamieson's  minimum  estimate  of  Tls.  12,000,000, 
and  a  possible  collection  of  Tls.28,000,000,  Every  student 
of  things  Chinese  knows  that  Mr.  Jamieson's  minimum 
estimate  is  well  within  the  mark,  and  that,  to  get  at  the 
amount  paid  by  the  taxpayer,  the  official  return  of  the 
amoimt  collected  must  be  at  least  quadrupled ;  what  can 
be  said  seriously  is  that  it  can  be  proved  that  the  amount 
is  trebled. 

In  applying  the  Honan  figures  to  the  rest  of  the  Empire 
we  are  confronted  by  a  difficulty.  The  permanent  settle- 
ment was  decreed  by  the  second  Tsing  Emperor,  Kanghi, 
and  it  is  a  matter  of  general  knowledge  that  the  earlier 
Manchu  Emperors  governed  China  with  a  light  hand,  and 
applied  far  less  stringent  rules  to  the  remoter  provinces 
than  to  those  within  easy  reach  of  the  capital.  Chihli,  the 
metropolitan  province,  has  nearly  half  its  area  outside 
the  Wall,  imder  the  Mongolian  system,  and  nearly  half  the 
area  within  the  Wall  was  granted  in  military  tenure  to 
Manchu  princes  and  nobles,  exempt  from  land  tax ;  and 
yet  this  province  is  third  in  the  amount  of  land  tax  re- 
turned, collected  from  less  than  a  third  of  its  area.  The 
three  provinces  (Shansi,  Shantung,  and  Honan)  immediately 
adjoining  Chihli,  and  within  the  more  direct  reach  of  the 
Peking  garrison,  are  respectively  first,  second,  and  fourth 
on  the  list ;  Shansi,  rated  above  all  other  provinces,  is  poor 
and  exposed  to  climatic  vicissitudes,  but  is  attackable  from 
Peking  and  from  Mongolia  as  well.  Of  the  remoter  pro- 
vinces it  is  sufficient  to  mention  Kwangtung,  one  of  the 
richest  provinces  of  the  Empire,  rated  tenth  among  the 
eighteen  provinces ;  and  Hupeh,  with  great  agricultural 
wealth,  rated  thirteenth.  It  is  not  for  a  moment  to  be 
supposed  that  the  self-denying  magnanimity  of  the  Em- 
peror, seated  on  his  throne  at  Peking,  is  imitated  by  his 
representatives  to-day,  far  removed  from  the  control  of 
their  overlord.  Of  Szechwan,  Mr.  Parker  says  :  *'  I  spent 
a  year  in  that  province,  and  foimd  that  customary  ratings, 
allowances,  etc.,  practically  made  the  land  tax  in  some 


REVENUE  AND  EXPENDITURE  89 

districts  ten  times  its  nominal  charge."  In  Kwangtung 
we  have  regularly  applied  to  three  districts  in  the  vicinity 
of  Canton  the  phrase  shut  shut,  tso  shut,  tsou  shut,  literally 
"  sleeping  in-come,  sitting  in-come,  walking  in-come,"  which 
may  be  thus  explained  :  the  incumbent  of  the  first  may  go  to 
sleep,  while  his  emoluments  come  rolling  in  ;  in  the  second 
he  may  sit  still,  and  his  emoluments  come  rolling  in ;  in 
the  third  he  must  trot  around,  but  his  emoluments  come 
rolling  in.  It  is  difficult  to  know  just  what  allowance  to 
make  for  this  diversity  of  treatment  in  appljdng  the  Honan 
figures  to  the  rest  of  the  Empire,  but  we  shaU  be  well  within 
the  mark  if  we  take  the  reported  return  for  the  four  nearer 
provinces,  and  twice  the  reported  return  for  the  remoter 
provinces,  as  the  basis  from  which  to  calculate  the  amount 
paid  by  the  taxpayer  ;  and  for  this  purpose  Mr.  Parker's 
figures'*  will  be  taken,  except  for  Honan,  where  they  are 
increased  by  Tls.80,000. 


[ 

'*                FtovlMie. 

Basic 

CoUection. 

Accretion 

X  28  per  cent. 

Collectors' 

Bzpenses 

10  per  cent. 

Total  paid  by 
Taxpayers. 

Shantung 
1       Honan 

Shansi 

Shensi 

Kansu 

Szechwan 

Kweichow      . 

Honan 

Hupeh 
!        Kiangsi 

Anhwei 

Kiangsu 

Chekuing 
i        Fukien 

Kwangtung   . 

Kwangsi 

Yunnan 

Tls. 
2,600,000 
2,800,000 
2,380,000 
3,300,000 
3,300,000 

440,000 
4,600,000 

220,000 
2,400,000 
2,000,000 
2,600,000 
2,614,000 
3,000,000 
2,800,000 
2,000,000 
2,600,000 

700,000 

500,000 

Tls. 
3,328,000 
3,584,000 
3,046,400 
4,224,000 
4,224,000 

563,200 
5,888,000 

281,600 
3,072,000 
2,560,000 
3,328,000 
3.345.930 
3.840,000 
3,584,000 
2,560,000 
3,328,000 

896,000 

640,000 

Tls. 
592,800 
638,400 
542.640 
752.400 
752,400 
100,320 
1,048,800 
50,160 
547.200 
456,000 
592,800 
595.992 
684,000 
638,400 
456,000 
592,800 
159,600 
114,000 

Tls. 
6,520,800 
7,022,400 
5.969.040 
8,276,400 
8,276,400 
1,103,520 
11,536,800 
551.760 
6,019,200 
5,016,000 
6,520,800 
6,555.912 
7,524.000 
7,022,400 
5,016,000 
6,520,800 
1.755.600 
1,254,000 

Total 

40,854,000! 

52,293,120 

9,314.712 

102,461,832 

'  China  :  Bast  and  Present."      f  Amount  returned,  Tls.25.887,000. 


90       THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

Mr.  Jamieson,  applying  the  Honan  average  to  the  whole 
of  China,  says : 

"  In  my  revenue  and  expenditure  report  of  1897,    I 
calculated  there  should  be  650,000  square  miles  of  culti- 
vated land  in  China,  equivalent  to   (in  roimd  numbers) 
400,000,000  English  acres  or,  at  6  mow  per  acre,  2,400,000,000 
mow.    If  the  average  which  I  consider  good  for  Honan 
holds  good  generally  for  the  Empire,  the  whole  amount 
levied  from  the   people   as   land  tax  would  amount   to 
Tls.451,000,000 .♦     In  the  paper  addressed  by  Sir  Robert 
Hart  to  the  Chinese  Government  (printed  in  the  North 
China  Herald  of  April  15,   1904),  recommending  certain 
reforms  in  taxation,  he  calculated  that  the  whole  taxable 
land  in  China  might  amount  to  4,000,000,000  mow,  which, 
on  the  basis  of  200  cash  per  mow,  and  taking  a  tael  as  equal 
to  2,000  cash,  should  3aeld  a  revenue  of  Tls.400,000,000. 
Sir  Robert's  estimate  of  the  area  imder  cultivation  is  greater 
than  mine,  but  on  the  other  hand  his  proposed  levy  of  200 
cash  or  10  tael  cents  per  mow  is,  I  should  consider,  much 
under  the  average  actually  levied.    The  experience  of  the 
syndicate's  railway  in  Honan  shows  an  average  of  o'i882 
tael,  or  nearly  double  the  sum  at  which  Sir  Robert  Hart 
puts  it,  so  that  if  the   present   levy  is   only  continued 
there  should  be  Tls.400,000,000  forthcoming  for  Imperial 
purposes,  and  yet  a  very  large  sum  left  over  for  costs  of 
administration  and  other  provincial  purposes." 

Many  good  authorities,  other  than  these  two,  are  in- 
clined to  consider  their  figures  as  quite  possible ;  and  a 
good  illustration  of  the  obscurity  which  veils  the  finances 
of  China  is  furnished  by  the  difference  between  the  re- 
ported collection,  Tls.26,000,000,  the  almost  provable 
actual  collection,  Tls.102,000,000,  and  the  possible  col- 
lection estimated  by  high  authorities  at  Tls.375,000,000  to 
Tls.400,000,000. 

•  Mr.  Jamieson's  "  average  taxation  "  includes  both  land  tax 
and  commuted  grain  tribute.  His  land  tax  alone  for  the  Empire 
would  work  out  to  Tls.375,000,000. 


REVENUE  AND  EXPENDITURE  9I 

2.    Tribute 

Tribute  is  another  invariable  incident  of  an  Asiatic 
foim  of  government,  and  has  formed  a  considerable  part  of 
the  revenues  of  the  State  imder  all  the  successive  dynasties 
which  have  ruled  China.  In  the  earlier  dynasties  the 
taxation  took  mamly  the  form  of  tribute — i.e.  payment  in 
kind,  and  generally  of  silk  and  grain,  a  roll  of  sUk  and  a 
picul  of  grain  having  approximately  the  same  value.  Under 
the  Sung  dynasty,  in  a.d.  1004,  the  tribute  amounted  to 
49,169,900  pieces  and  piculs ;  in  1049  ^^  ^^^^^  increased  to 
53,588,565,  and  in  1064  to  67,767,929  pieces  and  piculs.* 
In  1148  the  grain  tribute  from  Chekiang,  Kiangsu,  and 
Hukwang,  was  2,395,000  piculs.  In  1324,  imder  the  Mongol 
dynasty,  the  grain  tribute  amounted  to  12,114,708  piculs, 
of  which  Chihli  contributed  2,271,449 ;  Honan  2,591,269 ; 
Kiangsu  and  Chekiang,  4,494,783 ;  and  Kiangsi,  1,157,448 
piculs  ;  of  this  about  3,000,000  piculs  were  sent  to  Peking, 
the  rest  being  retained  in  the  provinces  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  government  and  the  support  of  the  Mongol  garrisons. 
The  tribute  in  kind  required  by  the  ruling  Manchu  dynasty 
takes  many  forms,  including  silks  from  Hangchow,  Soochow, 
and  Nanking,  porcelain  from  Kingtehchen,  timber  from 
Kiangsu,  fruits  from  the  southern  coast,  wax  from  Szechwan, 
etc.  It  also  includes  copper  from  Yimnan,  the  quantity 
required  annually  for  coinage,  before  the  introduction 
of  foreign  supplies,  being  calculated  to  be  85,000  piculs, 
of  a  value,  by  the  market  rates  of  1906,  of  Tls.2,500,000. 
The  principal  tribute  under  the  Tsing,  however,  as  imder 
previous  dynasties,  is  grain.  Before  the  disorganisation 
caused  by  foreign  wars  and  rebellion,  during  the  early 
years  of  Taokwang  (1821-1850),  the  stipulated  quantity 
requfred  in  an  ordinary  year  to  be  sent  to  Peking  was 
2,930,000  piculs  of  rice  and  300,000  piculs  of  millet.  Since 
the  Taiping  rebellion,  of  the  eight  provinces  liable  to  grain 
tribute,  Honan,  Kiangsi,  Hupeh,  and  Hunan  have 
•  "  Banking  and  Prices  in  China/'  by  J.  Edkins,  1905. 


92       THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

commuted  it  for  an  amiual  money  payment,  leaving  Kiangsu, 
Chekiang,  Anhwei,  and  Shantung  still  to  pay  in  kind.  It 
is  estimated  that  from  these  four  provinces  about  400,000 
piculs  continue  to  go  by  the  Grand  Canal,  and  the  annual 
average  of  shipments  by  sea  for  the  years  1902-1905  was 
1,626,000  piculs.  Besides  this  is  the  amount  retained  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  provincial  forces.  An  illustration 
of  the  conservatism  which  rules  Chinese  finances  is  afforded 
by  the  continued  pa}nnent  by  the  commuting  provinces 
to  Chihli  for  cargo  boats  to  convey  from  Tientsin  to  Peking 
the  grain  which  they  do  not  send :  "  A  year  or  two  ago 
(1895)  ninety-seven  cargo-boats  were  destroyed  by  a  tidal 
wave,  and  Chihli  has  just  reconstructed  them  at  a  cost  of 
Tls.39,800 ;  Hunan,  Hupeh,  and  Kiangsi  have  to  repay 
this  sum  between  them."  *  There  are,  besides,  recurring 
payments  for  "  repairs  "  to  imaginary  cargo-boats. 

To  get  at  the  stmi  received  by  the  government  from 
tribute  is  not  easy,  and  it  is  still  more  difficult  to  conjecture 
the  amounts  paid  by  the  taxpayer.  One  thing  seems 
certain,  that  the  "  accretions  "  to  the  tribute  payable  in 
kind  must  approximate  closely  to  those  on  the  tribute 
commuted ;  otherwise,  with  the  weakness  of  the  central 
government  fifty  years  ago,  it  would  have  been  to  the 
advantage  of  the  officials,  metropoUtan  and  provincial 
aUke,  to  commute  in  all  the  provinces.  We  may,  therefore, 
take  Mr.  Parker's  figures  f  for  the  revenue  from  tribute 
and  apply  to  them  the  same  principle  of  accretion  as  for 
the  land  tax,  but  with  no  allowance  for  remoteness  from 
the  capital. 

In  the  table  on  next  page,  for  the  province  of  Kiangsu,  the 
basis  collection  of  Tls.2,500,000  is  increased  to  Tls.8,525,000, 
nearly  three-and-a-half  times  as  much.  I  have  been 
able  to  obtain  the  tax-notes  for  two  small  adjoining  lots 
of  land  near  Shanghai,  outside  the  foreign  municipal  juris- 

•  "  The  Chinese  Revenue,"  by  E.  H.  Parker.    Journal,  North 
China  Branch  of  the  Royal  AsiaUo  Society,  1895-^. 
t  "  China  :    Past  wd  Present." 


REVENUE  AND  EXPENDITURE 


93 


Pxoviace. 

Basic 
CbUectkm. 

Accretioii 
axo  per  cent. 

Cbllcctkm 

£zpensc3 

xo  per  cent. 

Total  paid  by 

Shantung  .. 
Honan  * 
Hnnan  *     . . 
Hupeh  ♦     . . 
Kiangsi*    ., 
Anhwei 
Kiangsu 
Chekiang    . 
Kansu  t 
Kwangsi  t  • 
Szechwan  t 
Yunnan  t  - 

•          • 

Tls. 

500,000 

300,000 

175,000 

420,000 

800,000 

900,000 

2,500,000 

1,100,000 

275,000 

150,000 

50,000 

250,000 

Tls. 

1,050,000 

630,000 

367,500 

882,000 

1,680,000 

1,890,000 

5,250,000 

2,310,000 

577.500 

315.000 

105,000 

525,000 

Tla. 
155.000 
93,000 
54,250 
130,200 
248,000 
279,000 
775.000 
342.000 

85.250 
46,500 
15.500 
77.500 

TU. 

1,705,000 

1,023,000 

596,750 

1,432,200 

2,728,000 

3,069,000 

8.525.000 

3,752,000 

937.750 

511.500 

170,500 

852,500 

Total 

7,420,000 

15,582,000 

2,300,200 

25,302,200 

diction,  and  have  given  them  some  careful  study.  The 
amounts  and  data  filled  in  are  written  in  a  sprawling,  run- 
ning hand,  difficult  for  a  scholar,  and  almost  illegible  for  a 
half-educated  farmer  ;  but  from  them  I  have  made  out  the 
following  particulars : 

First  lot,  area  about  10  mow  : 

Grain  tribute,  6  sheng  9  ho,  taken  as  7  sheng 
(0070  shih  =  8t  catties  =  iij  lb.),  con- 
verted at  6,000  cash  

Springofficialaccretion,T1.0'O95  at  2,500  cash 
Autumn  official  accretion,  Tl.o'OQS  at  2,800 

cash 

Cash     .. 
Second  lot,  area  about  25  mow : 

Grain  tribute,  i  tow  4  sheng  9  ho  (0*149 
shih  =  17-^  catties  =  23-3^  lb.),  converted 

at  7,000  cash  1043 

Springoffidal  accretion,  Tl.o'o87  at  2,500  cash        229 
Autunm  official  accretion,  Tl.O'087  at  2,800 

cash 247 

Cash     . .       1519 
*  Commuted.  f  Always  kept  for  local  administration. 


94       THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

If  fluctuations  and  the  present  inflated  price  of  grain  be 
disregarded,  and  the  usually  accepted  rate  of  2,000  cash  per 
shih  for  grain  tribute  be  taken  as  a  standard,  we  have  in 
this  case  a  legal  tax  of  440  cash  increased  to  an  actual 
payment  of  2,442  cash,  five-and-a-half  times  as  much  ;  and 
if  the  land  had  remained  in  Chinese  ownership,  we  must 
assume  that  the  increase  would  have  been  to  six  times. 
Even  with  the  carefully  digested  figures  given  above,  there 
are  some  elements  of  that  variability  which  is  so  constant 
a  factor  in  Chinese  taxation.  The  two  lots  are  adjoining, 
and  apparently  of  the  same  class  of  land.  One  is  assessed 
at  the  rate  of  0*0069  shih  of  grain  per  mow,  converted  at 
6,000  cash,  and  the  other  is  assessed  at  000596  shih  per 
mow,  converted  at  7,000  cash.  The  official  accretions  are 
assessed  in  silver  and  collected  in  copper,  but  the  spring 
accretion  is  converted  at  2,500  cash  and  the  autumn  ac- 
cretion at  2,800  cash,  the  actual  market-rate  being  now 
about  1,100  cash  ;  the  accretion  for  the  smaller  lot  is  larger 
in  amount  than  that  for  the  larger  lot. 

The  copper  firom  Yunnan  is  sent  now  in  much  reduced 
quantity,  probably  from  5,000  to  10,000  piculs  a  year  ;  and 
with  so  much  of  guesswork  in  the  calculation,  nothing  need 
be  added  for  the  silks,  porcelain,  and  other  articles  of  tribute, 
though  collecting  and  forwarding  them  provides  honourable, 
but  not  honorary  employment  for  many  deserving  officials. 

3.    Customs 

The  same  veil  of  mystery  which  hangs  over  other 
branches  of  the  revenue  service  covers  the  Customs,  called 
the  "  Regular  "  or  native  Customs,  to  distinguish  it  from 
the  newly  established  "  Maritime "  or  foreign  Customs. 
The  offices  of  this  establishment  may  be  divided  into  two 
classes,  those  controlling  shipping  and  those  at  land  stations. 

The  "  Regular  "  Customs  offices  within  fifteen  miles  of  a 
treaty  port  have,  since  November  1901,  been  placed  under 
the  control  of  the  "  Maritime  "  Customs,  with  the  result 


REVENUE  AND  EXPENDITURE  95 

that  most  of  them  are  so  far  regulated  that  irregular  exac- 
tions are  suppressed  and  the  full  collection  reported.  The 
collection  of  the  Native  Customs  under  the  Commissioners 
of  Customs,  increased  from  Tls.2,206,469  in  1902  to 
Tls.3.699,024  in  1906.  Even  before  1901  the  income  of 
the  offices  had  suffered  from  the  inevitable  transfer  of  traffic 
from  the  junk  to  the  safer,  insurable,  and  speedier  steamer. 
What  can  be  said  of  them  relates,  therefore,  more  to  the 
past  than  to  the  present. 

The  typical  Customs  post,  and  the  fattest,  was  that  of 
the  "  Hoppo  "  of  Canton,  abohshed  in  1904  as  being  no 
longer  profitable.  Created  as  soon  as  the  Manchu  supremacy 
had  been  established  over  Kwangtung,  in  order  to  "  milk  " 
the  trade  of  the  wealthiest  trading  mart  in  the  Empire,  the 
incumbent  of  the  post  luxuriated  in  an  abundant  supply  of 
the  richest  cream  during  the  time  that  Canton  enjoyed  its 
statutory  and  actual  monopoly  of  foreign  trade  ;  and  even 
when  the  foreign  trade  had  to  be  shared  with  many  other 
ports,  the  local  traffic  of  the  province  itself  sufficed  to  make 
it  a  lucrative  post.  If  Mr.  Parker  ♦  is  right,  the  amount 
officially  reported  within  thirty  years  past  cannot  have  ex- 
ceeded 15  per  cent,  of  the  sum  turned  into  the  Hoppo 's  trea- 
sury, to  which  must  be  added  the  expense  of  maintaining 
an  army  of  collectors,  supervisors,  and  accoimtants.  He 
says :  "  Chief  among  them  is  the  '  Hoppo  '  of  Canton,  who  is 
alwajrs  a  Manchu  of  the  said  *  bondsman  '  class.  The  *  regu- 
lation sum,'  which  this  official  is  bound  to  collect  from  the 
native  Custom  Houses  at  Canton,  Swatow,  Hoihow,  and 
Pakhoi  is  about  Tls.157,000,  and  every  year  he  goes  through 
the  farce  of  claiming  credit  for  having  '  by  unusual  zeal  and 
industry  '  collected  as  much  as  Tls.200,000,  or  thereabouts. 
But  it  is  weD  known  that  he  pays  at  least  that  sum  for  his 
appointment,  and  that  his  only  chance  of  keeping  the  post 
for  three  yearsr— the  time  usually  granted  for  making  his 
'  pile ' — ^is  to  vigorously  ply  the  palace  with  presents.  .  .  . 

♦  "  The  Financial  Capacity  of  China."  Journal,  North  China 
Branch  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  1895-^. 


96       THE  TRADE  A^D  ADMimSTRATlOlf  OP  CHWA 

From  what  I  could  gather  from  members  of  the  Viceroy's 
staff,  at  least  Tls.i,ooo,ooo  a  year,  in  fans,  silks,  pearls, 
and  other  presents,  had  to  be  sent  to  Peking  at  intervals 
(according  to  the  nature  of  the  present)  of  a  fortnight,  a 
quarter,  a  half-year,  and  a  year."  In  1843,  with  a  collection 
exceeding  ten  million  taels  in  amount,  the  ofl&cial  return 
was  less  than  one  million. 

Of  the  land  stations  but  little  is  known.  One  such  post 
is  that  of  the  "  Peking  Gate,"  of  which  the  regulation 
assessment  is  Tls. 120,000  ;  apart  from  the  taxation  of 
goods  entering  Peking,  its  chief  function  is  to  levy  a  tax 
on  every  official  visiting  Peking  on  affairs  of  State  ;  and  as 
every  high  official  is  ordered  up  for  Audience  on  appoint-* 
ment,  or  on  transfer,  or  retirement,  and  as  the  Wardens  of 
the  Gates  of  Peking  hold  the  kejrs,  the  tax  is  usually  paid 
without  much  hesitation,  amounting  sometimes  to  Tls.50,000 
and  on  occasion,  for  the  incumbent  of  an  especially  lucrative 
post,  to  as  much  as  Tls.ioo,ooo.  Having  secured  entrance 
to  the  city,  the  official  will  then  have  to  open  his  way, 
through  quite  another  set  of  guardians,  to  the  Palace ;  and 
then,  through  the  Chamberlains,  to  the  Audience  Hall. 
The  form  to  be  taken  in  expressing  practical  thanks  to  his 
Sovereign  for  the  honour  of  an  Audience  and  for  his  appoint- 
ment, is  a  matter  of  conjecture.  The  total  collection, 
so  far  as  reported,  for  the  frontier  and  all  other  inland 
stations,  amounts  to  Tls.^6o,ooo.  In  1903  the  Russian 
statistics  showed  an  export  to  China  exceeding  the  Chinese 
Customs  import  by  over  Tls.15,000,000,  and  an  import 
from  China  exceeding  the  Chinese  Customs  export  by  over 
Tls.30,000,000  ;  it  is  imlikely  that  this  trade  passed  entirely 
xmtaxed,  both  on  the  inward  and  the  outward  traffic,  and,  at 
5  per  cent.,  the  duty  collected  on  this  trade  alone  must 
amount  to  Tk.2^2^0,000. 

4.  SaU 

If  the  collection  of  the  land  tax  is  veiled  by  obscurity, 
of  the  grain  tribute  by  equal  obscurity,  and  of  the  "  Regular ' ' 


REVENUE  AND  EXPENDITURE  97 

Custcuns  by  greater  obscurity,  the  greatest  obscurity  covers 
the  revenue  from  the  salt  gabeUe,  owing  to  the  mixture  of 
the  official  and  the  mercantile  element  in  its  collection.  Salt 
is  everywhere  under  the  strictest  government  control,  and 
IS  taxed  at  every  stage — in  its  manufacture,  purchase  at  the 
vats,  transport,  sale  at  the  depdt,  and  sale  to  the  people. 
For  productive,  administrative  and  descriptive  purposes 
the  Empire  is  divided  into  eleven  Salt  areas : 

1.  Shengking :    sea  salt,  supplying  Manchuria. 

2.  Chang-lu  (Long  Reed):  sea  salt,  supplying 
Chihli  and  the  northern  part  of  Honan. 

3.  Ho-tung  ("  East  of  the  Yellow  River  ") :  lake 
salt,  supplying  Shansi,  the  western  part  of  Honan,  and 
the  south-eastern  part  of  Shensi. 

4.  Hwa-ma-chih  ("Piebald  Horse  Pool"):  lake 
salt,  supplying  Mongolia,  Kansu,  and  the  greater  part 
of  Shensi. 

5.  Shantung:,  sea  salt,  supplying  Shantung  and 
comers  of  Honan,  Auhwei,  and  Kiangsu. 

6.  Hwai:  sea  salt;  for  administrative  and  dis- 
tributive purposes  divided  into : 

6a.  Northern  Hwai,  supplying  the  northern  part 
of  Kiangsu  north  of  the  Yangtze,  the  northern  part 
of  Anhwei,  and  the  southern  part  of  Honan. 

66.  Sonthem  Hwai,  supplying  the  southern  part 
of  Kiangsu  north  of  the  Yangtze,  and  Nanking 
south  of  the  Yangtze,  the  southern  part  of  Anhwei, 
the  northern  part  of  Kiangsi,  the  eastern  part  of 
Hupeh,  and  the  greater  part  of  Hunan. 

7.  Szechwan :  well  salt,  suppl}nng  Szechwan,  the 
north*east  comer  of  Yunnan,  nearly  all  of  Kweichow, 
a  comer  of  Hunan,  and  the  western  part  of  Hupeh. 

8.  Yunnan:  well  salt,  suppl)dng  all  Yunnan  ex- 
cept the  north-east  and  south-east  comers. 

9.  Chekiang:  sea  salt,  supplying  Chekiang,  Kiangsu 
south  of  the  Yangtze  (except  Nanking),  and  comers 
of  Anhwei  and  Kiangsi. 

7 


98       THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

10.  Fukien :  sea  salt,  supplying  Fukien  except  the 
south-west  comer. 

11.  Kwangtung :  sea  salt,  supplying  Kwangtung, 
Kwangsi,  the  southern  part  of  Kiangsi,  and  small 
comers  of  Fukien,  Hunan,  Kweichow,  and  Yunnan. 
A  twelfth,  self-supplying  and  consuming,  area  of 
small  dimensions  in  central  Hupeh  need  not  be  con- 
sidered. 

The  Hwai  Administration,  suppl3ring  about  100,000,000 
of  the  population,  is  the  most  important,  and  a  description 
of  its  methods  will  suffice  for  all.  The  Viceroy  at  Nanking 
is  the  direct  head,  and  imder  him  is  an  army  of  controllers, 
agents,  guards,  etc.,  echelonned  along  and  on  both  sides  of 
the  Yangtze,  charged  with  control  of  the  traffic,  prevention 
of  smuggling,  and  levy  of  taxes.  Production,  transport, 
and  sale  are  in  private  hands,  under  licenses  issued  by 
the  Administration.  From  the  vats  to  the  depots  (the 
principal  one  being  above  and  opposite  to  Chinkiang) 
the  salt  is  practically  in  bond.  At  the  depot  the  salt 
is  bought,  at  a  price  fixed  by  the  Administration,  by  the 
holders  of  licenses;  of  these  a  fixed  number,  usually 
300  to  400  to  each  province,  have  been  issued  against  a 
capital  payment  which,  if  there  were  a  demand  for  further 
issue  now,  would  be  Tls.10,000  to  Tls.12,000  each.  The 
licensees  take  their  turn,  which  may  be  once  in  two  years  or 
twice  in  three  years  according  to  circumstances,  and  in  his 
turn  each  is  permitted  to  buy  3,750  piculs  of  salt.  In  order 
to  evade  the  difficulties  caused  by  different  regulations  and 
customs  on  every  route,  different  weights  at  short  distances, 
and  different  taxes  in  different  provinces,  it  is  necessary  to 
select  for  consideration  some  one  province,  and  Hupeh  will 
be  assumed  to  be  the  destination.  The  cost  of  production  is 
Tls.1,130  for  this  quantity,  in  which  is  included  the  vat 
license  fee  and  transport  to  the  depot ;  and  the  price  paid 
at  the  depot  is  Tls.3,725,  giving  Tb.2,595  for  govermnent 
charges  for  storage  and  taxation  to  this  point.  The  trans- 
port to  Hupeh  is  controlled  from  point  to  point,  and  on 


REVENUE  AND  EXPENDITURE  99 

arrival  the  salt  is  stored  in  one  of  the  provincial  depots, 
paying  storage,  and  awaiting  its  turn  to  be  sold  to  the  licensed 
shops,  conveyance  to  which  is  also  controlled.  There  are 
numerous  changes  of  scale,  changes  in  the  method  of  account- 
ing, delays  to  be  avoided,  and  difficulties  to  be  smoothed 
away,  which  add  to  the  cost  of  the  salt  and  to  the  emoluments 
of  the  administration  agents,  and  contribute  nothing  to  the 
revenue,  Irat  which  must  all  be  paid  for  by  the  consumers ; 
and  merely  to  enumerate  the  different  items  of  taxation, 
and  adequately  describe  the  application  of  an  exceedingly 
complicated  sj^tem,  would  require  a  chapter  to  itself.  It 
is  sufficient  to  say  that  the  regular  officially  recognised 
taxation  from  the  depot  near  Chinkiang  to  issue  from  the 
provincial  depot  at  Hankow  is  put  by  good  authority  at 
Tls.i-60,  and  a  little  more  per  picul.  To  get  at  what 
the  people  pay  we  need  only  take  the  retail  price,  which 
is  fixed  by  the  Salt  Administration.  In  Hupdi,  ten  years 
ago,  the  average  retail  price  so  fixed  was  50  cash  a  catty  * ; 
as  the  corresponding  price  in  Hunan  was  56  cash,  and  as 
those  were  the  prices  before  the  increase  in  taxation  to  meet 
the  Boxer  indenmities,  this  price  of  50  cash  may  be  accepted 
as  a  fair  average.  Converting  at  the  same  rates,  the  pro- 
ducer's cost  of  Tls.1,130  for  the  quantity,  3,750  piculs, 
under  one  license,  is  increased  to  Tls.12,545  as  the  price  to 
the  consumer,  the  difference  being  Tk.11,415  ;  if  lls.1,415 
be  allowed  for  cost  of  transport  and  legitimate  profit,  the 
remaining  Tb.io,ooo  (Tb.2*67  a  picul)  is  paid  by  the  people 
as  tax,  r^^ular  or  irregular,  open  or  covert. 

The  consumption  of  salt  in  the  Empire  can  only  be 
guessed.  A  himdred  years  ago  the  official "  blue-books  "  of 
China  put  it  at  20,000,000  piculs,  and  this  was  stated  to 
be  less  than  the  amount  fifty  years  previously ;  twenty 
years  ago  a  Vice-President  of  the  Board  of  Revenue  put 
it  at  28,000,000  piculs.  The  300,000,000  of  the  people 
of  India  consumed  24,300,000  piculs  of  salt  in  1904,  and 

*  A  weU-informed  writer  in  the  China  Mail,  Hongkong,  18S5, 
gives  the  retaU  price  of  salt  at  Hankow  as  64  cash  a  catty. 


100     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

it  would  seem  a  fair  assumption  to  put  the  consumption 
of  the  400,000,000  of  the  people  of  China  at  the  same 
figure.  On  this  basis,  and  calculating  at  the  rates  for 
edstem  Hupeh,  the  people  of  China  pay  Tls.8i,ooo,ooo 
for  their  salt,  of  which  sum  Tls.64,000,000  and  more  is 
taxation  in  one  form  or  another,  and  Tls.39,000,000  is 
taxation  according  to  regularly  published  tariffs  of  charges ; 
the  collection  reported  to  the  Imperial  Government  is 
Tls.13,050,000.*  In  India,  in  1904,  the  people  paid  88,000,000 
rupees,  of  which  76,000,000  rupees  was  taxation  actually 
credited  to  the  government. 

5.  Miscellaneous 

Some  new  taxes  are  included  under  this  heading,  but 
the  greater  part  are  old;  whether  new  or  old,  they  are 
covered  by  much  obscurity.  Many  of  them  are  of  local 
incidence,  and  accordingly  their  collection  and  report  depend 
upon  the  industry,  the  integrity,  and  the  whim  of  the  local 
ofixcials  ;  others  are  general,  but  such  that  there  is  no  check 
upon  the  collection  such  as  is  afforded  by  transit  from  one 
district  to  another.  The  principal  among  them  are  the 
following : 

1.  The  reed  tax,  a  charge  upon  the  marshes  along 
the  Yangtze  and  dsewhere,  producing  reeds  for  thatch- 
ing and  for  fuel. 

2.  The  tea  license,  now  probably  incorporated  in 
the  likin  on  transit. 

3.  Mining  royalties,  insignificant  in  the  past. 

4.  Fees  on  sales  of  land  and  houses. 

5.  Pawnbrokers'  and  other  mercantile  licenses, 
probably  producing  the  greater  part  of  the  reported 
collection. 

6.  Lo-ti-shui,  consumption  and  production  tax,  now 
insignificant,  but  capable  of  development  on  the 
abolition  of  likin. 

♦  "  China  :   Past  and  Present/' 


REVENUE  AND  EXPENDITUSk' '      •*  •  '  •  tOX' 

The  total  proceeds  of  misceUaneous  taxes  *  reported 
to  the  Imperial  Government,  including  cash  receipts  from 
special  tenures,  corvees,  and  purveyances,  is  Tls.3,856,ooo.t 
This  includes  Tls.55,000  from  Honan,  for  which  Mr.  Jamie- 
son  reports  T]s.2oo,ooo  collected  in  1900,  and  makes  the 
following  remark: 

"  By  law  there  is  payable  on  affixing  the  official 

seal  to  a  sale  or  mortgage  of  land  a  fee  nominally  of 

3  per  cent,  but   actually  of  about  8  per  cent,  ad 

valorem.    The  fees  whidi  the  syndicate  were  asked 

to  pay  came  to  over  10  per  cent.    Assuming  there 

are  150,000,000  mow  of  land  in  Honan  of  an  average 

value  of  Tls.io  per  mow,  which  is  well  below  the  mark, 

and  supposing  that  land  on  an  average  changes  hands 

once  in  60  years  or  two  generations,  one-sixtieth  each 

year   gives   a   value   transferred  of   Tls.25,000,000 ; 

8  per  cent,  on  that  should  bring  in  an  annual  yield 

of  Tb.2,000,000.    And  yet  the  returns,  as  given  in  the 

above  balance  sheet,  of  miscellaneous  taxes  from  all 

sources  (of  which  land  transfer  fees  must  be  one)  are 

put  down  as  only  yielding  Tk.200,000  altogether." 

There  is,  in  fact,  the  same,  or  even  greater,  degree  of 

accretion  as  in  the  case  of  the  land  tax  and  the  grain  tribute, 

and,  taking  the  rates  of  increase  accepted  for  the  latter,  we 

have  the  following  figures : 

Tls.  Tls. 

Weising  Lottery  . .     1,000,000 

Other  miscellaneous  taxes      . .     2,856,000 

3,856,000 

Accretion,  210  per  cent,  on  latter  . .  . .  5,997,6oo 
Collectors'  expenses,  10  per  cent,  on  whole  985,360 
Total  amount  paid  by  taxpayers    . .  Tls.16,838,960 

Included  in  this  are  the  proceeds  of  sale  of  honours  and  titles, 
the  amount  of  which  cannot  be  exactly  estimated. 

♦  "  China  :    Past  and  Ptesent." 

t  Includes  Tls.  1,000,000  collected  in  Kwangtung  from  the 
Weising  Lottery. 


TOi  •  tkE'  TKAlk  Akb  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

6.  Foreign  Customs 

We  come  now  to  the  one  branch  of  the  revenue  collection 
of  China  in  which  the  receipt  and  the  report  are  in  accord. 
In  1865  the  collection  was  Tls.8,296,275,  and  in  1905 
Tls.35,111,004,  made  up  as  follows : 

Tls. 

Customs  duty  proper,  Import  and  Export  27,817,190 

Tonnage  dues  on  shipping 1,105,350 

Transit  dues  in  commutation  of  provincial 

levy  of  likin           2,034,407 

Convention  likin  on  opium,  properly  assign- 
able to  the  provinces       4*i54»057 


Tls.35,111,004 

The  sums  properly  chargeable  against  this  collection 
were  as  follows : 

Tls. 

Fixed  allowance  to  cover  cost  of  collection 
and  preventive  service,  but  including  con- 
siderable expenditure  for  Post  Office  (up 
to  191 1),  Marine  Department,  Education, 
and  other  minor  services 3,168,000 

Seven-tenths  of  tonnage  dues  assigned  to 
Marine  Department  (Lights,  Harbours,  etc.)        773,745 


Tls.3,941745 

To  this  must  be  added  small  extras  which,  elsewhere  than 
in  China,  would  go  to  the  national  exchequer,  but  which  in 
China  help  to  maintain  the  purely  Chinese  side  of  the  ad- 
ministration. There  is  the  difference  between  receiving  and 
pa3ang  rates  in  force  at  the  Customs  banks  as  at  all  other 
banks  in  China,  which  may  be  put  at  0*5  per  cent.,  or  about 
Tls.j8o,ooo  ;  and  there  is  the  interest  on  balances  in  hand. 


REVENUE  AND  EXPENDITURE  I03 

which,  on  a  very  safe  estimate,  may  be  put  at  3  per  cent,  of 
s     the  total,  or  Tlsj[,o5o,ooo. 

7.  Likin 

Up  to  quite  recent  times  China,  like  most  countries,  was 
content  to  tax  the  movement  of  merchandise  at  the  estab- 
lished Custom  Houses  only,  i.e,  practically  at  the  seaports 
only,  though  the  taxation  was  imposed  on  all  movement 
past  those  fixed  points,  and  not  on  the  foreign  trade  alone. 
The  only  other  tax  which  can  be  connected  with  the  move- 
ment of  goods  was  the  Lo-ti-shui(vufesfi^a).  The  exigencies 
of  the  government  during  the  Taiping  rebellion,  however, 
drove  the  authorities  to  devise  new  forms  of  taxation,  and 
Hdn  ("  contribution  of  a  thousandth  ")  was  instituted.    It 
was  first  heard  of  in  1853  ;  and  about  1861,  when  the  active 
suppression  of  the  rebellion  called  for  largely  increased  ex- 
penditure, it  was  applied  generally  to  all  the  provinces  then 
under  the  control  of  the  Imperial  authorities.    The  original 
theory  of  the  levy,  one-tentii  of  one  per  cent,  on  the  value, 
imposed  no  great  burden  on  trade,  a  tax  of  the  same  amount 
levied  as  wharfage  dues  for  the  maintenance  of  the  foreign 
municipalities  at  Shanghai,  Tientsin,  Hankow,  and  else- 
where, being  scarcely  felt ;   but  practice  soon  parted  com- 
pany with  theory,  and  the  official  rates  were  mudi  increased. 
Nor  is  the  tax  uniform  in  its  incidence  in  all  provinces. 
Hunan  is  proud  of  its  independence  and  freedom  from  non- 
customary  exactions,  and  in  this  province  the  payment  once 
of  the  full  tariff  rate  of  likin  exempts  goods  from  further 
payment  within  the  provincial  limits,  while  the  accretions 
and  irregular  exactions  are  less  than  elsewhere  in  China ; 
Hunan    is,    however,    exceptional.    Kwangtung   is   more 
nearly  typical  of  the  Empire ;    here  between  Canton  and 
Wuchow,  a  distance  of  about  two  hundred  miles  on  the  West ' 
River,  there  are  six  likin  "  barriers,"  each  constituting  a 
barrier  to  the  free  movement  of  traffic,  and  each  involving 
delay,  vexation,  and  payment.    Along  the  Grand  Canal 
between  Hangchow  and  Chinkiang,  likin  stations,  alter- 


104     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

natdy  collecting  and  preventive,  are  established  at  dis- 
tances averaging  ten  miles  one  from  the  other ;  and  in  that 
part  of  Kiangsu  lying  south  of  the  Yangtze  there  are  over 
250  stations,  collecting  or  preventive.  The  route  from 
Shanghai  to  Soochow  presents  a  curious  condition:  the 
opening  of  Soochow  as  a  treaty  port  enables  foreign  imports 
to  be  carried  there  from  Shanghai  without  further  payment 
of  any  sort,  but  in  1904,  excluding  coal  and  kerosene  oil,  the 
foreign  products  declared  at  the  Custom  House  amoimted 
only  to  Tls.310,000  ;  for  the  rest  of  the  large  traffic  between 
the  two  places  the  Chinese  traders  prefer  to  pay  a  compo- 
sition in  lieu  of  likin.  To  get  their  goods  beyond  Soochow 
into  the  "  interior,"  they  would  still  have  to  come  under 
the  cognisance  of  the  likin  authorities,  and  by  recognising 
that  control  from  Shanghai  instead  of  Soochow,  they  are 
enabled  to  commute  on  the  basis  of  estimated  quantities, 
which  may  be  made  the  subject  of  manipulation  and 
negotiation,  and  not  on  the  basis  of  actual  quantities  reported 
to  and  published  by  the  Customs. 

To  get  at  the  amount  paid  by  the  people  is  more  difficult 
in  the  case  of  likin  than  of  other  taxes.  The  land  tax  and 
the  grain  tribute  are  assessed  according  to  registers  very 
strictly  kept,  and  both  are  under  the  control  of  the  Hsien, 
the  "  Father  and  Mother  of  the  People  "  ;  and  yet,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  regular  legal  accretion  is,  at  the  very  lowest 
estimate,  from  100  per  cent,  up  to  almost  anything  in  reason. 
The  Salt  Administration  is  an  old-estabUshed  organisation  ; 
and  yet  the  actual  receipts  are  threefold  the  reported  col- 
lection, while  the  people  pay  fivefold  that  amount.  Likin 
is  a  new  levy,  with  its  own  administration  independent  of 
all  other  taxing  agencies,  and  the  collection  is  much  more  in 
the  hands  of  the  officer  in  charge  of  each  barrier  and  his  sub- 
ordinates than  is  possible  with  other  taxes.  For  the  regular 
"accretion,"  a  calculation  may  perhaps  be  based  on  the 
following  note : 

"  To   begin  with,   these  are  the  official  figures 
used  in  rendering  accoimts  to  the  Superior  Boards 


REVENUE  AND  EXPENDITURE  105 

in  Peking.  When  these  same  figures  come  to  be 
translated  to  the  rustic,  they  bear  a  very  different 
meaning.  A  special  case,  for  the  facts  of  which  we 
vouch,  will  perhaps  best  illustrate  our  meaning.  The 
fees  which  a  certain  junk,  chartered  by  a  foreigner, 
was  called  upon  to  pay  in  passing  a  barrier,  amounted 
to  12,000  cash.  The  charterer  was  not  interested  in 
disputing  the  amount,  but  he  wished  to  have  a  receipt 
as  a  voucher  for  the  disbursement,  and  for  that 
purpose  he  applied  to  the  native  office,  where  he 
was  tendered  a  receipt  for  Tls.4.  Failing  to  con- 
vince the  officials  there  that  Tls.4  could  not  by 
any  possibiUty  be  regarded  as  the  equivalent  of 
12,000  cash  when  the  market  value  of  the  tael  was 
about  1,600  cash,  he  applied  to  his  Consul,  claiming 
either  a  refund  or  a  receipt  for  what  he  had  actually 
paid.  In  the  correspondence  that  ensued  the  chief 
Chinese  authority  explicitly  declared  that  though 
Tls4  was  the  proper  charge  (which,  indeed,  was 
easily  ascertainable  from  the  tariff),  yet  a  tael  was 
not  a  tael  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word,  but 
was  such  a  sum  as  would  enable  the  local  authorities 
to  lay  down  a  tael  of  the  standard  weight  and  purity 
in  Peking,  and  consequently  included  a  meltage  fee, 
loss  on  melting,  freight,  and  costs  of  transmission, 
and  general  office  expenses,  and  that  all  that  turned 
into  cash  meant,  according  to  old-established  custom, 
12,000  cash  for  Tls.4.  Consequently  a  receipt  for 
Tls4,  the  legal  sum,  was  the  only  receipt  they  could 
give.  In  other  words,  the  procedure  simply  amounted 
to  this :  that  the  costs  of  collection,  as  far  as  this 
particular  collectorate  was  concerned,  came  to  nearly 
100  per  cent. — that  is  to  say,  they  practically 
collected  Tls.7"5o,  of  which  Tls.3*5o  were  the  costs 
of  collecting  Tls.4."  * 
On  this  it  may  be  remarked  that,  if  12,000  cash  were 
•  China  MtiU.    Hongkong.  1885. 


I06     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

collected  in  1885,  it  is  absolutely  certain  that,  on  general 
principles,  12,000  cash  are  collected  to-day ;  and  further, 
that  the  likin  levy  has  been  substantially  increased  since 
1895,  and  again  since  1900.  But,  while  this  number  of  cash 
in  1885  was  equivalent  to  Tls.7*5o,  at  to-day's  exchange  the 
equivalence  is  Tls.io'50 ;  and  to  the  legal  levy  of  Tls4 
there  is  added  Tls.frso,  an  "accretion  "  of  162  per  cent. 
The  collectors  of  this  tax  have  much  more  opportunity  to 
annoy  traders  than  is  possible  with  other  taxes  ;  the  tax  is 
not  paid  at  the  head  office  either  of  the  Likin  Administration 
or  of  the  traders  ;  the  latter  are  anxious  to  get  their  goods 
to  market,  and  will  willingly  pay  for  expedition  ;  and  the 
opportunity  of  the  collectors  recurs  at  each  barrier  to  be 
passed.  Moreover,  barriers  on  one  route  compete  with 
those  on  another,  and  composition  and  under-declaration 
are  recognised  incidents  of  trade  ;  but,  while  reducing  the 
amount  collected  and  reported,  it  is  not  for  a  moment  to  be 
supposed  that  the  collectors  will  permit  their  individual 
emoluments  to  be  affected  unless  in  a  sense  favourable  to 
themselves.  Students  of  things  Chinese  would  promptly 
reject  the  suggestion  that  the  addition  for  "collectors' 
expenses,"  the  personal  emoluments  of  the  active  agents, 
can  be  as  low  as  10  per  cent,  of  the  amount  collected  ;  but 
as  this  rate  has  been  taken  for  land  tax  and  other  levies, 
it  will  be  taken  for  this  head  of  revenue  as  well.  Taking 
Mr.  Parker's  figures  ♦  for  the  reported  collection  we  have, 
then,  the  following  statement : 

TIs. 
Reported  likin  on  general  merchandise    . .     11,930,000 
Accretion  at  162  per  cent.  . .         . .         . .     19,326,600 

G)llectors'  charges  at  10  per  cent.  . .      3,125,660 


Total  sum  paid  by  taxpayers         . .         Tls.34,382,260 

In  this  is  not  included  the  collection  on  native  opium. 
This  product  is  bashful  and  retiring,  and  prefers  the  bye- 
♦  "  China :  Fast  and  PnsenV 


REVENUE  AND  EXPENDITURE  I07 

ways  to  the  highways,  and  it  is  absolutely  certain  that  the 
difierence  between  the  sums  paid  and  the  amount  reported 
is  much  greater  than  in  the  case  of  general  merchandise ; 
calculating  it,  however,  on  the  same  basis  we  have : 

Tls. 
Reported  collection  from  native  opium  ♦  . .      2,830,000 

Accretion  at  162  per  cent 4,584,600 

Collectors'  charges  at  10  per  cent.  .  -         741,460 


Total  sum  paid  by  taxpayers         . .  Tls.8,155,060 

The  consumption  of  imtive  opium  in  China  is  certainly  t 
well  over  300,000  piculs,  and  the  total  revenue  reported  as 
collected  from  it  (taking  the  year  1904)  is  the  above  sum  of 
Tls.2,830,000  and  a  sum  of  Tls.920,59i8  collected  on  move- 
ment by  steamer  through  the  Foreign  Customs,  making  a 
total  of  Tls.3,750,598  ;  in  the  same  year  there  was  collected 
by  the  Foreign  Customs  from  54,752  piculs  of  foreign  opium 
the  sum  of  Tls.  6,025,121. 

Expenditure 

When  we  come  to  consider  the  expenditure  of  the  Empire 
we  find  ourselves  in  a  labyrinth,  and  the  difficulty  is  well 
illustrated  by  Mr.  P^ker  %  in  the  following  words : 

"To  ascertain  what  is  at  the  present  day  the 
expenditure  upon  each  head  is  no  easy  matter,  for 
all  accounts  in  China  seem  to  be  so  arranged  as 
to  present  as  many  anfractuosities,  callosities,  and 
complications  as  possible,  in  clearing  which  obstruc- 
tions the  silver  has,  of  course,  all  the  more  chance 
of  halting  piecemeal  on  the  way  to  its  nominal 
destination.  Thus  there  are  allowances  on  the  scale 
for  the  melting-pot,  for  sweating,  for  wear  and  tear, 

*  Including  Tls.870,000  from  opium  in  Manchuria,  which  has  a 
separate  budget.  t  Written  in  1906, 

%  "  The  Financial  Capacity  of  China/' 


I06    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

for  freight,  for  escort,  for  the  '  rice '  of  the  Board 

officials  who  receive  it,  for  local  weights,  stationery, 

cartage,    haulage,    porterage,    etc.,    etc.    Wherever 

any  question  comes  in  of  turning  copper  cash  into 

silver,  or  taels  into  dollars,  or  vice  versa,  of  course 

there  is  a  '  squeeze.'    Then  there  are  arrears  to  be 

dunned  for,  advances  to  be  made,  loans  to  other 

provinces,  divertings  to  meet  sudden  or  unforeseen 

demands,    such    as    Amines,    wars,    foreign    loans. 

Imperial   marriages,    birthdays,    funerals,    etc.,    etc. 

Remissions  of  taxation  are   very  troublesome,   for 

those  who  have  aheady  paid  their  money  never  get 

it  back,  whilst  those  who  receive  payment  have  an 

opportunity  of  juggling  with  the  date  of  remission, 

both  when  it  begins  and  when  it  ends." 

Nor  is  this  all.    As  we  have  seen,  especially  in  the  case 

of  the  land  tax,  the  cost  of  government  is  provided  for  in 

such  a  way  that  the  greater  part  of  the  charge  does  not,  and 

cannot,  appear  in  any  official  account  of  expenditure.    The 

basic  charge  on  revenue  accoimt  is  increased  by  legalised 

and  regular  accretion,  and  this  again  by  indeterminate 

charges  which  the  collectors  collect  for  themselves,  and  to  a 

great  extent  at  their  own  sweet  will.    Both  accretion  and 

collectors'  charges  are  stigmatised  by  critics  of  the  Chinese 

government  as  "  squeeze,"  or  extortion ;    but,  while   the 

method  of  collection  opens  the  door  to  personal  corruption, 

still  this  is  the  Chinese  system.    In  the  West,  the  collector 

is  paid  a  fixed  salary,  with  possibly  a  commission  on  his 

takings,  but  issued  from  the  Treasury  ;  and  the  magistrate, 

the  official  with  a  fixed  office,  is  paid  by  a  sufficient  and 

all-inclusive  salary.    This  is  not  so  in  China,  where  both 

collector  and  magistrate  must  fend  for  themselves.    The 

collector  takes  his  charges,  but  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose 

that  his  takings  are  all  pure  profit :  to  maintain  his  position 

he  must  satisfy  all  in  direct  authority  over  him,  thereby 

securing  to  his  superiors  what  is  considered  the  just  Chinese 

equivalent  of  "  salary."    The  Hsien  will  have  received  the 


REVENUE  AND  EXPENDITURE  I09 

basic  tax  plus  accretion  plus  what  may  come  to  him  as  his 
share  in  collectors'  charges,  and  from  this  must  i»rovide  for 
the  maintenance  of  all  his  subordinates,  less  the  proportion 
which  they  themselves  may  have  received  as  their  share 
out  of  the  collectors'  charges ;   and  he  must  then  provide 
for  the  maintenance  (what  we  would  term  salary)  of  all  in 
direct  control  over  him  or  able  to  influence  his  appointment 
or  his  actions.    On  his  first  appointment,  and  annually  or 
at  more  frequent  periods  during  his  tenure  of  office,  he  must 
give  gratifications,  depending  in  amount  upon  the  more 
or  less  lucrative  character  of  his  post,  to  his  immediate 
superiors,  the  Fu  or  Prefect,  and  the  Taotai ;  and  he  is 
the  more  bound  to  satisfy  the  provincial  magnates,  Judge, 
Treasurer,  Governor,  and  Viceroy,  in  whose  patronage  he 
his  appointment,  retention  in  office,  and  promotion  ;  and  he 
must  not  neglect  these  great  men's  secretaries  and  account- 
ants, who  are  in  a  position  to  slip  a  good  or  evil  word  into 
their  masters'  ears.    So  with  the  Fu  and  the  Taotai.    The 
high  provincial  authorities,  too,  must  fortify  their  position 
at  the  capital ;  and  a  portion  of  their  emoluments,  received 
from  their  subordinates,  must  be  passed  on,  regularly  and 
almost  as  assessment,  to  the  higher  metropoUtan  officials 
and  Ministers  of  State,  and  to  the  officials  of  the  Palace,  any 
one  of  whom,  if  neglected,  might  have  influence  to  reduce 
the  perquisites  of  a  self-seeking  official  or  delay  his  pro- 
motion, and  to  put  a  spoke  in  the  wheel  of  one  who  proposed 
measures  to  benefit  his  province.    This  is  the  Chinese 
system,  and  while  a  change  may  be  brought  about  by  the 
spirit  of  reform  which  is  in  the  air,  this  book  deals  with 
the  past  alone ;   but,  taken  as  it  is,  the  system  obviously 
prevents  any,  even  approximate,  statement  of  the  cost  of 
government  in  China. 

Even  when  we  come  to  what  may  be  called  the  official 
budget — the  account  of  collection  officially  reported  and 
transferred  to  the  control  of  the  Imperial  Treasury — we  are 
bewildered  by  the  confusion  resulting  from  the  absence  of 
the  common  purse.    This  is  illustrated  by  a  small  item  of 


no    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

expenditure,  one  of  Tls.6oo,ooo  for  the  Imperial  House- 
hold, which  is  shown  in  the  following  note  by  Mr.  Parker  * 
to  be  drawn  from  eight  different  sources : 

"  Let  us  now  descend  from  generalities  to  a  few 
specific  facts.  Let  us  begin  with  the  expenditure 
of  the  Emperor  himself.  Beginning  with  the  year 
1866,  the  annual  sum  to  be  sent  by  the  various 
provincial  Customs  Stations  to  the  Imperial  House- 
hold OflBce  was  fixed  at  Tls.300,000  (then  about 
£100,000,  but  now  only  equal  to  half  that  amount  in 
gold).  Two  years  later  it  was  found  that  this 
amount  was  insufficient,  and  it  was  raised  to 
Tls.600,000.  This  sum  is  annually  '  appropriated  ' 
by  the  Board  of  Revenue  before  the  beginning  of 
the  year  in  which  it  is  due.  Half  has  to  reach 
Peking  before  the  middle  of  July,  and  the  balance 
a  month  before  the  end  of  the  Chinese  year,  or, 
say,  December.  The  appropriations  ordered  by  the 
Board  for  the  year  1896  are  as  follows : 

Tls. 
Chekiang  province.  Salt  dues  fund    . .         50,000 


Kwangtung 
Fukien  „         Tea 

Foochow  native  customs  receipts 
Foochow  foreign        „  „ 

Shanghai       „  „  „ 

North  Kwangtung  native  customs 
Kiukiang  native  customs 


50,000 

50,000 

100,000 

50,000 

50.000 

100,000 

150,000 


Most  of  these  appropriations  are  constant  year  by 
year,  but,  to  take  the  year  1887  as  an  instance  of 
change,  in  that  year  the  Hupeh  salt  likin  took  the 
place  of  the  Sliuainghai  foreign  customs ;  and  the 
Kiangsu  salt-gabelle  (Tls.120,000)  and  native  customs 
at  H^^'aian  (Tls.30,000)  took  that  of  the  two  Foochow 
customs  combined.  It  must  also  be  explained  that 
*  "  The  Financial  Capacity  of  China." 


nSVENUE  AND  EXPENDITURE  III 

in  1893  the  Board  of  Finance  advanced  Tls.212,390 
to  the  Buttery  Office  of  the  Household,  which  sum 
has  to  be  deducted  and  repaid  in  1896." 

The  sum,  Tls.7,000,000,  allocated  to  the  maintenance  of 
the  Manchu  Bannermen  at  Peking,  is  shown  to  be  drawn 
from  fifty-two  different  sources,  in  sums  ranging  from 
Tls.24,000  to  Tls45o,ooo. 

Subject  to  full  consideration  of  all  these  omissions  and 
of  all  the  obscurity  hanging  over  Chinese  accounts,  on  pages 
115  and  116  is  given  the  official  budget  of  the  province  of 
Honan  for  1900,  as  given  by  Mr.  Jamieson.* 

A  province  with  a  population  of  21,000,000  contri- 
butes Tls.1,895,000  (£285,000)  for  Imperial  purposes,  and 
maintains  its  own  provincial  administration,  including  the 
expensive  and  burdensome  YeDow  River  Conservancy,  on 
an  expenditure  of  Tls.  1,678,000  (£250,000)  ! 

Let  us  now  abstract  from  Mr.  Parker's  figures,t  the 
result  of  long  and  careful  inquiry  by  a  most  competent 
inquirer,  the  Imperial  "  open  "  budget  for  the  eighteen 
provinces  constituting  China  Proper,  with  certain  cor- 
rections to  bring  the  actual  figures  up  to  date. 

Revenue 

Tls. 

i.  Land  tax  reported  paid  in  money    . .  25,887,000 

ii.  Tribute,  whether  commuted  or  not  • .  7,420,000 

iii.  Native  customs           4,160,000 

iv.  Salt  Gabelle 12,600,000 

V.  Miscellaneous  taxes,  old  and  new     . .  3,856,000 

vi.  Foreign  customs,  collection  1905      . .  35,111,000 
vii.  Likin   on   general   merchandise   and 

native  opium           13,890,000 


Total      • .        Tls.102,924,000 

*  "  Land  Taxation  in  the  Province  of  Honan." 
t  "  China :   Past  and  Present/' 


112     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

Expenditure 

Tls. 

i.  Cash  remitted  to  Peking        . .         . .  9,131,000 
ii.  Grain  or  its  commutation   sent   to 

Peking  and  cost  of  transport        . .  5,780,000 

iii.  Frontier  Defence         5,415,000 

iv.  Admiralty  general  fund         . .         . .  1,450,000 

V.  Army,  Navy,  and  Fortifications       .  •  25,200,000 

vi.  Arsenals           1385,000 

vii.  Yellow  River  and  other  G)nservancies  1,389,000 
viii.  Foreign  Customs  allowance  and  main- 
tenance of  Lights 3,942,000 

ix.  Native    Customs,    allowance   to    In- 
spectorate       370,000 

X.  Sundry  Peking  funds 3,842,000 

xi.  Railway  development  fund    . .         . .  550,000 
xii.  Imperial   grants   for   provincial   ad- 
ministration            ..         ..         ••  34,042,000 
xiii.  ♦  Foreign  loans  and  indenmities  taken 

at  exchange  of  3s.  to  the  tael       . .  42,000,000 


Total      . .        Tls.136,496,000 

The  Imperial  expenditure,  so  far  as  is  known  or  reported, 
exceeds  the  Imperial  revenue,  as  reported,  by  Tls.33,572,000, 
indicating,  as  the  Government  is  far  from  being  bankrupt, 
a  considerable  degree  of  elasticity  in  the  revenue. 

The  next  step  will  be  to  draw  up  an  imaginary  state- 
ment of  revenue  according  to  the  amounts  presumed  to 
be  paid  by  the  taxpayer;  and  if,  in  preparing  this,  we 
accept  the  sums  recorded  above  for  "accretion"  as 
representing  the  general  expenses  of  provincial  administra- 
tion, and  those  for  "  collectors'  charges  "  as  representing 
the  local  or  mimicipal  administration,  the  resultant  fiigures 
will  be  readily  accepted  by  all  competent  investigators  as 
being  in  all  cases  well  under  the  fact. 
*  See  Appendix  A. 


REVENUE    AND    EXPENDITURE 


"3 


Imperial 
Admiiustratioii. 

PioviftCMil 
Administiatiaa. 

Iiocal 
AdministxatioQ. 

i.  Land  Tax    . . 

ii.  Tribute 

iii.  Native  Customs      .. 
iv.  Salt  Gabelle 

V.  Miscellaneous 
vi.  Foreign  Customs    . . 
vii.  Likin 

TIfl. 

25,887,000 
7,420,000 
3,790,000 

13,050,000 
3,856,000 

31,169,000 

13.890,000 

Us. 

67,060,000 

15,582,000 
1,290,000 

26,000,000 
5,998,000 
3,942,000 

22,502,000 

Tto. 

9.315.000 
2,300,000 

249,000 

25,000,000 

985.000 

1,230,000 

3,639.000 

Total 

99,062,000 

142,374,000 

42,718,000 

The  grand  total  here  shovm,  Tk.284,154,000,  is  an 
obviously  insufficient  sum  on  which  to  maintain  the  fabric 
of  government  of  an  Empire  like  China,  but  it  has  been 
reached  by  calculations  l^sed  on  a  few  known  facts,  and 
does  not  include  any  of  those  delightful  exchange  operations 
which  alleviate  the  burden  of  officials  charged  with  receiving 
and  disbursing  official  funds.  Such  as  it  is,  the  statement 
is  offered  as  throwing  some  light  on  a  subject  veiled  in 
obscurity,  and  it  may  be  compared  with  the  budget  for  1911 
present^  to  the  Throne — and  published  by  authority,  as 
given  on  the  next  page. 


114    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

BUDGET  FOR  THE  YEAR  1911 

Income  Tls. 

Land  tax  and  grain  tribute            . .         . .  49,669,858 

Salt  and  tea  tax 47,621,920 

Customs  revenue 42,139,288 

Miscellaneous  taxes 26,163,842 

Likin              44,176,542 

Rents  from  government  property  . .         . .  47,228,037 

Sale  of  official  rank  and  titles        . .         .  •  5,652,333 

Miscellaneous            35*698,477 

Sale  of  government  bonds 3,560,000 

Total       •  •       TIs.301,910,297 


Expenditure 

Tls. 

Budget  of  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs      • ,  2,782,288 

Legations  and  consulates 343,727 

Constabulary            4,352,040 

Budget  of  Ministry  of  Finance       ..         ..  111,249,315 

Education 2,747,477 

Army             77*915,890 

Navy             9.997,947 

Justice            6,643,829 

Commum'cations 37,569,097 

Agriculture,  Industry,  and  Commerce       . .  5,453,833 

Dependencies            1,688,560 

Grants-in-aid  to  provinces 37,703,362 

Total       . .         • .  298,448,365 

Surplus  TIs.3,461,932 


REVENUE   AND    EXPENDITURE 


115 


Table  showing   Revenue  and   Expenditure   of   the 
Province  of  Honan,  26th  Year  KwanghsO,  1900 

Revenue 


Item. 


DcscripUoii. 


Amount. 


10 

II 


I  <ftTiQ  XSLX.         ••  ••  ••  ••  •■  •• 

f»     M      (supplementary)  

„    grain  tax  commuted  

Miscellaneous  (7  categories  of  taxes,  details  not 

stated)       .  •         •  •         . .         • .         .  • 
Economies  on  courier  service 

„        „    fixed  allowance  for  Yellow  River 
repairs       ..         ..         ..         ••         ••         •• 

Deduction  of  6  per  cent,  on  all  payments  (ordinary 

service)      

Lildn  

[Note. — ^The  likin  revenue  is  said  to  amount  to 
Tls.  100,000,  but  as  Tls.80,000  are  remitted 
direct  by  the  Likin  Administration  for  the 
service  of  foreign  loans,  the  balance  only  is 
entered  as  provincial  revenue.] 
Deductions  from  the  salaries  (Yanglien)  of  the 
several  civil  and  military  officials,  10  to  30 
per  cent.    • . 
Rent  of  public  lands  and  various  other  items     .  • 
Payments  by  the  various  district  magistrates  in 
respect  to  surplus  in  the  collection  of  land  tax 
arising  from  difference  of  scale 

Total 

[Note. — ^Apparently  there  is  a  deficit  in  the 
Provincial  Budget  of  Tls.38,000  even  allow- 
ing for  items  13  and  14  of  expenditure, 
which  are  tersely  marked  '*  not  paid,  no 
funds."  Moreover,  items  5,  6,  7  and  9  on 
the  revenue  side  are  not  revenue  at  all,  but 
are  counted  as  such,  probably  on  the  Skim- 
pole  principle  that  money  not  spent  is  money 
earned.] 


KnpingTli. 

2,060,000 
320,000 
480,000 

200,000 
90,000 

34,000 

60,000 
20,000 


21,000 
50,000 


100,000 


3.435'«» 


Il6    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 


Expenditure 


Item. 


Description. 


4 
5 

6 
7 

8 

9 
lo 
II 

12 

13 


15 
i6 

17 
18 

19 
20 

21 
22 
23 


Imperial  or  extra-provmcial  expenditure-^ 

Peldng  supply  (fixed  charge) 

Kansu  province,  subsidy  to 

Service  of  foreign  loans 

[NoTB. — ^The  fixed  charge  for  this  item  is 
Tls.390000,  of  which,  however,  the 
Changiu  Salt  Department  remits  60,000, 
the  Grain  Tax  Department  80,000,  and  the 
Likin  80,000,  leaving,  as  above,  170,000 
as  the  charge  on  the  general  revenues  of  the 

province.] 

Subsidy  to  the  I-chun  army  corps 
Remittance  to  Board  of  Revenue  from  grain 

tax  commutation         

Subsidy  to  Sung-wu  army  corps  in  Shungtung 
Remittance  in  aid  of  the  Sungkiang-Shanghai 

Lildn  Office 

Ytmnan  Copper  Supply  Administration  . . 
Remittances  to  Imperial  Household 

„  for  upkeep  of  Yucn-ming-jruen  Psalace 

Purchase  of  silks,  damask,  etc.,  for  Court 
Contribution  to  Northern  Railway  construction 
Subsidy  for  pay  of  troops  in  three  Manchurian 

provinces  (not  paid,  no  funds  available) 
Peldng  supplementary  subsidy,  termed  Ku-pen 
(not  paid,  no  funds  available) 
Provincial  expenditure- 
Yellow  River  repairs,  fixed  allowance  . . 
Pay  of  provincial  troops :  "  Banner,"  "  Green, 

and  "  River  "  camps  . .  

Provincial  *'  drilled  "  force 

River  embanlanents  in  the  two  hsien  '*  Ho ' 

and  "  Wu  " 

Salaries  (Yanglien)  to  civil  and  military  officials 

of  the  province  

Pensions,  officials  of  hereditary  rank  on  provin 

cial  list 

Pay  of  police  in  eleven  hsien     . . 
River  gunboats,  dockyard  expenses     . . 
Workshops,  etc.,  under  the  "  Shan-hou  "  office 
Total        • . 
Total,  Imperial  and  extra  provincial 

„      provincial 

Total 


KnpingTlA. 

200,000 
610,000 
170,000 


I73»ooo 

210,000 
230,000 

20,000 
20,000 
20,000 
2,000 
90,000 
50,000 

40,000 

60,000 

600,000 

330,000 
290,000 

24,000 

303,000 

20,000 
11,000 
50,000 
50>ooo 


3>573»ooo 
1,895,000 
1,678,000 
3.573,000 


CHAPTER   V 
the  currency 

Preumnary 

Of  the  prehistoric  systems  of  currency  in  China,  the  inscribed 
skins,  the  tortoiseshell  and  cowries,  the  axes  and  spades, 
the  armlets  and  rings,  it  is  not  my  purpose  to  treat,  but 
only  of  those  systems  which  lead  directly  to  the  modem 
currency  practice  of  the  Empire.  Nearly  every  possible 
material  is  recorded  as  having  served  this  purpose  at  one 
time  or  another ;  but,  outside  the  metals  and  paper  money, 
we  hear  in  historic  times  only  of  silk  rolls  and  cowries. 
Silk  roUs,  though  received  for  tribute  at  a  fixed  rate  of  con- 
version as  late  as  the  thirteenth  centtuy,  might  perhaps  be 
considered  as  much  a  tribute  in  kind  as  currency,  though  it  is 
recorded,  ad  a.d.  1206,  that  silver  or  silk  could  be  used  in  pay- 
ment of  the  salt  tax.  Cowries  were  received  for  taxes  as  late 
as  the  fourteenth  century ;  the  records  show  that  1,133,119 
strings  of  cowries  were  received  by  the  Treasury  in  a.d.  1329. 
Of  metals,  gold  seems  to  have  been  considered  as  currency 
only  from  the  eleventh  to  the  third  century  B.C.,  the  law  pro- 
viding that  the  unit  of  gold  in  conmiercial  transactions  should 
be  a  cube  of  one  tst$n  weighing  one  kin.  In  modem  times  gold 
has  been  a  commodity  pure  and  simple,  and  in  the  shape 
of  jewelry  or  ingots  or  gold-leaf  has  been  used  chiefly  for 
hoarding — ^for  the  Asiatic  family  reserve  against  times  of 
want  or  of  oppression.  Iron  has  been  used  for  coinage 
during  the  Han  dynasty  (B.C.  206)  and  by  various  kingdoms 
in  West  China,  and  in  the  tenth  century  iron  coins  were 

1x7 


Il8     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

the  ordinary  currency  in  what  is  now  Szechwan.  In  modem 
times  iron  was  used  to  further  depreciate  the  coinage  of 
Hienfeng  (a.d.  1851-1861),  pieces  of  iron  having  then  been 
issued  during  the  time  when  the  mints  were  cut  off  from 
their  supplies  of  copper  from  Yunnan.  These,  however, 
are  all  intermittent  and  eccentric  currencies  which  have 
not  endured ;  and  for  present-day  discussion  we  need  only 
consider  three  kinds — copper,  paper,  and  silver. 

COPPER   CURRENCY 

Early  Coins 

It  is  only  in  copper  (or  bronze)  that  currency  and  coinage 
are  synonjonous  terms  in  China.  Disregarding  the  archaic 
uninscribed  tokens  of  rulers  before  the  true  historic  period, 
we  find  the  earUest  recorded  legislation  on  coinage  about  a 
century  after  the  beginning  of  the  Chow  dynasty  {circa 
B.C.  1 122),  the  sovereign  having  established  in  B.C.  1032 
certain  rules  for  currency,  and  enacted  that  metallic  pieces 
should  henceforth  be  exchangeable  according  to  their  weight. 
Inscribed  coins  then  came  in,  but  for  over  three  centuries 
the  inscriptions  contained  no  reference  to  weight  or  value. 
Then,  in  the  first  half  of  the  seventh  century  B.C.,  the  enact- 
ment  of  certain  rules  led  gradually  to  the  habit  (coinage  not 
being  yet,  not  until  B.C.  135,  a  government  prerogative)  of 
casting  coins  of  regular  shapes  and  sizes  and  of  constant 
weights ;  but  even  then  the  earUest  known  specimen  in* 
scribed  with  weight  or  value  is  assigned  doubtfully  to  circa 
B.C.  375.  The  coins  circulating  from  this  time  were  of  the 
shapes  called  knife  and  spade  or  pu,  both  being  tokens 
representing  for  purposes  of  barter  the  implements  which 
constituted  the  wealth  of  the  people.  Of  these  the  knife 
coins  represent  a  more  highly  developed  civihsation,  in  that 
the  inscriptions  are  more  precise  in  giving  the  place  of  issue 
and  in  indicating  that  they  are  token  currency  ;  the  issues 
of  the  latest  type,  ascribed  to  the  beginning  of  the  first 
century  of  our  era,  are  highly  conv^ntiopalised,  the  ^lade 


t 


6* 


A!_\[irv:i 


Spedmen  ofPu  cash. 


Half-tael  cash. 


5-chu  cash. 


THE  CURRENCY  II9 

being  shortened  and  the  ring  having  become  a  thickened 
copy  of  the  rotmd  coin  with  a  square  hole  which  had  by  that 
time  become  the  conmion  coinage. 


Inscribed  Round  Coins 

Inscribed  round  coins  came  in  about  the  seventh  century 
B.C.,  the  earUest  known  specimens  being  inscribed  as  weigh* 
ing  I  hang  14  chu  or  i-|J  tael,  having  a  present-day  weight 
of  171  grains  ;  while  others  are  inscribed  with  other  weights, 
such  as  i-^  hang,  or  with  the  place  of  issue  and  the  number 
of  kin  or  hoes  they  stood  token  for.  The  earlier  roimd 
hole  in  the  middle  (probably  a  reminiscence  of  the  armlets 
and  rings)  soon  gave  place  to  the  square  hole  which  we 
know  to-day,  and  from  the  end  of  the  Chow  dynasty  {circa 
B.C.  255)  the  coins  are  inscribed  "  Half  a  tael."  The  follow- 
ing are  the  approximate  dates  for  each  of  the  regular 
shapes  of  coins : 

Knife  money B.C.  670-221 

„        „      thick  and  short  . .         . .  a.d.  7-10 

Spade  money  (consisting  of  Uttle 

hoes  with  hollow  handles)   . .         . .  B.C.  600-350 

Pu  money  (variant  of  Spade)  . .  B.C.  475-221 

„       „      small  and  thick   . .         . .  a.d.  10-14 

Round  coins,  with  roimd  holes  , .  B.C.  660-336 

„        „    square  holes  from  B.C.  221 

China  has  had  a  copper  coinage  for  twenty-five  centuries, 
and  a  coinage  of  the  shape  we  know  to-day  uninterruptedly 
for  twenty-one  centuries. 

The  issues  of  half-tael  coins  must  have  been  very  large, 
since  they  are  in  our  time  by  no  means  uncommon  in  the 
trays  of  the  petty  hucksters  who  are  foimd  on  every  street 
of  every  city  of  the  Empire.  In  course  of  time  they  degene- 
rated in  size  and  weight,  and  (b.c.  118)  were  replaced  by  the 
coins  inscribed  in  seal  character  "  Five  chu  "  (-3/^  tael),  which 
remained  in  circulation  side  by  side  with  all  other  issues. 


120    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

for  Upwards  of  700  years.  This  cx)in,  also  easily  obtainable 
to-day,  is  beautifully  cast,  0*95  inch  *  in  diameter,  weighing 
to-day  from  46  to  51  grains.  Coins  with  other  inscriptions, 
all  in  seal  character  and  none  of  them  dynastic,  were  issued 
from  time  to  time,  until  we  come  to  the  Golden  Age  of 
China — the  Tang  dynasty,  a.d.  618.  Then  began  the  issue 
of  the  coins  inscribed  in  square  modem  character  Kai-yuan. 
Coins  with  this  inscription  are  recorded  as  having  been 
issued  by  the  first  Tang  Emperor  (a.d.  618-627),  by  the 
Emperor  who  took  those  characters  (Kai-yuan)  for  his  reign 
title  (a.d.  713-742),  by  the  Emperor  Teh  Tsung  (a.d.  780- 
785),  and  by  the  Emperor  Wu  Tsung  (a.d.  841-847),  a  total 
of  fifty-three  years.  The  first  coins  to  be  inscribed  with  the 
title  of  the  reigning  Emperor,  thus  giving  an  exact  date, 
were  issued  in  the  reign  of  Kienfeng  (a.d.  666-668).  This 
new  currency,  introduced  by  a  strong  and  wise  government 
in  sufficient  quantities  for  the  needs  of  the  people,  supplied 
a  type  which  has  endured  to  this  day.  With  a  diameter 
of  0*95  inch,  they  were  of  the  same  approximate  dimensions 
and  weight  as  the  coins  which,  imtil  the  great  melting  down 
of  the  past  twenty  years,  constituted  the  chih-tsien  or  standard 
coinage  of  the  Empire ;  and  thirty  years  ago,  searching 
critically  through  hundreds  of  strings  of  cash  in  everyday 
circulation,  I  foimd  among  them  not  a  few  of  these  coins 
which  had  formed  part  of  the  ordinary  currency  of  the  people 
for  eleven  to  thirteen  centuries,  minted  before  the  time  of 
Alfred  of  England,  before  Charlemagne  was  crowned  at  Rome, 
and  long  before  a  King  of  France  reigned  in  Paris.  The 
type  persisted  through  the  Sung  dynasty  (a.d.  960-1126), 
varied  by  occasional  issues  of  coins  of  larger  size,  but  gene- 
rally the  coinage  was  of  standard  size.  These  issues  also 
were  made  in  sufficient  quantities  for  the  needs  of  the  people, 
and  these,  too,  I  have  found  among  coins  in  present  circula- 
tion. Speaking  of  thirty  years  ago,  in  every  thousand  coins 
there  would  be  two  or  three  of  the  Tang  and  ten  or  twelve  of 
the  Sung  mintage.  The  Golden  dynasty  of  Niichen  Tartars 
*  Here  and  later  the  English  inch. 


III. 


Tang,  A.D.  618-906. 


Sung,  A.D.  960-1126. 


Ming,  A.D.  1 368-1 643.  Sun-chih,  a.d.  i 644-1 661. 


Kang-hi,  a.d.  1662-1722.  Yung-cheng,  a.d.  1723-1735. 


Tao-kwang,  a.d.  1821-1850.  Tung-chih,  a.d.  1862-1874. 


THE  CURRENCY  121 

(a.d.  1115-1234)  and  their  contemporaries  the  Southern 
Sung  (a.d.  1127— 1280)  issued  few  coins ;  and  the  Mongols, 
the  Yuan  dynasty  (a.d.  1260-1368),  ruling  the  China  that 
Marco  Polo  knew,  issued  still  smaller  quantities,  subsisting 
as  it  did  mainly  on  fiduciary  issues  of  paper  money.  The 
Ming  dynasty  then  came  in  (a.d.  1368-1642),  and  found  itself 
confronted  by  this  financial  difficulty.  The  early  rulers 
were  compelled  for  a  time  to  continue  the  paper  issues  of 
their  predecessors,  and  in  addition  there  was  during  the  first 
reign,  that  of  Hungwu  (a.d.  1368-1399),  some  issue  of  copper 
token  coinage  ;  but  by  the  time  of  Yunglo  (a.d.  1403-1425), 
the  reign  during  which  the  capital  was  moved  to  Peking,  the 
finances  had  been  restored  from  the  condition  to  which  they 
had  been  reduced  by  the  unlettered  and  warlike  Mongols, 
and  the  currency  established  on  a  sound  basis.  For  two 
and  a  half  centuries  the  Ming  government  kept  the  people 
fully  supplied  with  circulating  medium  of  standard  size  and 
weight,  the  general  average  of  the  diameter  of  the  coins 
ranging  from  0*90  to  1*05  inch,  and  the  standard  weight 
from  46  to  57  grains ;  making  ample  allowance  for  the 
longer  time  that  the  surviving  specimens  of  Tang  and  Sung 
coinage  have  been  in  circulation,  the  Ming  coins  must  be 
adjudged  to  be  superior  to  them,  and  fully  eqiial  in  appear- 
ance to  the  coinage  of  the  first  century  of  the  present  Tsing 
d5masty,  though  less  in  weight.  When  the  Manchus  came 
to  the  throne,  they  continued  the  civil  government  of  their 
predecessors,  merely  superadding  the  military  control 
represented  by  the  now  innocuous  Tsiang-kiin  (Tartar 
Generals)  stationed  at  certain  strategic  points  throughout 
the  Empire,  and  creating  a  few  milking  posts,  such  as  the 
Hoppo  at  Canton,  a  post  abolished  only  in  1904 ;  their 
rule  has  been  in  the  main  a  government  of  the  Chinese,  by 
the  Chinese,  for  the  Chinese,  and  in  nothing  has  this  been 
shown  more  than  in  the  continuance  for  nearly  two  cen- 
turies of  the  financial  and  monetary  systems  of  the  Mings. 
The  earUest  issues  of  coinage  by  the  first  Emperor  to  estabhsh 
himself  at  Peking,  Shunchih  (a.d.  1644-1661),  bore  inserip- 


122     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

tions  only  in  Chinese,  the  first  issues  having  on  the  reverse 
only  the  mint  name,  the  second  having  in  addition  the  value, 
one-thousandth  of  a  tael  (of  silver) ;  then,  toward  the  end 
of  his  reign,  the  cx)ins  bore  the  mint  name  in  Chinese  and 
Manchu.  His  successor,  Kanghi  (a.d.  1662-1722),  continued 
the  biUngual  inscriptions  through  the  whole  of  his  reign, 
but  toward  the  end  of  the  reign  the  two  mints  at  Peking, 
those  of  the  Board  of  Revenue  (Hu-pu)  and  the  Board  of 
Works  (Kung-pu),  issued  coins  bearing  on  the  reverse  the 
mint  name,  and  the  word  "  currency  "  in  Manchu  only. 
The  coins  of  Yungcheng  (a.d.  1723-1735)  are  inscribed  on 
the  obverse  in  Chinese  and  on  the  reverse  in  Manchu  only, 
and  this  practice  has  continued  to  this  day.  It  is  in  this 
reign  that  the  coinage  of  China  may  be  considered  to  have 
reached  its  highest  point,  in  size  and  weight,  in  quahty  of 
metal,  and  in  elegance  of  inscription ;  previous  dynasties 
and  previous  reigns  had  equalled  it  in  some  one  or  more 
of  these  quaUties,  but  not  in  the  combination  of  all.  The 
Shunchih  coins  were  generally  095  to  i'05  inch  and  those 
of  Kanghi  i*oo  to  1*10  inch  in  diameter,  and  both  were  made 
of  a  bright  yellow  brass  ;  the  Yungcheng  coins  were  gene- 
rally 1*00  to  I"  10  inch  in  diameter,  made  of  a  rich  light- 
brown  bronze.  It  was  from  this  time  that  the  degeneration 
of  the  coinage  began,  and  it  will  be  well  here  to  interpolate  a 
note  on  the  standard  of  weight  and  value. 

Standard  of  Weight  and  Value 

Leaving  to  one  side  the  Half-tael  and  Five-chu  (-^  tael) 
coins,  the  standard  introduced  by  the  Tang  dynasty  and 
continuing  in  theory  until  to-day  was  a  part  of  a  bimetallic 
system,  or  even  (although  gold  formed  no  part  of  the  cur- 
rency) of  a  trimetaUic  system,  by  which,  in  value,  i  gold  = 
10  silver  =  1,000  copper,  these  being  the  metallic  exchange 
equivalents  in  China  thirteen  centuries  ago.  The  copper 
coin  of  this  system  was  made  to  weigh  one-tenth  of  a  tael, 
making  it  in  value  one-thousandth  of  a  tael  of  silver.    This 


THE  CURRENCY  I23 

theory  has  continued  to  the  present  time,  and  was  definitely 
asserted  by  the  inscription,  ten  centuries  later,  on  the  coins 
of  the  first  Manchu  Emperor.  The  copper  coinage  being  a 
government  concern,  while  silver  was  left  to  the  tender 
merdes  of  the  bankers,  the  fixed  exchange  equivalence,  or 
value,  of  the  coins  was  treated  with  relative  disregard,  while 
the  weight  was  more  or  less  adhered  to.  We  get  into  quite 
another  question  when  we  go  into  the  weight  of  the  tael ; 
the  Five-chu  coins  may  be  assiuned  to  have  weighed  5  chu 
or  -^  tael  when  first  introduced  *  (though  this  may  be  an 
erroneous  assumption),  and,  as  far  as  niunismatics  can  tell 
us,  they  continued  to  be  of  the  same  weight  down  to  the 
time  when  they  were  displaced  by  the  Tang  coins,  of  about 
the  same  size,  and  of  a  statutory  weight  of  -^  tael.  Dis- 
regarding any  difference  of  tael,  this  continued  to  be  the 
desideratum  of  the  mints,  the  actual  weight  of  the  issues 
var}dng,  however,  according  to  the  laws  of  supply  and 
demand,  to  the  varying  ratio  between  silver  and  copper, 
and  to  the  ostensible  necessity  of  maintaining  a  bimetaUic 
proportion  in  the  currency,  but  seldom  faUing  below  o'o8 

*  Under  the  Chow  dynasty,  on  the  evidence  of  the  coins,  the 
liang  of  24  chn  was  probably  97-5  grains,  giving  406  grains  as  the 
weight  of  the  chu.  The  "  First  Emperor,"  Shih  Hwangti,  in  the 
twenty-sixth  year  of  his  reign  as  Prince  and  the  first  year  of  his 
assumption  of  the  Imperial  dignity  (b.c.  221),  issued  an  edict  in- 
creasing the  weight  and  fixing  the  standard.  On  the  authority  of 
Mr.  F.  H.  Chalfant  {Journal  N,C.B.R.A.S.  1903-4)  the  standard 
was  as  follows  : 

I  chu 0*68     gramme  ss    10*5  grains 

24chu»iliang  ..  ..  16-35  grammes  =s  252*5  grains 
This  standard  was  probably  continued  into  the  Haoi  dynasty,  which 
soon  (B.C.  206)  followed  the  Tsin  ;  and  the  first  ruler  of  the  Northern 
Tsi  (a.d.  550)  enacted  that  a  hundred  5-chu  coins  should  actually 
wei^  500  chu,  "  otherwise  x  kin  4  liang  20  chu."  The  actual 
weight  (46  to  51  grains)  of  surviving  si)ecimens  of  5-chu  coins  corre- 
sponds closely  with  the  theoretic  weight  (52-5  grains)  of  this  standard. 
When  the  standard  was  again  raised  is  not  on  record  ;  but  the  first 
Tang  coins  issued  seventy  years  later  (a.d.  618)  were  presumably 
one-tenth  of  the  modem  hang  of  579  to  580  grains. 


124     ^^^  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

tael.  During  the  first  reign  of  the  Tsing  dynasty  the 
weight  was  o*  i  tael,  afterwards  raised  to  o'  125  tael,  and  under 
Kanghi,  a.d.  1684,  the  weight  was  again  reduced  to  0*1  tael, 
to  be  again  raised,  a.d.  1702,  to  014  tael,  and  again  reduced 
to  o*TZ  tael.  This  continued  to  be  the  statutory  weight 
through  the  reign  of  Yungcheng  and  into  the  beginning  of 
that  of  Kienlung  (a.d.  1736),  when  it  was  again  made  o*  i  tael. 
During  this  long  reign  of  sixty  years  degeneration  made 
progress,  in  appearance  and  in  quality,  and  in  the  size  and 
weight  of  the  coins  ;  the  government  was  still  vigorous,  with 
no  sign  of  dry  rot,  and  we  may  assume  that  the  struggle 
between  the  mints  and  the  illegal  melter-down  of  too-full- 
weight  coins  had  begun,  and  that,  to  keep  the  currency 
from  the  melting  crucible,  the  mints  were  <h"iven  to  reduce 
the  intrinsic  value  more  and  more.  Whatever  the  cause,  the 
coinage  became  by  degrees  smaller  and  lighter,  issues  at  the 
beginning  of  the  reign  having  a  diameter  of  iio  inch  and 
weighing  o*  12  tael,  while  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century 
official  issues  (no  account  being  taken  of  illicit  coinage,  so 
common  in  China)  were  so  small  as  085  or  even  080  inch, 
and  weighed  no  more  than  0075  tael.  A  memoriaUst  just 
a  century  ago  reported  to  the  Throne  that,  of  the  coins  in 
common  circulation,  from  i  to  2  per  cent,  weighed  0"i2  tael 
and  over,  while  30  to  40  per  cent,  weighed  the  full  legal  o'l 
tael.  The  coins  of  the  period  Kiaking  (a.d.  1796-1820)  were 
of  Ught  weight,  but  ordinarily  were  still  well  minted  ;  it  is  in 
the  following  reign,  Taokwang  (a.d.  1821-1850),  that  the 
rough  crude  issues  of  the  mints,  which  we  see  to-day,  made 
their  first  appearance  ;  and  the  present  tendency  we  see  in  a 
memorial  from  the  Governor-General  of  Shengking,  dated 
November  1899,  ^^  which  he  reports  to  the  Throne  that 
coins  weighing  0*08  tael,  such  as  were  issued  in  other  pro- 
vinces, involve  a  loss,  and  that  he  is  therefore  minting  them 
at ,005  tael  weight.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  there  will  be  no 
profit  from  melting  down  such  coins,  and  that  the  illicit  issues 
of  counterfeiters  will  not  be  much  less  attractive  in  appear- 
ance or  appreciably  less  in  value. 


lo  cash,  A.D.  1853-1861. 


10  cash,  A. D.  1853-1861. 


10  cash,  A.D.  1905. 


THE  CURRENCY  125 


Token  Coinage 


In  the  reign  of  Hienfeng  (a.d.  1851-1861)  the  govern- 
ment fell  on  troubled  times,  with  revenues  reduced  by 
wide-spread  rebellion ;  and,  partly  from  this  cause,  partly 
because  it  was  unable  to  get  supplies  of  copper,  recourse 
was  had  to  issues  of  token  coins.  This  depreciated  money 
was  issued  in  two  forms — iron  coins  having  the  same 
dimensions  and  face  value  as  the  ordinary  copper  currency, 
and  copper  token  coins  in  multiples  of  the  ordinary  cash. 
The  iron  coins  had  a  temporary  success,  but  within  four 
years,  in  February  1857,  there  was  a  popular  rising  against 
them,  and  in  a  day  they  lost  their  currency. 

The  first  tokens  issued  (in  1853)  were  lo-cash  pieces 
with  a  diameter  of  1*50  inch,  but  these  were  soon  reduced 
to  a  maximum  diameter  of  i'20  inch  and  a  minimum 
for  official  issues  during  the  reign  of  Kwanghsu  which 
may  be  put  at  I'oo  inch.  The  provinces  soon  followed 
suit  and  lo-cash  pieces  were  issued  by  all  the  provincial 
mints  except  those  of  Hunan  and  Kwangtung.  Other 
values  also  followed,  including  coins  of  a  face  value  of  5, 
8,  10,  20,  30,  50, 100,  200,  500,  and  1,000  cash.  The  issues 
of  the  Fukien  mint  (bearing  in  mind  that  they  were  cast, 
and  not  rolled  or  stamped)  are  beautiful  specimens  of 
numismatology,  and  heavier  than  the  contemporary  coins 
of  other  mints  ;  and  I  give  here  the  particulars  of  a  series 
which  hes  before  me. 

Value  Diameter.  TtaidaeM.  Weight 

lo-cash  r  45  inch  o*  11  inch  321  grains* 

20-cash  r8o    „  o'i2    „  591      „ 

50-cash  2*22    „  020    „  1,410     „ 

lOO-cash  263    „  025    „  2,200     „ 

These  token  coins  took  no  hold  in  the  provinces  and  may 

be  said  not  to  have  entered  into  the  currency  system  of 

the  Empire,  except  that,  curiously  enough,  in  Peking  itself, 

*  Weight  inscribed  on  rim  0*50  tael. 


126     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

though  not  in  the  province  of  Chihli,  immediately  around 
it,  the  patriotism,  or  the  self-interest,  or  the  timidity  of  the 
people  led  to  their  immediate  adoption,  and  the  io-<ash 
pieces  (but  none  of  the  others)  haVe  continuously  for  fifty 
years  past  constituted  the  sole  circulating  medium  of  the 
capital.  It  must  not  be  supposed  however  that,  even  at 
Peking,  the  lo-cash  piece  is  considered  to  be  worth,  or  is 
accepted  for,  ten  cash.*  The  Chinese  never  have  treated 
their  coinage  as  coins,  passing  on  their  face  value  irre* 
spective  of  their  intrinsic  worth,  but  have  always  looked 
beneath  Caesar's  superscription;  and  the  token  currency 
of  the  capital  is  rated  closely  to  the  value  of  the  metal 
contained  in  it.  An  estimate  of  the  true  intrinsic  value  of 
a  copper  coinage  in  China  must  depend  upon  the  gold  ex- 
change with  silver,  the  gold  price  of  copper  and  spelter, 
and  the  exchange  between  silver  and  the  copper  coinage, 
and  the  resultant  of  this  triangular  calculation  will  never 
be  the  same  from  day  to  day ;  but  taking  all  the  conditions 
as  they  were  at  a  certain  time  in  1905,  I  found  that  for  one 
Mexican  dollar  I  received  at  Shanghai  880  ordinary  cash 
in  common  circulation,  containing  an  ordinary  proportion 
of  illicit  coins,  of  an  intrinsic  value  of  26*4  pence ;  and 
that  for  one  Mexican  dollar  at  Peking  I  received  actually 
405,  being  nominally  f  413  pieces  of  lo-cash,  with  an  actual 
face  value  of  4,130  and  a  nominal  %  face  value  of  8,260 
cash,  having  an  intrinsic  value  of  29*45  pence.  The  actual 
value  in  each  case  is  somewhat,  but  proportionately,  smaller, 
since  I  took  as  the  basis  of  the  fourth  element  in  the 
estimate — the  alloy  of  metal  in  the  coins — the  standard 
proportion  of  60  parts  of  copper  to  40  of  spelter,  while 
the  proportion  of  copper  is  sometimes  as  low  as  55. 

We  come  now  to  the  latest  issue  of  token  coinage,  the 
cent.  This  was  issued  to  supply  a  real  deficiency  in  the 
circulating  medium,   due  to   extensive  melting  down  of 

*  Cash,  from  the  Sanskrit  Karsha,  Karshapana,  the  translation 
in  English  of  the  Chinese  "  Copper  coin." 

t  V.  infra,  page  128.  t  v.  infra,  page  xji. 


THE  CURRENCY  I27 

the  regular  coinage  and  the  impossibility  of  the  government 
supplying  the  wastage,  both  occasioned  by  the  increasing 
intrinsic  value  of  the  copper  contents.  This  coin  was  a 
close  imitation  of  the  Hongkong  cent  (y^  of  a  silver  dollar) 
and  the  issues  from  the  Kwangtung  mint  are  inscribed 
"  100  to  a  dollar,"  but  those  from  all  other  mints  are  in- 
scribed "  represents  10  cash."  While  their  workmanship 
differs,  their  intrinsic  value  is  fairly  uniform ;  with  a 
diameter  of  1*10  inch,  some  are  of  pure  copper  and  weigh 
112  grains,  other  contain  95  per  cent,  of  copper  and  weigh 
115  grains,  having  an  intrinsic  value  (on  the  date  in  1905 
referred  to  above)  of  12  pence  for  100  coins  or  10*5  pence 
for  the  then  exchange  equivalent  of  one  dollar.  There 
were  also  some  limited  issues  of  brass  "  cents  "  containing 
80  per  cent,  of  copper  and  20  per  cent,  of  spelter.  At  first  the 
cents  passed  for  their  full  face  value  of  10  cash  or  88  to  the 
silver  doUar ;  by  July  1906  they  had  depreciated  to  a  value 
of  7  cash,  or  112  to  the  dollar,  recovering  at  the  end  of  1906 
to  107  to  the  dollar,  but  in  1908  relapsing  to  125  to  the  dollar. 

Mint   Statistics 

The  people  of  China  are  voracious  in  their  consumption 
of  cash,  but  it  is  not  easy  to  get  statistics,  the  only  fact 
I  can  note  of  earlier  periods  being  that  at  the  beginning  of 
the  ninth  century  a.d.  the  quantity  issued  annually  was 
135,000,000.  From  Edkins  ♦  I  give  figures  of  the  quantities 
of  copper  coins  issued  by  the  mints  for  certain  years  of  the 
first  century  of  the  present  dynasty.    (See  next  page.) 

A  close  correspondence  in  the  issues  of  certain  mints 
in  the  three  columns  of  the  second  table  will  suggest  the 
danger  which  always  confronts  the  investigator  in  China, 
from  the  common  habit  of  reporting  that  which  should  be 
as  being  that  which  is.  Of  the  "  cents  "  it  is  estimated 
that  12,500,000,000  were  issued  up  to  the  end  of  1906,  and 
it  appears  probable  that  over  a  third  of  these  came  from  the 
Hupeh  mint. 

•  "  Chinese  Cmrency/'  by  J.  Edkins,  Shanghai,  1901. 


128    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 


Shunchi 

hi 

A.D.  1644 

71,663,900 

Kanghi      20 

A.D.  1 68 1 

231,398.600 

tf 

2 

..     1645 

443.751.760 

25 

„  1686 

289.936.700 

»» 

3 

M        1646 

624.823,960 

30 

..  I69I 

289,925.400 

„ 

4 

»        1647 

X. 333.384. 194 

35 

„  1696 

237.063.050 

»i 

5 

,.        1648 

1,449.494.200 

40 

.,  I70I 

238,065,800 

»» 

7 

»        1650 

1.682,424,510 

45 

„  1706 

238.07s.800 

,, 

9 

„        1652 

2.097,632,850 

50 

..  X7II 

374.933.400 

f» 

lO 

»        1653 

2.521.663.740 

56 

..  I7I7 

399.167.300 

»* 

II 

»        1654 

2,488,544,460 

60 

„  1721 

437.325.800 

,, 

12 

».        1655 

2,413.878,080 

Yungcheng  i 

..  1723 

499,200 

,, 

17 

„        1660 

280,394.280 

4 

„  1726 

675,160 

»* 

I8 

„        I66I 

291.584.600 

5 

M       1727 

723.528,000 

Kanghi 

S 

„        1666 

295.879.800 

6 

„   1728 

746,304.000 

,, 

ID 

„        I67I 

290.475.830 

8 

..  1730 

757.865,000 

t» 

IS 

„        1676 

231.365.360 

9 

»  I73X 

1.048,759,660 

At  three  periods  of  the  nineteenth  century  we  have 
figures  giving  the  issues  of  each  mint : 


X800-X830 

1831. 

1865. 

Pekmg 
Chihli 

899.856.000 
60,666,000 

« 

60,666,000 

1,349,784,000 
60,756,840 

Shansi 
Shensi 

17,472,000 
87,360.000 

17,472,000 
94,584,000 

17,472,000 
94.589.040 

Szechwan    . . 
Hunan 

194.127.000 
47.880.000 

194,127,000 
47,880,000 

157.733.333 
48,054,000 

Hupeh 
Kiangsi 

84.000.000 
41,928.000 

84,000,000 
41,928,000 

84,420,000 
42.037*992 

Kiangsu 
Chekiang    .. 

111,804,000 
129,600,000 

111,804,000 
129,600,000 

111,992,052 
129,600,000 

Fukien 
Kwangtung 

43,200,000 
34,560,000 

43,200,000 
34.560,000 

43,200,000 
34,560,000 

Kwangsi 
Yunnan 
Kweichow  .. 

24,000,000 

179,784,000 

94.860,000 

24,000,000 
5,760,000 
4,464,000 

24,000,000 

X7O.569.080 

89.773.200 

m 

1,122,000 

1,122,000 

1,122,000 

Variabiuty  op  Tiao 

Cash  are  strung  on  strings,  in  rolls  of  100,  of  which 
10  go  to  the  string  or  tiao,  or  ch'tMn,  formerly  called  kuan. 
Nothing  is  ever  done  in  China  for  nothing,  and  no  oppor* 
*  Probably  the  same  as  in  the  period  i8oo-i830. 


THE  CURRENCY  I29 

tunity  is  ever  lost  of  making  a  little  extra  profit  or  lag- 
niappe ;  and  the  money-changers  have  always  charged 
for  their  trouble  in  stringing,  and  for  the  cost  of  the  string. 
Tliis  charge  is  made  by  deducting  one,  or  two,  or  three,  or 
four  cash  from  each  hundred ;  the  deduction  is  more  or 
less  (as  everjrthing  in  China  is  "  more  or  less  ")  recognised 
and  fixed  for  each  place,  with  the  result  that  the  tiao  of 
1,000  cash  contains  in  one  place  970  and  in  another  place 
980  actual  coins,  the  full  iiao  passing  however  for  1,000 
cash.  The  local  quota  is  fixed,  and  the  peasant  who  should 
receive  980  but  actually  gets  only  975,  will  feel  that  he 
is  not  receiving  his  due  and  wiU  enter  at  once  upon  that 
war  of  wits  which  delights  the  heart  of  every  Chinaman. 
The  following  newspaper  cutting  *  will  give  a  clearer 
picture  of  the  situation  than  anything  I  can  write,  what 
is  said  of  the  cent  being  true  also  of  the  cash. 

"  WusuEH,  HuPEH,  May  1,  1906, 

"  This  particular  part  of  the  Hupeh  province  has 
long  been  distinguished  for  its  variety  of  rates  of 
exchange.  A  nominal  100  cash  has  for  a  long  time 
been  worth  97  in  actual  cash  at  Wusueh,  98  at  Lung- 
ping  ten  miles  away,  97  or  98  in  different  classes  of 
transactions  at  Hsingkuo  ninety  miles  away,  and 
99  at  Chichou,  the  same  distance  away  in  another 
direction.  To  comphcate  matters,  the  only  cash 
bills  which  are  popular  are  issued  by  a  Wusueh  bank 
and  are  cvirrent  in  all  these  towns,  but  not  at  face 
value.  At  Wusueh  a  bill  equals  1,000  cash,  at  Lung- 
ping  one  has  to  give  ten  cash  and  a  bill  for  a  thousand, 
at  Chichou  one  must  add  twenty  cash  to  the  bill. 
When  the  copper  lo-cash  pieces  became  current  (and 
the  only  currency,  for  cash  is  not  now  to  be  had  at 
the  banks}  the  banks  had  to  settle  all  these  monetary 
problems  afresh.    At  the  mint  the  copper  pieces  are 

*  North-China  Daily  News,  May  nth,  1906. 


130     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

sold  at  98,  i.e.  100  copper  pieces  equal  1,000  cash, 
reckoned  at  98  to  the  hundred,  so  that  when  paying 
100  cash  one  pays  ten  pieces,  but  when  paying  99 
or  98  cash  one  also  pays  ten  pieces.  At  Chidiou  the 
banks  decided  to  issue  100  copper  pieces  for  a  cash  bill, 
thus  saving  money  on  the  transaction,  as  they  bought 
the  pieces  at  Wuchang  at  98  and  paid  them  out 
instead  of  1,000  copper  cash  at  99.  At  Lungping 
they  had  to  be  content  without  gains.  At  Wusueh 
the  banks  pondered,  for  if  they  bought  the  copper 
pieces  at  98  and  then  gave  100  for  a  bill  in  a  place  where 
the  rate  was  97  they  would  lose  ten  cash  on  each  hun- 
dred. They  therefore  decided  to  take  one  coin  out  of 
each  packet  they  got  from  the  mint.  Had  they  stopped 
here  all  would  have  gone  smoothly,  for  the  shop- 
keepers would  have  deducted  one  cash  from  each  ten 
copper  pieces  which  they  paid  out,  and  no  one  would 
have  lost  anything.  But  old-time  custom  has  al- 
lowed the  banks  to  charge  two  cash  for  the  piece  of 
string  on  which  the  cash  were  threaded,  and  the 
banks  did  not  like  to  yield  this  squeeze,  so  they 
proceeded  to  take  a  second  copper  piece  out  of  each 
packet  from  the  mint  and  put  eight  cash  back,  thus 
getting  the  two  cash  for  the  string  which  they  no 
longer  provided.  Of  course  the  shopkeepers  objected, 
for  they  could  not  divide  up  two  cash  among  a  hun- 
dred coins.  If  they  allowed  this  deduction,  the  loss 
of  the  two  cash  must  inevitably  fall  on  the  man  who 
broke  the  parcel  of  copper  pieces.  The  result  was 
that  the  matter  was  referred  to  the  officiak,  and  after 
plea  and  counter-plea,  the  shopkeepers  have  won, 
and  by  proclamation  the  rate  in  Wusueh  from  to- 
morrow will  be  98  to  the  100,  so  that  the  banks  will 
hand  over  imbroken  packets  of  copper  coins.  Does  not 
the  commercial  strength  of  the  Chinese  lie  just  in  this 
pertinacious  struggling  against  the  smallest  losses  ?  " 


THE  CURRENCY  I3I 

Double  Value   of  Cash  in  North  China 

In  the  north  (Chihli,  Shantung)  one  cash  counts  for 
two.  The  price  of  an  article  being  there  quoted  at  100 
cash,  you  hand  over  50  coins,  at  2  tiao  you  give  what  in  the 
south  constitutes  i  tiao.  The  same  rule  of  deduction  holds 
here  too,  and  the  tiao,  nominally  of  1,000  and  nominally- 
actually  of  980  cash,  contains  actually  490  coins.  At 
Peking,  too,  the  rule  holds  good,  and  the  tiao,  nominally 
of  1,000  cash,  i.e,  nominally  of  100  and  nominaUy-actually 
of  98  pieces  of  lo-cash,  actually  contains  49  pieces  of  lo-cash 
=  20-cash.  In  Manchuria  the  tiao  consists  of  160  ordinary 
(small)  cash. 

I  make  no  excuse  for  devoting  so  much  of  my  space  to 
this  part  of  my  subject.  The  copper  coinage  is  the  currency 
of  the  people,  in  which  the  daily  transactions  of  four  hundred 
miUions  are  carried  on.  The  importer  and  the  exporter 
have  an  exchange  question  ever  present ;  the  wholesale 
dealer  buys  and  sells  with  taels  of  silver  bullion ;  but  the 
shopkeeper  sells  his  commodities,  and  the  artisan  and  the 
farmer  sell  the  produce  of  their  labour,  for  copper  coins, 
and  with  these  copper  coins  buy  what  will  suffice  for  their 
daily  needs.  The  basis  of  the  currency  system  of  the 
Empire  is  the  copper  cash  which  was  originally  yqo^  ^* 
a  tael  of  silver,  worth  only  a  generation  ago  the  third  of  a 
pound  sterling ;  and  of  this  copper  cash,  at  the  exchange 
ruling  a  couple  of  years  ago,  it  took  approximately  10,000 
to  equal  a  poimd  sterling,  2,000  an  American  dollar,  500 
a  mark,  and  400  a  franc. 

PAPER   MONEY 

Paper  money  comes  to  be  considered  next,  since,  speaking 
generally  and  exceptis  exdpiendis,  it  is  in  China  based  on 
copper  and  not  on  silver.  There  is  no  record  to  show 
when  bank  issues  first  began,  and  to-day  the  notes  of 


133    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

money-changers  circulate  readily  within  a  radius  limited 
only  by  the  credit  and  reputation  of  the  issuing  firm.  It  is 
not  my  purpose,  however,  to  consider  private  issues,  but 
only  the  fiduciary  issues  of  fiat  money  made  by  the  govern- 
ment. 

Tang  and  Sung  Notes 

The  first  government  notes  of  which  the  issue  is  re- 
corded were  of  the  Tang  dynasty.  The  Emperor  Hien- 
tsung  (A.D.  806-821)  on  account  of  the  scarcity  of  cash, 
issued  an  edict  prohibiting  the  manufacture  of  copper 
utensils,  such  as  basins  and  kettles ;  and,  to  provide  for 
the  monetary  stringency,  opened  offices  at  the  capital 
at  which  merchants  could  deposit  their  coin,  receiving  in 
exchange  government  notes,  called  "bonds"  or  "flying 
money  "  ;  the  offices  represented  the  different  provinces, 
and  the  notes  were  redeemable  at  the  proper  provincial 
capital.  Translated  into  modem  terms,  this  means  that 
the  government  began  to  issue  paper  money.  These  issues 
continued  to  the  end  of  the  Tang  period.  TTie  first  Emperor 
of  the  Sung  period  (a.d.  960)  followed  the  custom  of  the 
Tang  dynasty  and  issued  government  notes  at  large  com- 
mercial centres,  redeemable  at  other  large  centres.  As 
described,  these  notes  served  rather  the  purpose  of  bills  of 
exchange,  but  it  is  hard  to  believe  that  the  government  did 
not  avail  itself  of  the  opportunity  to  get  something  for 
nothing,  and  to  pay  some  portion  of  its  obligations  in  this 
form.  In  a.d.  997  the  amount  of  these  notes  outstanding 
was  1,700,000  strings  (tiao)  of  cash,  and  in  a.d.  1017  was 
2,930,000  strings. 

It  was  in  the  state  of  Shuh,  the  present  province  of 
Szechwan,  that  the  true  paper  money  was  first  introduced  ; 
these  were  notes  issued  without  being  guaranteed  by  some 
hypothecated  value.  A  certain  Chang  Yung  introduced 
them  to  take  the  place  of  the  iron  money,  which  was  in- 
conveniently heavy  and  troublesome.  These  bills  were 
called  chih'tsi  or  evidences.    During  the  reign  of  Chengtsimg 


THE  CURRENCY  133 

of  the  Sung  dynasty  (a.d.  997-1022),  this  practice  was 
followed,  and  the  notes  were  called  kiao-tze  or  changelings. 
They  were  made  payable  every  three  years ;  thus  in  sixty- 
five  years  they  were  redeemable  twenty-two  times ;  each 
note  was  worth  a  thousand  cash,  or  a  tael  of  pure  silver. 
Fifteen  of  the  richest  houses  managed  this  financial  opera- 
tion ;  but  in  course  of  time  they  were  unable  to  fulfil  their  en- 
gagements, and  all  became  bankrupt,  which  gave  rise  to  many 
lawsuits.  The  Emperor  annulled  the  notes  of  this  company, 
and  deprived  his  subjects  of  the  power  to  issue  bank-bills, 
reserving  it  to  himself  to  establish  a  bank  of  issue  at  Yihchao. 
By  the  year  1032  there  were  more  than  1,256,340  taels' 
worth  of  "  changeUngs  "  in  circulation  in  China.  In  1068, 
having  ascertained  that  counterfeits  were  issued,  the 
government  made  a  law  that  persons  making  false  bills 
should  be  punished  the  same  as  those  who  falsified  govern- 
ment orders.  Later  than  this,  and  at  different  applications, 
banks  for  the  issue  of  the  ktao-tze  were  estabUshed  in  many 
provinces,  and  the  notes  of  one  province  were  not  circulated 
in  another.  Their  terms  of  payment  and  modes  of  cir- 
culation, too,  varied  at  different  times.* 

Southern  Sung  Notes 

For  the  twelfth  and  the  first  half  of  the  thirteenth 

centuries  the  country  .was  divided  between  the  Southern 

Sung  and  the  Golden  dynasty  of  Niichen  Tartars,  and  both 

ran  a  mad  race  in  the  issue  of  assignats.    Of  the  latter 

government  we  have  few  records,  but  of  the  doings  of  the 

southern  kingdom  Klaproth  gives  us  the  following  note  : 

*'  Under  the  Emperor  Kiotsung,  in  a.d.  1131,  it 

was  attempted  to  make  a  military  establishment  at 

Wuchow,  but  as  the  requisite  funds  did  not  come  in 

without  great  difficulty,    the   oflftcers  charged  with 

the  matter  proposed  to  the  Board  of  Revenue  to 

issue  Kwan-tze  or  due  bills,  with  which  they  could 

«  Klaproth,  "  M6mojres  relatifs  k  i'Asie/' 


134     ^^^  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

pay  the  sutlers  of  the  troops ;  and  which  should 
be  redeemable  at  a  special  office.  Abuses  soon 
crept  into  the  details  of  this  plan,  and  the  people 
began  to  murmur.  Later,  and  under  the  same  reign, 
similar  due  bills  to  these  were  put  into  circulation 
in  other  provinces.  During  the  reign  of  this  same 
monarch,  the  Board  of  Revenue  issued  a  new  sort 
of  paper  money  called  hwei-tze  or  exchanges ;  these 
were,  at  first,  payable  only  in  the  province  of 
Chekiang  and  thereabouts,  but  they  soon  extended 
to  all  parts  of  the  Empire.  The  paper  of  which 
they  were  made  was  originally  fabricated  only  in 
the  cities  of  Hweichow  and  Kichow  in  Kiangnan  ; 
subsequently,  it  was  also  manufactured  in  Chengtu- 
fu  in  Szechwan,  and  Linan-fu  in  Chekiang.  The 
hwei-ize  first  issued  were  worth  a  string  of  a  thou- 
sand cash,  but  under  the  reign  of  Hiao-tsung,  in 
1163,  they  were  issued  of  the  value  of  500,  300,  and 
200  cash  each.  In  five  years,  ix.  up  to  the  seventh 
month  of  the  year  1166,  there  had  ahready  been 
sent  out  more  than  28,000,000  taels'  worth  of 
these  notes ;  and  by  the  eleventh  month  of  this 
year,  this  sum  had  been  increased  15,600,000  taels. 
During  the  fiulher  sway  of  the  Sung  dynasty,  the 
number  of  the  hwei-ize  was  constantly  on  the  increase  ; 
and  besides  this  descriptioiv  of  note,  there  were 
some  of  the  Kiao-tze  still  extant,  and  notes  of 
private  individuals  current  in  the  provinces ;  so 
that  the  country  was  inundated  with  paper  notes, 
which  were  daily  depreciated  in  value  in  spite  of  all  the 
modifications  and  changes  the  government  adopted 
to  augment  their  circulation. 

"  At  last,  under  the  reign  of  Li-tsung  of  the 
same  dynasty,  in  1264,  the  minister  Kia  Sze-tau, 
seeing  tiieir  value  so  small,  endeavoured  to  substitute 
for  a  part  of  hwev-ize  some  new  assignats  which  he 
called  yin-kwan  or  silver  obligations.    Those  hwei-tze, 


THE  CURRENCY  I35 

which  were  technically  named  'seventeen  terms,' 
were  withdrawn  entirely ;  and  three  of  those  called 
*  eighteen  terms  '  were  exchanged  for  one  note  of  the 
new  currency  which  bore  the  character  kia.  But  al- 
though even  those  bills  which  were  torn  were  received 
in  pay  for  taxes,  the  minister  was  not  able  to  get  the 
Treasury  paper  into  circulation,  nor  to  lessen  the 
price  of  commodities." 

Mongol  Notes 

The  Mongols  then  came  in  (a.d.  1260)  and  founded  the 
Yuan  dynasty.  An  unlettered  race  of  warriors,  they  could 
devise  no  better  means  of  providing  for  the  needs  of  their 
government  than  to  continue  the  practice  which  they  foimd 
in  vogue  and  issue  paper  money.  Copper  cash  and  silver 
had  been  driven  from  their  dominions  ;  and  with  the  chief 
sources  of  supply  of  both  metals  in  the  southern  provinces, 
it  would  require  a  longer  period  of  peace  and  a  higher 
development  of  commerce  than  was  possible  under  Mongol 
rule,  for  the  waj^  to  be  opened  to  allow  the  deficiency  to  be 
made  good.  From  Marco  Polo  we  hear  much  of  the  great 
wealth  and  the  high  development  of  commerce  in  the  Mongol 
realm,  but  we  must  recall  what  was  the  state  of  the  Europe 
of  that  day  with  which  alone  he  could  make  comparison ; 
apart  from  the  record  of  history,  the  coinage  alone  would 
tell  us  that  China  from  the  seventh  to  the  eleventh  century 
was  far  more  prosperous  and  more  highly  developed  than 
in  the  thirteenth  century.  To  show  the  available  resources 
of  the  Treasury  at  a  time  a  little  later  but  during  the  same 
(Mongol)  dynasty,  the  following  note,  showing  the  tribute 
actually  received  by  the  Imperial  Treasury,  in  a  year  of 
great  prosperity,  is  illuminating : 

A.D.  1329.  989  ting  ( =  49,450  taels)  of  silver  and  notes ; 
1,133,119  strings  of  cowrie  shells ;  1,098,843  catties 
of  raw  silk;  350,530  rolls  of  woven  silk;  72,915 
catties  of  cotton ;  211,223  pieces  of  woven  cloth  ; 
3,255,220  piculs  of  rice. 


136    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

The  first  issue  of  Mongol  government  notes  was  made  in  the 
first  year  (a.d.  1260)  of  Kublai  Khan,  the  title  of  whose 
reign  was  Chmig-tmig,  and  the  successive  issues  in  this  and 
the  following  reigns  must  be  briefly  summarised. 
A.D.   1260.    Kiachchao,  representing  silk,   a   continuation 
of  the  issues  then  in  vogue  ;  fifty  taels  of  silver  would 
buy  1,000  taels  of  silk,  represented  by  notes  of  the 
face  value  of  1,000  taels.     (So  stated  by  Edkins.) 
A.D.    1260.    November.    Issue   of  notes   Chung-tung-chao 
of  10,  20,  30,  50,  100,  200,  500,  1,000,  and  2,000  cash. 
A  note  for  1,000  cash  was  worth  a  tael  in  Kiathchao 
currency,  and  2,000  cash  in  Kiao-chao  currency  repre- 
sented one  tael  in  silver. — (N.B.  one  cash  =  YoSiJ  tael.) 
A.D.  1264.    Treasury  established  in  each  province ;   notes 
representing  12,000  ting  =  600,000  taels  constituted 
bank-note  reserve. 
A.D.  1275.    Li-chao  notes  issued,  of  2,  3,  and  5  cash,  but 

soon  withdrawn. 
A.D.  1287.    Chih^uan-chao  notes  issued  of  eleven  denomina- 
tions from  5  to  2,000  cash.    A  tael  of  silver  exchanged 
for  2,000  cash  and  a  tael  of  gold  for  20,000  cash  in  these 
notes. 
A.D.  1309.    Chih-ta-chao  notes  issued  of  thirteen  denomina- 
tions from  2  cash  to  2  taels  of  silver.    One  chih-ichchao 
(tael  of  silver)  was  equivalent  to  5,000  chih-^uan-chao 
cash,  a  depreciation  in  twenty-two  years  of  60  per  cent. 
A.D.  1312-1321.    During  the  reign  of  Jen-tsung  there  was 
over-issue  of  notes,  and  the  issue  of  the  Chih-ta  notes 
for  silver  was  stopped.    The  Chung-tung  and  Chih- 
3ruan  notes  continued  to  circulate  to  the  end  of  the 
Mongol  djniasty. 
We  have  a  record  of  the  issues  (which  must  include  re- 
issues for  obliterated  notes)  for  the  first  seventy  years  from 
A.D.  1260,  which,  not  including  Kublai 's  issue  of  Kiao-chao, 
gives  us  a  total  issue  of  irredeemable  paper  money  in  sixty- 
four  of  the  first  seventy  years  of  Mongol  rule  amounting  to 
47,611,276  ting  or  2,380,563,800  taels  nominal  face  value,  the 


THE  CURRENCY  I37 

tael  being  always  taken  as  equivalent  to  1,000  cash.  This  is 
an  average  of  over  37,000,000  taels  a  year  ;  and,  as  the  coach 
gains  in  speed  in  running  down  hill,  we  may  assume  for  the 
whole  d)aiastic  period  of  108  years  an  annual  average  of 
40,000,000  taels,  at  a  time  when  the  richest  of  the  sovereigns 
of  Europe,  placed  inexorably  upon  a  cash  basis,  counted 
himself  passing  rich  in  any  year  in  which  his  budget  exceeded 
the  equivalent  of  a  million  taels.  How  this  situation  struck 
an  intelligent  European,  ignorant  of  the  use  of  instruments 
of  credit  and  bewildered  by  the  apparent  signs  of  wealth 
around  him,  is  shown  in  Marco  Polo's  comment ;  and  I 
reproduce  it  here  to  demonstrate  how  changed  is  Europe 
and  how  unchanged  is  China  in  the  six  centuries  which  have 
elapsed  since  it  was  written. 

"  The  Emperor's  Mint  then  is  in  this  same  City  of 
Cambulac,  and  the  way  it  is  wrought  is  such  that  you 
might  say  he  hath  the  Secret  of  Alchemy  in  perfection, 
and  you  would  be  right  I  For  he  makes  his  money 
after  this  fashion. 

"  He  makes  them  take  of  the  bark  of  a  certain 
tree,  in  fact  of  the  Mulberry  Tree,  the  leaves  of  which 
are  the  food  of  the  silkworms — these  trees  being  so 
numerous  that  whole  districts  are  full  of  them.  What 
they  take  is  a  certain  fine  white  bast  or  skin  which  Hes 
between  the  wood  of  the  tree  and  the  thick  outer  bark, 
and  this  they  make  into  something  resembling  sheets 
of  paper,  but  black.  When  these  sheets  have  been 
prepared  they  are  cut  up  into  pieces  of  different  sizes. 
The  smallest  of  these  sizes  is  worth  a  half  tomesel ;  the 
next,  a  Uttle  larger,  one  tomesel ;  one  a  Uttle  larger 
still  is  worth  half  a  silver  groat  of  Venice  ;  another  a 
whole  groat ;  other  yet  two  groats,  five  groats,  and  ten 
groats.  There  is  also  a  kind  worth  one  bezant  of  gold, 
and  others  of  three  bezants,  and  so  up  to  ten.*  All 
these  pieces  of  paper  are  [issued  with  as  much  solemnity 

*  The  bezant  is  taken  to  equal  one  tael  of  silver^  or  i^ooo  cash. 
One  besmt  s  20  groats  =s  133^  tomeseL 


138     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMmrSTRATIOy  OF  CIT^i 

and  authority  as  if  they  were  of  pure  gold  or  silver  ; 
and  on  every  piece  a  variety  of  officials,  whose  duty 
it  is,  have  to  write  their  names,  and  to  put  their  seals. 
And,  when  all  is  prepared  duly,  the  chief  officer  deputed 
by  the  Kaan  smears  the  Seal  entrusted  to  him  with 
vermilion,  and  impresses  it  on  the  paper,  so  that  the 
form  of  the  Seal  remains  stamped  upon  it  in  red  ;  the 
Money  is  then  authentic.  Any  one  forging  it  would 
be  punished  with  death].  And  the  Kaan  causes  every 
year  to  be  made  such  a  vast  quantity  of  this  money, 
which  costs  him  nothing,  that  it  must  equal  in  amount 
all  the  treasure  in  the  world. 

"  With  these  pieces  of  paper,  made  as  I  have 
described,  he  causes  all  payments  on  his  own  account 
to  be  made ;  and  he  makes  them  to  pass  current 
universally  over  all  his  kingdoms  and  provinces  and 
territories  and  whithersoever  his  power  and  sove- 
reignty extends.  And  nobody,  however  important 
he  may  think  himself,  dares  to  refuse  them  on  pain 
of  death.  And  indeed  everybody  takes  them  readily, 
for  wheresoever  a  person  may  go  throughout  the  Great 
Kaan's  dominions  he  shall  find  these  pieces  of  paper 
ourent,  and  shall  be  able  to  transact  all  sales  and 
ptirchases  of  goods  by  means  of  them  just  as  well  as 
if  they  were  coins  of  pure  gold.  And  all  the  while 
they  are  so  light  that  ten  bezants'  worth  does  not 
weigh  one  golden  bezant. 

"  Furthermore  all  merchants  arriving  from  India 
or  other  countries  and  bringing  with  them  gold  or 
silver  or  gems  and  pearls,  are  prohibited  from  selling 
to  any  one  but  the  Emperor.  He  has  twelve  experts 
chosen  for  this  business,  men  of  shrewdness  and  ex- 
perience in  such  affairs ;  these  appraise  the  articles, 
and  the  Emperor  then  paj^  a  liberal  price  for  them  in 
those  pieces  of  paper.  The  merchants  accept  his  price 
readily,  for  in  the  first  place  they  would  not  get  so 
good  an  one  from  anybody  else,  and  secondly,  they 


THE  CURRENCY  I39 

are  paid  without  any  delay.  And  with  this  paper- 
money  they  can  buy  what  they  hke  anywhere  over 
the  Empire,  whilst  it  is  also  vastly  Ughter  to  carry 
about  on  their  journeys.  And  it  is  a  truth  that  the 
merchants  will  several  times  in  the  year  bring  wares 
to  the  amount  of  400,000  bezants,  and  the  Grand  Sire 
pajrs  for  all  in  that  paper.  So  he  buys  such  a  quantity 
of  those  precious  things  every  year  that  his  treasure  is 
endless,  whilst  all  the  time  the  money  he  pays  away 
costs  him  nothing  at  all.  Moreover  several  times  in 
the  year  proclamation  is  made  through  the  city  that 
any  one  who  may  have  gold  or  silver  or  gems  or  pearls, 
by  taking  them  to  the  Mint  shall  get  a  handsome  price 
for  them.  And  the  owners  are  glad  to  do  this,  because 
they  would  find  no  other  purchaser  give  so  large  a 
price.  Thus  the  quantity  they  bring  in  is  marvellous, 
though  those  who  do  not  choose  to  do  so  may  let  it 
alone.  Still,  in  this  way,  nearly  all  the  valuables  in 
the  country  come  into  the  Kaan's  possession. 

"  When  any  of  those  pieces  of  paper  are  spoilt — 
not  that  they  are  so  very  flimsy  neither — the  owner 
carries  them  to  the  Mint,  and  by  paying  3  per  cent,  on 
the  value  he  gets  new  pieces  in  exchange.  And  if  any 
Baron,  or  any  one  else  soever,  hath  need  of  gold  or 
silver  or  gems  or  pearls,  in  order  to  make  plate,  or 
girdles  or  the  hke,  he  goes  to  the  Mint  and  buys  as 
much  as  he  hst,  paying  in  this  paper-money. 

"  Now  you  have  heard  the  waj^  and  means  where- 
by the  Great  Kaan  may  have,  and  in  fact  has,  more 
treasure  than  all  the  kings  in  the  World ;  and  you 
know  all  about  it  and  the  reason  why."  * 

Ming  Notes 

Bayonets  form  a  poor  seat  for  the  throne  of  a  ruler,  and 

•  "  The  Book  of  Ser  Marco  Polo,"  translated  by  Col.  Henry  Yule. 
London,  187Z.    Book  II.  Chap.  xxiv. 


140    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

a  constant  diet  of  irredeemable  assignats  is  not  nutritious. 
With  all  the  warlike  prowess  and  rough  hardihood  of  the 
Mongols,  weakened  though  they  may  have  been  by  a  life  of 
luxury,  their  throne,  which  endured  for  three  centuries  in 
India,  fell  after  a  single  century  of  dominion  in  China  before 
the  assault  of  the  unwarlike  Chinese,  driven  to  rebellion 
by  the  burden  of  heavy  taxation  and  by  the  evils  of  an 
irredeemable  and  depreciated  paper  currency.  The  first 
Ming  Emperor,  T'ai  Tsu,  whose  reign  title  was  Hungwu 
(A.D.  1368-1398),  found  himself  confronted  by  a  financial 
situation  of  grave  difficulty,  and  was  compelled  for  a  time  to 
continue,  with  all  its  evils,  the  currency  S3rstem  of  his  pre- 
decessors. Government  notes  were  therefore  issued,  but 
other  steps  were  taken  to  place  the  Imperial  finances  on  a 
sound  basis,  and  it  redounds  to  the  credit  of  the  govern- 
ment that,  in  a  single  reign  and  a  single  generation,  they 
were  able  to  "  resume  specie  payments." 

I  have  been  unable  to  obtain  a  copy  of  a  Mongol  govern- 
ment note,  which  would  have  had  a  special  interest  as 
illustrating  the  ciurency,  the  benefits  of  which  Ser  Marco 
Polo  described  in  such  glowing  terms  to  an  open-mouthed 
and  open-eared  Europe.  I  give,  however,  a  reduced 
reproduction  of  a  note  for  1,000  cash  issued  by  the  first 
Ming  Emperor  (Hungwu,  a.d.  1368-1398),  who  may  be 
assumed  to  have  followed  closely  the  procedure  and  copied 
the  forms  of  his  predecessors.  This  500-year-old  instru- 
ment of  credit  has  a  curious  history,  furnishing  an  absolute 
guarantee  of  its  authenticity.  During  the  foreign  occupa- 
tion of  Peking  in  1900-1901  some  European  soldiers  had 
overthrown  a  sacred  image  of  Buddha,  in  the  grounds  of 
the  Summer  Palace,  and,  deposited  in  the  pedestal  (as  in 
the  comer-stones  of  our  public  buildings),  found  gems  and 
jewelry  and  ingots  of  gold  and  silver  and  a  bundle  of  these 
notes.  Contented  with  the  loot  having  intrinsic  value, 
the  soldiers  readily  surrendered  the  bundle  of  notes  to  a 
bystander  who  was  present  "  unofficially,"  Surgeon  Major 
Louis  Livingston  Seaman,  U.S.A.^  of  New  York,  and  he 


THE  CURRENCY  I41 

gave  to  the  Museum  of  St.  John's  College  at  Shanghai  the 
specimen  which  is  here  reproduced. 

The  note  is  printed  on  mulberry-bark  paper,  which  now 
IS  of  a  dark  slate  colour,  the  "  something  resembling  sheets 
of  paper,  but  black"  of  Marco  Polo's  description.  The 
sheet  of  paper  is  13*5  by  875  inches,  and  the  design  on  the 
face  is  I2'6  by  8*3  inches.  The  border,  1-4  inch  wide,  is 
made  of  extended  dragons  filled  around  with  an  arabesque 
design,  and  is  surmounted  by  a  panel  with  the  inscription 
(from  right  to  left)  "  circulating  government  note  of  the 
Ming  Empire."  The  space  within  the  border  is  divided 
into  two  panek.  The  upper  has  on  the  two  sides  in  con- 
ventionahsed  square  seal  characters,  on  the  right  **  govern- 
ment note  of  the  Ming  Empire,"  on  the  left  "  circulating 
for  ever  and  ever  "  ;  between  these  two  inscriptions,  above, 
in  large  ordinary  characters  "  one  kwan  "  (or  tiao  or  string), 
and  below  a  pictorial  illustration  representing  ten  hundreds 
of  cash.  The  lower  panel  contains  the  following :  "  The 
Imperial  Board  of  Revenue  having  memorialised  the  Throne 
has  received  the  Imperial  sanction  for  the  issue  of  govern- 
ment notes  of  the  Ming  Empire,  to  circulate  on  the  same 
footing  as  standard  cash.  To  counterfeit  is  death.  The 
informant  will  receive  250  taels  of  silver  and  in  addition  the 

entire  property  of  the  criminal.      Hungwu year 

month day."    A  seal  3*25  inches  square 

is  impressed  in  vermilion  once  on  the  upper  panel,  once 
on  the  lower  panel,  bearing  in  square  seal  characters  the 
legend  "  The  Seal  of  the  Government  Note  Administrators." 
On  the  back  of  the  note,  above,  is  impressed  in  vermiUon 
a  seal  bearing  in  square  seal  characters  the  legend  "  Seal 
for  Circulating  Government  Notes " ;  below,  within  a 
border  6*2  by  41  inches,  is  repeated  the  middle  part  of  the 
upper  panel  of  the  face— one  kwan,  with  a  pictorial  illus* 
tration  representing  ten  hundreds  of  cash. 


142     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

HiENFENG  Notes. 

From  A.D.  1403,  it  may  be  said,  or  at  any  rate  from 
some  time  in  the  reign  of  Ymiglo  (a.d.  1403-1425),  there 
were  no  fiduciary  issues  by  the  government,  either  of  the 
Ming  or  the  Tsing,  until  we  come  to  the  troubled  times  of 
Hienfeng  (a.d.  1851-1861),  when  the  necessities  of  the 
Treasury  drove  it  to  this  method  of  replenishing  its  depleted 
reserves.  In  1853,  the  year  in  which  the  issue  of  token 
coins  began,  the  government  resumed,  after  an  interval  of 
four  and  a  half  centuries,  the  issue  of  paper  money,  nominally 
redeemable  but  in  practice  never  redeemed.  The  notes  so 
issued  were  of  two  kinds,  for  copper  cash  and  for  taels  of 
silver. 

The  cash  notes  were  of  four  denominations,  5Q0,  1,000, 
1,500,  and  2,000  cash,  and  the  silver  notes  were  for  i,  3,  5, 
10,  and  50  taels  of  the  Metropohtan  or  Two-ta^ scale.*  The 
issue  of  both  was  forced,  but  they  rapidly  depreciated  in 
value  until,  in  1861,  they  circulated  at  only  3  per  cent,  of 
their  face  value,  and  soon  disappeared  from  circulation. 

For  nearly  forty  years  from  the  accession' of  Tungchih 
(A.D.  1862)  the  issue  of  paper  instruments  of  credit  was  left 
entirely  to  private  hands,  banks  and  money-changers  ;  but 
recently  some  provincial  governments,  driven  by  the  steady 
absorption  of  their  revenues  for  Imperial  purposes,  have 
resumed  the  issue  of  government  notes.  Their  re-intro- 
duction is  of  too  recent  a  date  to  permit  any  extended 
comment  upon  the  wisdom  of  the  step,  or  upon  the  pre- 
cautions adopted  to  secure  their  convertibility;  but  the 
partial  acceptance  which  they  have  obtained  is  based  on 
reasons  which  carry  us  back  eleven  hundred  years.  The 
circulation  of  the  notes  of  private  banks  is  limited  to  the 
radius  of  credit  of  the  issuing  bank ;  the  Tang  government 
notes  were  acceptable  chiefly  because  they  furnished  a 
safe  and  convenient  means  of  transferring  funds  from  place 
to  place ;  and,  rather  to  the  dismay  of  the  authorities,  this 
♦  See  page  155. 


THE  CURRENCY  I43 

facility  of  transferring  funds  provides  the  chief  reason  for 
the  circulation  within  the  limits  of  a  given  province  of 
present  issues  of  government  notes. 

SILVER   CURRENCY 
Bimetallic  Ratio 

There  has  always,  for  thirteen  centuries  at  least,  and 
in  theory,  been  a  more  or  less  recognised  correspondence 
and  fixed  ratio  of  convertibility  between  the  copper  and 
the  silver  currency  of  the  Empire ;  and  among  the  many 
facts  which  show  this,  I  need  only  refer  to  the  few  which 
have  been  mentioned  above.  The  Tang  coinage  of  the 
seventh  century  a.d.  was  based  on  the  trimetallic  ratio 
of  I  gold  =  10  silver  =  1,000  copper ;  in  the  paper  money 
issues  of  the  Southern  Sung  and  the  Yuan,  from  the  twelfth 
to  the  fourteenth  centuries,  the  tiao  or  string,  or  thousand, 
of  paper-money  cash  and  the  tael  of  silver  are  alwa3rs 
regarded  as  synonymous  terms  (cf.  Marco  Polo,  iM  supra), 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  paper  money  was  much 
depreciated ;  and  the  first  Manchu  Emperor  (a.d.  1644), 
in  his  desire  to  conform  in  every  way  to  Chinese  theory 
and  practice,  inscribed  on  his  coins  their  theoretic  silver 
value,  ^q\^q  of  a  tael  (as  shown  on  plate  facing  p.  120). 

Silver  Coins 

Five  centuries  after  the  Tang  rulers  had  either  fixed  the 
bimetallic  ratio  or  had  adopted  that  which  they  found  in 
existence,  silver  had  appreciated  to  double  its  value  in  its 
relation  to  copper  cash,  one  shoe  of  50  taels  of  silver  ex- 
changing for  100,000  cash ;  and  about  a.d.  1183,  during 
the  reign  of  Hiaot-sung,  the  second  Emperor  of  the  Southern 
Sung,  China  for  the  first,  and  (until  a  few  years  ago)  last 
and  only  time,  minted  silver  coins.  There  were  five  kinds, 
weighing  i,  2,  3,  5,  and  10  taels  respectively,  each  tael 
passing  for  2,000  cash.    They  could  be  used  as  official 


144    ^^^  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

and  commercial  cmrency,  and  served  equally  as  metallic 
reserve  for  the  paper  notes.  This  silver  coinage  only  lasted 
three  years. 

I  am  imcertain  whether  we  should  regard  this  as  a  true 
silver  coinage  of  which  the  face  and  intrinsic  values  should 
correspond,  or  whether  it  was  not  an  issue  of  depreciated 
silver  token  currency  intended  to  serve  mainly  as  metallic 
reserve  to  support  the  still  further  depreciated  paper  cur- 
rency, the  issues  of  which  under  the  same  dynasty  had  begim 
fifty  years  before ;  a  fair  parallel,  were  it  not  for  the  relative 
credit  of  the  two  governments,  might  be  found  in  the  silver 
reserve  of  the  Bank  of  France,  which,  being  based  on  gold, 
is  counted  at  the  ratio  i  :  i6.  A  silver  coin,  an  exact 
model  of  the  cash  of  the  reign,  was  issued  during  the  reign 
of  the  Ming  Emperor  Wanli  (a.d.  1573-1619),  but  this  was 
probably  a  mint  sport,  much  like  the  English  silver  pennies 
issued  to-day.  The  silver  coins  of  the  nineteenth  century 
in  the  collections  of  Wylie  and  Glover  can  hardly  be  regarded 
as  official.  This,  so  far  as  is  known,  is  the  complete  record 
of  the  silver  coinage  of  China  up  to  a.d.  1889. 

Currency  a  Weight 

With  these  insignificant  exceptions,  China  has  never 
had  a  government  coin  of  other  metal  than  copper ;  other 
than  copper,  the  currency  of  the  country  is  not  a  coin, 
but  a  weight.  This  weight  is  the  "  tael,"  *  as  it  is  called  by 
foreigners,  the  Chinese  name  for  it  being  liang ;  and  when 
an  operation  in  international  trade,  a  wholesale  purchase. 
Government  indebtedness,  or  Customs  duties  have  to  be 
liquidated,  payment  is  effected  by  weighing  out  the  required 
number  of  "  taels "  of  the  stipulated  quality  of  silver. 
A  century  ago  Germany  was  the  paradise  of  the  money- 
changer with  its  numerous  coinages,  each  circulating  in 
its  own  principality ;  but  that  was  simplicity  itself  when 
compared  with  China.    In  China  every  one  of  the  hundreds 

*  Tael — ^from  the  Hindu  "  tola  "  through  the  Malayan  word 
"tahiL" 


THE  CURRENCY  I45 

of  commercial  centres  not  only  has  its  own  tael-weight, 
but  in  many  cases  has  several  standards  side  by  side ;  and 
these  taels  of  money  will  be  weighed  out  in  silver  which, 
even  in  one  place,  will  be  of  several  degrees  of  fineness. 


Variability  of  Standards 

One  town  may  be  taken  to  typify  many — the  town  of 
Chungking,  in  the  province  of  Szechwan,  in  the  far  west  of 
China.     Here  the  standard  weight  of  the  tael  for  silver 
transactions  is  555*6  grains,  and  this  is  the  standard  for  all 
transactions  in  which  the  scale  is  not  specified.    Frequently, 
however,  a  modification  of  the  scale  is  provided  for,  de- 
pending in  some  cases  upon  the  place   from   which    the 
merchant  comes  or  with  which  he  trades,  and  in  others 
upon  the  goods  in  which  he  deals.    A  merchant  coming  from 
Kweichow,  or  trading  with  that  place,  will  probably,  but 
not  certainly,  use  a  scale  on  which  the  tael  weighs  548*9 
grains ;   a  merchant  from  Kweifu,  a  town  on  the  Yangtze, 
a  hundred  miles  below  Chungking,  will  buy  and  sell  with 
a  tad  5627  grains ;   and  between  these  two  extremes  are 
at  least  ten  topical  weights  of  tael,  all  '*  current "  at  Chung- 
king.   In  addition  to  these  twelve  topical  "  currencies," 
there  are  others  connected  with  commodities.    One  of  the 
most  important  products  of  Szechwan  is  salt,  and  dealings 
in  this  are  settled  by  a  tael  of  556*4  grains,  unless  it  is  salt 
from  the  Tzeliu  well,  in  which  case  the  standard  is  5577 
grains.    A  transaction  in  cotton  cloth  is  settled  with  a 
tael  of  555'0  grains,  but  for  cotton  yam  the  tael  is  556*0 
grains,  and  for  raw  cotton  the  tael  is  5477  grains. 

This  seems  confusion,  but  we  are  not  yet  at  the  end. 
Up  to  this  point  we  have  dealt  only  with  the  weight  on  the 
scale,  but  now  comes  in  the  question  of  the  fineness  of 
the  silver  with  which  payment  is  made.  At  Chungking 
three  qualities  of  silver  are  in  common  use — "  fine  silver  " 
1,000  fine  current  throughout  the  Empire,  "  old  silver " 
about  995  fine,  and  "  trade  silver  "  between  960  and  970 

10 


146     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

fine ;  and  payment  may  be  stipulated  in  any  one  of  these 
three  quaUties.  Taking  the  score  of  current  tael-weights 
in  combination  with  the  three  grades  of  silver,  we  have 
at  least  sixty  currencies  possible  in  this  one  town. 

This  is  characteristic  of  the  Empire.  The  traveller, 
even  a  private  individual,  journeying  from  place  to  place  in 
Clvina,  will  be  careful  to  take  with  him  a  small  steel-yard 
and  a  string  of  a  few  selected  "  cash,"  the  exact  weight  of 
which  on  his  home  scale  is  known  to  him.  His  first  step 
in  cashing  a  draft  or  exchanging  the  silver  he  brought 
with  him  is  to  ascertain  the  weight  of  his  string  of  cash 
on  the  scales  of  the  strange  bank  in  the  strange  place ; 
and,  having  done  this,  he  is  able  to  work  out  the  parity 
of  exchange  between  his  home  and  the  place  of  his  tem- 
porary sojourn.  Even  then,  however,  he  is  dependent 
on  the  banker  in  the  matter  of  the  quaUty  of  silver ;  for- 
tunately, the  commercial  honour  of  the  Chinese  bankers 
stands  high,  although  it  is  hardly  to  be  expected  that  they 
should  not  profit  by  their  expert  knowledge. 

In  China  you  must  prove  your  axioms.  We  are  ac- 
customed to  cmrencies  in  which  the  imit  of  value  is  a 
defined  and  accurate  weight  of  an  alloy  of  a  precious  metal 
(commonly  gold)  of  an  exact  and  known  degree  of  fineness. 
In  China  the  silver  currency  is  an  article  of  barter,  of  which 
neither  the  weight  nor  the  quality  is  anywhere  fixed ;  and 
in  treating  of  the  tael  of  silver,  we  must  answer  two  ques- 
tions :  What  is  a  tael  ?  and  What  is  silver  ?  Since  "  tael " 
connotes  both  a  weight  and  a  value,  and  since  an  essential 
element  in  value  is  the  quality  of  the  silver,  we  must  first 
answer  the  question.  What  is  silver  ? 

Silver 

Silver  is  most  commonly  current  in  oval  ingots  called 
"shoes,"  from  their  resemblance  to  a  Chinese  shoe;  but 
what  may  be  called  fractional  currency  is  in  obovoid  lumps 
weighing  up  to  two  or  three  taek.     At  Mengtsz  the  sycee 


THE   CUJ^KfTNCY  147 

.*  O'Miiinonly  current  is  the  chiehrting,  more  commonly 

I    :•>  t}ie  'pai-jung  ingot  ;   when  laid  flat  on  a  sheol  of 

.     .Ti',-    tr/iced  'Aith  a  pencil,  it  has  eighv  carviUncar 

.    u  f.-nu:  II' 't  unlike  the  br---^  pic^jc^^  in.-. i ted  in  u-ois 

!  •    ?^^,t  key-holes;    in  wei^dit  the  piece-  varj-  fn-m  two 

up   tM   five   taels.     At   Peking   the   Sungkiang   mj::ot 

■  .  ..ivt   i^>   taeJ<.     The  standard  ingot   ot  China  wctrlvi 

.r  5r,  ta;:^  (horn  49  to  54)  and.  formerly  caM- <:  -  •    . 

-  ec  Urd  /Vo  (jewel  artide  of  value,  a^  in  tlic  i'.i^cn^'tiuj. 

'\w  rr-iver  ca^h  tung-pao  ^  "current  coin")  and  more 

r-nV'  yuan  />'^'(;,  probably  standing  foi  "  round  \\v;^A  " 

:  '!.:  -luipc.  oval  in  plan. 

i'hr-  -]v  .^:--'  of  Shanghai  are  as  shown  hi  the  acct^mpanying 
•'      which   repre>ents   a  shoe   inscribed  in  ink  by   the 
.:V    <uTicc    of    the    Foreign    Settlements   as   wei^hmg 
:..:L  and  ai^'  b.ing  of  silver  for  the  iniality  ci  wliich 
.\u».^t  b.^  added:    it  i^  ^dso  ^laln})ed  with  ther,  at  the 
•.M.if  hv.abli^hment  with  tlu-  place  (Sl:an.;hai),  the  niune 
♦ht*  f-MabliNhment  (Suiyuan),  and  a  numeral  (3)  l-n*  the 
.jbrr  01  the  funiace,  of  whi^h  tlie  Esiabh aliment  lias  -ix. 
.  .-i-hai  :dioes  wtigh  close  on  50  tael^  each  ;   a  lot  of  sixty 
'^lirh  I  v-jw  the  weighing  and  touching,  had  fifty-four 
.  A.-;,  -t  /Si  and  4000  taoK  five  bctwet-u  4991  and  o^'oo 
.   ^  .   MxCl  one  of  50-04  taels  ;    other  lots  might  have  t!'e 
•.er  ]:roT)oni(>n  just  over  50  tat^ls.     Hankow  and  otltr^r 
.n^tzf^   ports   aL^'Cnst    oval   shoes  close  on  50  taels   in 
^  hi.  and  Tientsin  as  well.     The  -hoes  of  Kiangsi  are 
int.  dar.  with  the  lip  projectiri;  at  eadi  end  only  half 
..• -ji,  weighing  also  about  50  taeU.     The  shoes  oidinaiily 
;■  the  top  of  the  solid  p.irt  parallel  to  the  bottom  ;    but 
he  Newchwang  shr,e  it  is  mcUned,  so  that  at  one  end 
•   •  >olid  part  is  only  two-thiidb  the  thickness  of  the  other 
^  \  ;    Newchwang  ^hoes  weigh  from  53  to  54  taels,  and 
..  t'ati-..ns  for  "  transfer  money  '  (r.  h:\ni)  are  per  shc»^'.  of 
.  :, finally  5J  taels.     Except  to  make  change  the  small  lumps 
:  r^dver  are  seldom  seen  at  Shanghai,  and  when  received 
••^in  other  cities  are  sent  to  be  cast  into  shoes. 


-  \ 


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£   ^ 


THE  CURRENCY  I47 

most  commonly  current  is  the  chUlhting,  more  commonly 
known  as  the  pai-fang  ingot ;  when  laid  flat  on  a  sheet  of 
^  paper  and  traced  with  a  pencil,  it  has  eight  curvilinear 
lines,  a  figure  not  unlike  the  brass  pieces  inserted  in  doors 
to  protect  key-holes ;  in  weight  the  pieces  vary  from  two 
tads  up  to  five  taels.  At  Peking  the  Sungkiang  ingot 
is  about  10  taels.  The  standard  ingot  of  China  weighs 
about  50  taels  (from  49  to  54)  and,  formerly  called  ting, 
is  now  called  pao  (jewel,  article  of  value,  as  in  the  inscription 
on  the  copper  cash  tung-pao  =  "  current  coin  ")  and  more 
conmionly  yuan  pao,  probably  standing  for  "  round  ingot " 
from  its  shape,  oval  in  plan. 

The  shoes  of  Shanghai  are  as  shown  in  the  accompanying 
plate,  which  represents  a  shoe  inscribed  in  ink  by  the 
Assay  Office  of  the  Foreign  Settlements  as  weighing 
49*94  taels  and  as  being  of  silver  for  the  quality  of  which 
275  must  be  added ;  it  is  also  stamped  with  dies  at  the 
Melting  Establishment  with  the  place  (Shanghai),  the  name 
of  the  Establishment  (Suiyuan),  and  a  numeral  (3)  for  the 
number  of  the  furnace,  of  which  the  Establishment  has  six. 
Shanghai  shoes  weigh  close  on  50  taels  each ;  a  lot  of  sixty 
of  which  I  saw  the  weighing  and  touching,  had  fifty-four 
between  4981  and 49*90  taels,  five  between  4991  and  5000 
taels,  and  one  of  50  04  taels ;  other  lots  might  have  the 
larger  proportion  just  over  50  taels.  Hankow  and  other 
Yangtze  ports  also  cast  oval  shoes  close  on  50  taels  in 
weight,  and  Tientsin  as  well.  The  shoes  of  Kiangsi  are 
rectangular,  with  the  lip  projecting  at  each  end  only  half 
an  inch,  weighing  also  about  50  taels.  The  shoes  ordinarily 
have  the  top  of  the  solid  part  parallel  to  the  bottom  ;  but 
in  the  Newchwang  shoe  it  is  inclined,  so  that  at  one  end 
the  solid  part  is  only  two-thirds  the  thickness  of  the  other 
end;  Newchwang  shoes  weigh  from  53  to  54  taels,  and 
quotations  for  '*  transfer  moniey  "  {v.  infra)  are  per  shoe  of 
,  nominally  53  taels.  Except  to  make  change  the  small  lumps 
jKof  silver  are  seldom  seen  at  Shanghai,  and  when  received 
from  other  cities  are  sent  to  be  cast  into  shoes. 


148     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

The  silver  contained  in  the  shoe  is  called  sycee,  the 
Cantonese  pronunciation  of  hsi-sze,  "  fine  silk  " ;  when  it 
is  theoretically  standard  silver  of  a  fineness  of  1,000  it  is 
called  tsu-seh  wen-yin. 

Throughout  China  generally,  except  at  Shanghai  and 
in  the  country  subordinated  to  it,  silver  is  rated  for  quality 
by  milli^mes  of  a  standard  of  "  pure  silver."  Thus,  at 
Tientsin  all  silver  is  reduced  to  a  theoretic  local  standard 
of  992  ;  at  Chefoo,  to  one  of  976 ;  at  Hankow,  to  one  of 
967.  At  Shanghai  and  through  the  greater  part  of  Kiangsu 
and  Anhwei  silver  is  rated,  not  by  millidmes  of  a  "  pure 
silver  "  standard,  but  by  the  addition,  to  each  shoe  of  about 
50  taels  weight,  of  a  quantity  to  indicate  the  degree  of 
superiority  of  quality  over  a  presumed  standard  which 
(subject  to  a  certain  degree  of  confusion  between  premium 
and  discount)  is  944  of  the  China  standard  of  "  pure  silver." 
By  this  scheme  of  notation  2*8  silver  {i,e.  silver  for  the 
quality  of  which  is  added  28  per  shoe,  or  5-6  per  100) 
represents  silver  1,000  fine,  27  silver  is  998  fine,  2*4  silver  is 
992  fine,  or  thereabouts. 

In  Western  coimtries  the  standard  of  1,000  represents 
silver  chemically  pure,  with  no  admixtiu-e  ol  gold  or  of 
copper  and  lead.  American  quotations  of  bar  silver  are 
reduced  to  a  basis  of  998,  and  British  quotations  to  a  basis 
of  925  of  this  standard.  In  China  the  standard  of  1,000 
seems  to  refer  to  a  silver  commercially  pure,  as  shown  by 
the  crude  methods  of  the  touchstone  or  of  crucible  assaying. 
This  is  the  standard  of  Kuping ;  it  is  the  standard  to 
which  are  referred  all  local  millifeme  standards,  and  in  the 
Shanghai  notation  it  is  28  silver.  Even  at  Shanghai, 
however,  super-pure  silver  is  known  in  Chinese  circles, 
and  in  the  make-up  of  the  Haikwan  tael  the  requisite 
quality  of  silver  is  rated,  not  at  28,  as  for  the  *'  pure  sflver  " 
of  the  Kuping  tael,  but  at  3084  (i,e.  at  6168  per  100  taels) 
to  represent  a  higher  degree  of  purity.  Even  this,  however, 
does  not  graphically  represent  a  quality  of  silver  corre- 
sponding to  what  is  called  1,000  fine  in  Western  countries. 


THE  CURRENCY  I49 

It  has  been  ascertained  in  transactions  in  foreign  bar  silver 
that  "  pure  silver  "  of  the  Kuping  tael  touch  is  actually 
987  fine  when  reduced  to  the  Western  standard  of  chemically 
pure  silver ;  and  on  this  basis  silver  of  the  Haikwan  tael 
touch  recognised  at  Shanghai  is  actually  992*3  fine. 

Working  on  these  figures  it  will  be  found  that  the  Shang- 
hai tael  contains  525  grains  of  silver  of  the  Kuping  tad 
touch,  522^  grains  of  silver  of  the  Haikwan  tael  touch, 
and  about  518^  grains  of  silver  of  the  Western  standard 
1,000  fine. 

I  shall  have  more  to  say  on  the  definition  of  the  quality 
of  silver  when  I  come  to  treat  of  the  Shanghai  tael. 

The  Tael 

It  is  not  always  possible  to  keep  them  apart  in  writing, 
but  in  reading  it  is  necessary  always  to  bear  in  mind  the 
distinction  between  the  tad  of  value  and  the  tad  of  weight. 
At  Tientsin,  by  "  Tientsin  tad  "  is  meant  one  Hang-ping 
tad  in  weight  of  silver  of  the  Hwa-pao  standard  992  fine ; 
by  "  Hangping  tael "  is  meant  one  Hangping  tael  in  weight 
of  silver  or  any  other  commodity,  and,  if  of  silver,  it  may 
be  of  Hwapao  or  any  other  stipulated  standard ;  to  express 
fully  what  the  foreigner  calls  the  **  Tientsin  tael,"  the 
Chinese  would  say  "  Hang-ping  tael  of  hwa-pao  silver." 
It  is  not  possible  to  use  different  words  for  the  two  meanings 
thus  connoted,  since  they  are  interwoven ;  and  always  to 
distinguish  them  otherwise  would  involve  the  use  of  much 
circumlocution.  It  must  be  left  to  the  reader  to  make  the 
distinction,  since,  even  without  this,  there  wiU  be  found 
to  be  enough  of  "  proving  axioms  "  to  break  constantly 
the  thread  of  thought. 

The  Tael  of  Weight 

The  tad  is  the  "  ounce  "  of  China,  of  which,  as  in  England 
and  America,  i6  make  one  catty,*  or  Chinese  "  pound." 
*  Catty  or  Kati — ^Malayan  for  pound. 


150     THB  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

In  weighing  the  precious  metals,  however,  the  tad  is  the 
heaviest  unit,  and  it  has  decimal  subdivisions,  each  with 
its  own  name,  down  to  the  one  thousand-million-millionth 
(1,000.000.(^)0.000.000)  part  of  a  tael,  those  in  daily  use  being  the 
following : 

10  Li  (cash)  =  i  Ffti  (Candarin). 
10  F6n  =  I  Tsien  (Mace). 

10  Tsien         =  i  Liang  (Tael). 

Seven  places  of  decimals  (the  ten-millionth  part)  of  a 
tael  are  frequently,  even  regularly,  seen  in  statements  of 
accoimt  of  revenue  and  expencUture  submitted  to  the 
Throne.  This  is  the  tael  of  the  arithmetics,  but  its  actual 
weight  will  best  be  considered  under  the  head  of  the  tad 
of  currency ;  it  is  sufl&cient  here  to  say  that  the  weight 
ranges,  at  different  places  and  in  the  same  place,  from 
540  to  583  grains. 

The  Tael  of  Currency 

Of  the  various  tads  of  currency  two  may  be  considered 
to  have  a  universal  range,  the  Haikwan,  or  "  Customs  " 
tad,  and  the  Kuping,  or  "  Treasury  "  tad ;  and  a  third, 
the  Tsaoping,  or  "  Tribute"  tael,  is  current  over  a  wide 
area. 

Haikwan    Tael 

The  Haikwan  tael  is  the  currency  in  which  duties  are 
levied  by  the  Imperial  Maritime  Customs,  but  it  is  a  purdy 
fictitious  and  non-existent  currency.  Inquiry  leads  to  no 
indication  that  it  ever  has  been  an  existent  currency  at 
any  time  since  the  opening  of  the  Inspectorate-General 
of  Customs,  and  it  is  certain  that  it  is  not  in  current  use 
at  the  present  day.  At  no  Custom  House  does  any  mer- 
chant tender  Haikwan  taels  in  payment  of  duties,  and 
the  invariable  practice  is  to  pay  all  Customs  obligations 


> 


THE  CURRENCY  I5I 

in  local  currency  at  a  rate  of  conversion  settled  on  the 
opening  of  each  of  the  several  Customs  Offices,  now  forty 
in  number.  The  actual  theoretic  weight,  apart  from  any 
question  of  the  quaUty  of  silver,  is  not  ascertainable  with 
any  degree  of  certainty.  Using  an  official  weight  of  100 
taels  dated  1867,  which  had  been  verified  at  Canton  by  a 
weight  of  1846,  it  has  been  found  to  be  581*55  grains.  The 
result  of  independent  tests  at  Canton  in  the  same  year 
(1905)  gave  a  weight  of  581*83  grains,  while  other  estimates 
range  from  581  to  589  grains.  The  only  outside  authority 
to  which  appeal  can  be  made  is  in  the  treaties.  By  the 
Trade  Regulations  annexed  to  the  British  treaty  of  1858 
the  "  picul  of  one  hundred  catties  is  held  to  be  equal  to 
one  hundred  and  thirty-three  and  one-third  pounds,  avoir- 
dupois," giving  a  catty  of  ij  lb.  av.  and  a  tael  of  i^  oz.  av., 
equal  to  583*3  grains ;  while  the  Regulations  annexed  to 
the  French  Treaty  of  1858  fix  the  picul  at  60  kilos,  and 
453  grammes,  which  gives  a  resultant  tael  of  37783  granunes 
or  583*1  grains. 

Taking  the  Haikwan  tael,  then,  as  being  purely  a  money 
of  accoimt,  and  not  an  existing  currency  of  the  Empire, 
the  place  at  which  its  value  may  be  most  conveniently 
found  is  Shanghai,  at  which  port  were  paid  in  1905  duties 
to  the  extent  of  34  per  cent,  of  the  total  Customs  collection 
of  the  year.  Here  since  the  opening  of  the  port,  half  a 
century  ago,  the  rate  of  conversion  has  been  Haikwan 
Tls.ioo  =  Shanghai  Tls.iii*40  worked  out  as  follows: 

Weight  on  local  scale             . .         . .         . .  loo.o.o.o 

Add  for  difference  in  weight             . .         . .  2.8.0.6 

^  Add  for  touch             • .  6.1.6.8 

Add  for  expenses  of  melting,  etc 0.2.0.4     . 


Divide  by  the  "  Shanghai  Convention,"  0*98     109.1.7.2 

III. 4.0.0 


152     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

{N.B> — ^The  proper  name  for  the  Shanghai  tael  is  "  G>n- 
vention  Currency/'  referring  to  the  convention,  or  under- 
standing, by  which  98  taels  on  the  scale  settle  a  liability 
of  100  taels  in  money  of  account.) 

It  remains  to  ascertain  the  true  value  of  the  Shanghai 
tael.  The  weight  used  as  the  basis  of  this  is  the  Tsaoping 
tael  (t;«  infra),  and  the  equivalence  is  worked  out  as  follows : 

Weight  on  scale  100.0,0.0 

Add  for  touch  5.6.0.0 


Divide  by  the  "  Shanghai  Convention/'  098    105.6.0.0 


Tsaoping  taels  100  =  Shanghai  taels  . .      107.7.5.5 


The  Tsaoping  tael  has  been  found  to  weigh  565*65 
grains ;  and  if  in  100  Tsaoping  taels  of  pure  silver  there  are 
107.7.5.5  taels  of  Shanghai  convention  currency,  then  the 
latter  will  contain  525  grains  of  pure  silver  of  Kuping 
standard.  On  this  basis  the  Haikwan  tael  is  the  equivalent 
of  584*85  grains  of  pure  silver ;  but  note  has  now  to  be 
taken  of  the  quahty  of  the  silver  {v.  supra,  page  148). 

Introduced  under  the  treaty  of  Nanking  (1842),  the 
lapse  of  sixty  years  has  not  sufficed  to  create  modifications 
in  this  standard,  which,  moreover,  is  current  for  revenue 
purposes  in  all  the  ports  open  to  foreign  trade.  Even  with 
this  currency,  however,  this  immutability  has  to  be  taken 
with  some  reservation.  It  seldom  happens  that  the  mer- 
chant has  at  hand  to  pay  his  duties  the  fine  silver  (1,000) 
which  is,  theoretically,  the  standard  for  all  payments  to 
government ;  and  tendering  other  silver,  commonly  the 
ordinary  trade  silver  of  the  place,  the  rate  at  which  it  shall 
be  accepted  becomes  a  matter  of  arrangement  with  the 
banker ;  the  latter,  having  to  account  to  the  government 
for  a  certain  weight  of  silver  1,000  fine,  will  be  careful  to 
receive  an  amount  in  other  silver  fully  sufficient  in  value 
to  cover  his  liability.    Another  element  of  variation,  even 


THE  CURRENCY  153 

in  this  currency,  is  the  difference  between  the  receiving 
and  paying  rates  in  force  in  all  government  treasuries, 
all  banks,  and  with  those  merchants  of  sufficiently  strong 
standing  to  make  their  own  counting-house  rules ;  this 
difference,  usually  between  a  quarter  and  a  half  of  one 
per  cent.,  is  made  not  by  charging  a  commission,  but  by 
boldly  using  two  sets  of  weights,  one  for  receiving  and 
one  for  paying,  and  is  intended  to  compensate  for  the 
labour  of  weighing  ingots  and  lumps  of  silver  of  no  fixed 
weight,  and  for  the  risk  incurred  and  expert  knowledge 
requisite  for  taking  in  silver  of  imknown  degrees  of  fineness. 
The  practice  is  defended  on  the  same  ground  as  that  of  the 
foreign  exchange  banks  in  quoting  different  buying  and 
selling  rates  for  bills  of  exchange. 

Kuping    Tad 

The  Kuping  tael  is  the  currency  in  which  are  collected 
all  other  dues  to  the  government  than  Customs  duties, 
excepting  only  those  which  are  levied  in  kind  (such  as  the 
grain  tribute)  or  in  copper  cash.  Theoretically  uniform 
throughout  the  Empire,  there  are  still  differences  to  be 
observed  apart  from  the  differentiated  receiving  and  pajdng 
rates  referred  to  above.  In  one  respect  this  tael  may  be 
considered  as  "bank  money" — a  fictitious  mediimi  of 
exchange  from  one  currency  to  another — as  when  we  find 
that  (with  normal  exchange  at  1,200  cash  to  the  tael) 
2,000  or  3,000  or  4,000  cash  or  more  are  levied  where  a 
tax,  assessed  in  taels,  is  collected  in  cash,  while  the  ex- 
change is  fixed  at  800  cash  or  less  where  a  tax,  assessed 
in  cash,  is  collected  in  silver.  This,  however,  from  another 
point  of  view,  may  be  taken  as  an  eccentricity  of  the  Chinese 
taxing  offices.  The  normal  standard  Kuping  tad  is  575*8 
grains  of  silver  1,000  fine ;  this  is  the  receiving  rate  (the 
paying  rate  being  02  per  cent,  lighter)  at  the  Imperial 
Treasury,  and  the  several  provincial  treasuries  vary  from 
this  standard  in  some  instances  as  much  as  one  per  cent. 


154     ^^^  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

Where  the  foreign  obligations  of  the  Imperial  Government 
are  concerned  the  equivalence  of  the  several  currencies  is 
taken  as  follows : 

100  Haikwan  taels    =  loi' 642335  Kuping  taels. 
100  Kuping  taels      =  109*60         Shanghai  taels. 

Tsaoping   Tad 

As  the  weight  element  of  a  currency  tael,  the  Tsaoping 
tael  is  current  throughout  the  provinces  contributing  tri- 
bute in  kind  (mainly  rice)  which  is  forwarded  to  the  capital, 
either  by  sea  or  by  the  Grand  Canal,  viz.  in  the  provinces 
of  Kiangsi,  Anhwei,  Kiangsu,  and  Chekiang ;  it  is  also 
the  regular  tael  in  use  at  Chefoo,  on  the  sea  route  to  the 
north,  but  is  not  known  at  Tientsin,  the  northern  terminus 
of  the  Grand  Canal  and  the  port  of  disembarkation  by 
the  sea  route.  It  may  be  stated  with  some  degree  of  con- 
fidence to  weigh  565  65  grains,  subject  always  to  the  possi- 
bility of  oscillation  in  the  standard.  While  the  weight 
is  more  or  less  constant,  varying  between  one  place  and 
another  by  no  more  than  a  tenth  to  a  half  per  cent.  (100 
Soochow  Tsaoping  taels  =  9990  Shanghai  Tsaoping  taels 
by  weight),  the  tael  of  currency  is  based  in  different  places 
on  different  standards  of  silver.  At  Chefoo  the  standard 
is  976,  at  Kiukiang  and  Wuhu  994,  at  Hangchow  997. 
In  places  where  the  standard  of  silver  is  quoted  by  degrees 
of  bettemess,  as  at  Shanghai  and  on  the  lower  Yangtze,* 
the  standard  for  Tsaoping  is  275  silver  which,  referred  to 
a  Kuping  standard,  is  999. 

Local  Taels 

It  may  be  said  that  every  commercial  place  has,  apart 
from  the  various  government  taels,  its  half-dozen,  or  dozen, 
or  score  of  local  taels,  all  generally  recognised  and  all  cur- 
rent ;    i.e.  each  of  them  is  a  recognised  currency  when  it 
•  V.  supra,  page  148. 


y 


THE  CURRENCY  I55 

is  SO  stipulated,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  case  of  the  cur- 
rencies of  Chungking.  Usually,  however,  if  not  generally, 
among  these  various  taek  there  is  one  which  is  recognised 
as  the  currency  of  the  place,  in  which  pajnnents  would 
be  made  when  there  is  no  stipulation  to  the  contrary,  which 
will  be  commonly  stipulated,  and  into  which  remittances 
are  made  from  other  places ;  for  even  in  China  the  necessity 
is  felt  for  some  limitation  on  the  kaleidoscopic  varieties 
which  would  otherwise  perplex  the  minds  of  even  Chinese 
bankers.  Sometimes,  but  by  no  means  generally,  this 
recognised  local  tael  will  extend  its  influence  over  the 
surrounding  country  within  a  limited  radius ;  but  ordi- 
narily the  right  of  even  the  coimtry  banker  to  live  is  fully 
recognised,  and  every  place  is  privileged  to  adopt  its  own 
standards.  I  have  notes  of  170  well-recognised  and  different 
currencies,  gathered  mainly  from  the  treaty  ports  and 
their  immediate  vicinity. 

Peking    Tads 

The  capital,  Peking,  is  one  place,  it  may  be  said  the 
one  place  of  importance,  in  which  no  one  currency  has 
emerged  as  the  one  local  tael.  Being  the  capital,  the 
Kuping  tael  is  of  course  much  in  evidence  as  the  currency 
of  all  official  government  transactions.  Besides  this  there 
are  three  standards  of  tael  weight — the  Kung-fa  of  5557 
grains,  the  Market  of  552*4  grains,  and  the  Metropolitan 
or  Two-tael  ♦  scale  of  5417  grains — ^and  two  recognised 
standards  of  silver,  1,000  and  980  fine  respectively.  Each 
standard  of  weight  (except  the  Kuping)  is  expressed  in 
each  of  the  two  standards  of  silver,  with  the  result  that 
there  are  at  Peking  seven  taels  all  equally  current.  The 
foreign  banks  established  there  have  within  a  few  years  past 
adopted  the  Kimg-fa  tael  of  1,000  silver  as  their  currency 
of  account.    Each  of  these  currencies,  except  the  Kuping 

^  The  addition  of  2  taels  in  the  hundred,  2  per  cent.,  will  bring 
this  to  the  value  of  the  Market  tael ;  hence  probably  the  name. 


156    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

and  Kung-fa,  is  further  subject  to  a  difference  of  06  to  0*9 
per  cent,  according  as  it  is  "  equalised  "  or  "  empty  "  or 
"mercantile"  or  "complete";  thus  100  Kung-fa  taels 
are  equivalent  to  Metropolitan  taels  102*80  if  mercantile, 
10270  if  empty,  102 '60  if  equalised,  but  only  102  00  if 
complete. 

Tientsin   Tads 

At  Tientsin  I  have  note  of  nine  taels  generally  known, 
and  two  standards  to  which  silver  is  reduced.  Of  these, 
the  tael  which  for  forty  years  past  has  been  recognised 
as  "the  Tientsin  tael"  is  the  Merchants  tael  weighing 
557*4  grains  of  silver  992  fine.  For  some  occult  reason 
there  has  lately  (since  1900)  been  introduced  a  "  New 
Merchants"  tael  of  557*6  grains,  differing  from  the  old 
established  local  tael  by  only  000038  part  of  itself  or  less 
than  y^  of  one  per  cent.,  the  standard  of  silver  remaining 
the  same ;  this  new  tael  has  not  yet  worked  its  way  into 
general  acceptance.  As  an  illustration  of  the  ordinary 
Chinese  rough-and-ready  methods  of  banking  it  may  be 
noted  that  the  true  equivalence  of  Haikwan  Tls.ioo  is 
Tientsin  Tls.io5-2i5 ;  and  that  for  fifty  years,  in  paying 
Customs  duties,  for  every  100  Haikwan  tads  Chinese  mer- 
chants paid  Tientsin  Tls.io6,  foreign  merchants  in  general 
paid  Tientsin  Tls.105,  and  Russian  merchants  for  tea  paid 
Tientsin  Tls.104.  A  fiuther  complication  was  added  in  1908, 
as  shown  by  the  following  extract  from  the  report  on  the 
trade  of  Tientsin  for  that  year  : 

"  Since  the  year  1900  the  standard  of  the  sycee  current 
in  the  port  has  been  steadily  deteriorating,  and  the  touch, 
supposed  to  be  '992,  has  fallen  as  low  as  '965.  Matters  came 
to  a  crisis  in  February  1908,  by  the  issue  on  the  part  of  the 
Taotai  of  a  notification  to  the  effect  that,  it  being  stipulated 
by  treaty  that  duties  should  be  paid  in  pure  silver,  from  the 
1st  March  duties  would  have  to  be  paid  at  the  equivalent 
of  Hangping  Tls.107  for  Haikwan  Tls.ioo,  instead  of  the 
Hangping  Tls.105  paid  theretofore.    A  protest  from  all  the 


THE  CURRENCY  I57 

^  foreign  merchants  resulted,  and  was  followed  by  a  further 
notification,  on  the  28th  September  1908,  to  the  effect  that 
the  previous  notification  was  cancelled  and  that  thereafter 
duties  could  be  paid  at  Hangping  Tls.105  =  HaikwanTls.ioo ; 
but  that  all  duties  must  be  paid  in  Kungku  silver.  This  gave 
rise  to  further  difficulty,  as  the  foreign  banks  were  possessed 

^  only  of  current  sycee  and  would  not  honour  a  cheque 
marked  '  Kungku  silver.'  Merchants  have  thus  been  put 
to  great  inconvenience  in  pajdng  duty,  having  either  to  pay 
in  sycee  or  purchase  a  native  order  at  a  premimn  from  one 
of  the  six  melting  shops  licensed  by  the  Assay  Office.  The 
position  is  briefly  this :  the  Chinese  authorities  hold  that 
merchants  are  bound  by  treaty  to  pay  duty  in  pure  silver 
and  that  they  must  do  so  whatever  be  the  standard  of  the 
local  currency ;  the  merchants,  on  the  other  hand,  claim 
that  the  authorities  are  responsible  for  the  depreciation  in 
the  currency,  and  that  they  should  bear  the  loss  occasioned 
thereby." 

r 

Hankow    Tad 

At  Hankow  one  tael  stands  out  above  the  rest  as  "  the 
Hankow  tael"  ;  and,  though  the  triple  city  at  Hankow 
is  a  great  commercial  emporium  not  created  by  foreign 
trade,  this  is  the  "Foreign  rule"  tael,  weighing  5547 
grains,  of  "  Foreign  rule  "  silver  967  fine. 


Canton   Tael 

At  Canton,  and  for  a  considerable  area  commercially 
tributary  to  it,  extending  beyond  the  limits  of  the  province 
of  Kwangtung,  the  standard  tael  is  the  Sze-ma  tael,  weighing 
579*85  grains,  being  the  heaviest  mercantile  tael  in  the 
Empire ;  silver  was  originally,  and  is  now  in  theory,  reduced 
to  the  standard  of  1,000  fine.  This  sounds  as  if  we  had 
here  a  departure  from  the  prevailing  diversity  of  currency, 
and  could  point  to  a  tael,  uniform  in  weight  and  value, 


158     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

not  confined  to  one  city,  but  current  through  a  large  com- 
mercial area.  The  bankers  must,  however,  be  reckoned 
with  ;  and,  both  in  Canton  and  throughout  the  whole  area, 
while  we  find  the  Sze-ma  to  be  the  standard  of  weight,  it  is 
usually  varied  by  being  subject  to  discoimts,  fixed  for  each 
sub-standard,  but  suppl3ang  that  variabiUty  which  is 
demanded  for  all  transfers  in  China  from  place  to  place, 
from  bank  to  bank,  or  from  account  to  account.  These 
sub-standards  are  known  by  the  per-mill  proportion  to  the 
Sze-ma  standard ;  and  I  have  note  of  taels  of  the  998, 
996,  995,  993,  992, 990, 988,  and  986  scale,  being  respectively 
0*2,  0*4,  05,  07,  0*8,  10,  1*2,  and  14  per  cent,  lighter  than 
standard  Sze-ma  in  weight.  Formerly  the  silver  was 
always  taken  as  1,000  fine,  but  in  the  last  half-century 
dollars,  mainly  Mexican,  more  or  less  battered  and  chopped, 
have  entirely  supplanted  ingots ;  for  large  transactions 
payment  is  always  made  by  weight,  and  never  by  count. 
The  result  is  a  curious  medley,  it  being  always  necessary 
to  express  clearly  if  the  tael  is  of  "  foreign  silver  "  (900  fine) 
or  of  *'  pure  silver  "  ;  in  the  latter  case  payment  is  effected 
by  the  rough-and-ready  method  of  weighing  out  10  per  cent, 
additional  of  the  dollar  silver.  The  question  is  even  further 
complicated  by  a  practice,  which  has  crept  in  of  recent  years, 
of  making  20  per  cent,  of  payments  in  subsidiary  silver 
coins  (800  fine),  with  perhaps  some  bargaining  as  to  whether 
the  proportion  shall  be  15  or  25  per  cent.  Here  we  have 
a  case  of  degeneration  within  the  memory  of  men  now 
living.  Disregarding  any  question  of  what  constitutes 
"  pure  silver,"  a  tael  containing  57985  grains  of  fine  silver 
becomes  one  of  574*1  grains,  and  ultimately  one  of  561-4 
grains ;  and,  as  there  is  a  tendency  now  (1906)  to  substitute 
20-cent  pieces  entirely  for  dollars,  the  tael  is  on  the  way 
to  become  one  containing  510*3  grains  of  fine  silver.  These 
figures  are  all  subject  to  proportionate  reduction  for  each  of 
the  various  sub-standards  of  weight. 


THE  CURRENCY  I59 

Shanghai    Tad 

I  come  now  to  the  consideration  of  the  currency  at 
Shanghai,  the  commercial  metropolis  of  China.  Omitting 
the  government  and  other  exceptional  taels,  I  must  first 
note  the  exclusive  use  of  the  Canton  standard  (tael  =  579*85 
grains)  for  deaUngs  in  foreign  bar  silver ;  a  practice  origi- 
nating when  foreign  trade  was  centred  at  Canton  and  con- 
tinued when  the  foreign  banks  and  merchants  brought 
Cantonese  as  their  first  compradors  and  shroffs  to  Shanghai, 
has  been  sanctified  by  use  and  by  the  ingrained  habit  of 
introducing,  whenever  possible,  further  elements  of  con- 
version into  all  dealings  with  the  precious  metals.  Then 
the  Tsaoping  tael,  described  above,  is  fully  current  and  fully 
recognised  at  Shanghai  and  in  a  large  area  around,  and 
is  the  ordinary  currency  for  Chinese  remittances  through 
Chinese  banks  to  places  in  China,  e.g.  a  remittance  to  Han- 
kow is  converted  from  "  Shanghai  taels  "  to  Tsaoping  taels 
and  thence  to  *'  Hankow  taels."  Finally  the  legitimate 
banking  and  trading  currency  of  the  place  is  the  "  Shanghai 
tael"  or  "Shanghai  convention  currency,"  which  is  also 
the  standard  of  international  exchange  for  the  trade  of 
North  China  and  the  Yangtze  basin,  all  other  quotations  in 
local  currencies  being  re-conversions  from  the  rate  for 
Shanghai  currency.  The  rate  of  the  day  is  accepted  by 
merchants  as  the  rate  of  conversion  between  two  fixed 
currencies  ;  and  yet,  if  we  take  exchange  on  London  as  an 
example,  one  of  the  currencies  stands  for  the  immutable 
in  finance,  while  in  the  other  it  is  doubtful  if  many  of  the 
foreign  merchants  who  so  blindly  base  their  operations  on 
this  exchange  quotation  could  go  into  the  treasury  of  a 
Chinese  bank  and  weigh  out  for  themselves  a  Shanghai  tael, 
assuming  even  that  they  could  read  the  inscriptions  on  the 
weights  they  used.  The  value  of  the  Shanghai  tael  is  made 
up  of  three  elements — the  weight,  the  quality  of  silver,  and 
a  convention.  The  weight  on  the  scale  is  the  Tsaoping 
tael  of  56565  grains,  the  silver  is  reduced  to  a  standard 


l6o     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

of  944  fine  on  the  Kuping  basis  of  i,ooo  fine,  and  the  con- 
vention is  that  98  taels  of  this  weight  and  this  silver  settle 
a  liability  of  100  taels  "  Shanghai  convention  currency/' 
In  order  fully  to  understand  what  is  a  Shanghai  tael,  how 
it  may  be  ascertained,  and  what  may  be  done  with  it  when 
once  ascertained,  let  us  consider  the  processes  to  be  gone 
through  in  an  exchange  operation  under  present  conditions. 
Of  course,  in  Shanghai  as  in  London,  the  merchant  will 
ordinarily  draw  his  cheque,  against  which  the  bank  will 
give  him  its  bill  of  exchange ;  but  somewhere,  and  some 
time,  there  will  be  a  cash  transaction ;  and  thoroughly  to 
understand  the  situation  we  must  see  what,  in  Shanghai, 
corresponds  to  the  act  of  a  London  merchant  who  takes 
a  thousand  sovereigns  to  the  bank  and  gets  a  draft  on 
Paris  for  25,150  /.  or  25,175  /.  according  to  the  exchange. 
Let  us  assume  the  simple  case  where  our  Shanghai  mer- 
chant wishes  to  remit  the  contents  of  a  box  full  of  silver 
(if  he  wishes  to  make  up  an  exact  sum  in  Shanghai  currency, 
certain  complications  are  added).  The  silver  in  the  box 
will  be  in  the  shape  of  "  shoes  "  of  "  sycee  "  of  about  50 
taels  each,  and  of  varying  *'  touch  "  (degrees  of  fineness). 
If  these  shoes  are  marked,  in  ink,  with  the  results  of  a 
previous  assay  at  the  Assay  Office  for  the  Foreign  Settle- 
ment, the  preliminary  stage  becomes  unnecessary ;  but  if 
they  have  come  in  the  course  of  trade  from  another  port, 
or  \i  their  last  previous  assay  was  made  by  the  Assay  Office 
for  the  Chinese  City,  then  all  existing  marks  are  washed 
off  and  the  silver  must  be  sent  to  the  proper  office.  Here 
each  shoe  is  weighed  and  the  result  written  on  one  side ; 
it  is  then  "  touched  "  and  the  difference  (usually  an  ad- 
dition) from  a  certain  standard,  as  indicated  by  the  colour 
on  the  touchstone,  is  written  on  the  other  side.  This 
difference  for  touch  is  so  much  for  the  shoe  ilrespective 
of  its  exact  weight,  which  is  anything  between  49  and  54 
taels,  but  an  allowance  of  005  tael  is  added  for  each  tael 
by  which  the  weight  of  the  shoe  exceeds  50  taels ;  thus  if 
the  quality  of  the  silver  is  270,  the  addition  for  a  shoe 


THE  CURRENCY  l6l 

weighing  4975  or  one  of  5005  taels  is  270,  for  one  of  51-25 
taels  is  275,  for  one  of  52*15  taels  is  2*80,  and  so  on.  Let 
us  take  two  such  shoes  weighing  50  and  51  taels  and  having 
2-60  and  2*40  respectively  added  for  touch,  making  for  the 
two  50  +  2-6o  +  51  +  240  =  10600 ;  this  result,  divided 
by  0-98  (the  Shanghai  "  convention  "),  gives  108-163  as  the 
nnmber  of  Shanghai  taels  in  our  two  shoes.  If  the  tran^ 
saction  is  one  in  Shanghai  currency  only,  this  ends  it,  the 
whole  operation  corresponding  to  the  single  action  of  the 
London  merchant  who  takes  3^108  35.  4d.  from  his  cash 
to  pay  a  bill ;  but  we  have  now  to  connect  this  with  foreign 
exchange.  First,  it  is  to  be  noted  that  at  the  present  day 
no  other  currency  is  used  at  Shanghai,  all  others  being 
actually  moneys  of  account,  which,  in  making  payment, 
require  first  to  be  reduced  to  Shanghai  taels.  The  govern* 
ment,  for  example,  in  making  payments  for  indebtedness  or 
indemnity,  does  not  use  the  Kuping  ("Treasury")  tael 
weights  or  the  pure  silver  (1,000  fine),  which  make  up  the 
Kuping  tael  currency,  but  pays  in  Shanghai  currency  at  the 
rate  of  109-60,  calculated  as  follows : 

Kuping  taels  100  weight  =  Tsaoping  taels  . .      ioi-8oo 
Add  for  touch  of  pure  silver  on  two  shoes   . .         5-600 

107-400 
Divide  by  the  "  convjention  "0-98  • .  . .  109-592 
Add  for  meltage  fee .  -008 

109-600 


So  with  Customs  duties,  merchants  pay  in  Shanghai 
taels  at  the  fixed  rate  111-40  and  never  tender  the  *'  Hai- 
kwan  tael-weight  of  pure  silver  "  specified  by  treaty. 

Coming  now  to  the  exchange  operation,  we  have  first 
to  find  our  parity  of  exchange,  and  to  do  this  we  must  get 
the  equivalence  in  foreign  notation.  The  weight  used  for 
Shanghai  cunency  is  the  Tsaoping  tael,  and  this  is  565*65 
grains ;  for  pure  silver  the  addition  for  touch  is  2-8  per  shoe, 

IX 


l62     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

which  the  Chinese  treat  as  if  it  were  5*6  per  cent. ;  and  the 
"  convention  "  is  0-98.  One  Tsaoping  tael  of  pure  silver  is, 
therefore,  1*07755  Shanghai  tael ;  and  one  Shanghai  tael 
contains  524*93  grains  of  fine  silver.  In  one  ounce  of  silver 
British  Standard  (0*925)  are  444  grains  of  fine  silver,  or 
84*6  per  cent,  of  the  amount  in  the  Shanghai  tael ;  and  to 
get  the  parity  of  exchange  for  the  latter  the  London  price 
of  bar  silver  must  be  divided  by  0-846.*  The  actual  rate  of 
exchange  is,  of  course,  affected  by  the  demand  and  supply 
of  bills  wanted  and  offered,  but  in  the  great  and  frequent 
fluctuations  in  the  value  of  silver  buUion  we  have  an  ever- 
present  element  of  instability  which  must  be  taken  into 
account.  Our  Shanghai  merchant,  who  has  once  gone 
through  such  a  series  of  manipulations  and  calculations,  is 
likely  to  consider  his  tune  of  too  much  value  to  repeat 
the  transaction,  and,  as  is  actually  the  case,  will  leave  such 
operations  in  future  to  his  comprador,  until  such  time  as  he  is 
put  on  the  same  footing  as  his  London  brother. 

Newchwang  Transfer  Money 

One  currency  practice,  recalling  the  **  bank  money  "  of 
the  old  Amsterdamsche  Wisselbank,  must  be  referred  to. 
At  Newchwang  the  local  tael  is  555*1  grains  of  silver  992 
fine.  Except  of  copper  there  is  (or,  as  the  war  may  have 
caused  a  change,  has  been)  little  of  the  metals  in  circula- 
tion, silver  being  commonly  deposited  at  the  banks,  which 
permit  withdrawal  only  on  the  first  days  of  the  third,  sixth, 
ninth,  and  twelfth  months,  but  allow  transfers  from  accoimt 
to  account.  This  "transfer  money"  is  exclusively  used 
in  the  settlement  of  all  mercantile  transactions.  On  deposit, 
and  for  renewal  on  each  quarter  day,  the  depositor  is  credited 
with  a  premimn  which  varies  with  the  demand  for  money, 
but  which,  in  ordinary  peaceful  times,  ranges  from  0-20 
to  6  per  cent.     Exchange  quotations  also  are  always  quoted 

*  Subject  to  modification  by  consideration  of  the  true  standard 
of  quality  of  silver  (v.  supra,  page  148). 


THE  CURRENCY  163 

in  transfer  money,  not  in  hard  silver.    An  ordinary  exchange 
operation  would  be  as  follows : 

Silver  deposited,  Newchwang  taels  . .      loo'oo 

Premium  on  deposit,  160  per  shoe  . .         300 


Transfer  money  credited i03'oo 

Exchange  premiimi  3i  per  cent 3*35 


Shanghai  taels .•       106*35 


It  may  be  noted  that  the  parity  of  exchange  is  100 
Newchwang  taels  of  silver  ==  104-89  Shanghai  taek.  The 
rates  of  premium  given  above  are,  as  has  been  stated,  those 
of  ordinary  conditions ;  the  effect  of  the  stress  of  war  on 
the  money  market  and  the  financial  position  of  the  bankers 
may  be  seen  from  the  quotations  of  the  last  day  of  1904 : 
Silver  Tls.1,000  =  Transfer-money  Tls.i,358-5o  (quoted 
Tls.72  per  shoe) ;  Transfer  Tls.1,000  =  Shanghai  Tls.785. 

These  figures  show  the  banker  protecting  his  reserves, 
apparently  giving  36  per  cent,  premium  for  deposits  and 
charging  22  per  cent,  discount  for  withdrawals  instead  of 
giving  a  premium.  This  works  out  to  a  rate  of  exchange 
for  cash  transactions,  however,  of  Newchwang  Tls.ioo  = 
Shanghai  Tls.io5-65. 

Introduction  of  Foreign  Coins 

A  foreigner,  as  an  individual,  objects  to  canying  around 
in  his  pocket  a  4-lb.  Itmip  of  silver  which  he  cannot  subdivide, 
and  he  equally  objects  to  carrying  6  lb.  weight  of  coppers  as 
the  only  fractionsd  equivalent  of  the  silver  dollar  to  which 
he  is  accustomed ;  he  also  objects  to  ignorance  of  the 
quality  of  the  silver  which  he  will  take  from  his  pocket  to 
make  minor  payments.  All  this  seems  axiomatic  to  people 
at  home,  but  it  is  necessary  to  state  the  axiom  in  order  to 
explain  why  foreign  coins  have  been  introduced  into  China. 


j64    THE  TRADE  ANV  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

In  the  north  and  in  Mid-China  these  coins  have  remained 
the  housekeeping  currency  of  the  foreigner,  never  having  been 
admitted  into  the  trade  of  the  Chinese,  and  the  foreigner  is 
made  to  pay  for  his  luxury  of  a  coin  in  which  he  can  have 
confidence.  The  same  weight  in  a  coin  (the  silver  dollar) 
with  the  same  inscription  is  worth  at  Shanghai  from  3  per 
cent,  to  5  per  cent,  more  than  at  Canton,  whether  the  value 
is  expressed  in  gold,  in  silver  taels,  or  in  commodities ; 
but  at  Shanghai  the  coin  remains  as  it  came  from  the  mint, 
and  at  Canton  it  is  chopped.  In  the  south  the  quicker- 
witted  Cantonese  and  Fukienese  have  accepted  the  foreign 
coin,  but  have  done  so  in  a  peculiarly  Chinese  manner.  A 
coin  is  an  officially  guaranteed  weight  of  a  certain  metal ; 
the  Chinese  accept  that  for  what  it  is  worth,  but  the  first 
banker  or  merchant  into  whose  hands  the  foreign  coin  comes 
"  chops  "  it  with  an  impressed  ideogram  about  an  eighth  of 
an  inch  square,  thereby  giving  the  tradesman  and  the  private 
individual  his  certificate  of  bona  fides  of  the  guaranteeing 
government.  This  is  repeated  by  each  succeeding  banker, 
until  in  the  end  the  chopped  dollar  resembles  a  disc,  or 
rather  a  cup,  of  hammered  silver  work. 


Foreign  Dollars 

The  first  dollar  to  be  introduced  was  the  Carolus  (Spanish) 
dollar,  also  called  the  "  Pillar  *'  dollar  from  its  design — ^the 
Pillars  of  Hercules.  This  for  many  years  was  the  only 
f orieign  coin  accepted  by  the  Chinese ;  and  a  curious  survival 
of  its  former  vogue  is  seen  at  Wuhu,  on  the  Yangtze,  where 
the  few  remaining  unchopped  specimens  of  the  eighteenth 
and  early  nineteenth  century,  estimated  not  to  exceed400,ooo 
in  all,  form  a  favourite  medium  of  exchange  and  command 
a  premium  generally  of  30  or  even  40  per  cent,  over  their 
intrinsic  value.  For  fully  eighty  years  the  dollars  of 
Charles  IV  (a.d.  1788-1808)  have  commanded  a  premiimi  of 
at  least  30  per  cent.,  but  not  those  of  his  predecessor  or  his 
successor,  and  originally  over  a  considerable  area  of  country 


THE  CURRENCY  165 

from  Canton  to  the  Yangtze.  On  the  introduction  of  the 
Mexican  dollar,  sixty  years  ago,  it  was  readily  accepted  at 
Canton  and  the  Carolus  was  "  demonetised."  At  Shanghai, 
however,  and  in  the  Yangtze  basin  the  Carolus  held  its  own 
and  was  the  sole  currency  of  the  foreign  banks  and  merchants 
and  for  the  sale  of  imports  and  purchase  of  exports  and  for 
exchange  quotations.  The  ravages  of  the  Taiping  rebellion 
restricted  the  consumption  of  imports,  and  notwithstanding 
increased  importations  of  Carolus  dollars,  collected  from  all 
parts  of  the  world,  they  were  soon  driven  to  a  premium, 
which  by  1855  amounted  to  50  per  cent.,  and  in  1856  to  over 
80  per  cent,  of  their  intrinisic  value;  and  the  curious  spectacle 
was  seen  of  exchange  quoted  at  Canton  at  4s.  iid.  per 
dollar  (Mexican)  and  on  the  same  day  at  Shanghai  at  ys.  gd. 
per  dollar  (Carolus).  The  situation  became  intolerable, 
and  on  a  fixed  day  merchants'  accounts  at  the  banks  were 
transferred,  tmit  for  unit,  from  a  currency  (the  Carolus) 
containing  374J  grains  of  fine  silver,  to  a  currency  (the 
Shanghai  tael)  containing  nominally  525  grains  of  fine  silver 
per  unit.  A  Carolus  dollar  lies  before  me  as  I  write, 
bought  in  Wuhu  in  1906  for  1-40  Mexican  dollar.  With  a 
diameter  of  1*56  inch,  it  weighs  2608  grammes  =  402*5 
grains,  over  3  per  cent,  lighter  than  a  full-weight  Mexican 
dollar.  On  the  obverse  it  bears  the  King's  head  wreathed 
with  laurel  and  the  inscription  .1808.  carolus.  iiii.  del 
GRATIA.  On  the  reverse  is  a  shield  quartered  with  the  arms 
of  Castille  and  Leon,  coimtercharged  with  three  flem^de-lys, 
the  shield  surmounted  by  an  Imperial  crown  and  standing 
between  two  columns  (the  Pillars  of  Hercules)  bearing  a 
scroll  inscribed  plus  ultra  ;  the  inscription  reads  .hispan. 
ET  IND.  REX.  A.  8  R.  T.H.  The  milling  is  as  usual  and  the 
reeding  -o-o-o-.  The  obverse  is  stamped  in  black  with  a 
design  having  a  Chinese  character  in  the  middle,  constituting 
the  guarantee  of  some  Chinese  banker.  In  Formosa  *  the 
chopped  Carolus  remained  the  ordinary  currency  at  its  intrin- 
•  Two  and  a  quarter  million  of  these  dollars  \vere  imported  at 
Tamsui  in  1895  for  the  tea  season. 


l66    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

sic  valuation  up  to  the  time  of  the  Japanese  occupation  in 
1895.  The  next  to  be  accepted  was  the  Mexican,  called  by 
Chinese  the  "  Eagle  "  dollar  from  its  design — ^an  eagle  grasp- 
ing a  cactus  in  its  talons.  This  has  never  been  displaced 
from  popular  estimation,  though  various  attempts  have  been 
made.  Thirty  years  ago  an  American  "trade  dollar" 
was  introduced,  but  the  wisdom  of  Congress  decreed  that  it 
should  displace  its  rival  by  its  weight — ^420  grains  instead  of 
the  416  grains  of  the  Mexican ;  the  natural  result,  when 
these  two  coins  were  put  into  circulation  side  by  side  among 
this  shrewd  people,  was  that  the  heavier  coin  went  at  once 
into  the  melting-pot.  The  Japanese  dollar  (the  yen)  followed, 
and  attained  a  moderate  degree  of  popularity,  but  the 
establishment  of  a  gold  basis  for  this  coin  put  an  end  to  its 
issue  as  a  monometallic  silver  coin.  The  later  British  and 
French  trade  dollars  have  not  met  with  any  great  degree 
of  success,  except  perhaps  since  the  outbreak  of  the  Russo- 
Japanese  war. 

Chinese  Dollars  and  Subsidiary  Coinage 

The  Chinese  themselves  have  seen  the  utility  of  coins 
and  have  established  large  plants  for  minting  at  several  of 
the  provincial  capitals.  Their  time-honoured  copper  coins, 
cast  from  moulds,  are  crude  productions ;  but  the  fine 
stamped  copper  cash,  which  were  the  first  product  of  the 
mints,  met  with  no  favour ;  and,  as  their  issue  involved  a 
loss  to  the  government,  it  was  not  continued.  The  mints 
then  turned  their  attention  to  the  dollar,  and  many  millions 
of  these  coins  were  turned  out.  These  Chinese  dollars  were 
not  freely  received  for  taxes,  and  when  taken  were  accepted 
by  weight,  and  not  by  count ;  they  had  not  the  prestige  of 
the  Mexican,  but  had  only  a  provincial  guarantee,  and  out- 
side the  province  of  issue  circulated  only  at  a  discount ;  they 
would  have  disturbed,  had  they  any  vitality,  the  calculations 
of  money-changers  ;  they  gave  no  seigniorage  to  the  mint ; 
and  of  late  years  the  annual  output  has  been  thousands 
instead  of  millions.    The   energy  of  the  mints  has  in 


THE  CURRENCY  167 

recent  years  been  devoted  to  the  issue  of  subsidiary  coinage. 
First  lo-cent  and  20-cent  pieces,  which,  consisting  of  silver 
800  fine,  while  the  dollar  was  900  fine,  could  be  sold  from  the 
mint  at  no  cents  for  the  dollar  and  still  show  a  profit ;  these 
pieces  became  popular  with  the  smaller  money-changers 
because  of  the  margin  between  the  rate  of  issue  and  the 
intrinsic  value,  and  because  of  the  petty  speculation  per- 
mitted by  the  margin  of  value.  Then  followed  the  copper 
cent  which  is  now  the  popular  coin,  since  it  has  an  exchange 
value  greater  than  the  hundredth  part  of  a  dollar,  and  the 
money-changer,  who  makes  his  profit  from  the  depreciated 
silver  coinage,  will  make  it  also  from  appreciated  copper 
coin.  The  tourist  who  draws  on  his  letter  of  credit  at  a 
foreign  bank  in  Shanghai,  having  to  receive  so  many  dollars 
and  so  many  (say  74)  cents,  for  the  odd  cents  will  be  given  70 
cents  in  depreciated  silver,  but  for  the  4  cents  he  will  receive 
3  copper  cents  and  2  copper  cash,  since  by  the  exchange 
of  the  day  32  cash  are  the  equivalent  of  four-hundredths  of 
a  dollar.  I  leave  the  last  two  sentences  as  they  were  written 
in  1905,  in  order  to  show  how  great  has  been  the  depreciation 
in  this  coin.  Twelve  months  later,  in  July  1906,  the 
toiurist  still  received  his  70  cents  in  depreciated  silver, 
but  for  the  4  cents  he  was  no  longer  given  3  copper 
cents  and  2  cash,  but  received  4  copper  cents — actually 
worth  $00357. 

General  Considerations 

In  China  the  currency  is  at  the  top  a  weight  pure  and 
simple,  in  the  middle  a  combination  of  weight  and  token 
currency,  and  at  the  bottom  a  coin  which  stands  on  its  own 
feet,  and  neither  receives  support  from  nor  absolutely  gives  it 
to  any  other  unit  in  the  series.  At  the  top  is  the  tael  (call  it 
the  "  ounce,"  and  it  will  be  better  realised),  in  which  pay- 
ments are  made  in  precisely  the  same  way  that  delivery  is 
taken  of  a  lot  of  silver  bars.  Then  comes  the  dollar,  which, 
though  a  coin,  is  nowhere  legal  tender,  and  of  which  the 


l68     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

specimens  from  the  Chinese  mints  are  inscribed,  not  generally 
dollar  or  ''  jruen/'  but  merely  72  hmidredths  of  a  tael ; 
though  so  inscribed,  dollars  of  silver  are  nowhere  fixed  in 
terms  of  taels  of  silver,  but  are  quoted  at  rates  which  vary 
from  day  to  day  according  to  the  demand  and  supply, 
fluctuating  within  a  range  of  six  or  more  per  cent.  Tlien 
come  subsidiary  silver  coins  fractional  to  the  dollar  but  sub- 
ject to  a  fluctuating  rate  of  exchange  such  that  the  dollar 
may  this  year  change  for  no  cents  and  next  year  for  only  95 
cents  in  small  coin.  Next  comes  the  copper  cent,  inscribed 
at  the  mints  of  some  provinces  as  worth  "  one-hundredth  of  a 
dollar,*'  and  of  others  as  worth  "  ten  cash,"  but  never  treated 
as  correlated  to  the  dollar  ;  whether  considered  in  its  relation 
to  the  dollar  or  to  the  cash,  it  is  a  tokwi  coin  worth  intrinsi- 
cally less  than  half  its  nominal  value.  Last  comes  the 
copper  cash,  the  currency  of  the  people.  Into  this  series 
of  non-related  currencies,  each  unit  of  which  is  in  a  state  of 
unstable  equilibrium,  fixed  neither  in  itself  nor  in  relation 
to  other  units,  China  is  now  required  to  introduce  system 
and  uniformity  and  to  give  a  legal  tender  character  to  any 
coin  or  currency  which  she  may  adopt,  while  the  inborn 
disposition  of  her  people  is  to  accept  no  coin  and  no  currency 
as  legal  tender,  but  to  make  them  all  accept  the  lowly  cash 
the  subject  of  barter.  Where  shall  she  b^;in  ?  Is  she  to 
take  her  fimdamental  coin,  the  cash,  with  a  present-day 
value  of  the  ten-thousandth  part  of  a  poimd  sterling,  and 
build  upon  it  ?  This  seems  the  natural  course  to  those  who 
consider  first  the  well-being  of  her  patient,  industrious  people, 
whose  householders  maintain  their  famiUes  on  sixpence  a 
day,  and  through  the  existence  of  this  mite  of  a  mite  are 
enabled  to  maintain  them  in  comfort.  Or  shall  she  con- 
sider first  the  broader  interests  of  her  international  exchanges 
and  of  the  powerful  body  of  bankers  and  merchants  active 
in  the  distribution  of  goods  through  the  Empire  ? 

Multiply  what  has  been  written  above  a  hundredfold,  and 
some  idea  will  be  conceived  of  the  currency  question  in  China. 
To  reform  it  would  naturally  appear  no  more  difficult  than 


THE  CURRENCY  169 

to  introduce  the  metric  s]rstem  into  England ;  it  should  even 
have  behind  it  a  greater  weight  of  popular  support  in  propor- 
tion as  the  simplification  of  the  currency  of  four  hundred 
millions  should  give  ten  times  greater  relief  than  the  simpli- 
fication of  the  measures  of  forty  miUions.  This  presupposes 
that  the  four  hundred  millions  are  crying  for  reUef ,  but  we 
must  first  see  who  it  is  that  call  for  currency  reform.  The 
foreign  merchant  stands  in  the  first  place,  with  his  crying 
need  for  fixity  of  exchange  between  gold  and  silver,  which 
requires  for  its  establishment  a  fixed  unit  of  currency,  which 
in  turn  can  only  be  attained  by  coinage.  That  he  will  also 
be  freed  from  bondage  to  his  comprador  does  not  appeal 
to  him,  since  he  is  unlikely  to  realise  their  relative  positions, 
and  the  activity  of  his  advocacy  wiU  be  weakened  by  so 
much  ;  moreover,  there  are  in  China  less  than  a  thousand 
firms  of  European  and  American  nationality,  even  including 
the  protected  races,  such  as  those  from  British  India,  and 
including  branch  firms.  Then  come  the  foreign  banks, 
ten  in  ntunber ;  they  may  consider  that  their  profits  from 
rapid  fluctuations  in  exchange,  of  the  causes  of  which  they 
have  prior  knowledge,  will  be  made  good  by  the  development 
of  legitimate  trade  resulting  from  certainty  of  exchange  ; 
and  they  may  set  against  their  profits  from  changing  funds 
from  one  standard  of  currency  to  another  their  newly 
acquired  abihty  to  keep  their  own  treasuries.  The  govern- 
ment of  China  will  wdcome  any  measure  which  will  set  a 
limit  to  the  amount  which  it  must  take  from  its  revenues  to 
pay  the  indemnities  due  to  the  Foreign  Powers  ;  and,  as  a 
corporate  entity,  may  be  willing  to  have  a  uniform  currency 
in  which  the  revenue  may  be  paid  and  received.  No  other 
element  of  support  can  be  brought  in  by  any  flight  of  the 
imagination.  All  the  vested  interests  in  China  will  be  against 
the  change.  The  members  of  the  Government  as  individuals, 
from  the  highest  Minister  of  State  in  Peking  to  the  humblest 
assistant-deputy  sub-district  magistrate,  will  give  it  their 
tacit,  if  not  openly-expressed  opposition.  The  tax-collector, 
with  his  assistants  and  his  servants,  and  backed  by  his  family 


170    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

in  all  its  many  branches,  will  fight  strenuously  against  any 
obligation  to  pay  into  the  Treasury  the  exact  coin  which 
he  has  received  from  the  taxpayer.  The  powerful  body 
of  Chinese  bankers,  organised  as  such  when  Europe  did 
not  yet  know  the  science,  will  accept  the  change  only  if 
they  are  shown  the  possibility  of  greater  profits  than  under 
existing  conditions.  The  compradors  and  shroffs  may  be 
trusted  to  do  their  best  to  resist  any  attempt  to  curtail  their 
privileges  and  profits.  Even  the  native  merchants  and 
tradesmen,  who  will  benefit  enormously  by  simplification  of 
the  currency,  will  also  oppose  a  change  from  the  present 
system,  in  which  each  man  counts  confidently  on  getting 
the  better  in  the  encounter  of  wits.  Ordinarily  the  prole- 
tariat remains  neutral  in  such  a  question  ;  but  in  China  the 
merest  coolie,  earning  sixpence  by  a  long  day  of  hard  work, 
will  spend  an  hour  of  his  time  to  gain  on  exchange  the 
equivalent  of  ten  minutes'  work. 


CHAPTER   VI 

WEIGHTS    AND    MEASURES 

While  the  currency  of  the  Empire  is  in  a  state  of  confusion, 
it  is  at  the  same  time  regulated  by,  and  in  the  interest  of, 
the  bankers  and  money-changers,  trained  in  their  pro- 
fession for  many  centuries.  The  state  of  the  weights  and 
measures  is,  however,  chaos  itself,  and  the  amount  of  regu- 
lation applied  to  it  is  infinitesimal.  In  this  country  of 
weak  application  of  the  governmental  function  and  of 
widely  democratic  organisation,  the  trader  uses  as  a  matter 
of  course  the  differentiated  measures  which  are  illegal  in 
modernised  countries,  buying  with  a  long  or  heavy  measure 
and  selling  with  a  short  or  light  measure ;  and  the  only 
interference  by  government  takes  the  form  of  an  Imperial 
edict  at  an  interval  of  perhaps  a  century,  or  an  occasional 
proclamation  which  is  disregarded  as  soon  as  the  rain  has 
washed  the  ink.  The  gilds  make  some  attempt  to  pre- 
serve a  local  uniformity  in  the  measures  accepted  by  them- 
selves, but  they  have  no  ofiftcial  function,  and  their  efforts 
are  mainly  directed  to  secure  open  dealing  between  their 
own  members,  their  motto  being  that  of  the  New  York 
statesman,  "  The  public  be  damned."  In  this  chaos, 
however,  some  conventions  must  be  recognised  if  trade  is 
to  go  on,  and  fixed  theoretic  standards  can  be  found ;  but 
it  may  be  said  at  once  that  in  any  place  every  trade  has 
its  own  standard,  and  that  the  trade  standards  of  one  place 
are  not  the  same  as  those  of  other  places. 

The  English  peoples  are  in  a  position  to  understand, 
better  than  any  others,  the  theoretic  system — ^the  tables  of 

I7« 


172     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

weights  and  measures — ^prevailing  in  China,  having  them- 
selves a  system  in  which  the  various  measures  have  no 
common  inter-relation,  and  of  which  the  tables  in  use  in 
the  United  Kingdom  and  the  United  States  proceed  on 
no  one  notation,  but  skip  Ughtly  from  dozens  to  scores, 
from  sevens  to  fours,  from  a  decimal  to  a  duodecimal  no- 
tation. In  this  last  respect  the  Chinese  are  wiser,  and 
with  two  exceptions  base  their  tables  on  a  purely  decimal 
notation ;  but  in  their  disregard  of  any  common  relation 
between  the  different  measures,  they  are  on  the  same 
footing  as  ourselves. 

While  in  theory  their  tables  are  based  generally  on 
a  decimal  notation,  the  Chinese  would  not  be  Chinese  if, 
in  appl3nng  this  theory  to  practice,  they  did  not  make  some 
differences,  perfectly  recognised  and  accepted  as  the  custom 
of  the  trade  and  place.  Thus  the  table  gives  100  kin 
(catty)  as  making  i  tan  (picul) ;  but  at  Amoy  the  picul  of 
indigo  is  no  catties,  of  white  sugar  95  catties,  and  of  brown 
sugar  94  catties  ;  of  rice  the  picul  at  Shanghai  is  100  catties, 
at  Amoy  140  catties,  and  at  Foochow  180  catties ;  for 
tribute  rice  the  stipulated  picul  is  120  catties,  but  at  Nan- 
king it  is  140  catties.  These  are  enough  to  illustrate  this 
form  of  irregularity;  but  generally  the  purpose  of  this 
<:hapter  is  to  consider  only  the  standards  accepted  at  each 
place  by  the  gilds  concerned. 

Weight 

As  in  England  and  America  16  ounces  make  i  pound, 
in  China  16  liang  (tael)  make  i  kin  (catty),  constituting  one 
of  the  two  exceptions  to  the  purely  decimal  system ;  then 
100  catties  make  i  picul.  In  practice  quantities  of  ordinary 
commodities  are  usually,  and  in  exact  accounts  invariably, 
stated  in  the  single  unit  of  catty,  even  when  the  amoimt  is 
millions ;  and  for  valuable  articles,  such  as  musk,  in  taels, 
even  to  the  amount  of  thousands.  The  catty  generally  known 
to  foreigners  is  that  imposed  by  treaty  as  the  weight  to 
be  used  for  levy  of  Customs  duty,  21)^  ounces  avoirdupois,  as 


WEIGHTS  AND  MEASURES  I73 

>  stipulated  by  the  British  treaty,  60453  grammes  as  stipu- 
lated by  the  French  treaty,  the  two  differing  by  0*4  granmie 
or  6  grains.  This  is  a  purely  arbitrary  standard  imposed 
by,  or  on,  the  foreign  merchant,  and  accepted  because  it 
was  a  round  figure  approximating  closely  to  the  merchants' 
standard  prevailing  at  Canton,   actually  weighing  21-21 

*     ounces  avoirdupois,  with  which  the  English  trader  first  came 

[  in  touch,  and  which  a  hundred  years  ago  he  used  in  buying 
his  tea  and  silk.  At  Canton  and  in  its  vicinity  there  are 
other  standards,  by  which  the  catty  ranges  from  19*68 
to  22'o6  ounces.  In  the  trade  area  of  Shanghai  there  is  a 
standard  for  the  use  of  Chinese  in  their  foreign  dealings 
by  which  the  catty  is  20-4  ounces,  while  the  regular  gild 
catty  is  i8*6  ounces ;  the  Soochow  gild  catty  is  197 
ounces,  that  for  rice  paid  as  Imperial  tribute  is  20*6  ounces, 
while  that  for  the  sale  of  oil  is  23  2  ounces  and  for  sugar 
is  27*25  ounces.  At  Hangchow  there  are  seventeen  different 
standards,  ranging  from  16  to  24  ounces,  all  equally  recog- 
nised  in  their  respective  trades ;    and    throughout    the 

^    Empire  catties  are  known,  ranging  from  12  to  42*5  ounces. 

Capacity 
The  Chinese  table  of  capacity  gives  sixteen  decimal 
divisions,  down  to  T;ooo;oodkooo;ooo*  P^rt,  of  the  shiK; 
those  in  common  use  are  the  tow  (3^),  sheng  (y^),  and 
ko  (yJoo)-  Measures  of  capacity  are  seldom  used  except 
for  rice  and  grain,  and  these  are  ordinarily  sold  wholesale 
by  weight;  fluids,  such  as  oil,  spirits,  molasses,  etc.,  are 
almost  invariably  sold  by  weight.  Grain  tribute  is  assessed 
on  the  tax  note  by  measures  of  capacity,  but  is  generally 
collected  by  weight  at  a  rate  of  conversion  fixed  by  the 
collectors,  when  it  is  not  collected  in  money  at  rates  also  fixed 
by  the  collectors.  The  tow  (which  we  may  call  peck)  for 
tribute  contains  629  cubic  inches  (10-31  litres),  but  in 
different  parts  of  the  Empire  different  standards  of  tow  exist 
ranging  from  176  all  the  way  to  1,800  cubic  inches. 


174  the  trade  and  administration  of  china 

Length 

The  table  of  length  is  divided  decimally  down  to  the 
16,00^,666^^  part  of  a  foot,  and  goes  up  to  lo  feet  =  i 
chang.  The  foreign  merchant  knows  as  the  miit  of  length 
the  chih,  conmionly  called  "  foot,"  imposed  by  treaty,  ac- 
cepted by  the  Customs  for  the  measurement  of  cloth,  and 
measuring  14*1  English  inches ;  this  finds  no  exact  counter- 
part at  Canton,  where  the  carpenter's  foot  is  13*8  inches  and 
the  tailor's  foot  is  14*8  inches.  Land  is  sometimes  measured 
by  a  special  standard,  but  usually  throughout  China  by  the 
carpenter's  foot :  Canton  is  divided  into  two  magistracies 
(hsien)  by  a  line  running  through  the  middle  of  the  city ; 
on  the  west  of  this  line,  land  is  measured  by  a  foot  of  147 
inches,  and  on  the  east  by  a  foot  of  148  inches,  which  is  the 
tailor's  foot  of  Canton.  At  Shanghai  the  tailor's  foot  is 
13-85  inches  and  the  carpenter's  foot  is  11 -i  inches ;  the 
official  land  foot  is  12*1  inches,  but  the  foot  in  ordinary 
use  for  transfers  of  land  is  13*2  inches.  At  Nanking  the 
carpenter's  foot  is  12*6  inches,  but  the  foot  for  measurement 
of  timber  is  13-5  inches.  At  Soochow  the  tailor's  foot 
is  13*45  inches,  but  that  used  for  the  measurement  of  cloth 
is  ii'i  inches.  At  Shiuhing  carpenters  use  a  foot  of  14 
inches,  but  masons  working  on  the  same  building  use  a 
foot  of  13-6  inches,  and  flooring  tiles  are  made  by  a  foot 
of  III  inches.  These  instances  of  inconsistency  might 
be  amplified  indefinitely ;  suffice  it  to  say  that  in  China 
local  standards  of  the  foot  range  from  8*6  to  278  inches. 

Distance 

The  Chinese  do  not  much  trouble  themselves  with  the 
accurate  measurement  of  distance,  and  would  sympathise 
fully  with  the  Dutch  measurement  of  canalboat-nms  by 
the  number  of  pipes  smoked.  A  theoretic  miit  exists,  the 
li,  measuring  1,800  of  the  land  foot ;  but,  as  the  latter 
varies  throughout  the  Empire,  so  would  the  li  vary,  if  any 


WEIGHTS  AND  MEASURES  175 

one  cared  to  measure  it.  Based  on  a  foot  of  141  English 
inches  it  would  measure  705  yards,  or  four-tenths  of  a 
statute  mile.  In  practice  it  is  one-hundredth  of  the  distance 
a  laden  porter  will  cover  in  a  day  of  ten  hours  marching ; 
on  the  plain  this  would  represent  a  third  of  a  mile,  a  half- 
kilometre,  more  or  less,  but  in  hilly  country  it  varies  con- 
siderably. By  Chinese  reckoning,  if  it  is  50  li  to  the  top  of 
Motmt  Washington,  returning  by  the  same  road  to  the  same 
point  the  distance  may  be  25  li ;  and  similarly  a  mountain 
may  be  spoken  of  as  100  miles  high — ^by  road. 

Area 

The  table  of  area  is  purely  decimal,  the  unit,  the  mow, 
being  divided  down  to  the  10,000.006^^  P^^  >  ^^  ^^w 
make  a  ching.  In  the  calculation  of  the  mow  occurs  the 
second  of  the  two  departures  from  the  decimal  system  in 
China:  it  is  240  square  "paces"  or  "bows,"  each  bow 
being  5  feet  long,  and  is  therefore  6,000  square  land  feet  j 
but  as  the  land  foot  varies,  so  does  the  mow  vary.  The 
"  customary  "  mow  at  Shanghai  is  exactly  one-sixth  of  an 
English  acre  (7,260  square  feet,  English) ;  but  throughout 
the  Empire  the  mow  varies  from  3,840  to  9,964,  with  one 
standard  of  18,148  EngUsh  square  feet. 

To  give  further  details  of  all  the  vagaries  of  the  measures 
of  China  would  take  a  volume,  but  enough  has  been  written 
to  indicate  in  some  degree  the  variability  of  what  are  held 
to  be  standards,  and  the  mental  attitude  of  those  on  whom 
it  is  sought  to  impose  uniformity.  The  example  of  other 
countries  may  be  cited,  where  order  has  been  evolved  from 
chaos  and  uniformity  from  diversity,  but  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  China  is  not  one  country,  it  is  a  dozen ;  it 
is  a  continent,  with  the  population  and  the  diversity  of  a 
continent,  with  the  inborn  habit  of  centmies  to  stereotype 
the  minds  of  the  people,  and  with  the  natural  stubbornness 
of  an  old  civilisation  to  resist  all  change. 


CHAPTER  VII 

EXTRATERRITORIALITY 

The  privilege  of  extraterritoriality  was,  thirty  years  ago, 
and  even  less,  more  commonly  referred  to  as  exterritoriality. 
Of  these  terms  Sir  Francis  Piggott  ♦  says : 

*'  The  words '  exterritoriality '  and '  extraterritori- 
ality '  are  treated  by  some  writers  as  identical ;    by 
others  as  indicating,  the  first  the  privilege  of  Am- 
bassadors and  their  suites,  the  second  the  Treaty 
privilege  under  which  Consular  jurisdiction  has  been 
established  in  the  East.     Both  these  privileges  are, 
however,  more  correctly  described  as  '  exterritorial ' ; 
the  condition  of  those  to  whom  they  are  accorded  as 
'  exterritoriahty.'    On  the  other  hand  the  government 
of  the  privileged  persons  by  their  own  authorities  from 
home  is  '  extraterritorial.'  " 
Notwithstanding  this  dictum  the  orotund  forms  extra- 
territorial-ity-ised  have  prevailed  and  are  now  applied  to 
governors  and  governed  alike.     This  chapter  is  intended 
to  explain  how  the  exceptional  privilege  originated,  and  the 
manner  of  its  working. 

In  the  earliest  times  the  traveller  was  protected  by  no 
law  ;  the  Tyrian  voyager  along  the  coasts  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean secured  only  such  rights  as  he  could  buy  or  enforce, 
but  he  neither  carried  with  him  his  own  law  nor  was  he 
entitled  to  claim  the  protection  of  the  law  of  those  among 
whom  he  sojourned.  With  the  extension  of  the  Roman  do- 
minion the  pax  Romana  spread,  and  every  citizen  travelling 
♦  "  ExtCTritoriality,"  by  F.  T.  Piggott,  1892. 
176 


EXTRATERRITORIALITY  I77 

was  under  the  aegis  of  the  jus  Ronummn\  the  principle 
established  was  that  the  Roman  elsewhere  than  in  Rome  was 
extraterritorialised — ^he  was  not  required  to  submit  to  the 
territorial  laws  of  the  "foreign"  country,  but  remained 
outside  them  and  continued  to  enjoy  the  protection  of  his 
own  laws.  As  an  echo  of  this  privilege  we  find  that  in  the 
Constitution  of  a.d.  824  imposed  upon  the  people  of  Rome 
by  Lothair,  acting  as  vicegerent  for  his  father,  Lewis  the 
Pious,  each  inhabitant  of  the  city  was  required  to  choose  the 
.code — Roman,  Prankish,  or  Lombard — ^by  which  he  wished 
to  live,  and  was  then  judged  according  to  the  law  selected. 
The  underlying  principle  is  obvious.  It  was  recognised  as 
inequitable  that,  for  example,  the  Frank,  who  was  entitled 
by  his  native  law  to  compound  for  a  homicide  by  payment 
of  weregeld,  should  by  the  accident  of  residence  in  what, 
though  the  capital  of  the  Empire,  was  still  to  him  a  foreign 
city,  be  compelled  to  submit  to  what  would  appear  to  him 
the  cruel  and  vindictive  penalty  of  death ;  and  while  he 
wished  to  preserve  for  himself  his  own  law,  he  did  not  wish 
to  impose  it  on  the  Roman  people  or  on  the  Lombards  who 
less  than  a  century  before  had  been  masters  of  the  city. 
The  Frank  in  Rome  was  fully  extraterritorialised^  but  of 
Rome  the  Frank  was  titular  sov^eign.^ 

Edward  I  of  England  in  1303  granted  his  Carta 
Mercatoria  to  foreign  merchants  resident  in  London,  assign- 
ing to  them,  in  exchange  for  an  increase  in  customs  duties, 
many  valuable  privileges  for  the  furtherance  of  their  trade. 
Among  them  one  clause  provided  that,  in  any  suit  between 
a  foreigner  and  a  native,  the  jury  should  be  drawn,  six  from 
the  men  of  London,  and  six  from  the  men  of  the  same 
town  as  the  foreigner  party  to  the  suit. 

When  the  West  first  met  the  East  on  equal  terms  at 
shorter  range  than  a  lance's  length,  it  was  found  that  their 
laws  were  incompatible  :  that  no  Venetian  or  Genoese,  the 
pioneers' in  commerce  in  those  days,  would  willingly  or  could 
in  reason  be  expected  to  submit  himself  to  Moslem  law, 
based  on  the  stem  requirements  of  the  Koran  ;  and  that  no 
12 


178     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

follower  of  the  Prophet  could  yield  obedience  to  a  code 
whose  leading  exponent  was  the  Pope.  There  was  no 
thought  of  requiring  either  to  conform  to  the  law  of  the 
other ;  as  between  one  country  of  Europe  and  another  the 
lex  loci  might  be  appUed,  but  to  assimilate  the  legal  pro- 
cedure of  two  diverse  civiUsations  was  the  mingling  of  oil 
and  vinegar.  The  question  was  one-sided,  since  no  Moslem 
ever  strayed  from  the  fold,  and  the  Padishah  settled  it 
off-hand  by  bidding  the  Giaours  judge,  control,  and  pro- 
tect their  own  nationals  according  to  their  own  customs* 
While  the  trading  states  were  weak  and  the  Moslem  power 
strong,  the  imperium  in  imperio  thus  created  caused  no  more 
trouble  than  the  old  protection  which  the  Roman  citizen 
carried  with  him  ever5^where  ;  but  in  the  course  of  years  the 
Turkish  realm  lost  its  old-time  force,  the  more  powerfully 
organised  nations  of  Europe  entered  the  field,  and  the 
obligation  of  extraterritoriality  became  a  right,  claimed  by 
all  strong  enough  to  enforce  it,  enjoyed  by  all  in  the  comity 
of  nations,  and  duly  sanctioned  by  the  Capitulations  signed 
with  each  Power,  These  are  the  Charter  of  extraterritori- 
aUty  in  the  Turkish  Empire  and  in  the  states  now  or  formerly 
vassal  to  it. 

At  first  the  neural  assumption  was  that  the  traveller 
carried  his  law  with  him,  in  so  far  as  he  was  entitled  to  the 
protection  of  any  law  ;  but  by  degrees,  in  the  history  of  those 
countries  whose  government  is  based  on  law  and  not  on 
the  will  of  the  governors,  law  became  paramount,  and  the 
law  of  the  locality  was  never  set  aside  to  pleasure  a  chance 
visitor.  This  is  now  the  rule,  the  Capitulations  in  Turkey 
being  merely  survivals  of  the  Middle  Ages.  When  the 
European  first  came  to  the  Far  East,  he  had  no  thought 
that  he  was  entitled  to  carry  his  law  with  him,  and  sub- 
mission to  the  lex  loci  was  merely  an  incident  in  his  ad- 
venturous career,  duly  provided  for  in  his  profit  and  loss 
account.  The  Black  Hole  of  Calcutta  was  typical  of  the 
treatment  hkely  to  be  accorded  to  the  English  anjrwhere 
in  India  at  the  time,  when  once  removed  from  the  protection 


EXTRATERRITORIALITY  I79 

of  the  British  flag ;  the  Portuguese  in  China  enjoyed  life, 
liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness  only  on  condition  of 
remaining  safely  in  the  tiny  peninsula  of  Macao  ;  and  the 
Dutch  in  Japan,  cooped  up  in  Desima,  were  allowed  to 
monopolise  a  profitable  trade,  but  were  otherwise  subject 
to  the  whims  of  the  Japanese.  At  the  opening  of  the 
nineteenth  century  the  English  and  Americans  resident 
in  China  were  restricted  to  the  "  Factory  "  or  trading  post 
of  Canton,  privileged  for  exercise  to  walk  a  hundred  paces  in 
one  direction  and  then  a  hundred  paces  in  the  other.  They 
were  in  general  well  treated,  since  the  trade  so  profitable 
to  them  was  equally  profitable  to  the  Chinese,  and  were 
not  molested  so  long  as  they  were  law-abiding — but  law- 
abiding  in  the  sense  of  abiding  by  the  law  of  China.  It 
was  irksome  to  them  to  have  no  lawyer  to  instruct  them 
in  the  law  of  the  land,  to  have  no  fixed  and  certain  law  to 
appeal  to,  to  be  doubtful  of  the  application  of  the  law  to 
any  particular  case,  and  to  have  no  doubt  whatever  on  the 
course  Ukely  to  be  followed  by  the  administrators  of  the 
law;  but  this  was  all  an  incident  of  their  position,  and 
the  rapid  accumulation  of  fortune  enabled  them  to  shake 
the  dust  of  the  country  from  their  shoes  after  a  very  short 
stay.  So  the  position  was  endured,  and  the  lex  loci  sub- 
mitted to,  probably,  from  what  we  know  of  the  English 
and  American  character,  with  many  murmurs  but  without 
overt  opposition. 

It  is  no  part  of  my  purpose  to  describe  the  state  of  the 
prisons  of  China  or  the  methods  by  which  testimony  and 
confession  are  elicited,  nor  to  demonstrate  the  insistent 
need  to  the  Chinese  people  of  the  article  in  King  John's 
Magna  Carta,  "  To  no  man  will  we  deny  or  sell  justice." 
The  incompatibility  of  laws  based  on  diverse  civilisations 
is  nowhere  more  marked  than  in  China.  There  no  bank- 
ruptcy law  is  possible  :  if  a  debtor's  own  estate  will  not 
suffice  to  pay  his  debts,  the  deficiency  must  be  made  good 
by  his  father,  brothers,  or  uncles ;  if  a  debtor  absconds, 
his  immediate  faniiily  are  promptly  imprisoned;    if  the 


I&)     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

debtor  returns,  he  is  put  in  prison  and  kept  there  indefinitely, 
so  long  as  he  can  find  money  for  his  daily  food,  until  released 
by  pa)anent  in  full  or  by  death :  this  is  the  law.  When 
in  1895  Admiral  Ting  found  himself  forced  to  surrender 
Weihaiwei  and  his  fleet,  he  committed  suicide ;  by  this 
courageous  step,  technically,  dsdng  before  surrender,  he 
saved  his  immediate  family — father,  mother,  sons,  and 
daughters — from  decapitation,  and  their  property  from 
confiscation,  the  penalty  when  a  conmiander  surrenders  an 
Imperial  fortress :  this  is  the  law.  When  in  the  old  days 
an  English  gunner  caused  the  death  of  a  Chinese  by  firing 
a  salute  from  a  cannon  from  which,  by  oversight,  the  ball 
had  not  been  removed,  he  was  seized,  tried,  and  executed  ; 
and  in  1839,  when  in  the  course  of  a  disturbance  with  English 
and  American  sailors  at  Canton  a  Chinese  was  killed,  the 
authorities  demanded  that,  if  the  guilty  person  could  not 
be  detected  and  executed,  the  whole  party  should  be  handed 
over  for  execution :  this  is  the  law.  Intention  is  never 
taken  into  account.  A  dollar  for  a  dollar,  an  eye  for  an 
eye,  a  life  for  a  life,  and  all  for  the  Emperor  and  his  repre- 
sentatives :  this  is  the  law  of  China.  The  feeling  against 
continued  submission  to  this  law  and  to  its  arbitrary  and 
inequitable  application  had  been  growing ;  and  when  the 
Chinese  authorities  committed  an  overt  act  of  aggression 
in  seizing  and  destroying  the  property  of  the  foreign 
merchants  of  all  nationalities  at  Canton,  burning  their 
"Factory,"  in  which  alone,  as  in  a  Ghetto,  they  were 
permitted  to  reside,  and  forcibly  expelling  them  from 
Chinese  soil,  the  British  took  up  the  cudgels  and  the  war 
of  1842  followed.  The  movable  property  destroyed  con- 
sisted of  opium,  and  consequently  the  war  is  in  conunon 
parlance  called  the  *'  Opium  War  "  ;  this  is  an  ill-chosen 
designation  for  the  Americans  as  for  the  English,  since,  as 
the  direct  result  of  the  war,  the  American  Government 
secured  a  treaty  containing  even  more  favourable  terms 
than  the  British  treaty.  In  fact,  the  direct  cause  of  the 
war  was  the  growing  sense  of  the  need  for  better  protection 


EXTRATERRITORIALITY  l8l 

to  life  and  property,  though  behind  this  was  the  ground 
cause  of  the  need  for  better  relations  generally.  John 
Quincy  Adams  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  the  Kotow  was 
the  cause  of  the  war.  In  the  words  of  Dr.  Hawks  Pott's 
"  Sketch  of  Chinese  ffistory  "— "  The  first  war  with  China 
was  but  the  beginning  of  a  struggle  between  the  extreme 
East  and  the  West,  the  East  refusing  to  treat  on  terms  of 
equaUty,  diplomatically  or  commercially,  with  Western 
nations,  and  the  West  insisting  on  its  right  to  be  so  treated/' 
As  has  been  the  rule  from  the  outset,  England  bore  the 
brunt  of  the  battle  in  securing  the  rights  of  the  West,  and 
the  privileges  secured  to  her  as  the  result  of  the  war,  became 
the  heritage  of  all  the  Western  Powers  coming  later  into  the 
field.  Equality  of  treatment  was  conceded  in  1842  on  paper, 
but  the  execution  of  the  concession  in  practice  left  much  to 
be  desired,  and  friction  continued.  There  were,  of  course, 
feiults  on  both  sides,  as  is  alwaj^  the  case  where  a  bold 
aggressive  race  comes,  especially  in  matters  of  trade,  in 
contact  with  a  weaker  race  given  to  supplement  its  want 
of  strength  by  methods  of  chicanery  and  indirectness  ;  but 
underlying  everything  were  the  demand  for  equaUty  of 
treatment  and  extraterritorial  rights  on  the  one  side,  and 
on  the  other  a  stubborn  disinclination  to  yield  either.  A 
second  war  became  necessary  in  which  the  French  joined 
hands  with  the  English,  and  a  second  time  America  and 
other  interested  Powers  came  in  and  secured  treaties  simul* 
taneous  and  identical  with  those  signed  by  the  British  and 
French  Envoys.  These  treaties,  signed  independently  by 
Great  Britain,  France,  Russia,  and  the  United  States  in 
1858,  by  Prussia  and  the  North  German  Confederation  in 
1861,  and  by  other  Powers  in  later  years,  are  still  the  charter 
of  Uberty  of  the  foreigner  resident  in  China  ;  and  in  each  of 
them,  in  addition  to  a  "  most  favoured  nation  "  clause,  is 
contained  the  stipulation  of  extraterritoriality. 

The  earliest  treaties  with  China  were  made  by  Russia, 
whose  Envoys  came  by  the  Siberian  route,  and  whose 
colonists  and  armed  forces  were  in  constant  conflict  with 


l8a     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

the  Manchus  and  the  sons  of  Han  on  the  long  frontier  of  the 
Amur  and  in  Central  Asia.  The  earliest  of  these  treaties, 
that  of  Nipchu  (or  Nerchinsk)  signed  in  1689,  contains 
(Art.  VI.)  the  following  provision : 

"  If  hereafter  any  of  the  subjects  of  either  nation 

pass  the  frontier  and  commit  crimes  of  violence  against 

I  property  or  life,  they  are  at  once  to  be  arrested  and 

sent  to  the  frontier  of  their  own  coimtry  and  handed 

over  to  the  chief  local  authority,  who  will  inflict  on 

them  the  death  penalty  as  a  punishment  of  their 

crimes." 

The  Treaty  of  the  Frontier  (called  also  the  Treaty  of 

Kjakhta,  at  which  place  the  ratifications  were  exchanged) 

signed  in  1727,  contains  (Art.  X.)  the  following  provision  : 

"  Those  who  pass  the  frontier  and  steal  camels  or 

cattle  shall  be  handed  over  to  their  natural  judges 

{leurs  juges  naturels),  who  will  condemn  them  to  pay 

ten  times,  and  for  a  second  offence  twenty  times, 

the  value  of  the  property  stolen  ;  for  a  third  offence, 

they  shall  be  punished  by  death." 

The  supplementary  treaty  of  Kiakhta,  signed  in  1768, 

contained  minute  stipulations  for  the  arrest  and  extradition 

of  criminals,  but  includes  this  provision : 

"  The  subjects  of  the  Middle  Kingdom  (China)  who 
shall  have  committed  acts  of  brigandage  shall  be 
delivered,  without  distinction  of  persons,  to  the  tribunal 
which  governs  the  outer  provinces  and  punished  with 
death ;    the  subjects  of  the  Oros  (Russia)  shall  be 
delivered  to  their  senate,  to  undergo  the  same  penalty." 
Here  then,  from  one  to  two  centuries  before  the  first  of 
the  treaties  with  any  of  the  maritime  Powers,  we  have  the 
principle  of  extraterritoriality  accepted :   the  penalties  are 
prescribed  by  negotiation  between  the  two  Powers  con- 
cerned, but  the  culprits  are  to  be  handed  over  to  their 
own  natural  authorities — ^are  to  be  judged  and  condemned 
according  to  the  legal  procedtire  of  their  native  land. 
The  British  treaty  of  Nanking,  signed  in  1842,  as  the 


EXTRATERRITORIALITY  183 

result  of  the  war  of  that  year,  contained  provisions  for  uni- 
formity of  Customs  duties  and  equality  of  treatment  for 
British  officials ;   but  the  only  reference  to  Consular  juris- 
diction is  found  in  Art.  II.,  to  the  effect  that  Consuls  are 
"  to  be  the  medium  of  communication  between  the 
Chinese  authorities  and  the  said  merchants,  and  to  see 
that  the  just  duties  and  other  dues  of  the  Chinese 
Government  as  hereafter  provided  for  are  duly  dis- 
charged by  Her  Britannic  Majesty's  subjects." 
The  supplementary  treaty  of  Hoomimchai  (1843)  contains 
provisions  for  extradition,  and  annexed  to  it  are  some 
"  General  Regulations  under  which  British  trade  is  to  be 
conducted  at  the  five  ports  of  Canton,  Amoy,  Foochow, 
Ningpo,  and  Shanghai  "  which  had  been  published  at  Hong- 
kong by  a  proclamation  issued  on  July  22nd,  1843,  by  Sir 
Henry    Pottinger,    Minister    Plenipotentiary    and    Super- 
intendent of  Trade.    Of  these   Regulations,   No.    XIII., 
after  stipulating  that  "  disputes  shall  be  arranged  amicably," 
i,e,  by  arbitration  or  by  diplomatic  procedure,  makes  the 
following  provision : 

"  Regarding  the  punishment  of  English  criminals, 
the  English  Government  will  enact  the  laws  necessary 
to  attain  that  end,  and  the  Consul  will  be  empowered 
to  put  them  in  force  ;  and  regarding  the  punishment 
of  Chinese  criminals,  these  will*  be  tried  and  punished 
by  their  own  laws,  in  the  way  provided  for  by  the 
correspondence  which  took  place  at  Nanking  after 
the  concluding  of  the  peace." 
This  regulation  was  in  its  form  a  concession  to  the 
Chinese,  designed  to  control  the  unruly  members  of  the 
crews  of  foreign  ships.    It  was  reserved  for  the  United 
States  of  America,  peacefully  following  on  the  sound  of  the 
British  cannon,  to  step  into  the  breach,  and  to  express  more 
clearly  the  one  condition  which  renders  it  possible  for 
American,  English,  German,  or  other  merchants  to  enjoy  in 
quiet  the  fruits  of  their  trading  activity,  or  for  their  mission- 
aries to  peacefully  pursue  their  holy  calling,  subject  to 


1j84     rH£  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

the  laws  of  the  land  of  their  allegiance  and  not  of  the  land 
of  their  sojourn.  In  the  Treaty  of  Wanghia,  signed  in 
July  1844,  Art.  XXI.  reads  as  follows : 

"  Subjects  of  China  who  may  be  guilty  of  any 
criminal  act  towards  citizens  of  the  United  States  shall 
be  arrested  and  punished  by  the  Chinese  authorities 
according  to  the  laws  of  China,  and  citizens  of  the 
United  States  who  may  commit  any  crime  in  China 
shall  be  subject  to  be  tried  and  punished  only  by  the 
Consul  or  other  public  functionary  of  the  United  States 
thereto  authorised  according  to  the  laws  of  the  United 
States ;    and  in  order  to  the  prevention  of  all  con- 
troversy and  disaffection,  justice  shall  be  equitably 
and  impartially  administered  on  both  sides." 
The  French  Treaty  of  Whampoa,  signed  in  October 
1844,   contained  a  similar  provision  that  French  subjects 
accused  of  any  crime  should  be  "  livrfe  i  Taction  r^gulidre 
des  lois  fran^aises/'  adding,  however,  an  enunciation  of  the 
principle  of  extraterritoriality : 

"  II  en  sera  de  mfime  en  toute  circonstance  analogue 

et  non  pr6vue  dans  la  pr&ente  Convention,  le  principe 

6tant  que,  pour  la  r6pression  des  crimes  et  dflits  commis 

par  eux  dans  les  cinq  ports,  les  Fran^ais  seront  con- 

stamment  r^s  par  la  loi  fran^aise." 

The  underlying  principle  was  more  clearly  expressed  in 

the  Chefoo  Convention  (1876)  between  Great  Britain  and 

China,  and  again  in  the  American  Supplemental  Treaty  of 

Peking  (1880) ;  in  the  latter,  Article  IV.  reads  as  follows  : 

"  When  controversies  arise  in  the  Chinese  Empire 

between  citizens  of  the  United  States  and  subjects  of 

His  Imperial  Majesty  which  need  to  be  examined  and 

decided  by  the  public  officers  of  the  two  nations,  it  is 

agreed  between  the  Governments  of  the  United  States 

and  China  that  such  cases  shall  be  tried  by  the  proper 

official  of  the  nationality  of  the  defendant.    The 

properly  authorised  official  of  the  plaintifi's  nationality 

shall  be  freely  permitted  to  attend  the  trial,  and  shaU 


EXTRATERRITORIALITY  185 

be  treated  with  the  courtesy  due  to  his  position.    He 

shall  be  granted  all  proper  facilities  for  watching  the 

proceedings  in  the  interests  of  justice.    If  he  so  desires^ 

he  shall  have  the  right  to  present,  to  examine,  and  to 

cross-examine  witnesses.     If  he  is  dissatisfied  with  the 

proceedings,  he  shall  be  permitted  to  protest  against 

them  in  detail.    The  law  administered  will  be  the  law 

of  the  nationaUty  of  the  officer  trying  the  case." 

This  is  the  principle  adopted  since  that  time  in  all 

treaty  negotiations  entered  into  with  China  by  each  one  of 

the  treaty  Powers,  which,  in  the  order  of  the  dates  of  the 

first  treaty  with  each,  are  Russia,  Great  Britain,  the  United 

States,  France,  Belgium,  Sweden  and  Norway,  Germany, 

Denmark,  the  Netherlands,  Spain,  Italy,  Austria-Hungary, 

Japan,  Peru,  Brazil,  Portugal,  and  Mexico. 

This  is  extraterritoriality,  secured  by  two  wars  and  by 
treaties  with  seventeen  Powers,  each  one  of  which  must 
consent  to  its  abrogation  or  modification.  By  it  the 
foreigner  resident  in  China  is  subject  to  no  one  provision  of 
the  law  of  China,  either  as  to  his  person  or  to  his  property,* 
but  at  all  times  and  in  all  places  is  entitled  to  the  protection 
of  his  own  national  law  administered  by  his  own  naticmal 
officials.  There  are  no  two  voices  as  to  the  necessity  for 
this  right  among  those  resident  in  China,  and  the  right  has 
been  recognised  by  the  various  governments  as  supplying 
the  one  condition  under  which  their  nationals  can  remain 
in  that  cotmtry.  We  have  now  to  consider  the  application 
of  this  right  by,  and  to,  the  Consul,  the  merchant,  and  the 
missionary;  and,  as  different  national  laws,  regulations, 
and  customs  cannot  be  treated  on  one  common  footing,  the 
application  of  extraterritoriality  to  the  American  will  be 
taken  as  typical  of  all. 

The  Consul 
We  all  know,  or  think  we  know,  the  ordinary  functions 
^  £a3oept  that  in  the  tenure  of  land  the  ^;r  A?M  mittt  ^pply. 


l86    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

of  the  ordinary  Consul.  Practically  they  may  be  reduced 
to  three.  He  is  the  commercial  agent  of  his  government, 
and  in  that  capacity  must  study  the  commercial  possibilities 
for  American  traders  and  manufacturers  in  the  country  to 
which  he  is  accredited,  and  inform  the  nation  by  the  reports 
which  he  writes.  He  is  a  notary  public,  certifying  invoices 
for  the  U.S.  Customs,  and  attesting  documents  signed 
before  him  for  use  in  the  United  States.  Finally  he  is  the 
adviser  to  Americans  sojourning  abroad,  supplementing 
their  ignorance  of  foreign  laws  and  customs,  and  indicating 
to  them  the  means  by  which  they  may  be  in  the  position, 
as  to  knowledge,  which  they  would  occupy  in  their  own 
country.  Coming  to  China,  we  find  the  Consul  performing 
these  functions,  and  many  more  besides,  all  of  which  add 
to  his  cares  and  his  responsibilities. 

First,  by  the  direct  action  of  the  principle  of  extraterri- 
toriality, he  is  a  police  magistrate  to  try  o£Fences  com- 
mitted  by  American  citizens,  civil  judge  for  suits  brought 
against  Americans  by  Chinese,  by  other  Americans,  or  by 
foreigners  of  other  nationalities,  and  criminal  judge  for  more 
serious  crimes  committed  by  Americans,  even  up  to  murder 
in  the  first  degree.  He  is  also  coroner,  probate  judge,  and 
registrar  of  deeds.  From  his  decisions  appeal  is  difficult. 
His  judgment  may  be  reviewed  by  the  U.S.  Minister  at 
Peking,  but  this  is  in  no  sense  a  re-trial ;  and  in  certain 
cases  an  appeal  may  be  taken  to  the  U.S.  (federal)  Circuit 
Court  of  California,  six  thousand  miles  away.  His  position 
is  the  more  difficult  from  the  fact  that  he  has  to  administer, 
not  the  law  of  Massachusetts  or  of  New  York,  or  even  of  Cali- 
fornia, the  nearest  state,  but  "  American  law,"  and  this 
often  without  the  aid  of  trained  lawyers ;  he  must  administer 
the  common  law  unelucidated  by  any  statutes  of  later  date 
than  1776,  and  must  often  give  judgments  which  Solomon 
would  have  envied.  Besides  American  law  he  must  have  a 
sufficient  knowledge  of  the  lex  loci,  as  in  the  case  of  a  land 
suit  to  which  an  American  is  defendant,  and  instances  have 
been  known  when  his  judgment  has  depended  upon  the  right 


EXTRA  TERRITORIALITY  187 

interpretation  of  the  tenets  of  the  Buddhist  religion.^  With 
all  this  complexity  he  has  still  another  element  of  di£Giculty : 
his  instructions  from  the  State  Department  require  him 
first  to  bring  two  suitors  to  common  terms  of  settlement, 
and  having  attempted  this  without  giving  one  party  a  clue 
to  the  case  of  the  other,  and  having  failed,  he  must  then  erase 
from  his  mind  all  he  has  learned  in  the  matter  and  go  on  the 
bench  to  sit  as  judge. t 

Besides  requiring  him  to  act  as  judge,  the  extraterri* 
torialised  position  of  the  foreigner  in  China  places  on  the 
Consul's  shoulders  still  another  burden  of  responsibility. 
Beyond  the  protection  of  American  law,  the  American  in 
China  is  safeguarded  by  the  stipulations  of  the  treaties. 
These  specify,  to  select  a  few  among  the  many  instances^ 
that  Customs  duties  shall  be  uniform,  that  inland  transit 
dues  (akin  to  octroi)  may  be  compounded,  that  Americans 
may  freely  rent  or  charter  houses,  boats,  etc.,  that  they  shall 
not  be  prevented  from  preaching  the  gospel,  that  the  U.S. 
Minister  may  freely  and  safely  reside  in  Peking.  While 
sitting  as  judge  when  an  American  is  defendant,  when  an 
American  has  a  plaint  against  a  Chinese  defendant  the 
Consul  is  by  law  the  official  advocate  in  the  case  (a  position 
presenting  some  embarrassment  in  cross-suits) ;  when  the 
plaint  is  against  the  Chinese  Government,  the  Consul  is  the 
more  necessarily  an  advocate  from  the  need  of  interpreting 
and  applying  the  stipulations  of  the  treaties — not  only 
of  the  American  treaties,  but,  under  the  "  most  favoured 
nation  "  clause,  of  all  the  treaties  made  with  China.    This 

*  See  Appendix  B. 

t  The  opening  on  January  2nd,  1907,  of  a  United  States  District 
Court  for  China  will  remove  cases  of  a  certain  class  from  the  Consul's 
jurisdiction,  and  to  this  extent  will  modify  what  has  been  said  in  this 
paragraph ;  but  this  description  still  applies,  more  or  less  exactly, 
to  the  Consuls  of  other  Powers,  such  as  France,  Germany,  etc.  Only 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  have  thought  it  necessary  to 
establish  separate  courts.  Appeal  from  a  French  Court  is  taken  to 
Saigon,  from  a  Russian  Court  to  Vladivostock,  from  a  German 
Court  to  Jjeipdc. 


l88     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

makes  of  him  a  diplomatic  representative,  not  merely  a 
representative  of  the  Minister  at  Peking,  but  of  the  State 
Department  at  Washington ;  and  in  this  capacity  he  has 
to  present  argimients  and  bring  pressure  to  bear  on  the 
Chinese  officials  to  an  extent  not  sanctioned  by  procedure 
in  European  countries. 

In  cases  of  riot  and  disturbance  in  a  country  of  weak 
government,  the  foreign  military  and  naval  forces  must  be 
called  in  to  give  due  protection  to  their  nationals.  The 
Consul  is  the  natural  diplomatic  intermediary  with  the 
Chinese  officials,  and  all  representations,  by  way  of  per- 
suasion or  of  ultimatum,  must  pass  through  him.  It  is  for 
him  alone  to  judge  when  the  toga  must  peld  to  arms ;  and, 
added  to  all  his  other  responsibilities,  he  is  the  resident  civil 
authority  in  control  of  the  armed  forces  of  his  own  country. 

By  virtue  of  extraterritoriality  direct  action  against 
a  foreigner's  person  or  estate  can  only  be  taken  through  his 
own  Consul,  and  in  the  case  of  an  arrest  for  contravention 
of  municipal  regulations  it  is  by  him  that  the  prisoner  must 
be  tried.  The  foreign  communities  are  little  self-governing 
and  self-taxing  republics,  each  in  its  square  mile  or  two  of 
territory,  but  even  against  their  own  members  those  com- 
munities cannot  act  through  their  own  courts,  which  do 
not  exist.  If  the  municipal  police  arrest  gamblers,  let  us 
say,  among  whom  are  men  of  six  different  nationaUties, 
plaint  must  be  made  before  six  different  Consular  coiuls, 
with,  incidentally,  the  result  that  one  culprit  may  be  fined 
a  dollar  and  another  a  hundred  dollars  on  the  same  day  for 
the  same  offence.  The  Municipal  Council  governing  such  a 
community  is  subject  to  no  legally  constituted  tribimal, 
since  none  such  exists  of  competent  jurisdiction ;  and, 
being  after  all  only  a  body  of  private  gentlemen  of  many 
nationalities  with  no  official  status,  can  only  communicate 
with  the  Chinese  officials,  with  whom  they  have  constant 
and  important  dealings,  through  "  their  own  "  Consuls.  To 
meet  these  varying  needs  of  the  regularly  constituted 
governing  body  of  these  little  republics,  the  Consuls  take 


EXTRATERRITORIALITY  169 

united  action,  holding  deliberative  meetings  for  that  purpose, 
and  act  by  the  voice  and  pen  of  the  "  Senior  Consul " — ^the 
Consul  longest  in  residence ;  and  they  appoint  certain  of 
their  number  to  constitute  a  Consular  Court,  a  tribunal 
before  which  the  Municipal  Council  may  be  sued.^  This 
gives  the  Consul  an  important  part  in  the  municipal  control, 
not  only  of  his  own  nationals,  but  of  all  foreigners  in  the 
community. 

The   Merchant 

The  position  of  the  merchant  in  the  days  of  the  old  trade 
has  been  indicated  in  this  chapter,  and  is  further  described 
in  Chapter  IX. ;  and  in  giving  some  details  of  his  excep- 
tional position  under  extraterritoriality,  it  is  necessary 
from  point  to  point  to  contrast  it  with  what  would  be  his 
normal  condition. 

On  the  entry  of  a  ship  in  the  ante-treaty  days  she  became 
a  chattel  in  the  hands  of  the  Chinese  authorities  and  of 
monopolists  licensed  by  them,  and  was  the  subject  of  "  milk- 
ing "  limited  in  amount  only  by  what  the  trade  could  stand. 
The  sums  extracted  were  not  all  capable  of  being  put  into 
a  detailed  statement,  but  one  authentic  official  account 
(given  in  Chapter  IX.)  shows  that  to  the  constituted  authori- 
ties, over  and  above  irregular  exactions,  one  ship,  which 
for  the  same  charges  would  to-day  pay  £25,  paid  what 
was  then  equivalent  to  jfgoo.  To-day  a  ship's  papeis  are 
deposited  with  her  Consul,  and  the  Chinese  authorities  can 
exercise  control  only  through  him,  while  all  attendance 
and  supplies  may  be  obtained  in  the  open  market. 

The  cargo  could  formerly  be  sold  only  to  hcensed  monopo- 
list dealers,  while  now  an  importer  may  find  his  own  buyers 
and  make  his  own  terms  ;  and  for  exports  the  same  monopoly 
has  been  exchanged  for  the  same  freedom. 

The  merchant  formerly  lived  and  stored  his  goods  in 

•  Jurisdiction  over  the  municipality  of  a  "Concession"  is  in 
the  hands  of  the  Consul  of  the  controlling  Power,  as  explained  in 
Chapter  VIII. 


igo    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

the  Factory,  in  which  he  was  the  tenant  and  guest  of  the 
monopolists  who  alone  conld  buy  his  imports  and  sell  him 
his  exports,  and  which  he  could  not  leave  even  to  inquire 
the  market  prices  of  commodities.  Now  he  is  privileged 
to  rent  or  build  his  own  premises,  subject  only  to  the  con- 
dition that  they  shall  be  at  one  of  the  treaty  ports,  now 
over  forty  in  number,  and  usually  within  a  circumscribed 
area  at  those  ports  ;  but  in  any  case  he  now  has  free  access, 
without  intermediaries,  to  his  ships  and  to  his  market. 

Formerly  the  merchants  had  no  knowledge  of  the  amount 
of  taxation  levied,  inwards  and  outwards,  on  his  goods,  but 
it  was  none  the  lighter  for  that.  Now  the  tax  is  strictly 
limited  to  the  rates,  based  on  a  uniform  5  per  cent,  levy, 
specified  in  a  revenue  (non-protective)  tariflF,  which  forms 
an  integTBl  part  of  the  treaty  under  which  he  lives  and 
trades.  From  the  inland  taxation,  too,  which  presses  so 
heavily  on  Chinese  traders  who  are  subject  to  the  levy  of 
likin,  his  goods  are  exempted  by  pasonent  of  "  transit  dues  " 
not  exceeding  a  nominal  2^  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

No  Chinese  authority  has  a  right  to  claim  any  municipal 
taxes  from  foreign  premises ;  and  within  the  "  areas  reserved 
for  foreign  residence  and  trade,"  all  taxes  levied  are  solely 
for  the  benefit  of  such  reserved  area.  The  foreign  resident 
is  equally  free  from  the  incidence  of  benevolences,  or  from 
the  necessity  of  contributing  to  public  charities  and  patri- 
otic funds,  or  from  inducement  to  buy  official  honours  and 
titles,  to  all  which  the  Chinese  merchant  is  liable. 

No  capitation  fee  may  be  imposed,  or  right  of  deporta- 
tion exercised  on  foreigners  by  tiie  Chinese  officials,  as  was 
the  case  in  the  old  days. 

No  foreign  merchant  is  now  liable  for  any  but  his  own 
criminal  offences,  and  for  those  with  which  he  may  be  charged 
he  is  judged  according  to  the  provisions  of  his  own  laws. 

In  civil  cases  he  is  held  accountable  for  the  requirements 
of  the  commercial  code  of  his  own  country ;  and  in  suits 
against  Chinese  he  is  aided  by  the  advocacy  of  his  own 
official  representative,  the  Consul. 


EXTRA  TERRITORIALITY  I9I 

Finally,  in  at  least  ten  of  the  treaty  ports,  the  foreign 
merchants  collectively  are  privileged  to  form  their  own 
municipal  government,  subject  only  to  the  oversight  of  the 
Consuls,  to  tax  themselves  and  administer  the  proceeds  of 
the  taxes,  to  construct  their  own  roads,  and  to  control  their 
own  measures  of  police  and  sanitation. 

Others  could  be  added,  but  these  constitute  a  formidable 
list  of  exceptional  privileges,  enjoyed  by  the  foreigner  and 
denied  to  the  Chinese.  It  is  no  part  of  my  purpose  to 
inquire  if  these  privileges  are  equitable  or  not ;  it  is  enough 
to  say  that  they  will  be  maintained  so  long  as  foreign  nations 
are  strong  enough  to  insist  on  their  maintenance.  Protec- 
tion is  thus  given  to  foreigners  in  their  daily  business  such 
as  Chinese  do  not  enjoy ;  and  it  would  be  unreasonable  to 
expect  that  no  foreigner  would  be  found  ready,  for  a  con- 
sideration, to  lend  a  comer  of  his  flag  to  cover  the  nakedness 
of  the  poor  Chinaman.  Among  the  foreigners  resident  in 
China  there  is  the  same  proportion  of  good,  bad,  and  in- 
different as  among  the  same  class  in  the  home  lands,  and  the 
malpractice  is  common  ;  but  while  the  abuse  of  the  flag  pro- 
vides a  decent  income  to  many  among  them,  it  causes  great 
injury  to  the  legitimatecommerce  of  the  countries  from  which 
they  come,  and  disorganises  the  methods  of  administration, 
right  or  wrong,  just  or  unjust,  of  the  land  in  which  they 
live.  Because  an  American  can  take  certain  goods  from 
one  place  to  another  for  a  hundred  dollars  in  taxes,  while  it 
would  cost  a  Chinese  twice  that  sum,  provides  no  reason  good 
in  the  eyes  of  the  American  nation,  the  American  manu- 
facturer, or  the  legitimate  American  trader,  why  the  Chinese 
should  be  allowed  to  save  half  his  outgo  by  the  misuse  of  the 
American  flag  ;  the  differential  taxation  is  a  matter  between 
the  Chinaman  and  his  own  government  and  is  no  concern 
of  the  American  nation,  and  yet,  if  an  American  has  lent 
his  name  to  the  transaction,  the  American  Consul  is  bound 
to  intervene  to  protect  the  Chinaman's  goods.  This  is  only 
one  example  of  many  in  which  extraterritoriality  is  abused 
to  give  to  Chinese  a  protection  from  their  own  officials  to 


192     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

which  they  could  otherwise  lay  no  claim.  Instances  have 
been  known  where  a  foreigner  with  no  capital — not  a  penny 
— opened  branch  firms  in  several  places  and  ran  steamers  in 
has  name  and  under  his  flag,  but  had  no  share  in  the  working 
of  the  business  and  was  never  heard  of,  except  when  it 
became  necessary  to  call  a  case  out  of  the  Chinese  magis- 
trate's yamen  to  the  foreign  Consular  court.  In  one 
instance  a  small  steamer  was  transferred  within  a  few 
months  first  to  the  British,  then  to  the  French,  then  to  the 
American,  then  to  the  Italian  flag,  in  order  to  keep  her  out 
of  the  Chinese  court  to  which  both  the  claimants  to  her 
ownership  were  subject ;  the  transfers  were  frequent  because 
the  case  was  too  notorious  to  be  upheld  even  by  the  lax 
methods  of  China,  but  the  legal  machinery  was  there  and 
was  used.  Each  Power  professes  to  wish  to  stop  these 
abuses,  but  nothing  can  be  done  except  by  unanimous  con- 
sent of  all  the  seventeen  treaty  Powers ;  one  recalcitrant 
Power  would  provide  for  its  nationals  a  rich  harvest  from 
the  traffic  denied  to  other  foreigners ;  and  it  is  unlikely 
that  anything  will  be  done,  unless  the  great  commercial 
nations  take  the  matter  in  hand  and  decide  it  by  themselves. 

The   Missionary 

While  the  merchant  may  live  at  the  treaty  port,  and 
even  within  the  reserved  area  at  the  port,  and  find  his  cus- 
tomers come  to  him  readily,  provided  the  wares  he  offers 
are  wanted,  the  missionary  must  go  to  the  people  and  offer 
them  his  evangel ;  they  will  not  hunt  him  up.  To  reach 
their  hearts,  he  must  go  into  the  highways  and  byways  to 
preach  the  gospel ;  and  to  shut  him  up  in  the  treaty  port  is 
to  neutrahse  all  the  facilities  for  his  work  which  have  been 
secured  by  treaty.  China  is  no  exception  to  the  rule  that 
the  heathen  are  quite  content  with  their  existing  religious 
state,  and  have  no  desire  f or  a  "  new  religion"  ;  and  the 
history  of  missionary  work  in  thi<;  country  is  as  much  marked 
by  the  martyrdom  of  the  saints,  alloiyance  being  ntade  for 


EXTRATERRITORIALITY  I93 

the  general  ethical  progress  of  the  world,  as  ever  in  any 
country  in  which  the  Cross  has  been  advanced.  The 
Chinese  government  has  never  for  long  actively  encouraged 
the  Christian  propaganda.  St.  Francis  Xavier,  the  proto- 
missionary,  was  denied  access  to  the  mainland,  and  died  in 
1555  on  its  threshold,  on  the  island  now  called  St.  John. 
Matteo  Ricci  first  arrived  at  Nanking  in  1595,  but  secured 
the  right  of  living  in  the  city  only  after  four  years  more. 

Robert  Morrison,  the  first  Protestant  missionary,  was 
for  some  years  unable  even  to  obtain  a  teacher  from  the 
bigotedly  conservative  literati,  and  finally  secured  the  in- 
struction be  desired  by  virtue  of  his  connection,  as  inter- 
preter, with  the  East  India  Company,  and  even  then  by 
stealth.  The  Russian  Orthodox  religion  was,  however, 
protected  from  the  first,  for  the  reason  that  little  or  no 
attempt  has  ever  been  made  to  proselj^ise.  The  treaty  of 
1727  provided  for  the  maintenance  in  Peking  of  four  priests 
of  the  Orthodox  Church,  and  of  six  others,  students  of  the 
language;  this,  be  it  observed,  during  the  continuance 
of  the  great  persecution  of  the  Roman  Catholics  decreed  by 
Yungcheng  (1723-1735).  The  treaty  of  1851  provided  that 
the  Chinese  government  would  interpose  no  obstacle  to 
"  Russian  subjects  celebrating  in  their  factories  divine  ser- 
vice according  to  the  ritual  of  their  own  religion  "  ;  and  the 
Russian  Treaty  of  Tientsin,  1858,  granted  facilities  to  "  la 
mission  ecclfeiastique  russe." 

The  first  reference  to  missionaries,  otherwise  than  as 
citizens  of  their  respective  states,  in  the  treaties  of  other 
Powers  was  in  those  of  1858.  The  British  and  American 
were  almost  identical.  Article  XXIX.  of  the  American 
treaty  being  as  follows : 

"  The  principles  of  the  Christian  religion,  as  pro* 
f essed  by  the  Protestant  and  Roman  Catholic  Churches, 
are  recognised  as  teaching  men  to  do  good,  and  to  do 
to  others  as  they  would  have  others  do  to  them. 
Hereafter,  those  who  quietly  profess  and  teach  these 
doctrines  shall  not  be  harassed  or  persecuted  on  ac* 

13 


ig4    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

count  of  their  faith.    Any  persons,  whether  citizens 
of  the  United  States  or  Chinese  converts,  who  accord- 
ing to  these  tenets  peaceably  teach  and  practise  the 
principles  of  Christianity  shall  in  no  case  be  interfered 
with  or  molested." 
To  the  French  the  question  was  more  material.    That 
government  had  for  centuries  been  recognised  as  protector 
of  all  £oman  Catholic  missions  in  the  Orient,  and  its  prin- 
cipal casus  belli  was  the  murder  of  the  missionary  Auguste 
Chapdelaine  in  Kwangsi ;  and  Article  XIII.  of  the  French 
treaty  was  as  follows : 

*'  La  religion  Chr6tienne  ayant  pour  objet  essentiel 
de  porter  les  honunes  k  la  vertu,  les  membres  de 
toutes  les  commimions  Chr^tiennes  jouiront  d'une 
enti^re  s6curit6  pour  leurs  personnes,  leurs  propri6t6s 
et  le  libre  exercice  de  leurs  pratiques  religieuses,  et  une 
protection  efiGlcace  sera  doim^e  aux  missionnaires  qui 
se  rendront  pacifiquement  dans  Tint^rieur  du  pays, 
munis  des  passeports  r^uliers  dont  il  est  parl6  dans 
I'Article  huit.  Aucune  entrave  ne  sera  apportte  par 
les  autoritfe  de  TEmpire  chinois  au  droit  qui  est 
reconnu  k  tout  individu  en  Chine  d'embrasser,  s'il  le 
veut,  le  Christianisme  et  d'en  suivre  les  pratiques  sans 
§tre  passible  d'aucune  peine  infligte  pour  ce  fait. 

"  Tout  ce  qui  a  €t6  pr&:6denunent  fcrit,  proclam6  ou 

pubh6  en  Chine  par  ordre  du  Gouvemement  centre  le 

culte  Chretien  est  complStement  abrog6  et  reste  sans 

valeur  dans  toutes  les  provinces  de  T Empire." 

When  the  aUied  forces  reached  Peking  and  had  again 

to  impose  terms  on  the  Chinese  Government,  Article  VI.  of 

the  French  Convention  of  Peking,   i860,   stipulated  as 

follows : 

"  Conform^ment  k  I'^dit  imp^ial  rendu  le  vingt 
mars  mil  huit  cent  quarante-six  par  Tauguste  Empereur 
Tao-Kouang,  les  ^tablissements  rehgieux  et  de  bien- 
faisance  qui  ont  €t6  confisqufe  aux  Chretiens  pendant 
les  persecutions  dont  ils  ont  €t6  les  victimes  seront 


EXTRATERRITORIAUTY  I^ 

rendus  k  lexirs  propri^aires  par  Tentremise  du  Ministre 

de  France  en  Chine,  auquel  le  Gouvemement  Imperial 

les  f era  d^livrer  avec  les  cimetidres  et  les  autres  Edifices 

qui  en  d^pendaient." 

To  the  Chinese,  but  not  to  the  French,  text  of  this  article 

was  added,  surreptitiously  as  the  Chinese  government  has 

alwajrs  declared,  the  following  clause : 

"  And  it  shall  be  lawful  for  French  missionaries  in 

any  of  the  provinces  to  lease  or  buy  land  and  build 

houses/' 

As  cognate  to  the  same  subject  it  will  be  well  to  give 

here  for  reference  the  much  debated  wording  of  Article  XII, 

of  the  British  treaty  of  1858 : 

"  British  subjects,  whether  at  the  Ports  or  at  other 
places,  desiring  to  build  or  open  Houses,  Warehouses, 
Churches,  Hospitals,  or  Burial-grounds,  shall  make 
their  agreement  for  the  land  or  buildings  they  require, 
at  the  rates  prevailing  among  the  people,  equitably  and 
without  exaction  on  either  side.' ' 
There  are  two  points  which  have  been  raised  in  connec- 
tion with  missionary  work  under  the  treaties — the  right  of 
residence  in  the  interior,  and  the  protection  to  be  accorded 
to  converts. 

The  right  of  residence  in  the  interior  depends  upon  the 
application  to  a  pre-existing  practice  of  a  liberal  interpreta- 
tion of  the  treaty  provisions  given  above.  When  the  Roman 
Catholic  missionaries  entered  on  the  mission  field  in  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  there  were  no  treaty 
ports,  and,  except  later  at  Canton,  no  place  at  which 
foreigners  were  privileged  to  reside,  and  they  spread  over 
the  Empire  wherever  they  found  a  centre  suitable  for  their 
propaganda.  When  the  Emperor  Kanghi  was  confronted  by 
the  infallible  decision  of  the  Pope,  contrary  to  his  own,  on 
the  correct  rendering  into  Chinese  of  the  name  of  the  Deity, 
he  and  his  successor  Yungcheng  decreed  the  exclusion  from 
his  dominions  of  this  ahen  power,  and  all  teadiers  of  the 
gospel  were  banished  and  their  churches  closed  ;   in  the 


196    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

Liangldang  viceroyalty  alone  a  hundred  prosp^ous  churches 
were  so  closed,  and  even  in  the  extreme  west,  in  Szechwan, 
there  were  churches  not  a  few.  Upon  the  resumption  of  a 
policy  of  toleration  the  pastors  returned  to  their  flocks,  and 
the  nineteenth  centiuy  again  found  them  in  every  province 
of  the  Empire.  The  edict  of  the  Emperor  Taokwang  in 
1846  restored  to  the  missions  all  the  property  of  which 
they  had  been  deprived  "  during  the  persecutions  "  ;  and, 
even  without  the  interpolated  clause,  the  year  i860  found 
the  Roman  Catholic  missions  owning  and  occupying,  by 
right,  churches  and  houses  at  important  centres  in  all  parts 
of  the  Empire.  Apart  from  special  treaty  privilege,  they 
have  had  a  right  of  user,  dating  back  three  centuries  with 
interruptions,  and  uninterrupted,  except  by  massacre 
and  arson,  for  over  seventy  years ;  this  right  was  confirmed 
by  treaty  in  i860,  and  upon  this  right,  sanctioned  by  accept- 
ance for  that  period  and  strengthened  by  the  interpolated 
clause,  is  based  the  further  right  to  acquire  new  property 
now  secured  by  the  later  commercial  treaties,  the  British 
of  1902  and  the  American  of  1903. 

What  is  permitted  to  one  nation  is  ipso  facto  granted  in 
China  to  all  nations,  the  privil^es  of  one  Church  may  be 
claimed  by  other  Churches,  and  what  is  conceded  to  the 
Roman  Church  becomes  at  once  the  right  of  the  Protestant 
Churches  of  Great  Britain  and  America.  The  earlier  Pro- 
testant missionaries  clung  to  the  ports ;  but,  compelled  to 
seek  their  hearers,  they  went  into  the  Chinese  cities  and  the 
densely  populated  suburbs,  away  from  the  "  areas  reserved 
for  foreign  residence,"  and  in  principle  as  much  in  "  the  in- 
terior "  as  places  a  hundred  miles  away.  When  the  foreign 
Legations  were  established  at  Peking,  the  Protestant  mis- 
sionaries accompanied  them,  and  joined  the  Roman  Catholics 
who  had  been  there  for  three  centuries,  in  what  was  not 
then  and  is  not  now  a  treaty  port ;  and  in  the  sixties  and 
seventies  they  too  spread  over  the  country,  wherever  they 
could  find  men  to  listen  to  their  words.  But  besides  the 
prescriptive  right  derived  through   the   Roman  Catholic 


EXTRATERRITORIALITY  I97 

missions,  they  claimed  under  Article  XII.  of  the  British 
treaty,  given  above,  by  the  terms  of  which  they  were  per- 
mitted to  own  property  "  whether  at  the  ports  or  at  other 
places  "  ;  it  was  not  intended  by  the  negotiators  on  either 
side  that  the  right  of  residence  in  the  interior  should  be 
granted  by  these  words,  but,  strictly  interpreted,  they  cer- 
tainly carry  on  the  rights  claimed  and  continued  by  their 
Roman  Catholic  colleagues. 

Of  German  missions  there  are  both  Protestant  and 
Catholic,  though  neither  are  numerous,  but  they  attract 
attention  because  of  the  terms  of  the  German  treaty  of  1861, 
of  which  Article  X.  reads  as  follows : 

"  Die    Bekenner    und    Lehrer    der    christlichen 
Religion  sollen  in  China    voile   Sicherheit   fur  ihre 
Personen,   ihr  Eigenthum  und  die  Ausubung  ihrer 
Religions-Gebrauche  geniessen." 
Thus  to  Germany,  and  therefore  to  all  nations,  by  this 
curt  clause  is  guaranteed  full  security  to  the  persons  and 
property  of  missionaries  and  their  converts  ;   and  this  brings 
us  to  the  second  debated  question  in  connection  with  mis- 
sionaries, the  degree  of  protection  to  be  accorded  to  Chinese 
subjects  who  have  become  Christians.* 

The  German  treaty,  in  its  brevity,  seems  to  remove  the 
convert  from  the  jurisdiction  of  his  own  laws  and  to  extra- 
territorialise  him ;  but  is  it  for  a  moment  to  be  supposed 
that  this  was  the  intention  of  the  negotiators,  even  on  the 
German  side  ?  The  convert  remains  a  Chinese  subject,  and 
is  under  the  jurisdiction  of  his  own  laws  and  entitled  to  such 
justice  as  they  will  give  him,  as  much  after  his  conversion 
as  before,  subject  only  to  the  proviso  that  he  shall  not  be 
persecuted  because  of  his  faith ;  and  in  this  respect  the 
same  right  of  user  cannot  be  claimed  as  in  the  case  of  mission 
property  and  residence  in  the  interior,  since  the  Chinese 
govenunent  has  alwajrs,  even  in  the  time  of  its  greatest 
weakness,  resisted  the  idea  that  its  subjects  could  change 
their  status.  With  the  reservation  of  the  case  of  persecu* 
♦  See  Appendix  C. 


198    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

tion,  most  missionaries,  certainly  most  Protestant  mission-- 
aries,  generally  accept  this  position;  but  they  caimot 
alwajrs  be  trusted  to  temper  zeal  with  discretion  and  to 
distinguish  what  is  right  from  what  is  lawful.  In  this  lies 
an  element  of  danger  to  the  missionary  and  to  his  cause. 
Not  only  in  the  treaty  ports,  the  sole  authorised  places  for 
foreign  trade,  is  the  Westerner  covered  by  his  extraterri- 
torialised  position,  but  in  every  comer  of  this  vast  Empire 
in  which  he  may  put  his  foot.  When  the  missionary  far  in 
the  interior,  many  miles  from  the  observing  eyes  of  his 
Consul,  transfers  a  comer  of  his  protecting  cloak  to  his  poor 
Chinese  convert,  he  may  be  doing  what  is  right,  but  it  is 
not  lawful ;  and  this  is  the  naked  fact  underlying  many  an 
episode  leading  to  a  riot.  You  cannot  eradicate  from  a 
missionary's  mind  the  belief  that  a  convert  is  entitled  to 
justice  of  a  quahty  superior  to  that  doled  out  to  his  un- 
converted brother :  it  could  not  be  got  out  of  your  mind,  or 
out  of  mine,  in  a  similar  case.  None  of  us  could  endure  that 
a  prot6g6  of  ours  should  be  haled  away  to  a  filthy  prison  for 
a  debt  he  did  not  owe,  and  kept  there  until  he  had  satisfied, 
not  perhaps  the  fictitious  creditor,  but  at  least  his  custodians 
who  were  responsible  for  his  safe  keeping.  The  case  is 
particularly  hard  when  the  claim  is  not  for  a  debt,  but  for 
a  contribution  to  the  upkeep  of  the  village  temple — ^the 
throne  of  heathendom— or  of  the  recurring  friendly  village 
feasts  held  in  connection  with  the  temple— counterparts  of 
Fast  Day  and  Thanksgiving ;  and  when  conversion  drives 
its  subject  to  break  off  all  his  family  ties  by  refusing  to  con- 
tribute to  the  maintenance  of  family  ancestral  worship  and 
the  ancestral  shrine,  the  hardship  is  felt  on  all  sides — ^by 
the  missionary,  who  cannot  decline  to  support  his  weaker 
brother  in  his  straggle  against  the  snares  of  the  devil ;  by  the 
convert,  who  is  divided  between  his  allegiance  to  his  new 
faith  and  the  old  beUefs  which  made  all  that  was  holy  in  his 
former  life ;  by  the  family,  who  not  only  regard  their  re- 
creant member  as  an  apostate  but  are  also  compelled  to  main- 
tain the  old  worship  with  reduced  assessments  from  reduced 


EXTRATERRITORIALITY  199 

numbers  ;  and  by  the  people  and  governors  of  the  land,  who 
may  find  in  such  a  sittiation  a  spark  to  initiate  a  great  con- 
flagration. No  missionary,  none  of  ourselves,  could  refuse 
his  support  in  such  a  case ;  and  yet  few  missionaries  con- 
sider that  the  support  should  be  given :  almost  to  a  man 
they  think  that  they  must  regard,  in  such  matters,  what  is 
lawful  and  not  necessarily  what  is  right ;  and  almost  to  a 
man  it  is  always  "  the  other  fellow  "  who  does  these  things. 
With  all  this  self-abnegation,  direct  interference  and  direct 
representations  to  the  judges  of  the  land,  in  cases  of  "  re- 
ligious persecution,"  in  suits  for  debt,  in  land  suits,  and  even 
in  criminal  cases,  are  only  too  common ;  and  in  some  parts  of 
the  country,  notably  in  Chekiang,  CathoUc  and  Protestant 
converts  frequently  engage  in  clan  fights,  while  the  mis- 
sionaries on  either  side  charge  those  on  the  other  with 
fomenting  the  trouble  and  with  enlisting  the  aid  of  the 
officials  to  support  their  side.*  The  strength  of  a  chain  is 
that  of  its  we^est  link,  and  the  rights  of  the  missionary  in 
the  interior  may  some  day  have  to  be  tested,  not  by  the  con- 
duct of  the  decent  majority,  but  by  that  of  an  aggressive 
minority  bent,  for  one  reason  or  another,  on  extending  their 
own  extraordinary  rights  to  Chinese  converts,  who  other- 
wise must  share  such  justice  as  is  meted  out  to  their  fellow- 
subjects. 

There  are,  however,  two  sides  to  this  question.  There 
are  munerous  cases,  susceptible  of  proof  to  the  man  on  the 
spot  but  of  which  it  would  be  difficult  to  carry  conviction 
to  the  minds  of  those  at  a  distance,  where  the  missionary 
undoubtedly  intervenes  to  make  capital  for  his  mission,  and 
to  secure  for  his  followers  some  tangible  advantage  from 
their  acceptance  of  his  propaganda.  At  the  other  extremity 
there  is  lie  manifest  tendency,  clearly  recognised  by  all, 
even  the  most  impartial^  but  quite  incapable  of  legal  demon- 
stration, for  the  judges  of  the  land,  in  cases  where  the  right 
is  not  obviously  on  one  side  or  the  other,  to  decide  ex  motu 
suo  against  the  convert ;  ostensibly  such  decisions  are  given 
*  See  Appendix  D. 


aoo    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

on  as  good  legal  grounds  as  any  case  in  China  is  ever  de- 
cided, but  practically  the  underl3dng  reason  is  the  convert's 
religion — ^not  the  judge's  antipathy  to  the  religion  itself,  but 
his  ingrained  feeling  that  the  convert  has  become  less  Chinese 
than  the  non-convert,  that  he  has  received  that  foreign  taint 
which,  in  1900,  sent  missionary  and  convert  alike  to  one 
common  sacrifice  on  the  altar  of  nationalism.  When  cases 
fall  under  one  or  other  of  these  extremes,  and  either  the 
proof  is  forthcoming  or  the  decision  has  to  be  taken  by  one 
capable  of  feeling  where  lies  the  right  and  where  the  wrong, 
there  can  be  no  question  on  the  course  to  be  followed.  The 
great  majority  of  cases,  however,  are  such  as  to  be  insus- 
ceptible of  proof,  or  fall  into  the  wide  field  between  these 
two  extremes ;  and  in  them  the  missionary  must  be  held 
bound  to  exercise  the  greatest  discrimination,  in  the  in- 
terests of  his  mission  work,  of  his  own  national  government, 
and,  not  least,  of  his  converts  themselves. 

Mixed  Courts 

The  law  applicable  to  Mixed  Courts  in  China  at  the 
present  day  is  that  prescribed  by  the  Chefoo  Convention  of 
1876  with  Great  Britain,  and  in  Article  IV.  of  the  American 
treaty  of  1880,  given  above,  but  they  merely  regularised 
what  had  been  the  practice  since  foreign  nations  undertook 
the  task  of  enforcing  justice  on  and  for  their  nationals. 
There  is  not  anywhere  a  special  tribunal,  as  in  Egypt,  for 
the  trial  of  all  mixed  cases ;  but  the  court  is,  in  each  in- 
stance, a  court  of  the  defendant's  nationality,  giving  its 
decision  under  the  supervision  of  a  competent  representa- 
tive of  the  plaintiff's  nationality.  This  is  the  theory.  In 
practice  the  Chinese  have  seldom  sent  representatives  to 
sit  on  the  bench  in  the  foreign  courts,  since  it  has  generally 
been  recognised  that  the  judgmentsVendered  there  are  based 
on  the  law  and  the  evidence  ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  foreign 
Powers  have  never  felt  the  same  confidence  in  Chinese  de- 
cisions, and  no  suit  is  brought  in  China  by  a  foreign  plaintiff 


EXTRA  TERRITORIALITY  201 

against  a  Chinese  defendant  and  left  to  the  sole  decision  of 
the  Chinese  judge,  without  the  presence  of  an  assessor  of 
the  plaintiff's  nationaUty  or  acceptable  to  him. 

In  a  "  concession,"  such  as  those  at  Tientsin,  Hankow, 
or  Canton,  this  Chinese  court  for  mixed  cases  sits  at  the 
Consulate  of  the  lessee  Power,  and  the  assessor  is  invariably 
the  Consul  of  that  Power  or  his  representative,  irrespective 
of  the  actual  nationality  of  the  plaintiff.  To  allow  any 
other  assessor  would  admit  an  imperium  in  imperio,  sub- 
sidiary to  the  foreign  imperium  already  interjected  into  the 
Chinese  imperium ;  besides,  as  Chinese,  other  than  employes 
of  the  foreign  residents,  are  not  permitted  to  live  on  the 
"  concession"  of  the  old  tj^e,  the  cases  appearing  before 
such  a  court  are  generally  only  poUce  cases,  and  defendants 
in  civil  suits  must  ordinarily  be  sought  on  Chinese  soil. 

Shanghai  has  a  problem  all  its  own.  There,  living 
within  common  municipal  limits,  and  those  the  limits  of  the 
"  area  reserved  for  foreign  residence  and  trade,"  are  (in  1905) 
12,328  treaty-power  foreigners,  and  535,500  Chinese,  in 
addition  to  somewhat  over  100,000  Chinese  Uving  in  the  city 
or  its  suburbs  under  purely  Chinese  jurisdiction ;  and  legal 
action  against  one  of  the  half-million  Chinese  is  taken  before 
the  nineteenth  of  the  courts  of  competent  jurisdiction  ex- 
isting in  Shanghai.  This  Mixed  Court  is  presided  over  by 
an  oi&cial  with  the  rank  of  Deputy  Prefect  (the  present  in- 
cumbent has  lately  received  the  substantive  rank  of  Prefect), 
with  two  Assistant  Magistrates  to  relieve  him.  The  foreign 
assessors  are  an  essential  part  of  this  court,  and  are  supplied 
in  rotation  by  the  American,  British,  and  German  Consulates; 
when  a  person  of  other  nationality  than  that  of  the  sitting 
assessor  appears  as  plaintiff  or  is  interested  in  a  police  case, 
the  case  is  remanded  until  an  assessor  of  his  own  nationality 
can  sit,  either  (if  one  of  the  three)  in  due  rotation,  or  (if  of 
another  Power)  until  an  assessor  can  be  supplied  from  his 
own  Consulate. 

In  criminal  cases,  in  which  by  Chinese  law  the  death 
penalty  is,  or  might  be,  inflicted — such  as  homicide,  rebellion. 


202     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

counterfeiting^  rape,  etc. — the  proceedings  take  the  form  of 
a  demand  for  extradition ;  and,  upon  a  pritna  fade  case 
being  made  out,  the  defendant  is  remitted  to  the  custody 
and  judgment  of  the  Shanghai  city  magistrate  (Hsien),  who, 
though  of  nominally  lower  rank  than  the  President  of  the 
Mixed  G)urt,  is  yet  an  Imperial  representative,  qualified  to 
administer  the  criminal  law  of  China.  In  criminal  cases  of 
lesser  magnitude  the  judgment  is  rendered  by  the  President 
of  the  Court,  but  subject  to  the  approval  of  the  foreign 
assessor  sitting  with  him.  This  course  is  followed  also  in 
police  cases  for  contravention  of  municipal  regulations ;  but 
as  it  is  not  required  that  these  regulations  should  have  the 
prior  approval  of  the  Chinese  authorities,  and  as  Occidental 
and  Oriental  ideas  are  not  always  in  harmony  in  such 
matters  as  sanitation,  nuisances,  control  of  traffic,  incidence 
of  license  fees,  etc.,  there  is  here  an  opening  for  a  judicial 
review  of  aUen  legislation  which  is  not  always  lost,  and  it 
happens  occasionally  that  the  opinions  of  the  judge  and  the 
assessor  do  not  agree. 

Civil  cases  in  China  are  commonly  settled  by  gild 
action,  and  are  seldom  brought  before  the  official  tribunals, 
but  the  relative  uniformity  of  justice  secured  by  foreign 
supervision  has  caused  a  greater  resort  to  the  Shanghai 
Mixed  Court.  When  the  plaintiff  is  a  foreigner,  the  ordinary 
course  is  followed,  and  the  approval  of  the  assessor  is  held 
necessary  to  the  judgment  of  the  court.  Not  infrequently 
it  happens  that  a  case  with  plaintiff  and  defendant  both 
Chinese  becomes  a  mixed  case  by  the  interjection  of  a 
foreigner  into  the  plaintiff's  claim ;  the  Chinese  authorities 
have  always  tried  to  distinguish  these  pseudo-claims,  but 
it  is  generally  held  that  on  them  lies  the  onus  of  proof  of 
non-interest,  not  an  easy  thing  to  prove.  These  cases  then 
generally  follow  the  usual  course,  unless  it  can  be  definitely 
proved  that  the  foreign  interest  was  introduced  at  the 
eleventh  hour  in  order  to  divert  the  course  of  justice. 

Suits  which  are  admittedly  between  Chinese  on  both 
sides  are  a  bone  of  contention.    One  side  maintains  that, 


EXTRATERRITORIALITY  203 

being  purely  Chinese,  they  are  no  concern  of  the  foreign 
Powers,  and  axe  therefore  not  subject  to  the  decision  of  the 
foreign  assessor ;  the  other  side  holds  that  every  judicial 
question  arising  within  the  "  area  reserved  for  foreign  resi- 
dence and  trade  "  concerns  the  foreign  Powers,  and  that  the 
foreign  assessor  of  the  day  is  bound  to  exercise  an  oversight. 
On  both  sides  it  is  felt,  but  not  generally  admitted,  that 
there  is  some  reason  in  the  contention  of  the  other ;  and  the 
assessor  is  generally  passive  unless  there  are  evidences  of 
extortion  and  flagrant  injustice,  while  the  magistrate  gene- 
rally puts  himself  into  agreement  with  the  assessor  when  a 
municipal  regulation  comes  into  the  case,  neither  being  too 
desirous  of  crystallising  the  differences  and  precipitating  a 
conflict.  Occasionally,  however,  when  the  incompatibility 
of  view  cannot  be  compromised,  a  sharply  defined  issue  is 
made.* 

The  Chinese  official  view  is  unimpeachable ;  appeal  is 
made  to  the  letter  of  the  treaty  stipulations  granting  to 
foreign  Powers  the  right  of  oversight  in  cases  in  which 
a  foreign  interest  is  involved,  and  only  in  those  cases.  The 
foreign  official  view  is  equally  unimpeachable.  When  in 
the  years  1853-1864  the  Taiping  rebels  devastated  the 
cotmtry  for  hundreds  of  miles  around  Shanghai,  many 
thousajids  of  refugees  foimd  there  imder  the  foreign  flags 
the  protection  to  life  denied  them  under  their  own  flag. 
In  the  ten  years  which  elapsed  before  the  restoration  of 
order  these  thousands  were  sheltered  within  the  area  reserved 
for  foreign  residence,  from  which  it  would  have  been  in- 
human barbarity  to  expel  them ;  and  while  there  police 
and  sanitary  measures  were  necessarily  adopted  to  protect 
the  foreign  residents  from  them,  and  them  from  each  other. 
The  impetus  thus  given,  Chinese  continued  to  flock  to  the 
foreign  settlement  of  Shanghai,  within  the  limits  of  which 
there  are  to-day  over  half  a  milUon.  There  has  thus  grown 
up  a  foreign  interest  in  real  estate  valued  at  over  two 
hundred  million  taels,  and  a  foreign  interest  in  the  main- 
*  See  Appendix  £. 


204     ^^^  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

tenance  of  order  and  the  administration  of  justice  among 
the  half-million  Chinese  living  under  the  same  jurisdiction 
as  the  foreign  residents ;  and  the  foreign  official  view  is 
that  foreign  supervision  is  necessary  over  foreign  and 
Chinese  residents  alike  in  the  interest  of  foreigners ;  and, 
further,  that  two  independent  police  and  justiciary  ad- 
ministrations cannot  be  allowed  to  function  within  the  same 
area,  and  that,  if  there  is  to  be  one  administration,  it  shall 
be  the  foreign. 

To  the  ordinary  functions  of  a  Consul,  the  foreign  repre- 
sentative in  China  adds  those  of  judge,  diplomatic  agent, 
civil  authority  in  control  of  the  military,  and  has  a  potent 
voice  in  municipal  administration.  The  foreign  merchant 
is  entirely  removed  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  laws  of 
China,  and  is  entitled  to  the  protection — ^for  life,  liberty,  and 
property— of  his  own  national  laws.  The  foreign  missionary 
carries  the  protection  of  his  own  flag  to  the  remotest  comer 
of  the  Empire.  All  this  arises  from  extraterritoriality. 
This  remedy  for  the  intolerable  situation  of  the  first  half 
of  the  nineteenth  century  has  now  been  in  force  for  seventy 
years,  and  through  it  life  in  China  has  been  rendered  possible 
for  all  foreigners ;  without  it,  dining  those  seventy  years 
the  contention  of  the  Chinese  government  that  none  of  the 
outer  barbarians  should  abide  on  the  sacred  soil  of  the 
Middle  Kingdom  would  have  worked  its  own  accomplish- 
ment. It  is  based  on  force,  as  was  the  first  occupation  of 
Massachusetts  Bay  and  the  progress  of  the  Union  from 
the  Atlantic  westward  to  the  Pacific,  or  as  was  the  settle- 
ment of  New  Zealand  and  of  Canada ;  and  on  manifest 
destiny  so  long  as  its  beneficiaries  can  compel  destiny.  It 
has  no  logical  or  moral  argument  to  uphold  it ;  and  yet  it 
is  a  necessity  of  the  case,  if  the  foreign  merchant  and  the 
foreign  missionary  are  to  remain  in  the  country ;  and  so  long 
as  their  stay  there  is  legitimate,  so  loi^  will  extraterritori- 
ality provide  them  with  a  buckler  in  following  their  lawful 
occupations.  The  right  will  not,  and  cannot,  be  abrogated 
until  all  the  foreign  Powers  concerned  are  unanimous  in 


EXTRATERRITORIALITY  205 

their  opinion  that  residence  in  China  will  be  as  safe,  and 
protected  by  guarantees  as  sound,  as  in  other  countries ; 
or  until  the  growing  strength  and  improved  administration 
of  China  herself  enable  her  to  claim  and  to  maintain  the 
right  of  governing  all  within  her  borders. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS 

China  Proper  is  divided  into  eighteen  provinces,  and  to 
distinguish  it  from  the  rest  of  the  Empire  this  part  is 
commonly,  and  even  officially,  referred  to  by  the  Chinese 
as  "  The  Eighteen  Provinces."  The  events  of  the  last 
few  years,  since  1894,  have  brought  into  commercial  and 
political  prominence  the  region  which  we  call  collectively 
Manchuria,  divided  for  administrative  purposes  into  three 
provinces ;  these  are  called  by  the  Chinese  "  The  Three 
Eastern  Provinces,"  lying  east  of  the  eastern  end  of  the  Great 
Wall,  where  it  comes  to  the  sea  at  Shanhaikwan,  built  to 
protect  the  Eighteen  Provinces  forever  from  invading  hordes 
from  the  north,  whether  Mongol  or  Manchu.  The  estimated 
area  of  the  Empire,  based  not  on  any  cadastral  survey  but 
on  the  simple  process  of  multiplying  degrees  of  longitude 
by  degrees  of  latitude,  may  be  put  as  follows : 

China  Proper i,535,ooo  Eng.  sq.  miles 

Manchuria  . .         . .  . .        365,000     „  „ 

Mongolia,  Tibet,  Turkestan,  etc.     2,400,000     „  „ 


Total       . .         . .     4,300,000    „  „ 

The  population  is  variously  estimated  from  270,000,000 
(Hippisley  1876,  and  Rockhill  1904)  to  421,800,000  (Popoff 
1894) ;  Parker's  estimate  ♦  of  385,000,000  is  probably  the 
safest  to  follow.  For  China  "  outside  the  Wall "  the  safest 
estimates  are  16,000,000  for  Manchuria  and  10,000,000  for 
•  "  China  :  Past  and  Present  "  (1903). 
206 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS  207 

Mongolia,  Tibet,  etc.,  making,  with  Parker's  estimate  for 
China  Proper,  a  total  of  411,000,000.  An  official  census 
taken  in  1910  gives  a  total  of  311,374,000  for  China  Proper, 
14,917,000  for  Manchuria,  which,  with  10,000,000  added  for 
the  dependencies,  gives  a  total  of  336,291,000. 

The  Eighteen  Provinces  extend  roughly  from  latitude 
20®  to  40^  N.  and  from  longitude  98^  to  122®  E.,  comprising 
the  seventh  and  eighth  hoiurs  of  Zone  time  east  of  Greenwich. 
The  western  part  is  moimtainous,  filled  with  the  spurs  of 
the  Central  Asian  plateau ;  while  on  the  east  are  the  great 
plains  formed  by  the  outfall  of  the  Yellow  River  and  the 
Yangtze ;  and  in  the  south  is  the.3m.all,  but  incredibly  rich, 
plain  of  the  Pearl  (or  West  River)  delta,  lying  aroimd 
Canton.  Of  the  nineteen  provinces  (treating  Manchuria 
as  an  undivided  area),  treaty  ports  have  been  opened  in 
fourteen — coast,  riverine,  and  frontier — ^while  five  (Shansi, 
Shensi,  Kansu,  Honan,  and  Kweichow)  find  their  outlet 
through  extra-provincial  ports. 

Treaty  Ports 

Treaty  port  is  almost  sjmonymous  with  "  port  of  entry," 
but  it  is  something  more.  The  first  men  of  the  West, 
Portuguese,  Dutch,  EngUsh,  or  American,  to  come  to  China 
conducted  their  trade  mainly  at  Canton.  The  Portuguese 
in  their  enterprising  days  had  traded  at  Ningpo  and  Foochow 
as  well,  but  under  such  circmnstances  that  in  1557  they 
obtained  a  lease  of  Macao,  88  miles  from  Canton,  and  there 
they  settled— and  stagnated.  In  the  eighteenth  century 
the  traders  of  that  day,  the  English  and  Dutch,  visited  both 
Canton  and  Macao ;  but  the  traders  of  the  early  part  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  the  English  and  Americans,  made 
Canton  their  conmierdal  centre.  Here,  cooped  up  in  their 
factory,  or  trading  post,  they  had  the  privilege  of  residing, 
and  here  they  bought  and  sold — much  of  the  former  and 
little  of  the  latter.  The  conditions,  both  of  residence  and  of 
trade,  were  unsatisfactory,  and  the  British  Treaty  of  Nan* 


208     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

king  (1842)  opened  the  first  '*  treaty  ports,"  five  in  number : 
Canton,  Amoy,  Foochow,  Ningpo,  and  Shanghai.    These  five 
ports  have  now  grown  to  over  forty,  including  some  that  have 
been  opened  voluntarily  by  China,  not  under  the  obligation 
of  any  treaty,  but  on  the  same  footing  and  under  the  same 
trade  regulations  as  the  r^;ular  treaty  ports.    At  these 
ports  foreign  nations  are  privileged  to  establish  Consulates, 
foreign  merchants  are  permitted  to  live  and  trade,  and  on 
the  trade  at  these  ports  are  levied  dues  and  duties  according 
to  a  tariff  settled  by  both  parties  by  treaty.    At  some  ports 
are  national  concessions,  as  at  Tientsin,  on  which  municipal 
and  police  administration  is  under  the  control  of  the  Consul 
of  the  lessee  Power ;  at  others  are  settlements  or  "  reserved 
areas  for  residence,"  as  at  Shanghai,  with  municipal  organi- 
sation, but  at  which  the  Power  which  issues  the  title-deeds  is 
China ;  at  others,  including  most  of  the  newer  ports,  there 
is  neither  concession  nor  reserved  area,  excepting  '*  Inter- 
national Settlements"  estabhshed  at  a  few  places  by  the 
Chinese  authorities.    At  all  the  treaty  ports,  however,  there 
is  one  common  right,  the  privilege  of  exempting  goods  by 
one  payment  from  aU  further  taxation  on  movement.     On 
a  bale  of  sheetings  imported  at  Shanghai,  a  treaty  port, 
the  importer  will  pay  once  duty  at  the  tariff  rate ;  it  may 
then,  perhaps  a  year  later,  be  shipped  to  Hankow,  a  treaty 
port,  without  further  payment ;  it  may  then  be  shipped  to 
Ichang,  a  treaty  port,  without  further  payment;   it  may 
then  be  shipped  to  Chungking,  having  the  privil^es  of  a 
treaty  port,  without  further  payment ;   but  if  it  then  goes 
on  fifty  miles  farther,  or  if,  instead  of  taking  the  journey 
of  1,400  miles  in  three  stages  to  Chungking,  it  goes  '*  inland  " 
to  a  place  which  is  not  a  treaty  port  thirty  miles  from 
Shanghai,  the  bale  is  liable  to  the  taxation  which  is  levied 
in  China  on  all  movement  of  commodities  not  exempted  by 
special  privil^e.    A  treaty  port  may  be  miles  away  from 
the  nearest  navigable  water,  it  may  be  the  most  inland  of 
inland  marts,  but  in  matters  of  taxation  and  of  privilege 
a  broad  distinction  is  drawn  between  these  forty  ports 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS         209 

and  all  the  rest  of  China,  which,  even  on  the  coast,  is  '*  in- 
land/' This  is  the  one  reason  underlying  the  constant 
demand  for  the  opening  of  new  treaty  ports,  with  all  the 
expense  for  administrative  and  preventive  work  imposed 
on  China,  and  for  the  enforcement  of  extraterritorial  rights 
imposed  on  the  foreign  Powers. 

Manchuria 

Of  the  three  eastern  provinces,  two,  Heilmigkiafig 
and  Kirin,  may  be  dismissed  with  few  words.  The  chief 
interest  in  them  attaches  to  the  Amur  (or  Heilungkiang, 
Black  Dragon  River)  and  the  Sungari  and  their  degree 
of  navigability,  and  to  the  great  wheat  production  of  Kirin 
and  the  flouring  mills  estabUshed  by  the  Russians  at  Harbin.  ^ 
This  town  is  important  as  the  junction  between  the  rail- 
way  north  from  Port  Arthur,  Talien  (Dairen  or  Dalny), 
Newchwang  and  Moukden,  and  the  Russian  main  line  from 
Irkutsk  and  Lake  Baikal  to  Vladivostock.  The  southern 
province,  Shengking,  is  the  most  important,  and  contains, 
probably,  nine-tenths  of  the  total  population  of  Manchuria ; 
of  this  population  it  is  estimated  that  less  than  a  fourth,  and 
possibly  not  more  than  a  tenth,  consists  of  the  original  stock 
of  the  conquering  Manchus,  the  great  majority  being  immi* 
grants  from  Shantung  and  Chihli,  and  their  descendants. 
The  western  part  of  this  province  is  made  up  of  the  plain 
of  the  Liao  and  the  valleys  of  its  tributaries,  and  grows 
wheat  and  durra  for  food,  and  beans  from  which  are  made 
an  esculent  and  illuminating  oil,  and  bean-cake  shipped  to 
restore  exhausted  fertility  to  the  fields  of  Japan  and  of 
Kwangtung.  The  eastern  part  is  mountainous  and  hostile 
to  the  husbandman  and  the  soldier,  and  its  principal  pro- 
ducts of  value  are  opium  and  silk.  The  latter  product  China 
supplies  from  as  far  south  as  latitude  22^  N.,  in  its  highest 
excell^ice  from  latitude  30®  N.,  and,  in  the  shape  of  "  wild  " 
silk  or  tussore  from  worms  feeding  on  the  oak,  from  beyond 
latitude  40^  N.  In  minerals  Manchuria  is  sufficiently  rich 
to  call  for  development,  gold,  silver,  copper,  lead,  iron,  and 

14 


aiO     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

coal  being  known  to  exist.  In  the  province  of  Shengking 
are  three  treaty  ports,  and  in  addition  there  is  the  territory 
of  Port  Arthur  and  Dalny  (Talien  in  Chinese,  Dairen  in 
Japanese),  granted  in  1898  to  Russia  on  a  lease,  which  was  ^ 
subsequently,  in  1905,  transferred  to  Japan.  In  Heilung- 
kiang  and  Kirin  are  seven  ports. 

^  Newchwang.  (40^  41'  N.,  122^  16'  E.)  This  port, 
situated  13  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  Liao,  was  opened 
officially  in  1861,  but  actually  in  1864,  at  Yingtze  or  Ying- 
kow,  30  miles  below  the  unimportant  city  of  Newchwang.  i 
Recently  the  port  has  been  distinguished  as  Yingkow,  but 
Newchwang  is  and  has  been  the  name  officially  given  to 
the  Treaty  Port,  the  Custom  House,  and  the  Post  Office. 
A  British  concession  was  laid  out,  and  through  the  long  years 
of  waiting  for  trade  the  Uttle  clump  of  buildings  on  this — 
dingy,  dirty,  and  dusty — sufficed  for  all  the  requirements  of 
the  port.  Now  there  are,  on  the  left  bank,  the  remains,  not 
yet  eroded  out  of  existence,  of  the  old  British  concession, 
and  a  new  Russian  concession,  with  6,000  feet  frontage,  at 
the  terminus  of  the  branch  line  connecting  the  port  with  the 
main  line  of  railway  at  Tashihkiao,  which  presumably  goes 
with  the  railway  to  the  Japanese ;  and,  on  the  right  bank, 
a  new  British  concession  with  3,000  feet  frontage  and  a 
Japanese  concession  with  3,000  feet  frontage,  have  been 
staked  out,  but  not  yet  agreed  to  by  China,  and,  next  down 
stream,  the  "Imperial  Chinese  Railway  Reserve,"  with 
13,000  feet  frontage.  The  Chinese  popidation  at  the  port  is 
estimated  at  75,000,  and  on  December  31st,  1905,  there  were 
within thedistrict  291  residentcivilianforeigners,  of  European 
and  American  nationality,  and  7,408  Japanese  reported  by 
the  Consulate.  The  slow  development  of  trade  at  New- 
chwang will  be  judged  from  the  following  figures,  which  in 
this  case,  as  in  the  case  of  all  the  other  ports  to  be  described, 
show  the  value  of  the  traffic  in  "  foreign-type  vessels  "  (i.^. 
nowadays  mainly  steamers)  under  the  cognisance  of  the 
Imperial  Maritime  Customs,  and  do  not  include  the  junk 
traffic  under  the  cognisance  of  the  Native  Customs. 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        2ll 


Imports. 

Exports. 

Total. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

Tk.* 

1864 

709.738 

1,710,398 

2,420,136 

1874 

2.433,135 

1,753.543 

4,186,678 

1884 

3,690,410 

4,123,084 

7,813,494 

1894 

7.886,161 

8,532,443 

16,418,604 

1904 

•   29,358,392 

12,159,486 

41,517,878 

I9II 

•   31,359.794 

26,722,737 

58,082,531 

During  1904  the  junk  trade  amounted,  in  addition,  to 
Tls.6,365,261  for  imports,  and  Tls4,3i3,86i  for  exports,  a 
total  of  Tk.10,679,122.  This  gives  a  total  of  Tls.52,197,000 
as  the  value  in  1904  of  the  water-borne  trade  of  the 
district,  of  which  Newchwang  has  been  until  1906  the  sole 
official  and  legal  port  of  entry,  and  does  not  include  any 
trade  which  may  have  been  carried  by  rail  across  the  land 
frontier  or  through  Dalny.  Among  imports  the  principal 
items  are  cotton  woven  fabrics  (value  in  1904  Tls.  10,050,000 
for  foreign,  and  Tls.7,815,000  for  native  weaving),  cot- 
ton yarn  (value  Tls.3,946,000),  hemp  and  gunny  bags 
(Tls.315,400),  cigarettes  (Tls428,89o),  flour  (Tls.837,000, 
supplies  from  Harbin  being  shut  off),  matches  (Tls.428,500), 

»  paper  (Tls.1,705,000),  kerosene  oil  (Tls.1,087,000),  sugar 
(Tls.1,497,000),  rice  (Tls.962,000),  and  wheat  (Tls.6o3,ooo>. 
Of  products  of  the  district  finding  their  outlet  at  New- 
chwang the  principal  are  beans  (value  in  1904  Tls.6,577,000), 
bean-cake  (Tls.4,589,000),  bean-oil  (Tls.2,133,000),  silk 
(Tls.2,005,000),  and  such  opium  as  was  declared  for  assess- 

3     ment  of  duty  (Tls.289,000). 

MouKDEN  (41®  51'  N.,  123°  26'  E.)  is  the  Manchu  name 
of  what  in  Chinese  is  known  as  Shengking  (the  Sacred 
Capital),  and  administratively  was  from  a.d.  1625  called 
Shenyang,  and  is  now  officially  termed  Fengtien.  The  old 
capital  of  the  Manchus  before  they  marched  to  the  conquest 

*  The  tael  (Tls.)  of  silver  had  an  exchange  value  of  6s,  Sd,  in 
^       1864,  of  6s.  4d,  in  1874,  of  55.  yd.  in  1884,  of  35.  2d,  in  1894,  of 
25.  lod.  in  1904,  and  of  25.  Sid.  in  191 1. 


212     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

of  China  and  migrated  to  Peking,  it  still  *  remains  a  sleeping 
capital,  with  a  complete  equipment  of  Ministries,  duly 
provided  with  Presidents,  Vice-Presidents,  and  Secretaries, 
whose  most  important  functions  have  for  two-and-a-half 
centuries  been  those  connected  with  pay-day.  The  practi- 
cal administration  is  in  the  hands  of  a  Governor-General, 
who  is  at  the  same  time  Military  Governor  (Tsiang-kiin, 
Tartar  General),  and  of  a  Civil  Governor,  who  is  assimilated 
to  the  Governors  of  the  Eighteen  Provinces.  Situated  at  a 
distance  of  one  hundred  miles  from  Newchwang,  in  the  heart 
of  the  plain  of  the  Liao  valley,  it  is  admirably  placed  to 
serve  as  a  distributing  centre.  It  is  connected  by  rail  with 
Dairen  and  Newchwang,  and,  when  the  line  from  Sinmingfu 
is  extended,  will  also  find  direct  outlets  at  Chinwangtao  and 
Tientsin.  Outlets  may  also  be  found  through  Vladivostock 
and  Irkutsk.    The  population  is  estimated  at  250,000. 

Antung  (40''  8'  N.,  124''  14'  E.)  and  Tatungkow,  23 
miles  below,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Yalu  River,  which  separates 
Manchuria  from  Korea,  were  opened  as  treaty  ports  in 
March  1907,  and  tap  the  wealth  of  timber  standing  on  the 
mountains  flanking  the  river,  providing  also  an  outlet 
for  the  silk  of  eastern  Shengking,  which  formerly  went 
by  junk  to  Chefoo  and  Dairen.  Antung  is  a  station  on  the 
line  of  railway  connecting  Korea  with  Manchuria.  In  191 1 
the  trade  of  the  two  ports  was  valued  at  Tls.5,662,412  for 
imports,  Tls.4,810,194  for  exports,  total  Tls.10,472,606. 

Harbin,  the  junction  of  the  railways  from  Irkutsk  to 
Vladivostock,  and  from  Harbin  to  Kwanchengtze,  where  it 
joins  the  Japanese  line  to  Dairen,  has  been  made  the  seat 
of  a  Custom  House  to  control  the  railway  trafi&c.  In  191 1 
the  trade  passing  through  the  offices  at  Harbin  and  the 
other  points  in  Heilungkiang  and  Kirin  at  which  offices 
have  been  opened  (Aigun,  Sansing,  Manchuli,  Suifenho, 
Hunchun,  and  Lungchingtsun)  was  valued  at  Tls.18,395,860 
for  imports,  Tls.27,190,536  for  exports,  a  total  of  Tls. 
45,586,396- 

•  In  i9o6. 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        213 

Dairen  has  been  under  the  control  of  Japan  since  1905, 
and  a  Chinese  Custom  House  controls  its  trade  under  regula* 
tions  similar  to  those  in  force  at  Tsingtau  (q.v.).  In  1911 
the  value  of  the  trade  passing  through  this  office  was 
Tls.28,331,120  for  imports,  Tls.33,730,976  for  exports,  a 
total  of  Tls.62,062,096. 

Chihu 

The  metropolitan  province  of  Chihli,  with  an  estimated 
area  of  115,000  square  miles,  and  a  population"^  of  which  the 
estimates  range  from  21,000,000  to  29,000,000,  may  be 
roughly  divided  into  a  northern  half,  mountainous  and 
thinly  peopled,  lying  mainly  outside  the  Great  Wall,  and 
a  southern  part,  densely  populated,  of  flat  alluvial  plain, 
robbed  in  the  course  of  ages  from  the  waters  of  the  Gulf 
of  Pechihli  by  the  detritus  carried  down  by  the  Yellow 
River,  and  the  loess  borne  on  the  winds.  The  hill  country 
contains  much  mineral  wealth,  of  which  the  bituminous 
coal  mined  at  Tongshan  and  the  anthracite  of  the  hills  west 
of  Peking  are  conspicuous  examples.  The  plain  is  a  vast 
hive  of  human  industry  on  which,  as  everywhere  on  thq 
plains  of  China,  man  is  pitted  against  the  forces  of  nature, 
and,  with  no  other  apphances  than  those  possessed  by  their 
remote  ancestors,  the  men  of  the  hive  win  out.  This  is  a 
part  of  the  coimtry  running  from  Tientsin  to  Chinkiang 
through  seven  degrees  of  latitude,  and  traversed  by  the 
various  courses  followed  during  the  centuries  by  the  erratic 
Yellow  River,  where  man  is  at  a  peculiar  disadvantage  from 
the  friable  nature  of  the  soil,  the  aggressive  character  of 
the  water  when  in  flood,  and  the  fact  that  at  such  times 
the  level  of  the  waters  is  higher  than  that  of  the  land. 
One  grand  scheme  of  reclamation  is  recorded  in  the  time 
of  Yung-cheng,  a.d.  1723-1735,  when  120,000  acres  of  marsh 
were  converted  into  good  arable  land,  and  the  canals, 
weirs,  and  bridges  by  which  this  work  was  carried  out  can 

♦  CeQsus  of  X9XO  gives  3^,571,000. 


ai4    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

be  shown  to-day  after  175  years  ;  but  in  xBcent  times  little 
has  been  done  on  any  extensive  scale.  The  products  of 
Chihli  are  those  of  the  farm  and  farm-yard,  the  usual  crops 
being  millet,  durra,  and  wheat  The  treaty  ports  opened 
in  the  province  are  two  in  number,  Tientsin  and  Chinwang- 
tao ;  but  the  exceptional  position  of  Peking  calls  for  a 
description  of  that  city. 

Peking  (39^*  54'  N.,  116°  27'  E.).  The  capital  of  the 
Empire  was  first  established  at  Peking  (the  Northern  Capital) 
by  Kublai  Khan,  when  he  initiated  the  Yuan  Dynasty, 
A.D.  1260 ;  the  first  Ming  Emperor,  a.d.  1368,  established 
himself  at  Nanking  (the  Southern  Capital),  but  the  third 
of  that  line  transferred  the  capital  in  1421  to  Peking,  which 
has  remained  the  seat  of  government  continuously  since 
then.  Peking  is  a  quite  unofficial  and  quasi-foreign  designa* 
tion,  the  Imperial  name  being  King-shih  (The  Capital)  and 
its  name,  as  a  unit  of  the  provincial  administration,  being 
Shuntien.  In  the  same  way  it  may  be  observed  that  the 
Empire  has  no  name  ;  it  is  designated  as  "  The  Empire  " 
or  "  (All  within)  The  Four  Seas,"  or  "  (All  beneath)  The 
Canopy  of  Heaven,"  or,  quite  unofficially,  "  The  Middle 
Kingdom"  ;  but  the  name  "  China"  is  an  old  Buddhist 
name  which  has  dropped  out  of  use  in  the  country  which 
is  designated  by  it,  and  is  to-day,  of  all  the  coimtries  using 
the  Chinese  ideograms,  employed  only  by  the  Japanese. 
Peking  is  a  camp,  with  the  headquarters  of  the  commander- 
in-chief  in  the  middle,  and  the  army  encamped  around ; 
then  to  the  south,  outside  the  walls  but  protected  by  their 
own  walls,  are  the  camp  sutlers — the  Chinese  traders  pur- 
veying to  the  Manchu  garrison.  The  Chinese  estimate  of 
the  population  is  1,300,000.  Considered  commercially, 
Peking  is  a  mouth,  fed  by  the  provinces,  and  having  no 
industrial  output ;  and  yet  the  foreign  purveyors  and 
hotel-keepers  who  have  gathered  aroimd  the  Legations  have 
found  it  to  their  advantage  to  act  as  if  the  city  had  the 
status  of  a  treaty  port — not  one  with  the  duty-exemption 
privilege,  but  a  place  in  which  they  are  permitted  to  reside, 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        215 

to  buy  and  sell,  and  to  act  as  general  traders.  Against  this 
assumption  the  Chinese  government  has  repeatedly  pro- 
tested. 

Tientsin  (39^  9'  N.,  117''  11'  E.), "  The  Ford  of  Heaven/' 
is  situated  at  the  junction  of  the  Grand  Canal,  which,  start- 
ing fcoTtt  Hangchow,  finds  here  the  end  of  its  long  course, 
of  the  Peiho  (North  River)  leading  north  to  Peking,  and 
of  the  Haiho  (Sea  River)  emptjnng  into  the  Gulf  of  Pechihli. 
The  city  is  distant  from  the  sea  35  miles  ty  road,  but  56 
miles  by  the  original  corkscrew  windings  of  the  river,  a 
distance  since  reduced  to  47  mfles  by  the  work  of  the  Haiho 
Conservancy,  and  in  time  to  be  reduced  to  36J  miles.    Even 
after  all  the  improvement  that  has  been  effected,  there  are 
few  cities  in  the  world  of  equal  conmiercial  importance  or 
supplying  so  rich  a  hinterland,  which  have  such  poor  shipping 
facilities.    A  bar  on  which  certain  conditions  of  wind  and 
tide  will  reduce  the  high-water  depth  to  three  or  four  feet, 
a  channel  in  which  the  siunmer  floods  will  cause  the  mud 
bottom  to  rise  faster  than  the  water  surface,  a  river  of 
many  bends  and  restricted  width,  all  combine  to  impose 
a  limit  on  the  carrying  capacity  of  steamers  entering  the 
port.     The  eternal  struggle  of  the  enterprising  merchants, 
foreign  and  native  alike,  of  Tientsin  can  only  be  compared 
to  the  fight  of  the  farmers  of  the  province  against  the 
forces  of  nature,  both  having  the  same  problem  to  solve. 
Tientsin  is,  with  a  few  insignificant  exceptions,  the  one 
official  city  of  the  Empire,  of  the  rank  of  district  city,  which 
is  to-day  M^thout  the  protection  of  walls.    It  was  in  the 
reign  of  Yung-lo  (a.d.  1403-1425)  that  it  was  permitted 
the  privilege  of  walls ;   these  endured  until  the  rule  of  the 
foreign   Provisional  Government  which   followed  on  the 
Boxer  movement  of  1900,  when  the  walls  were  razed  and 
the  official  city  was  left  naked  to  the  winds.    Apart  from 
the  humiliation,  the  loss  was  a  gain ;    the  walls  afforded 
no  protection  to  the  wealthy  commercial  quarter,  which, 
as  is  invariably  the  case  in  China,  was  in  the  suburb  lying 
between  the  city  and  the  river,  and  they  have  been  well 


3l6     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

replaced  by  the  broad  avenues  made  on  their  site  and 
providing  thoroughfares  unknown  to  other  Chinese  cities. 
Tientsin  is  rich  in  "  concessions  "  for  residence  and  foreign 
trade,  having  no  less  than  thirteen — ^viz.  British  {i860), 
British  Extension  (i897)»  British  Extra-mural  Extension 
(1900),  French  (1861),  French  Extension  (1900),  American 
(granted  in  1861,  but  at  once  abandoned  and  in  igo2  added 
to  the  British  Concession),  German  (1895),  German  Ex- 
tension (1901),  Japanese  (1896),  Japanese  Extension  (1900), 
Austro-Hungarian  (1902),  Italian  (1901),  Russian  (1900),  and 
Belgian  (1902).  The  last  four  and  the  various  extensions, 
except  the  British,  date  from  1900  and  later.  The  original 
concession,  the  British,  dating  from  i860,  is  held  imder  a 
lease  in  perpetuity  to  the  British  government,  a  small 
ground-rent  being  reserved  to  show  the  ultimate  sovereignty 
of  China.  The  area  was  divided  into  lots,  the  leases  of 
which  were  sold  to  provide  for  roads  and  bunding,  and 
which  are  held  imder  a  ninety-nine  years'  lease  granted  by 
the  British  government,  the  annual  rental  being  the  due 
proportion  of  the  reserved  ground* rent.  The  Consul  is 
Xex  officio  the  ruling  functionary ;  all  actions  of  the  Municipal 
Council,  elected  by  vote  of  the  "land-renters,"  being 
submitted  for  his  approval,  and  the  annual  "  town  meet- 
ing "  or  any  special  meeting  being  held  under  his  presidency. 
The  residence  of  Chinese  on  the  concession  being  prohibited, 
otherwise  than  as  servants  of  the  foreign  residents,  the 
Consul  has  jurisdiction  over  all  questions  of  landed  property, 
and  over  all  other  questions  in  which  a  non-British  European 
is  not  defendant.  The  Consul,  as  representative  of  his 
government,  is  de  jure  ruler  of  the  concession;  but,  in 
conformity  with  English  practice,  he  actively  intervenes 
only  in  a  crisis,  and  ordinarily  the  duly-elected  Municipal 
Councillors  are  de  facto  rulers  of  a  self-constituted  little 
republic.  In  the  other  concessions  nomination,  and  not 
election,  decides  the  choice  of  Councillors.  For  the  French 
concession  the  Municipal  Council  consists  of  the  Consul  as 
ex  officio  President,  the  six  land-owners  paying  the  highest 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        217 

taxes,  and  the  three  tenants  paying  the  highest  rent.  Ger- 
many in  1897  contracted  with  a  commercial  syndicate  to 
devdop  and  administer  her  concession ;  and  in  1905  the 
Reichstag  passed  an  enabling  Act  to  allow  self-government 
when  desired.  On  the  Japanese,  Russian,  Belgian,  and 
Italian  concessions  the  Consul  is  sole  administrator.  On 
the  Austro-Hungarian  concession  there  is  little  if  any 
Austrian  or  Hungarian  interest,  the  lajid-owners  and 
inhabitants  being  Chinese ;  and  here  the  power  is  vested 
in  an  Administrative  Secretary,  nominated  by  the  Consul, 
and  in  six  of  the  leading  Chinese  residents,  also  nominated. 
Of  the  extensions,  the  French,  German,  and  Japanese  are 
merely  extensions  of  the  original  concessions,  held  in  the 
same  way  under  lease  in  perpetuity  to  the  foreign  Power. 
In  the  British  Extension,  which  was  the  first,  a  different 
principle  was  followed.  The  soil  remains  Chinese,  and 
title-deeds  are  sealed  and  issued  by  the  Chinese  authorities 
as  at  Shanghai,  and  as  at  Shanghai  it  is  only  administrative 
functions — ^taxing,  works,  and  police— which  are  delegated 
by  the  sovereign  power.  The  Municipal  Council,  in  its 
corporate  capacity,  and  the  "  land-renters  "  of  the  British 
Concession  own  a  considerable  portion  of  the  land  in  its 
extension,  and  the  Municipal  Council  of  the  extension  is 
composed  of  the  members  elected  to  the  Municipal  Council 
of  the  concession,  ex  officio,  and  four  others  elected  ad  hoc ; 
this  makes  it  possible,  while  having  separate  budgets,  to 
carry  on  the  administrative  work  of  the  two  areas  with  a 
staff  common  to  both.  In  the  foreign  residential  section 
of  Tientsin,  with  a  total  area  of  3,550  acres,  of  which  28 
per  cent,  is  in  the  Russian  Concession,  we  have  thus  six 
distinct  forms  of  government  under  eight  European  Powers. 
At  Tientsin  and  in  its  consular  district  live  (December  31, 
1905)  a  total  of  3,770  civihan  foreigners,  including  679 
British,  387  American,  465  German,  244  French,  115 
Russian,  60  Austro-Hungarian,  100  Bel§^,  34  Italian,  1,538 
Japanese,  and  148  others.  Formerly  the  population  of 
the  city  and  its  suburbs  was  estimated  at  a  millioni  buti 


2l8     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 


with  all  its  development,  recent  and  more  careful  estimates 
put  it  at  750,000.  The  development  of  trade  is  shown 
by  the  foUowing  figures  of  the  value  of  merchandise  (not 
includii^  treasure)  carried  in  foreign  bottoms  : — 


Imports. 

Exports. 

Total. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

1864 

7.645,422 

1,730,786 

9,376,208 

1874 

.   17.682,684 

I.144.893 

18.827,577 

1884 

.   20,328,981 

3,610,076 

23.939.057 

1894 

.   37,412,806 

6,864,248 

44.277.054 

1904 

•   54.059.315 

14.895.375 

68,954,694 

1905 

.   81,826,313 

14.739.359 

96,565.672 

I9II 

.   77.241.699 

39.294.949 

116.536,648 

In  addition,  during  1905,  produce  to  a  value  of  Tls.8,018,223 
was  exported  by  junk.  Among  imports  the  principal  items 
are  cotton  woven  fabrics  (value  in  1905  Tls.21,314,000  for 
foreign,  and  Tls.440,000  for  native  weavings),  cotton  yam 
(Tls.6,514,570  for  foreign,  and  Tls.574,100  for  native  spin- 
nings), copper  (Tls.3,119,000  for  foreign,  and  Tls.460,840 
for  Chinese),  cigarettes  (Tls.  1,287,000),  tobacco  (Tls.422,600), 
kerosene  oil  (Tls.2,268,600),  railway  plant  and  machinery 
in  general  (Tb.3,995,000),  sugar  (Tls.3,286,000),  timber 
(Tls.1,445,000),  paper  (Tls.2,290,000),  rice  (Tls.10,592,000), 
silks  (Tls.1,840,000),  tea  (for  local  consumption  Tls.i,i32,oco, 
for  transit  to  Russia  by  land  Tls.2,861,600).  The  principal 
among  the  articles  of  export  were  bristles  (Tls.831,713), 
spirits  (TIs.666,500),  skins  and  furs  (Tls.5,210,000),  straw- 
braid  (TIs.858,600),  and  wool  of  camel,  goat,  and  sheep 
(Tls.  3,326,400). 

Chinwangtao  (39°  55'  N.,  119°  38'  E.)  is  a  compara- 
tively ice-free  port  on  a  frozen  coast,  affording  an  outlet 
when  Tientsin  (December  to  February)  and  Newchwang 
(November  to  March)  are  frozen  up.  Originally  opened 
as  a  coal  shipping  port  for  the  output  of  the  Kaiping  mines, 
and  utilised  as  a  winter  landing  for  passengers  and  mails, 
it  proved  of  great  value  in  enabling  the  foreign  garrisons  at 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        219 

Peking  and  Tientsin  to  maintain  communication  with  thei 
outer  world  during  the  winter  1900-1901 ;  and  when  the 
military  forces  were  withdrawn  to  Tientsin,  a  Chinese  Cus- 
tom House  was  established  there  in  1902.  The  trade  of 
the  port  developed  at  once,  and  in  1905  amounted  to 
Tls,i8,8i7,i20  for  imports,  and  Tls.3,033,959  for  exports, 
a  total  of  Tls.21,851,079,  but  in  1911  had  fallen  to  Tls. 
6,130,449  for  imports,  and  Tls.3,372,308  for  exports,  a  total 
of  Tls.9,502,757,  the  greater  part  of  which  should  be 
added  to  the  trade  of  Tientsin,  of  which  Chinwangtao 
is  the  "  winter  jetty."  Of  its  special  export,  coal,  168,576 
tons  were  shipped  in  1905,  in  addition  to  25,183  tons  shipped 
from  Tientsin.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  bay  is  the  seaside 
resort  of  Peitaiho,  frequented  during  the  summer  by  resi- 
dents of  Peking,  Tientsin,  and  Shanghai,  and  by  missionaries 
from  the  interior  of  North  China. 

Shantung 

Shantung,  the  "  Mountains  of  the  East,"  the  home  of 
Confucius,  has  an  area  estimated  at  56,000  square  miles  and 
a  population  •  estimated  at  37,000,000.  It  is  divided  sharply 
into  two  halves,  the  mountainous  country  to  the  east  and 
the  plain  to  the  west.  The  eastern  part,  with  a  width  of  80 
miles  at  the  base  and  30  miles  at  the  tip,  projects  boldly 
for  a  length  of  150  miles  into  the  sea,  separating  the  waters 
of  the  Yellow  Sea  to  the  south  from  the  Gulf  of  Pechihli 
to  the  north,  and  is  rich  in  minerals,  notably  coal,  iron,  and 
gold.  The  western  part  is  a  portion  of  the  plain  formed  by 
China's  Sorrow,  the  Yellow  River.  This  river  has  changed 
its  course  many  times,  finding  its  outlet  into  the  sea  at 
several  places  within  a  range  of  eight  degrees  of  latitude ; 
prior  to  the  sixth  century  before  Christ,  it  formed  a  delta 
with  its  northern  mouth  at  Tientsin,  latitude  39°  N.,  and  its 
southern  mouth  near  the  present  outlet,  latitude  38®  N. ;  from 
the  seventh  century  a.d.  it  emptied  by  one  mouth  about 
latitude  38"*  30'  N. ;  toward  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century  it 
.  *  Census  of  1910  gives  29,600,000. 


220     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

plungedsouth-east  from  a  point  midway  between  Kaifeng  and 
Tsinan,  and  emptied  into  the  Yellow  Sea  south  of  Shantung, 
at  about  latitude  34®  N. ;  toward  the  end  of  the  thirteenth 
century  it  broke  away  to  the  south-east  from  Kaifeng,  and 
emptied  partly  through  the  last  mentioned  mouth  and 
partly  into  the  Yangtze,  the  southern  mouth  of  which  is  at 
latitude  31**  N. ;  in  1324  it  broke  away  lower  down  below 
Kaifeng,  and  flowed  south-east  to  the  mouth  at  latitude 
34*  N. ;  this  course  it  kept  until  1853,  when  it  resumed  its 
north-easterly  course,  flowing  close  to  the  north  of  Tsinan  to  a 
mouth  in  the  Gulf  of  Pechihli,  north  of  Shantung,  at  latitude 
38®  N.  These  are  what  may  be  termed  the  "  official " 
channels,  the  courses  which  the  river  condescends  to  recog- 
nise at  seasons  of  low  water.  In  times  of  flood  it  breaks 
out  where  it  wiUs,  and,  even  at  the  present  time,  finds  an 
outlet  for  its  waters  where  it  can,  some  falling  at  times  into 
the  Yangtze,  some  into  the  Yellow  Sea,  some  as  far  north 
as  Tientsin,  and  some  by  its  present  legitimate  mouth.  In 
1887,  for  example,  it  broke  out  above  Kaifeng,  just  below 
the  spot  where  the  Peking-Hankow  Railway  now  crosses 
the  river,  and  formed  a  temporary  channel  to  the  south- 
east through  Honan  and  Anhwei.  Coming  from  the  treeless 
plateau  of  Central  Asia,  and  flowing  through  a  treeless 
country,  the  River  (Ho,  i.e.  Hwang-ho,  as  the  Chinese  call 
it)  brings  down  the  melting  snows  and  falling  rains  in  sudden 
flood  laden  heavily  with  detritus  from  the  loess  formation 
of  the  west  and  north-west ;  and  this  detritus,  checked  in 
its  speed,  is  deposited  so  rapidly  that  the  river  bed  is  filled 
by  degrees  until  eveiywhere  its  bottom  is  higher  than  the 
surrounding  plain.  >^^e  it  not  for  the  vast  sums  of  money 
and  vast  amount  of  work  spent  upon  it  every  year  and 
through  the  whole  year,  the  Yellow  River  would  have  no 
fixed  channel,  but,  with  every  recurring  summer  and  its 
attendant  flood,  would  spread  over  the  plain  which  extends 
from  longitude  114^  £.  to  ihe  sea,  and  from  the  Yangtze 
latitude  32^  N.  to  Tientsin.  Nor  do  these  floods  enrich  the 
soil,  as  do  those  of  the  Yangtze  and  the  Nile,  but  they  deposit 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        221 

an  infertile  sand  which  is  prevented  from  being  rendered  fer- 
tile by  the  combined  action  of  wind,  sun  and  rain,  through 
its  lightness  and  friability,  which  expose  it  to  the  destruc* 
tive  independent  action  of  each  element.  This,  too,  is  the 
only  soil  on  which  to  raise  protecting  dykes,  and  catastrophic 
floods  from  breaches  in  the  banks  are  of  almost  annual 
occurrence,  being  recorded  in  seven  of  the  ten  years  1882- 
1891,  and  in  seven  of  the  years  1892-1901.  With  all 
this,  or  because  of  all  this,  Shantung,  though  rich  in  products, 
is  richer  still  in  its  men,  and  richest  of  all  in  having  pro- 
duced Confucius.  The  Master  was  bom  B.C.  551  (dying 
B.C.  479)  in  what  is  now  the  district  of  Chow-hsien,  and  his 
Memorial  Hall  is  still  standing  at  Chiichow  in  the  prefecture 
of  Yinchow,  in  the  western  part  of  the  province;  and 
through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  revolutions,  rebeUions,  and 
falling  dynasties,  his  memory  has  been  kept  green  and  his 
name  honoured  by  the  perpetually  hereditary  rank  of  Kung 
(Duke)  bestowed  upon  his  family.  His  seventy-sixth  lineal 
descendant  to-day  divides  his  time  between  Peking  and  his 
ancestral  home :  this,  it  may  be  noted,  gives  an  average  of 
31-4  years  for  a  generation. 

Shantung  produces  coal,  iron,  and  gold,  and  its  farm  pro- 
ducts are  beans,  opium,  silk,  wheat,  millet,  and  tree-fruits. 
Within  its  limits  are  the  treaty  port  of  Chefoo  and  the 
foreign  "  leased  territories  "  of  Kiaochow  and  Weihaiwei. 

Chefoo  (37**  33'  N.,  121**  22'  E.) :  the  treaty  port,  opened 
in  1863,  is  not  at  Chefoo,  which  is  on  the  north  side  of 
its  harbour,  but  at  Yentai  on  the  south  side.  The  road- 
stead provides  a  commodious  anchorage,  safe  for  vessels  at 
all  times  with  some  selection  of  a  berth,  but  so  far  exposed 
to  certain  winds,  north  and  east,  as  to  render  the  discharge 
of  cargo  difficult  at  times.  Here  there  is  neither  concession 
nor  settlement,  in  the  sense  of  an  administrative  munici- 
pality ;  but  since  the  opening  of  the  port  the  entire  promon- 
tory of  Yentai,  which  projects  into  the  harbour,  has  been, 
more  or  less  tacitly,  and  without  any  formal  agreement, 
reserved  for  occupation  as  a  foreign  quarter.    The  residents 


222     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

have  bought  their  own  land,  have  made  their  own  winding 
roads,  and  have  maintained  cleanliness  and  order  mainly 
through  the  force  of  public  opinion.  They  have  assessed 
themselves  and  have  expended  their  assessments  through 
a  headless  committee,  but  have  no  official  status  as  a  self- 
governing  administrative  body ;  and  Chefoo  represents 
the  third  of  the  four  types  of  municipal  government  to  be 
found  operating  at  the  treaty  ports,  of  which  the  first 
is  seen  in  the  "  concession/'  as  at  Tientsin  already  described, 
the  second  in  the  "  settlement,"  as  at  Shanghai,  and  the 
fourth  in  a  special  form  of  government  which  will  be  de> 
scribed  under  Yochow.  For  many  years,  until  about  ten 
years  ago,  Chefoo  was  the  sole  summer  resort  available  in 
China,  and  is  still  frequented  by  many,  attracted  by  its 
sea  bathing  and  sea  breezes,  and  by  the  summer  visits  of 
many  of  the  foreign  war-ships  on  the  station.  The  resident 
foreign  population  of  the  port  and  district  in  1905  was 
1431,  including  433  British,  221  American,  and  547  Japanese. 
For  trade  purposes  the  port  is  not  well  situated,  being  in 
the  middle  of  the  northern  side  of  the  mountainous  section, 
and  connected  with  the  plain  coimtry  only  by  such  routes  as 
are  called  roads  in  China,  or  by  jimk  to  the  harbourless  ports 
of  the  north  coast ;  and  yet,  as  an  outlet  and  supply  depot 
for  the  province,  its  development  has  been  marked.  A 
portion  of  its  trade  is  with  the  coast  of  eastern  Shengking 
lying  opposite  across  the  Gulf  of  Pechihli.  The  value  of 
its  trade  during  the  past  fifty  years  has  been  as  follows, 
treasure  not  included : 

Imports.  Exports.  Total. 

Tls.  Tls.  Tls. 

1864  ..  2,766,669  2,758,547  5»525»ai6 

1874  ..  5,851,159  1,960,402  7,8iii56i 

1884  ..  5,922,202  4,138,314  10,060,516 

1894  .•  8,208,938  6,569,738  14,778,676 

1904  . .  21,569,021  12,686,154  34,255.175 

1905  .•  27,179,259  11,952,125  39,131,384 
1911  ..  16,654,026  13,916,518  3o>57o,544 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        223 

To  this  has  to  be  added  for  1905  the  value  of  the  junk 
trade,  imports  Tls.11,531,033,  exp<Mts  Tls.2,311,260,  total 
Tls.  13,842,293.  Among  the  imports  the  principal  were 
cotton  fabrics  (value  in  1904  Tls.3,120,000  for  foreign,  and 
Tls.155,000  for  native  weaving)  cotton  yam  (TIs.1,728,000 
for  foreign,  and  Tls.80,355  for  native  spinning),  cigar- 
ettes (Tls.674,000),  coal  (Tls.510,000),  flour  (Tk.1,332,000), 
matches  (TIs.578,000),  kerosene  oil  (Tls.1,917,000),  sugar 
(Tls.1,732,000),  and  rice  (Tls.3,415,000).  Among  exports  the 
principal  articles  were  beans  and  bean-cake  (Tls.2,794,000), 
wild  silk  (Tls.4,803,000),  straw-braid  (Tls.  1,413,000),  vermi- 
celli (Tls.1,573,213). 

Weihaiwei  (37**  30'  N.,  122®  9'  E.)  was  occupied  by 
Great  Britain  under  a  lease  from  China  in  1898,  as  an 
answer  to  the  Russian  occupation  of  Port  Arthur  and  Talien, 
which  followed  on  the  German  occupation  of  Kiaochow. 
The  government  is  by  a  Commissioner.  There  is  no  resident 
foreign  population  to  form  an  electorate,  and  the  Chinese 
are  ruled  mare  Sinico  through  the  village  elders.  The  port 
is  a  summer  station,  but  not  a  base,  for  the  British  East 
Asiatic  squadron,  and  an  hotel  and  a  school  have  been 
established  there.  Considering  the  meagreness  of  the 
population  and  that  it  is  supposed,  while  being  a  free  port, 
to  have  no  legitimate  traffic  with  its  hinterland,  its  sea- 
borne trade  is  surprisingly  large. 

Kiaochow  is  and  remains  a  Chinese  city  at  the  head 
of  its  wide  shallow  bay,  with  good  anchorage  only  at  its 
mouth.  Here  lies  Tsingtau  (36°  4'  N.,  120''  18'  E.),  the 
port  and  seat  of  govermnent  of  the  German  *'  Territory  of 
Kiaochow."  Possession  of  this  port  and  its  environs  was 
taken  on  November  14,  1897,  as  reprisal  for  the  murder 
of  two  German  missionaries,  and  subsequently,  in  March 
1898,  a  lease  for  ninety-nine  years  was  obtained  from  the 
Chinese  government.  The  local  administration  is  con- 
trolled by  a  Governor,  assisted  by  a  Council  composed  of 
the  heads  of  departments,  eight  in  number,  to  whom  are 
added  three  unofficial  members.    The  town  and  port  hav^ 


224    ^^^  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

been  developed  by  subsidies  provided  by  the  German 
government ;  the  town  has  been  laid  out  with  broad  streets 
and  provided  with  fine  buildings,  while  the  port  is  an 
artificial  creation  with  its  moles  and  breakwaters,  and 
equipped  with  all  needed  European  appliances ;  and  fifty 
million  marks  is  a  moderate  estimate  of  the  sum  expended 
on  their  creation.  As  a  summer  resort  Tsingtau  is  growing 
in  popularity  with  the  residents  of  Shanghai.  The  bay  of 
Kiaochow  lies  at  the  junction  of  the  plain  and  the  mountain, 
and  from  its  inner  end  Kublai  Khan  (a.d.  1260)  made  a 
canal  to  the  north  shore  at  Laichow,  which,  until  the 
restoration  and  completion  of  the  Grand  Canal  provided 
a  safer  route,  enabled  the  tribute-laden  junks  to  make 
their  journey  to  the  north  without  encoimtering  the  perils 
of  the  stormy  passage  around  the  Shantung  Promontory. 
The  canal  has  long  since  been  imavailable  for  transport, 
but  its  modem  substitute,  the  railway  from  Tsingtau  to 
Tsinan,  450  kilometres,  taps  the  wealth  of  production  of 
the  plain  part  of  Shantung,  and  the  trade  of  the  western, 
the  richer,  portion  of  the  province  is  destined  more  and 
more  to  gravitate  to  Tsingtau.  This  is  a  German  port, 
but  the  authorities  have  had  the  wisdom  to  invite  the 
fiscal  co-operation  of  the  Chinese  government,  and  in  July 
1899  the  Chinese  Kiaochow  Customs  Office  was  opened 
and  functioned  at  the  port  itself.  The  fiscal  arrangement 
then  made  was  tentative,  and  has  since  been  improved. 
Beginning  from  January  i,  1906,  the  Kiaochow  Customs 
took  entire  control  of  the  movement  of  merchandise  inward 
and  outward,  at  the  same  time  conceding  to  Tsingtau  all 
the  trade  privileges  of  a  Chinese  treaty  port ;  the  harbour 
with  its  moles,  and  the  railway  terminus  with  the  area 
around  them,  were  declared  a  "  Freibezirk,"  much  like  a 
huge  bonded  warehouse,  into  which  movement  is  unre- 
stricted, and  in  which  bonded  manufacturing  may  be  carried 
on ;  the  Chinese  Customs  tariff  duty  is  levied  on  exports 
when  shipped  by  sea,  and  on  imports  when  leaving  the  free 
zone ;  every  facility  is  to  be  granted  to  the  Chinese  Customs 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        225 

as  if  on  Chinese  soil ;  and  20  per  cent,  of  the  collection  from 
imports  is  to  be  handed  over  to  the  German  authorities 
as  a  contribution  to  the  maintenance  of  the  port.  With  this 
arrangement,  if  it  is  found  to  work,  and  the  railway  com* 
munication  with  its  hinterland,  the  future  of  the  port  is 
assured,  the  more  that  the  ordinary  bureaucratic  methods 
of  German  administration  are  not  so  much  in  evidence  in 
the  "  Kiautschau-gebiet "  as  in  other  German  colonies. 
Though  'Ihrough  railway  traffic  to  Tsinan  was  initiated 
only  in  1905,  the  trade  of  the  port  has  already  made  con- 
siderable  progress,  as  evidenced  by  the  following  figures, 
in  which  the  unimportant  junk  traffic  is  included  : 

Imports.  Exports.  Total. 

Tls.  Tls.  Tls. 

1900  ..  2,852,576  1,104,574  3,957.150 

1902  ..  8,075,250  2,269,392  10,344,642 

1905  . .  15,097422  7,225,258  22,322,680 

1911  ..  26,287,988  19,853,669  46,141,657 

The  tendency  of  the  trade  of  western  Shantung  to  gravitate 
to  Kiaochow  to  the  detriment  of  Chefoo,  formerly  the  only 
treaty  port  outlet  for  the  province,  is  signally  evidenced  by 
the  case  of  straw-braid ;  of  the  total  export  of  this  product 
of  home  industry  from  the  two  Shantung  ports  in  1903 
Chefoo  contributed  70  per  cent,  and  Kiaochow  30  per  cent., 
while  in  1904  the  Chefoo  contribution  fell  to  40  per  cent., 
and  in  1905  fell  further  to  21  per  cent. ;  in  1911  the  export 
from  Kiaochow  was  88,002  piculs,  and  from  Chefoo  only 
4  piculs.  Other  important  products  exported  from  Kiao- 
chow are  yellow  silk,  bean-oil,  and  ground-nut  oil. 

Other  Northern  Provinces 

On  the  latitude  of  Shantung  is  a  string  of  inland  pro- 
vinces with  no  direct  outlet  on  sea  or  river,  the  one  river 
common  to  and  running  through  them  all,  the  Yellow 
River,  not  being  generally  navigable  in  any  part  of  its  course, 

15 


226    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

HONAN,  "  South  of  the  Ho  "  (Yellow  River),  is  hilly 
in  its  western  part,  where  it  borders  on  Shansi,  Shensi,  and 
Hupeh,  and  a  plain  to  the  east  where  it  borders  on  Shantung, 
Kiangsu,  and  Anhwei.  The  estimated  area  is  68,000  square 
miles,  and  population*  21,000,000.  A  rich  country  with  no 
navigable  rivers,  it  is  destined  to  be  recreated  by  railways  ; 
and  its  produce,  which  formerly  found  outlets  at  Tientsin 
in  the  north  or  at  Chinkiang  in  the  south,  is  beginning  to 
find  its  way  to  Hankow  by  the  Peking-Hankow  line,  which 
bisects  the  province  from  north  to  south. 

Shansi,  the  "  Mountains  of  the  West,"  Ues  betweoi 
Chihli  and  Shensi.  With  practically  no  rivers  intersecting 
it,  and  skirted  on  the  west  and  south  by  the  unnavigable 
Yellow  River,  it  occupies  a  high  plateau  with  a  steep  es- 
carpment on  its  eastern  side.  Any  failure  of  rain  brings 
drought  and  almost  unrelievable  famine,  and  the  difficulties 
of  transport  are  such  as  to  be  overcome  only  by  the  con- 
struction of  railways.  A  line  connects  the  capital,  Taiyuan- 
fu,  with  the  Peking-Hankow  line  at  Chentow.  The  esti- 
mated area  is  82,000  square  miles,  and  population  10,000,000. 

Shensi  lies  between  Shansi,  Honan,  and  Hupeh  on  the 
east,  Szechwan  on  the  south,  and  Kansu  on  the  west.  Its 
produce  finds  an  outlet  partly  through  Honan  and  partly 
over  the  mountains  and  down  the  Han  River  to  Hankow. 
At  or  near  Sianfu  was  the  ancient  capital  of  what  then 
constituted  the  Empire,  in  the  third  century  before  Christ 
and  again  in  the  sixth  century  after  Christ ;  and  at  Sianfu, 
to  which  the  Court  fled  for  refuge  from  the  troubles  of  1900, 
are  maintained  simulacra  of  Ministries,  as  at  Moiakden, 
but  without  staffs.  The  area  of  the  province  is  estimated 
at  75,000  square  miles,  and  its  population  at  8,800,000. 
The  name  of  this  province  affords  an  instance  of  the  diffi- 
culties of  the  Chinese  language  and  its  dependence  on  tones 
or  inflexion  of  the  voice.  In  spelling  there  is  properly  no 
distinction  between  Shansi  and  this  province,  and  to  dis- 
tinguish correctly  the  sound  as  spoken,  the  former  should 
♦  Census  of  1910  gives  25,600,000. 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        227 

be  Sh&nsi  and  the  latter  Sh^Lnsi :  Shensi  is  only  a  convenient 
conventionalised  mode  of  distinguishing  the  two  provinces. 

Kansu  forms  the  extreme  north-west  comer  of  the 
Eighteen  Pro\dnces,  and  has  an  area  estimated  at  125,000 
square  miles  and  a  population  of  5,000,000.  Traversed 
by  the  Yellow  River,  it  is  restricted  to  land  transport; 
and  its  produce,  mainly  wool  of  sheep  and  camel,  finds  its 
outlet  through  MongoUa,  thence  down  from  the  north-west 
to  Tientsin. 

KwEiCHOW  lies  far  to  the  south,  but  is  more  conveniently 
mentioned  here,  as  the  only  other  province  not  having 
treaty  ports.  It  lies  between  Szechwan  to  the  north, 
Yunnan  to  the  west,  Kwangsi  to  the  south,  and  Hunan  to 
the  east,  and  has  an  area  estimated  at  67,000  square  miles, 
and  population  at  11,300,000.  It  is  rich  in  minerals,  especi- 
ally of  the  less  common  kinds,  and  its  products,  of  which 
opium  is  the  most  important,  find  their  outlet  through 
Hunan  and  Kwangsi. 

Szechwan 

Szechwan,  the  "  Four  Streams,"  has  an  area  calculated 
to  be  218,500  square  miles.  Nothing  better  illustrates 
the  uncertainty  impending  over  everything  statistical  in 
China  than  the  variability  of  the  estimates  of  its  popular 
tion.  The  estimates  made  within  the  last  twenty  years 
have  ranged  from  35,000,000  (Hobson,  1892)  to  79,500,000 
(Popoff,  1894) ;  but  the  general  tendency  of  investigators 
has  been  to  put  it  between  50,000,000  and  65,000.000;  Parker 
(1903)  is  inclined,  however,  to  doubt  all  the  high  estimates ; 
and  Hosie  (1904),  than  whom  few  have  studied  the  province 
more  carefully,  puts  it  at  45,000,000.  The  official  census  of 
1910  gives  it  as  no  more  than  23,000,000,  but  this  is  probably 
an  underestimate.  The  siuiace  of  the  province  is  made  rxp 
of  masses  of  mountains,  through  which  the  Yangtze  had 
cut  its  deep  and  narrow  channel,  and  which  is  everywhere 
cut  up  by  steep-sided  valleys  and  ravines.    In  the  whole 


228     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

province  there  is  but  one  extensive  plain,  that  of  Chengtu, 
the  capital,  on  which  the  irrigation  system  is  among  the 
wonders  of  the  world.    Among  the  minerals  found  are  gold, 
silver,  cinnabar,  copper,  iron,  coal,  and  petroleum,  and 
among  its  natural  products  the  chief  are  opium,  hemp, 
white  wax,  yellow  silk,  and  some  hundreds  of  products  of 
its  hills  and  valleys  included  in  the  Chinese  pharmacopoeia. 
Chief  among  the  products  of  this  rich  province  is  salt, 
obtained  from  artesian  borings,  some  of  which  extend  2,500 
feet  below  the  surface,  and  from  which  for  centuries  the 
brine  has   been   laboriously  raised  by  windlass  and  water 
buffalo  power.    The  one  outlet  for  Szechwan,  except  at 
the  cost  of  toilsome  mountain  journeys,  is  by  The  Great 
River  (Kiang)  or  The  Long  River  or  simply  "  The  Kiang  " — 
the  river  otherwise  without  a  name,  the  spinal  cord  of  China, 
which  foreigners  have  united  to  call  by  the  name  given  to 
it  by  the  Chinese  only  for  the  last  hundred  miles  of  its 
course  of  thousands  of  miles :   Yangtze.    Flowing  from  the 
extreme  west  of  China  to  the  extreme  east,  it  is  only  within 
the  borders  of  Szechwan  that  this   route  presents   any 
difficulties,  and  these  are  occasioned  by  the  rapids  over 
which  the  stream  pours  tumultuously  in  its  passage  through 
the  famous  Yangtze  Gorges.    Down  stream  the  inherited 
and  trained  skill  of  the  boatmen  carries  their  frail  craft 
safely  past  dangers  with  the  current  rushing,  in  places  and 
at  times,  as  much  as  fifteen  miles  an  hour ;  but  up  stream 
this  skill  is  called  into  full  play,  and  the  boats,  of  about 
twenty-five  tons  capacity,  pulled  by  a  struggling,  shouting, 
sweating  crowd  of  a  himdred  trackers,  more  or  less,  fre- 
quently meet  with  accident  in  the  passage  of  the  rapids. 
Repairs  are  effected  and  damaged  cargo  is  dried  promptly 
on  the  way,  but  it  is  estimated  that,  apart  from  total  losses, 
a  full  tenth  of  the  boats  upward-bound  arrive  with  their 
cargo  more  or  less  damaged  by  water.    Near  each  of  these 
rapids  is  maintained  an  efficient  life-saving  boat  service,  one 
of  the^few  public  services  in  China  of  which  nothing  but 
good  is  said.    The  province  contains  one  treaty  port. 


THE  PROVINCES  AND   THE  TREATY  PORTS        229 

Chungking  (29**  34'  N.,  106**  31'  E.)  is  situated  at  the 
confluence  of  the  Great  River  (or  the  River  of  Golden  Sand, 
as  it  is  sometimes  called  in  parts  of  its  course  through 
Szechwan)  and  the  Small  (or  Kialing)  River.  In  the  Chefoo 
Convention  (1876)  it  was  stipulated  that  Chungking  should 
be  an  outpost  for  watching  trade,  but  that  "  (British) 
merchants  will  not  be  allowed  to  reside  at  Chimgking,  or 
to  open  establishments  or  warehouses  there,  so  long  as  no 
steamers  have  access  to  the  port."  The  first  "  steamer" 
to  reach  Chungking  was  a  small  steam-launch  in  March 
1898,  and  the  first  cargo-carrying  steamer  was  the  Pioneer 
in  June  1899,  both  taken  up  by  the  developer  of  Szechwan, 
Mr.  Archibald  J.  Little ;  but,  in  fact,  the  place  had  been 
opened  as  a  treaty  port,  with  all  its  privileges,  in  March  1891. 
It  is  improbable  that,  under  existing  conditions,  steam 
traffic  can  advantageously  engage  in  the  Szechwan  carrying 
trade ;  and  the  trade  passing  through  the  "  Maritime 
Customs  "  is  carried  by  jimk,  as  is  that  passing  through 
the  Likin  Stations,  the  latter  offering  the  advantage  of  a 
flexible  tariff  and  complaisant  officials,  the  former  based 
on  its  treaty  port  privilege  by  which  the  single  import  duty 
paid  at  Shanghai  carries  goods  without  additional  taxation 
1,400  miles  farther  into  the  heart  of  China.  The  city,  with 
a  population  of  300,000,  occupies  a  rocky  promontory  on 
which  mountain  paths  and  flights  of  stone  steps  take  the 
place  of  streets.  The  river  rises  here  in  summer  normally 
70  feet  above  its  winter  level,  frequently  more,  and  in 
1905  rose  to  a  height  of  108  feet.  The  few  foreign  resi- 
dents are  scattered  over  the  city  and  on  the  opposite  shore 
and  have  no  municipal  organisation.  In  considering  the 
volume  of  trade  it  must  be  remembered  that  it  is  optional 
with  merchants  to  pass  their  cargo  at  the  Maritime  Customs 
or  at  the  Likin  Stations,  and  that  the  latter  publish  no 
statistics.  The  value  of  the  trade  passing  the  Customs  has 
been  as  follows : 


030     TttS  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OP  CHINA 


Imports. 

Exports. 

Total. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

Tb. 

5,782,701 
18,451.938 
19.069.597 

4.997.688 
10,952,028 
10,069,575 

10,780,389 
29,403,966 
29,139,172 

1894 ' 
1904 

IQII 

Of  the  imports  five-sixths  are  made  up  of  cotton  manu- 
factures, viz.  cotton  piece  goods  (in  1904  Tk.3,777,600,  all 
foreign  weaving),  and  cotton  yam  (Tls.8,993,700  foreign, 
and  Tls.2,681,500  native  spinning).  Among  exports  the 
principal  items  were  bristles  (Tls.477,ooo),hides(Tls.458,ooo), 
medicines  ('ns.974,000),  musk  (115.983,000),  opium  (Tls. 
4,084,000),  silk  (Tls.i, 813,000),  goat-skins  (Tls.450,000), 
white  wax  (Tls.332,000),  and  sheep's  wool  (Tls.315,000). 
Much  of  the  opium  sent  from  the  province  takes  various 
land  routes  to  escape  too  rigid  a  scsde  of  taxation^  but  the 
quantity  sent  down  the  river  through  both  taxing  offices 
in  1904  was  36,856  piculs,  and  in  1905  was  36,311  piculs, 
valued  at  Ichang,  after  passing  the  dangers  of  the  river, 
at  about  Tls.16,000,000,  in  each  year. 

Wanhsien,  the  opening  of  which  is  provided  for  in  the 
British  commercial  treaty  of  1902,  is  situated  on  the  Yangtze, 
midway  between  Chungking  and  Ichang. 

Hunan 

Hunan,  "South  of  the  Lake"  (Tungting),  consists  of 
mountains  to  the  south  and  west,  with  the  Tungting  l^e 
and  its  surrounding  alluvium  occupying  the  north-eastern 
quarter.  Its  area  is  estimated  at  83,400  square  miles,  and 
its  population  at  23,600,000.  Its  people  are  the  sturdiest 
and  most  straightforward  of  the  provincials  of  China,  and 
they  have  never  allowed  the  Empire  to  forget  that  to  them 
was  due  its  salvation  during  the  period  1853-1863,  when  the 
Hunan  levies  under  Tseng  Kwo-fan  arrested  and  turned 
back  the  advancing  wave  of  the  Taiping  rebellion ;  from 
that  time,  until  the  recent  formation  of  the  "  New  Model " 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        23I 

anny,  the  Chinese  army  was  largely  conrposed  of  Hunanese 
"  braves."  Anthracite  coal  is  mined  in  the  south-east, 
bituminous  coal  in  the  south  and  west,  and  from  the  west 
come  antimony  and  others  of  the  uncommon  metals.  The 
alluvial  lands  and  valleys  produce  rice  with  an  exportable 
surplus  of  over  a  million  piculs  annually,  tea  of  which 
300,000  piculs  are  forwarded  annually  to  Hankow,  and 
sub-temperate  products  in  general ;  and  large  rafts  of  timber 
are  floated  down  the  Yuan  River,  the  value  of  annual  floats 
to  Hankow  being  estimated  at  upwards  of  ten  million  taels. 
Formerly  a  vast  trade  between  Canton  and  Hankow  passed 
from  Kwangtung  over  the  Cheling  Pass  and  down  the  , 
Siang  River  through  Hunan,  and  Siangtan  was  then,  in  con- 
sequence, one  of  the  principal  trade  marts  of  China ;  but, 
since  the  advent  of  steam  traffic,  this  trade  now  takes 
the  sea  and  Yangtze  route  via  Shanghai,  In  Hunan  two 
places  have  been  opened  to  trade  as  *'  treaty  ports." 

YocHOw  (29**  20'  N.,  113®  E.)  was  opened  voluntarily 
by  China  in  1899.  Situated  at  the  point  where  the  Tungting 
Lake  empties  into  the  Yangtze,  it  was  expected  that  this 
port  would  tap  the  entire  trade  of  Himan,  owing  to  the 
presumed  necessity  of  transhipping  from  the  deei>er  vessels 
possible  on  the  Yangtze  to  the  lighter  draft  boats  of  the 
inner  waters,  but  this  expectation  has  not  been  realised, 
and  the  later  opening  of  Changshahas.efiectivdy  killed 
whatever  prospect  of  trade  Yochow  may  have  had.  The 
municipal  plan  adopted  at  Yochow  is  one  which  has  been 
introduced  at  some  other  ports.  The  Chine^se  government 
expropriated  the  land  required  for  an  "  international 
settlement,"  laid  out  roads  and  sold  the  lots  by  auction, 
reserving  an  annual  ground-rent  of  a  substantial  amount ; 
wharfage  dues,  moderate  in  amount,  are  levied ;  municipal 
work  and  poUce  are  under  the  joint  control  of  the  Yochow 
territorial  Taotai  and  the  Commissioner  of  Customs ;  all 
expenses  are  at  the  charge  of  the  Chinese  government, 
and  the  community  is  burdened  neither  with  further  taxation 
nor  with  the  task  of  governing ;   in  the  event  of  further 


232     r/f£  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

taxation  becoming  necessary,  it  will  be  under  the  control 
of  a  representative  body.  The  population  of  Yochow  is 
20,000,  and  the  "  treaty  port "  is  five  mUes  distant,  at  a 
pomt  where  alone  a  safe  anchorage  could  be  found. 

Changsha  (28**  12'  N.,  112®  47'  E.),  the  capital  of  the 
province,  on  the  Siang  River,  was  opened  as  a  treaty  port 
in  1904.  The  city  is  a  centre  of  learning  and  culture, 
encouraged  by  the  wealth  remitted  to  their  homes  by  the 
many  eminent  officials  of  Hunan  birth,  and  protected  by 
the  independent  character  of  the  people ;  and  it  marks  the 
extreme  western  limit  of  the  advance  of  the  Taipings,  who 
were  repulsed  from  its  walls,  though  gaining  numerous  vic- 
tories in  nine  provinces.  Its  population  is  stated  at  230,000. 
Thirty  miles  farther  up  river  is  Siangtan,  the  population  of 
which  was  formerly  stated  to  be  700,000,  but  is  now  supposed 
not  to  exceed  half  that  number.  The  depth  of  water  up  to 
Changsha  in  summer  may  be  put  at  fully  ten  feet,  but  in 
winter  is  reduced  in  places  to  three  feet.  The  trade  passing 
the  Customs  of  Yochow  and  Changsha  combined  was 
valued  in  1905  at  Tls.4,447,058  for  imports,  and  Tls.1,938,830 
for  exports,  a  total  of  Tb.6,385,888,  and  in  1911  at  Tls. 
10,119,265  for  imports,  Tls.11,027,060  for  exports,  a  total 
of  Tls.21,146,325.  Considering  tlMit  the  export  of  Hunan 
tea  alone  must  be  worth  Tk.io,ooo,ooo,  these  figures  show 
that  the  trade  of  this  rich  province  continues  to  be  carried 
in  the  small  Yangtze  junks. 

Changteh  (29®  i'  N.,  Ill®  27'  E.),  on  the  Yuan  River 
west  of  the  Tungting  Lake,  was  in  1906  on  the  point  of 
being  voluntarily  opened  by  China,  but  the  intention  was 
not  carried  out.  The  so-called  lake  is  to-day  a  lake  in 
summer  only,  and  in  winter  is  a  series  of  wide,  shallow 
channels  in  a  waste  of  mud;  and,  summer  and  winter, 
traffic  to  Changteh  passes  by  the  sinuous  channels  of  the 
deltaic  land  lying  south  of  the  lake  between  the  mouths 
of  the  Siang  and  Yuan.  During  the  winter  the  greatest 
draft  of  water  which  can  go  through  to  Changteh  does 
not  exceed  two  feet.    Changteh  is  a  city  of  150,000  in- 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        233 

habitants,  and  its  chief  value  as  an  open  port  lies  in  the  fact 
that  imports  are  carried  free  of  duty  so  much  the  farther 
inland. 

HUPEH 

Hupeh,  "  North  of  the  Lake/'  has  an  area  estimated 
at  71,400  square  miles,  and  a  population  of  24,900,000,  and 
forms  with  Hunan  the  Viceroyalty  of  Hukwang,  "  The 
Lake  District."  Mountainous  to  the  north  and  west,  its 
centre  is  covered  by  an  extensive  plain  forming  a  triangle, 
with  its  base  well  north  of  the  line  Hankow-Ichang,  and 
its  legs  formed  by  the  Yangtze  in  its  course  from  Ichang 
south-east  to  Yochow,  thence  north-east  to  Hankow. 
This  plain,  dotted  with  lakes  and  intersected  by  canals, 
is  much  of  it  depressed,  some  of  it  covered  by  floods  every 
summer,  and  most  of  it  protected  from  repeated  summer 
flooding  only  by  a  vast  system  of  embankments,  admirably 
designed  and  constructed,  and  kept  in  continual  repair; 
and  its  principal  product  is  cotton.  In  this  province  are 
three  treaty  ports. 

Ichang  (30**  42'  N.,  111°  16'  E.),  a  city  of  40,000  people, 
is  situated  at  the  head  of  steam  navigation  on  the  Yangtze, 
at  the  throat  of  the  main  outlet  from  Szechwan,  and  at  the 
point  where  the  mountains  of  Szechwan  and  western  Hupefa 
meet  the  central  plain  of  Hupeh.  Here  a  great  emporium 
might  have  been  expected  to  spring  up  at  which  the  men  of 
the  mountains  should  meet  the  men  of  the  plains,  and  the  in- 
land men  should  meet  the  men  from  the  sea,  for  the  mutual 
exchange  of  products.  The  course  of  trade  has,  however, 
undergone  no  change,  and  Ichang,  opened  as  a  treaty  port 
in  1876,  has  done  no  more  than  use  its  advantage  of  steamer 
traffic  and  take  from  Shasi  a  portion,  and  the  major  portion, 
of  the  work  of  transhipping  the  Szechwan  trade  from  the 
deep-draftlower-river boats  to  the  light  upper-river  boats  and 
vice  versa ;  while  the  emporia  for  the  exchange  of  products 
are  still  at  Hankow  and  Shanghai    The  character  of  the 


234     ^^^  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

trade  of  Ichang  may  be  judged  from  the  following  figures 
for  the  traffic  which,  between  Ichang  and  Chungking,  went 
by  "  chartered  junk,"  subject  to  the  control  of  the  Maritime 
Customs,  and,  between  Ichang  and  Hankow,  went  by 
steamer,  competing  with  the  lower-river  junk,  the  value 
of  the  traffic  by  which  is  not  included : 

Gross  Imports.     Re-Exports        Net  Imports. 

{i.0.  transhipped). 

TLs.  Tls.  Tls. 

1894  ..        10,373,903  9427,920  945,983 

1904  • .        35,559,841         34,129,018  1,430,823 

In  191 1  the  net  imports  were  valued  at  Tls.3,288,095 
and  the  exports  at  Tls.1,517,692. 

Shasi  (30**  17'  N.,  112°  17'  E.),  a  city  of  80,000  people, 
was  opened  as  a  treaty  port  in  1896.  Originally,  before 
the  opening  of  Ichang,  it  was  the  ordinary  place  of  tran- 
shipment for  the  Szechwan  trade  ;  and  in  itself  should  be  a 
good  distributing  centre,  placed  in  the  heart  of  the  Hupeh 
plain,  with  canals  radiating  from  it  through  the  plain  and 
into  Hunan.  One  such  canal  connects  it  directly  with 
Hankow  by  a  much  shorter  route  than  that  taken  by 
steamers  on  the  Yangtze ;  and  to  this  canal  facility  must 
be  attributed  its  failure  to  develop  as  a  steamer  port. 
The  value  of  the  trade  has  been  as  follows : 


Imports. 

Exports. 

Total. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

1897     . 

1904 
19x1 

135.292 

•       1.334,328 

1.968,847 

l8l,220 
622,043 
979,809 

316,512 

1.956,371 
2.948,656 

Hankow  (30^  35'  N.,  114^  17'  E.),  "  Han-mouth,"  is 
situated  at  the  junction  of  the  Han  River  and  the  Yangtze ; 
across  the  Han  is  Hanyang,  containing  eirtensive  iron  and 
steel  works;    and  opposite  both,  across  the  Yangtze,  is 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        235 

Wuchang,  the  provincial  capital :  the  combined  population 
of  the  triple  mart  is  estimated  at  870,000.  This  was  an 
important  commercial  centre  before  the  foreign  trader  put 
in  an  appearance ;  was  further  developed  when  it  consti- 
tuted the  head  of  steam  navigation ;  still  further  developed 
since  the  opening  of  the  upper  reaches  of  the  Yangtze  to 
steamers ;  and  its  recent  start  as  a  railway  centre  can  only 
add  to  its  importance.  Opened  as  a  treaty  port  in  1861, 
an  area  of  62  acres  was  granted  to  the  British  government 
as  a  concession,  governed  on  the  same  plan  as  that  of 
Tientsin ;  here  for  thirty-five  years  merchants  of  all  nations 
lived  and  traded,  content  with  their  modest  area  and  its 
half-mile  of  river  frontage.  In  1896  this  concession  was 
extended  by  an  additional  area  of  53  acres,  on  the  same 
footing  as  the  original  grant.  Next  below  the  British 
concession  is  the  Russian.  A  French  concession  was 
granted  in  1861,  but  was  not  taken  up,  and  was  re-granted 
in  1896.  Next  below  the  French  comes  the  German  con- 
cession, granted  in  1895,  with  an  area  of  108  acres ;  and 
below  the  German  is  the  Japanese  concession  of  31  acres. 
Including  the  Peking-Hankow  Railway  reservation,  still 
farther  down  stream,  there  is,  starting  from  the  Chinese 
business  quarter  of  Hankow,  a  frontage  of  6,000  yards 
under  foreign  control,  most  of  it  well  bunded.  The  foreign 
population  of  Hankow,  in  December  1905,  was  2,151, 
including  504  British,  500  American,  162  German,  68 
French,  89  Russian,  84  Belgian,  134  Italian,  537  Japanese, 
and  73  others.  When  present  plans  are  carried  out, 
Hankow  will  be  at  the  intersection  of  a  cross,  formed  by 
the  Yangtze  from  east  to  west,  and  the  trunk  railway 
Peking-Hankow-Canton  from  north  to  south,  and  it  is 
difficult  to  set  any  moderate  limit  to  its  prospect  of  de- 
velopment. In  the  past  the  value  of  its  trade  has  been 
as  follows : 


236     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 


Imports. 

Exports. 

TOTAl. 

Tb. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

1864 

7.935,558 

13.453.425 

21,388,983 

1874 

• .   14.885.471 

18,276,094 

33.161,565 

1884 

..   17,467.883 

16,403.998 

33,871,881 

1894 

•  •   15.915.966 

23.218.827 

39.134.793 

1904 

■ .   44.364.324 

63.085,050 

107,449.374 

1905 

.   53,837.696 

57.205.350 

111,043,046 

I9II 

.   43.882,937 

74.074.547 

117.957.484 

To  enumerate  the  principal  imports  would  be  to  give  a 
list  of  the  principal  imports  into  China.  Among  exports 
originating  in  Hankow,  and  not,  as  in  the  case  of  Kiu- 
kiang  tea,  first  originating  elsewhere,  the  principal  were 
in  1905  tea  (Tls.9,729,000),  cotton  yam  (Tls.1,829,000), 
beans  (Tls.7,089,000),  bean-cake  (Tls.868,000),  wood-oil 
(from  seeds  of  Aleurites  cor  data,  Tls.3,320,000),  cotton 
(Tls.3,910,000),  jute  (Tls.i, 704,000),  hides  (Tls.3,177,000), 
pig  iron  (Tls.987,000),  rice  {Tls.2,130,000),  sesamum  seed 
(Tls.3,172,900),  skins  and  furs  (Tls.2,050,000),  vegetable 
tallow  (Tls.  1,403,000),  tobacco  (Tls.  2,184,000).  Of  the 
steamers  entered  and  cleared  at  Hankow  during  1905,  a 
total  of  3,715,710  tons,  50  per  cent,  was  under  the  British 
flag,  17  per  cent,  under  the  Chinese,  16  per  cent,  under  the 
Japanese,  and  13  per  cent,  under  the  German. 

KlANGSI 

The  province  of  Kiangsi,  with  an  area  estimated  at 
69,500  square  miles  and  a  population  of  14,500,000,  is 
mountainous  over  much  of  its  surface,  but  has  the  general 
appearance  of  a  trough  trending  to  the  northern  border. 
The  basin  of  the  trough  is  the  Poyang  Lake,  into  which 
flow  rivers  from  the  east,  south,  and  west,  and  which  finds 
its  outlet  to  the  north,  emptying  into  the  Yangtze  at  Hukow, 
some  twenty  miles  below  Kiukiang.  The  Pojrang  Lake 
and  the  Tungting  Lake  in  Hunan  act  as  reservoirs  to  take 
the  first  rush  of  flood  waters  coming  down  the  Yangtze 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        237 

every  summer,  and  reduce  their  catastrophic  effects.  The 
lake  and  its  afSuents,  accessible  through  the  portal  of 
Hukow,  furnish  the  channels  of  transportation  through 
the  province.  From  Kiangsi  over  the  Meiling  Pass  to 
Canton  runs  a  main  trade  route,  by  which  formerly  a  con- 
siderable traffic  passed,  and  by  which  even  now  goes  much 
of  the  porcelain  sent  from  Kingtehchen  to  Canton,  to  be 
there  painted  with  the  florid  Cantonese  designs.  King- 
tehchen itself,  a  town  of  no  official  status,  i.e.  with  no  official 
head  or  government,  with  a  population  estimated  a  century 
ago  by  Abb6  Hue  at  a  million,  destroyed  in  the  Taiping 
rebellion,  and  revived  so  as  to  support  a  present  population 
of  150,000,  is  the  centre  of  production  of  Chinese  porcelain. 
Formerly  unapproachable  in  quality  and  inimitable  in  the 
colouring  of  its  designs,  this  porcelain  rapidly  deteriorated 
from  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  received  its 
death-blow  on  the  destruction  of  the  ovens  by  the  Taipings  ; 
and  since  the  revival  of  the  industry  the  product  has  been 
coarse  and  heavy  in  material,  and  crude  in  the  colouring 
and  design  of  what  is  painted  at  the  place.  Other  products 
of  the  province  are  tea,  tobacco,  paper,  hemp,  and  wood-oil. 
In  the  province  is  one  treaty  port. 

KiUKiANG  (29**  44'  N.,  lie""  8'  E.),  a  city  of  55,000  people, 
opened  as  a  treaty  port  in  1861,  is  situated  near  the  outlet 
of  the  Poyang  Lake.  In  this  year  a  British  concession 
was  granted,  with  municipal  government  like  that  of 
Tientsin,  and  this  constitutes  to-day  the  residential  quarter 
for  the  foreign  community.  Thirteen  miles  from  Kiukiang 
is  the  moimtain  resort  of  Kuling,  "  BuU  Ridge,"  where,  at 
an  altitude  of  3,500  feet,  the  foreign  residents  of  Shanghai 
and  the  Yangtze  valley  have  established  a  "  summer 
cottage  "  colony,  comprising,  with  no  hotels,  by  the  census 
of  September  1906,  a  summer  population  of  1,100.  The 
intended  function  of  the  port,  to  serve  as  a  tea  market, 
was  maintained  for  a  few  years,  but  by  degrees  the  control 
of  the  business  was  transferred  to  Hankow,  and  to-day 
most  of  the  tea  prepared  for  the  foreign  market  remains 


238     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

in  Chinese  hands  until  it  is  sold  at  Hankow.  The  progress 
of  trade  at  the  port  is  shoMoi  by  the  following  figures,  the 
shipments  of  tea  in  thousands  of  piculs  being  shown  in 
parentheses  after  the  export  values ; 


Imports. 

Exports. 

TOTAI- 

Tls. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

1864 

. .   2.622,319 

4,070.948  (137) 

6.693.267 

1874 

•  •   3.932,987 

9,921,679  (245) 

13,854,666 

1884 

. .   2.852,825 

6,351,800  (279) 

9,204,625 

1894 

•  •   4,9".997 

6.705,479  (211) 

11,617,476 

1904 

.  12.045,395 

12,302.165  (186) 

24,347,560 

19II 

.  15,601,240 

19.071,686  {245) 

34,672.926 

Among  the  imports  in  1904,  cotton  yam  was  valued 
at  Tls.4,327,000,  kerosene  oil  at  Tls.859,000,  sugar  at 
Tls.767,000 ;  among  exports  the  principal  were  tea 
(Tls4,945,ooo),  porcelain  (Tls.714,300),  cotton  (Tls.502,300), 
hemp  (Tls.926,000),  paper  (Tls.1,443,000),  and  tobacco 
{Tls.645,000). 

Anhwei 

The  province  of  Anhwei,  with  an  area  estimated  at 
54,800  square  miles  and  a  population  variously  at  from 
25,000,000  to  35,000,000,  but  given  in  the  official  census  of 
1910  as  only  17,300,000,  was  formerly  a  part  of  the  province 
of  Kiangsu,  from  which  it  was  separated  administratively 
in  the  reign  of  Kang-hi,  a.d.  1662-1723,  The  portion  north 
of  the  Yangtze,  except  for  some  part  of  the  extreme  west 
bordering  on  Hupeh,  is  plain,  and  may  be  termed  the 
granary  of  the  Empire,  annually  producing  a  greater  ex- 
portable surplus  of  rice  than  any  other  rice-growing  district. 
South  of  the  Yangtze,  except  for  plains  bordering  the  river, 
is  mainly  hilly.  The  principal  products  are  rice,  tea, 
opium,  hemp,  cotton,  and  paper.  Anhwei  is  the  country 
of  Li  Hung-chang,  who  supplemented  the  work  of  the 
Hunanese  Tseng  Kwo-fan  in  suppressing  the  Taipisg^  re- 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        239 

bellion,  and  who  from  1870  until  near  his  death  in  1901 
was  Grand  Secretary,  Viceroy  of  Chihli,  Imperial  Com- 
missioner for  Foreign  Trade,  Generalissimo  of  the  military 
and  naval  forces  in  the  north,  and  principal  negotiator  for 
the  Imperial  Government  of  its  treaties  and  conventions ; 
through  his  agency  the  men  of  Anhwei  were  brought  forward 
in  official  life  and  in  recruiting  for  the  army,  thus  preventing 
the  Empire  from  becoming  the  exclusive  pasturage  of  the 
men  of  Hunan ;  and  his  family  have  for  many  years  domi- 
nated the  rice  trade  of  his  native  province.  The  provincial 
capital,  Anking,  is  a  port  of  call  for  Yangtze  steamers, 
and  at  Tatung  is  the  Superintendency  of  the  Salt  Likin 
Collectorate,  the  revenues  of  which  are  pledged  for  foreign 
loans.    In  the  province  is  one  treaty  port. 

WuHU  (31°  20'  N.,  118°  21'  E.),  a  city  of  137,000  in- 
habitants, was  opened  to  foreign  trade  in  1877.  For 
twenty-eight  years  there  was  no  concession,  settlement, 
or  reserved  area  for  foreign  residence ;  but  in  1905  an  area 
was  marked  off  for  an  international  settlement,  to  be 
administered  on  the  Yochow  plan.  The  following  figures 
show  the  development  of  trade : 


Imports. 

Exports. 

Total. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

1884 

2,681,697 

1,206,793 

3.888,490 

1894 

5,068,450 

5,156,090 

10,224,540 

1904 

9,916,453 

13.306,930 

23.223,383 

I9II 

. .   10,796,055 

10,636,102 

21,432.157 

The  imports  in  1904  included  cotton  woven  fabrics 
(Tls.1,750,000  for  foreign,  and  Tls.274,000  for  native  weav- 
ings),  cotton  yam  (Tls.818,000),  gunny  bags  (Tls.426,000), 
kerosene  oil  (Tls.718,000),  and  sugar  (Tl5.i,209,ooo) ; 
the  exports  included  few  articles  of  much  importance 
except  rice,  of  which  the  shipments,  ranging  generally  from 
2,000,000  to  4,000,000  piculs,  amoimted  to  5,621,143  piculs 
in  1904,  and  8,438,093  piculs  (502,250  tons)  in  1905  ;  but  in 
1911  the  export  was  only  2,665,151  piculs  (158,630  tons). 


240     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

KlANGSU 

The  province  of  Kiangsu  is  essentially  a  country  of 
the  plain,  comprising  nearly  the  entire  area  of  the  alluvial 
deposit  of  the  mouth  of  the  Yangtze,  and  the  coast  strip, 
as  far  up  as  Shantung,  of  the  Yellow  River  deposit.  Its 
area  is  estimated  at  38,600  square  miles,  and  its  population 
variously  at  from  14,000,000  to  39,000,000,  but  given  in 
the  census  of  1910  as  17,300,000.  It  is  a  province  in  which, 
through  its  whole  extent,  every  inch  of  ground  is  utilised, 
even  the  otherwise  barren  wastes  of  the  low  coast  supply- 
ing the  salt  for  the  Hwai  Administration,  which  provides 
officially  for  the  needs  of  six  provinces  or  parts  of  pro- 
vinces, with  a  probable  total  of  a  hundred  million  consumers. 
The  natural  products  are  rich  in  quality  and  infinite  in 
variety,  including  silk,  by  nature  the  finest  in  the  world, 
rice,  the  choicest  of  any  in  China,  cotton,  of  short  staple 
but  fine  fibre,  besides  opiimi,  wh^it,  beans,  etc. ;  while 
the  products  of  its  hand-looms,  01  the  silk  weavers  of  Soo- 
chow  and  Nanking,  and  of  the  cotton  weavers  of  every 
farmstead  in  the  province,  have  been  renowned  for  centuries. 
Trade  is  an  instinct  of  the  province,  facilitated  by  the  canals 
which  ever3^where  and  in  all  directions  intersect  its  surface, 
the  Grand  Canal  being  only  primus  inter  pares.  The  ruined 
bridges,  temples,  and  houses  of  this  smiling  land,  devas- 
tated by  the  Taiping  rebels  (1853-1864),  were  a  marked 
characteristic  of  Kiangsu  thirty  years  ago,  and  are  still 
observable  in  many  places.  Kiangsu,  Kiangsi,  and  Anhwei 
form  the  Viceroyalty  of  Liangkiang,  "  The  Two  River 
(provinces)."  In  the  province  are  four  treaty  ports,  Nanking, 
Chinkiang,  Soochow,  and  Shanghai. 

Nanking  (32^  13'  N.,  119°  25'  E.),  the  "Southern 
Capital,"  the  official  name  being  Kiangning,  "  River  Rest,'* 
was  the  capital  of  the  Empire  at  several  periods  of  its  history, 
the  last  occasion  being  under  the  two  first  Ming  Emperors, 
1368-1402.  Remains  of  some  of  the  old  walls  are  still 
discernible,  one  of  the  time  of  the  Six  Dynasties,  a.d. 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        24I 

221-587,  and  another  of  the  city  under  the  Southern  Sung 
(a.d.  1127-1280),  and  Mongol  (a.d.  1280-1368)  Djoiasties. 
The  present  wall,  substantially  that  of  the  Ming  Hung-wu 
(A.D.  1368),  but  renovated  after  its  capture  by  the  Taipings 
in  1853  and  its  recapture  after  a  siege  of  eleven  years  in 
1864,  has  a  circuit  of  twenty-five  miles,  and  endoses  an 
area  sufficient  rather  for  the  possible  population  of  the 
capital  of  an  Empire  than  for  the  present  population  of 
275,000.  The  walls  and  city,  and  the  tombs  of  the  early 
Ming  Emperors  attract  visitors  ;  but  the  pride  of  Nanking, 
the  famous  porcelain  pagoda  erected  by  Yimg-lo  (a.d. 
1403-1424),  was  destroyed  by  the  Taipings.  Nanking  is  the 
capital  of  the  Viceroyalty  of  the  Two  Kiang,  but  the 
Governor  of  Kiangsu  has  his  seat  at  Soochow.  The  first 
treaty  made  by  China  with  any  of  the  maritime  Powers 
was  the  British  treaty  of  1842,  signed  at  Nanking.  The 
French  treaty  of  1858  provided  for  the  opening  of  Nanking, 
then  in  the  hands  of  the  Taipings  ;  but  when,  in  1865,  the 
British  and  French  Commissioners  visited  the  place,  they 
decided  that  the  trade  prospects  were  too  unpromising, 
and  it  was  actually  opened  as  a  treaty  port  only  in  1899 
The  principal  industry  is  silk-weaving,  which,  however, 
has  not  fully  recovered  from  the  dislocation  caused  by  the 
disorders  of  the  Taiping  occupation,  the  number  of  looms 
being  said  to  have  been  50,000  in  the  city  and  its  immediate 
vicinity  before  the  rebellion,  and  to  be  only  5,000  now.  The 
development  of  trade  is  shown  by  the  following  figures : 


Imports. 

Exports. 

TOTAl» 

Tls, 

Tls. 

Tls. 

. .       2,158,311 

. .       5,296.119 
. .       6,092,015 

1,710,284 
3.529,929 
2.970,523 

3,868,595 
8,826,048 
9,062,539 

The  imports  comprised  the  usual  requirements  of  a  dis- 
tributing centre,  and  of  exports  nearly  two-thirds  of  the 
value  consisted  of  satin  (Tls.2,335,000  in  1904). 

16 


242     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

Chinkiang  (32*"  13'  N.,  119^  25'  E.)  occupies  an 
important  position  near  to  the  point  where  the  Yangtze 
leaves  the  old  geologic  formation  and  becomes  more  or 
less  deltaic  in  character,  and  at  the  point  where  the  Grand 
Canal  is  intersected  by  the  Yangtze.  By  means  of  the 
Grand  Canal  it  is  a  distributing  and  collecting  centre  for 
a  lai^e  area,  extending  into  Shantung,  Honan,  Anhwei,  and 
even  into  Chihli.  The  city,  with  a  population  of  170,000, 
was  opened  to  foreign  trade  in  1861,  and  the  foreign  resi- 
dential quarter  is  on  the  British  concession,  administered 
in  the  same  way  as  the  British  concession  at  Tientsin.  The 
course  of  trade  is  shown  by  the  following  figures : 


Imports. 

Exports. 

TOTAI.. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

1864 

4.673,294 

1,208,486 

5,881.780 

1874 

.   11,439,133 

1,029,008 

12,468.141 

1884 

11,108,506 

976,425 

12,084,931 

1894 

.   15,165.088 

4,127,403 

19,292,491 

1904 

•   23,941,579 

8,381,625 

32,323,204 

191 1 

.   18,237,184 

5,242,502 

23.479,686 

The  principal  imports  in  1904  were  cotton  woven  fabrics 
(Tls.3,866,000),  cotton  yam  (TLs.3,693,000),  matches 
(Tls.572,000),  kerosene  oil  (Tls.1,786,000),  sandal-wood 
(Tls.325,000),  sugar  (Tls.3,681,000),  wood-oil  {Tls.  1,058,000), 
and  tobacco  (Tls.594,000).  The  principal  exports  were 
beans  (Tls.535,000),  bean-cake  (Tls.781,000),  ground  nuts 
(Tls.1,804,000),  ground  nut-oil  {Tls.911,000),  sesamum  oil 
(Tls.876,000)  and  satin  (Tls.759,000).  Of  the  total  import 
of  foreign  goods,  excluding  opium,  in  1904  (Tls.15,185,682), 
78  per  cent,  went  inland  under  transit  pass,  38  per  cent, 
going  to  destinations  in  the  home  province,  and  40  per  cent, 
into  other  provinces,  Anhwei,  Shantung,  Honan,  etc. 

SoocHOW  (31*"  25'  N.,  120*"  34'  E.),  the  provincial  capital, 
has  for  centuries  been  famous  for  its  wealth  and  its  magni- 


^THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        ^43 

ficence,  and  is  the  subject  of  two  well-known  proverbiitl 
e3cpressions : 

Sbang  yu  tien  tang, 

Hsia  yu  Soo  Hang. 

(Above  is  heaven's  blue, 

Below  are  Hang  and  Soo.) 

The  other  is  more  cryptic,  and  is  expressed  in  three  words 
"  Hang  Soo  Lin,"  which  may  be  explained  as  follows : 
"  Be  bom  at  (Hang-)  chow,  because  there  the  men  are 
handsomest  and  most  learned;  marry  at  (Soo-)  chow, 
because  there  the  women  are  most  beautiful ;  die  at  (Lin-) 
chow,  because  there  may  be  found  the  finest  wood  for 
cofl&ns."  Poets  have  sung  the  city  in  many  another  phrase, 
and  Western  poets  may  there  find  keen  en]03anent,  pro^ 
vided  that,  as  elsewhere  in  China,  they  have  no  olfactory 
nerves.  The  population,  estimated  before  the  reb,ellion 
at  a  million,  is  now  about  500,000 ;  the  walls  are  about 
ten  miles  in  circuit,  and,  as  is  usual  with  Chinese  cities, 
the  greater  part  of  the  trade  is  carried  on  in  the  suburbs, 
outside  the  walls,  more  especially  to  the  north-west.  The 
one  important  industry  is  silk — creeling,,  spinning,  and  weav- 
ing. Soochow  was  opened  as  a  treaty  port  in  1896,  and  an 
international  settlement  was  laid  out,  to  be  administered 
on  the  plan  afterwards  adopted  for  Yochow,  situated  outside 
the  south  wall,  at  the  greatest  possible  distance  from  the 
business  quarter  and  from  the  railway  station,  opened  to 
traffic  in  1906.  The  opening  of  the  port  has  produced 
but  little  effect  on  the  course  of  trade,  which  continues 
to  foUow  old  channels  to  Shanghai;  the  total  value  in 
1904  was  Tls.1,247,668  for  imports,  of  which  tobacco 
contributed  nearly  a  fourth,  and  Tls.1,886,194  for  exports, 
of  which  silk  contributed  four-fifths. 

Shanghai  (31^  14'  N.,  lai*"  29'  E.),  "  By-the-Sea,"  is 
now  far  removed  from  salt  water,  but  is  the  first  point  on 
entering  the  Yangtze  at  which  a  port  can  be  established. 
At  a  distance  of  60  miles  from  the  North  Saddle  light, 
on  an  outlier  to  the  entrance,  and  at  32  miles  from  the 


244    ^^^  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

Tungsha  lightship,  marking  the  outer  bar  of  the  southern 
entrance  to  the  Yangtze,  at  the  village  of  Wusung,  is  the 
first  afSuent  of  the  Yangtze,  the  Hwangpu,  draining  an 
extensive  area  of  canal-intersected  plain  between  Chinkiang 
and  Hangchow.  The  Hwangpu,  a  tidal  river  emptying 
into  a  tidal  river,  has  an  outer  and  an  inner  bar,  the  latter 
originally  with  only  a  general  depth  of  19  feet  at  high  water, 
spring  tides,  though  at  times  this  is  increased  to  23  feet. 
This  sufSced  for  the  vessels  engaged  in  the  canying  trade  in 
the  early  da}^,  but,  with  the  increase  in  carrying  capacity  of 
steamers  in  recent  times,  many  ocean  steamers  are  now 
compelled  to  discharge  outside  Wusung,  and  in  1906  a 
Conservancy  Board  was  established  by  the  Chinese  Govern- 
ment, under  the  stipulations  of  the  International  Protocol 
of  September  8th,  1901,  which  has  much  improved  the  condi- 
tion of  the  river.  Twelve  miles  up  the  Hwangpu  is  the  city 
of  Shanghai,  with  excellent  anchorage  and  discharging 
facilities.  The  anchorage  had  thirty  to  forty  years  ago  a 
general  width  of  1,800  feet,  but,  by  the  agency  of  natural 
causes  acting  mainly  upon  the  works  of  man,  this  is  now 
reduced  to  about  two-thirds  of  the  former  avaflable  width, 
but  with  unaltered  depth.  At  Shanghai  is  the  jimction 
with  the  Soochow  Creek,  which  provides  water  communica- 
tion with  the  country  to  the  west,  and  which,  almost  entirely 
through  human  agency,  is  now  reduced  to  less  than  a  hundred 
yards  in  width.  The  approaches  from  the  sea  are  lighted 
by  seventeen  Ughts. 

Shanghai  is  mentioned  in  history  2,150  years  ago,  and 
900  years  ago  was  a  mart  of  sufficient  importance  to  be 
made  a  Customs  Station.  It  was  occupied  in  1842  by  the 
British  forces  on  their  way  to  Nanking,  and,  having  been 
declared  a  treaty  port  by  the  treaty  of  Nanking,  was  for- 
mally opened  to  trade  on  November  17th,  1843.  The  first 
district  to  be  occupied  for  foreign  residence  was  selected 
by  the  British  authorities,  bounded  on  the  south  by  the 
Yangkingpang,  a  ditch  running  east  and  west  about  a 
quarter-mile  north  of  the  Chinese  city,  on  the  north  by 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        245 

t  the  Soochow  Creek,  on  the  east  by  the  Hwangpu,  and  on 
the  west  by  Defence  Creek  dug  at  one  mile  distance  from 
the  Hwangpu,  enclosing  an  area  of  470  acres  with  a  river 
frontage  of  three-fourths  of  a  mile.  In  1849  ^^^  French 
authorities  delimited  an  area  between  the  Yangkingpang 
and  the  city,  and  in  1853  obtained  in  extension  the  narrow 
strip  lying  between  the  city  and  the  river,  having,  with 
narrow  depth,  a  river  frontage  of  nearly  three-fourths  of 
a  mile.  Ihe  Americans  occupied  the  district  called  Hong- 
kew,  lying  north  of  the  Soochow  Creek,  with  frontage  on 
that  creek  and  on  the  river,  including  the  most  valuable 
part  of  the  wharfage  of  Shanghai.  This  American  Settle- 
ment was  in  1863  amalgamated  with  the  British  Settle- 
ment, both  governments  waiving  their  exclusive  rights  and 
thereby  creating  the  self-governing  republic  styled  *'  The 
Foreign  Community  of  Shanghai,  North  of  the  Yangking- 
pang," the  French  Government  having  refused  to  surrender 
its  jurisdiction  over  the  so-called  "  Concession  Fran^aise." 

»  In  1899  these  various  settlements  were  extended,  and  the 
authority  of  the  Municipal  Council  of  the  "  International 
Settlement,"  as  it  is  called  for  short,  now  extends  over 
5,584  acres,  while  the  present  area  of  the  "  Concession 
Fran9aise"  is  358  acres.  The  resident  population  of  the 
International  Settlement  at  different  periods  and  of  the 
whole  of  Shanghai  and  district  for  1910  are  shown  on 
next  page. 

The  resident  population  under  the  French  Municipality 
in  1905  was  831  foreigners  (including  274  French,  109 
British,  47  German,  73  Japanese)  and  84,792  Chinese.  By 
whatever  name  they  are  called,  and  whateW  the  minor  dif- 
ferendes  in  their  form  of  government,  the  several  "  reserved 
areas  "  at  Shanghai,  whether  British,  French,  American,  or 
International,  are  not  concessions  such  as  exist  at  Tientsini 
Hankow,  and  Canton,  where  a  grant  has  been  made  by  a 
lease  in  perpetuity  from  the  government  of  China  to  the 
foreign  Power,  and  where  the  "  land-renter  "  holds  under 
a  tit)e-4eed  issued  by  the  foreign  lessee  Power,  and  r^is- 


246    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF 

CHINA 

[ 

1880. 

X885. 

1890. 

1893. 

X900. 

X910. 

lat 

lAt. 

lat 

lat 

lat 

lat 

AU 

Sett 

Sett 

Sett. 

Sett 

Sett 

Sett 

Shal.* 

Bdticb 

x«o6z 

M" 

X.663 

a,o55 
3a8 

a,987 

5,369 

5.569 

Ameriodii 

830 

274 

3*3 

56a 

940 

1^ 

FCttM^ 

41 

66 

"4 

X38 

176 

il? 

German 

\u 

316 

lit 

314 

5a5 

886 

[apaneie      .. 
i^wtugiwse  .. 

595 

350 

736 

3,361 

5.535 

a85 

457 

564 

731 

978 

1.495 

3,199 

Russian 

3 

5 

7 

38 

f^ 

317 

377 

Anstro-Hungarian  .. 

31 

44 

S8 

2? 

loa 

107 

lUUan 

9 

31 

aa 

60 

134 

131 

Spanish 

76 

asa 

329 

'it 

III 

140 

140 

Danish 

32 

51 

69 

76 

113 

"3 

Other  foreign 

103 

191 

163 

478 

433 

534 

665 

Total     .. 

a,  197 

3.673 

3»82i 

4,684 

6,774 

13.536 

17.555 

Chinese 

xo7,8ia 

135.665 

168,139 

240.995 

345,276 

488,005 

690,000 

tered  only  at  the  Consulate  of  that  Power.  They  are 
'*  Settlements/'  reserved  areas  within  which  foreigners  are 
[Permitted  to  acquire  land,  in  which  Chinese  may  continue 
to  hold  land,  in  which  foreigners  acquire  land  by  direct 
negotiation  with  the  original  owners — ^for  such  land  a  bill 
of  sale  is  not  issued,  but  it  is  held  under  "  perpetual  lease," 
sealed  and  issued  by  the  Chinese  territorial  authority ; 
and  this  title-deed  may  be  registered  at  any  Consulate, 
ordinarily  that  of  the  land-renter,  and  not  compulsorily  at 
that  of  the  titular  controlling  Power.  The  Settlement  has 
complete  self-governing  power,  including  the  power  of 
taxation  and  poUce ;  but  the  s]rstems  on  the  two  sides  of 
the  Yangkingpang  differ.  They  are  alike  only  in  not 
granting  the  franchise  to  Chinese,  who  are  considered  to 
be  residents  of  the  Foreign  Settlements  by  sufferance,  a 
sufferance  dating  from  the  time  when  they  came  by  thour 
sands  as  refugees  from  the  Taipings,  and  found  under  the 
foreign  flags  the  safety  they  could  not  find  under  their  own. 
The  first  Land  Regulations  for  the  British  Settlement 
were  drawn  up  in  1845,  with  a  "  Committee  of  Roads  and 

^  The  figures  included  for  the  population  outside  the  Inter* 
national  Settlement  are  those  ior  1905. 


THE  PROVINCES  AND   THE  TREATY  PORTS        247 

Jetties  "  nominated  by  the  Constd.  These,  as  amended  in 
1854  and  approved  by  the  Chinese  authorities,  extended 
the  privilege  of  acquiring  land  within  the  Settlement  to 
all  foreigners  ;  and  when  in  1863  the  British  and  American 
Settlements  were  united,  the  Municipal  Council,  first 
elected  in  1855,  became  the  Mimicipal  Council  of  the  Settle- 
ment with  the  long  name  mentioned  before.  The  Land 
Regulations  were  last  amended  in  1898,  and,  having  re- 
ceived the  assent  of  the  foreign  Ministers  at  Peking,  are 
now  the  governing  charter  of  the  community.  The  elec- 
torate consists  of  all  householders  who  pay  rates  on  an 
assessed  rental  of  Tls.500  a  year,  and  owners  of  land  valued 
at  Tls.500.  The  French  Municipality  was  organised  in 
1862 ;  the  electorate  consists  of  all  owners  of  land,  occu- 
pants paying  a  rental  of  1,000  francs  a  year,  and  residents 
having  an  income  of  4,000  francs  a  year ;  and  the  Mimicipal 
Council  is  under  the  presidency  of  the  French  Consul-General, 
whose  assent  is  necessary  for  the  validity  of  its  decisions. 
Under  these  forms  of  government  the  place  has  grown  in 
wealth,  the  International  Settlement,  built  up  by  British, 
American,  and  German  enterprise,  naturally  more  rapidly 
than  the  French.  In  the  International  Settlement  in  1905 
the  assessed  value  of  the  5,584  acres  contained  therein 
was  Tls.83,000,000,*  representing  a  market  value  well  over 
Tls.100,000,000  ;  on  2,471  foreign  and  45,328  Chinese  houses 
the  assessed  annual  rental  was  Tls.8,350,000,  representing 
an  additional  capital  value  of  over  Tls.100,000,000.  The 
assessed  value  of  the  358  acres  of  land  under  the  French 
Mimicipality  in  1905  was  Tls.8,500,000,  and  the  assessed 
rental  of  houses  was  Tls.1,145,000.  The  soil  on  which 
the  Settlement  is.  built  is  described  by  a  competent  au- 
thority as  consisting  of  "  a  water-logged  highly  micaceous 
sand  of  extreme  fineness  and  of  alluvial  deposit  and  generally, 
under  pressure,  with  no  more  consistency  than  a  quick- 
sand "  :  and  it  says  much  for  the  enterprise  of  the  com- 

*  Shanghai  tael,  worth  less  by  10  per  cent,  than  the  Haikwan 
tael  in  which  the  values  of  trade  are  expressed. 


248     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

munity  that  a  modest  beginning  has  been  made  in  sky- 
scrapers of  six  storeys  in  height. 

When  the  foreign  trader  advanced  his  outpost  from 
Canton  to  Shanghai,  this,  the  chief  mart  of  Central  China, 
was  to  him  North  China,  a  fact  preserved  for  posterity  in 
the  name  of  its  oldest  newspaper,  the  North-China  Herald, 
with  its  daily  edition,  the  North-China  Daily  News ;  and 
the  absence  of  good  deep-water  ports  in  the  north  has  con- 
tinued to  Shanghai  its  old-time  function  of  distributing 
centre  for  North  China  as  well  as  for  the  Yangtze  basin. 
The  commercial  history  of  the  port  can  be  shown  by  figures 
better  than  by  any  narrative. 

TONNAGB  OF  SHIPPING  ENTERED  AND  CLEARED. 


1864. 

1884. 

1904. 

1911. 

British 

991.7^^ 

2,306,036 

6,524,801 

7,311.167 

American  . . 

548.175 

544.032 

394.659 

454.467 

German 

116,945 

105.458 

1,614,027 

1.600,051 

Japanese    . . 

75^ 

206,473 

495,292* 

3.986,523 

Other  foreign 

130.397 

158,060 

1.143,970 

1.754.010 

Chinese  steam 

•            — 

704.439 

2,009.049 

3.073.254 

Total  ..      1,788,059     4,024,498   12,181,798     18.179,472 

It  is  important  to  show  the  distributing  trade  of  Shanghai 
rather  than  its  purely  local  trade,  and  this  is  brought  out 
in  the  following  figures : 


Foreign  Products  Imported 

Gross  Imports. 

Rb-Exports. 

Net  Imports. 

Tls. 

Tk. 

Tls. 

1859 

. .       32,429,232 

2,609,603 

29,819,629! 

1864 

. .       30,522,183 

17.723.355 

12,798,828 

1874 

. .       52,902,102 

43.764.978 

9.137.124 

1884 

. .       47,158.013 

39,690,117 

7,467,896 

1894 

. .       96,920.931 

66,435.217 

30,485,714 

1904 

. .     196,905.998 

151,617,898 

45,288,100 

I9II 

. .     220,279,867 

139,160,662 

81,119,205 

•  Japanese  tonnage  in  1904  reduced  from  1,744,249  tons  in  1903, 
owing  to  Russo-Japanese  war. 

t  The  Yangtze  and  northern  ports  not  having  been  opened  to  foreign 
shipping,  re-exports  thither  did  not  pass  through  the  Customs  in  1859. 


THE  PROVINCES  AND   THE  TREATY  PORTS        249 


Chinese  Produce  Imported 


Gross  Imports. 

Rb-Exports. 

Net  Imports 

Tls. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

1859 

— 

— 

— 

1864 

.       27,542.065 

17,062,865 

10,479.200 

1874 

•       36.734.241 

29,946,189 

6,788,052 

1884 

•       39.454.313 

32,576,102 

6.878.2II 

1894 

•       53.361.347 

47,092,163 

6.269.184 

1904 

.     127,970,828 

107,966,192 

20,004,636 

I9II 

.     173,806,469 

147,781,070 

26,025,399 

Chinese  Produce  Exported 

Original 
Exports. 

Re-Exports. 

Total. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

1859 

•       33,003,545 

— 

33.003,545 

1864 

.       20.137,038 

17,062,865 

37,199,903 

1874 

.       27.541,834 

29,946,189 

57.488.023 

1884 

.       26,603,194 

32.576,102 

59.179.296 

1894 

•       45,340,093 

47,092,163 

92.432.256 

1904 

.       80,187,434 

107.966,192 

188,153.626 

I9II 

.       90,115.886 

147,781.070 

237,896,956 

Total  Trade 

Inward. 

Outward. 

Total. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

Tb. 

1859 

.       32,429,232 

35.613.148 

68,042.380 

1864 

.       58,064.248 

54.923,258 

112.987.506 

1874 

.       89,636.343 

101.253,001 

190.889.344 

1884 

86.612,326 

98,869,413 

185,481.739 

1894 

.     150,282,278 

158.867.473 

309,149,751 

1904 

.     324,876,826 

339.771.524 

664,648,350 

I9II 

.     394,086,336 

377.057.618 

771,143.954 

In  the  original  exports  from  Shanghai  in  1904,  silk  and 
its  products  figwed  for  Tls.33,411,000,  raw  cotton  for 
Tls.i6»ooo,ooo,  cotton  cloth  from  steam  factories  Tls.747,000, 


250     TH£  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

and  from   hand-looms   Tls.5,920,000,  factory-spmi  cotton 
yam  Tls.4,150,000,  and  rice  Tls.5,100,000. 


Chekiang 

Chekiang,  with  an  area  of  36,700  square  miles  and  a 
population  estimated  at  17,000,000,  formed  the  northern 
end  of  the  ancient  Kingdom  of  Yueh,  which  extended  along 
the  coast  from  Canton  to  Shanghai.  It  is  divided  by  the 
Tsientang  River,  emptying  into  the  sea  between  Hangchow 
and  Shaohing,  into  a  large  southern  section,  generally  moun- 
tainous, but  with  some  considerable  plains  in  its  northern 
part,  and  a  smaller  northern  section,  almost  entirely  plain, 
deposited  by  the  Yangtze.  The  plains  of  the  northern 
section  and  of  the  northern  part  of  the  southern  section 
are  protected  from  incursions  of  the  sea  by  well-built  sea 
walls,  starting  from  Hangchow  and  skirting  both  sides  of 
the  estuary  of  the  Tsientang,  with  a  total  length  of  about 
250  miles.  The  Hangchow  or  Tsientang  bore  or  eger, 
seen  at  its  best  opposite  Haining,  is  among  the  wonders  of 
the  world,  presenting  the  sight  of  a  soUd  and  almost 
perpendicular  wall  of  water,  12  to  15  feet  high,  rushing 
into  the  estuary  and  up  the  river  at  a  speed  of  12  to  15 
miles  an  hour.  The  plain  country,  especially  north  of  the 
Tsientang,  is  intersected  by  canals,  including  the  Grand 
Canal,  the  southern  starting-point  of  which  is  Hangchow ; 
all  are  on  the  same  level,  and  freely  intercommunicating, 
except  those  from  Hangchow  along  the  coast  to  Haining 
and  intersecting  the  city  of  Hangchow,  which  are  on  a  higher 
level.  Being  in  China,  where  so  much  is  topsy-turvy,  the 
high-level  canals  adjoin  the  estuary  of  the  Tsientang,  in 
which  the  range  of  spring  tides  is  25-35  feet,  and  the  low- 
level  canals  are  inland.  The  principal  products  of  the 
province  are  silk,  tea,  and  cotton,  and  it  contains  three 
treaty  ports. 

Hangchow  (30**  12'  N.,  120**  12'  E.),  the  provincial 
capital,  and  for  a  time  the  capital  of  the  Southern  Sung 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        25I 

Empire  (a.d.  1129-1280),  was  opened  as  a  treaty  port  in 
1896.  A  centre  of  the  silk  industry,  in  which  it  surpassed 
Soochow,  it  shared  the  fate  of  other  cities  of  the  Yangtze 
plain  during  the  Taiping  rebellion,  and  has  not  yet  fully 
recovered  from  the  devastation  it  suffered  at  that  time. 
Its  present  population  is  estimated  at  350,000*  As  at 
Soochow,  opened  at  the  same  time,  an  International  Settle- 
ment with  an  area  of  182  acres  was  set  aside  by  the  Chinese 
authorities  and  retained  under  their  control,  and  alongside 
it  was  granted  a  Japanese  concession  of  120  acres.  Some 
fifty  miles  from  Hangchow  is  the  mountain  resort  of  Mokan- 
shan,  with  many  sunmier  cottages  built  by  residents  of 
Shanghai  and  other  places.  Trade  communication  outside 
the  district  is  entirely  with  Shanghai,  by  a  route  following 
the  Grand  Canal  and  other  inland  waterways,  and  is  main- 
tained by  "  trains  "  made  up  of  passenger  and  cargo-boats 
towed  by  steam-launches.  A  considerable  trade  ends  and 
originates  in  Hangchow,  as  shown  by  the  following  figures : 


Imports. 

Exports. 

Total. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

1898 
1904 

I9II 

2.960,234 
8,702,249 
8,065.977 

5.033.245 
9.158.519 
9.632.054 

7.993.479 
17,760,768 

17.698,031 

Among  the  imports  of  1904  cotton  manufactures  figured 
but  little,  the  principal  being  tin  (Tls.197,000),  kerosene 
oil  (Tls.699,000),  matches  (Tls.97,000),  sugar  (Tls.1,710,000), 
beaiis  (11s.795,ooo),  bean-cake  (Tls.275,000),  bean-oil 
(Tls.134,000),  wood-oil  (Tls.135,000),  rape-seed  (Tls.iii,ooo), 
and  tobacco  (Tls.418,000).  Among  exports  the  principal 
were  cotton  (Tls.306,000),  fans  (Tls.800,000),  silk  and  its 
products  (Tls.3,182,000),  and  tea  (TIs.4,245,000). 

NiNGPO  (29^  53'  N.,  121**  33'  E.)  was  visited  by  the 
Portuguese  in  1522,  but  their  traders  were  expelled  in  1542. 
It  was  occupied  by  the  British  forces  in  1841,  and  in  1842 
was  declared  a  treaty  port.    Its  population  is  estimated 


252     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

at  260,000.  There  is  no  foreign  concession  or  reserved 
area,  and  the  police  and  roads  are  maintained  at  the  cost  and 
under  the  control  of  the  Chinese  authorities.  There  was  in 
the  early  days  some  question  whether  Ningpo  or  Shanghai 
should  become  the  commercial  centre  for  trade  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Yangtze,  but  the  strong  organisation  of  the 
Ningpo  merchants  in  the  gilds  kept  the  trade  of  the  port 
in  their  own  hands,  with  the  result  that  Shanghai  took 
metropolitan  rank.  Ningpo  is,  and  for  fifty  years  has 
been,  commercially  subsidiary  to  Shanghai,  with  which 
almost  alone  trade  is  carried  on,  communication  being 
maintained  by  a  daily  steamer.  The  opening  first  of  Wuhu, 
then  of  Hangchow,  diverted  a  part  of  the  trade  from  Ningpo. 
The  course  of  trade  is  seen  from  the  following  figures : 


Imports. 

Exports. 

Total. 

Tls. 

Tb. 

Tls. 

1864 

10,264,616 

6,250,306 

16,514,922 

1874 

7,532.465 

7,013.845 

14.546,310 

1884 

6,649,117 

4.773.272 

11,422,389 

1894 

8,984,676 

5.615,081 

14.599.757 

1904 

.   13,296,271 

8,001,141 

21,297,412 

191 1 

.   i4.357.4il 

7,863,141 

22,220,552 

With  so  slight  an  expansion  of  values  expressed  in  silver, 
obviously  a  non-progressive  port.  Among  the  imports  of 
1904  the  principal  were  cotton  fabrics  (Tls.2,950,000), 
cotton  yam  (Tb.533,000),  tin  (Tls.1,300,000),  kerosene  oil 
(Tls.561,000),  sugar  (Tls.1,529,000),  and  tobacco,  including 
cigarettes  (Tls.312,000).  The  chief  exports  were  cotton 
(Tls.i, 972,000),  rush  mats  (Tls.290,000),  tea  (Tls.3,409,000), 
and  fishery  products  (Tls.339,000). 

Wenchow  (28''  I'  N..  120**  40'  E.),  a  city  of  80,000 
inhabitants,  is  situated  toward  the  south  of  Chekiang.  A 
fairly  clean  and  very  picturesque  city,  intersected  by  canals, 
it  reminds  the  visitor  somewhat  of  Venice.  It  has  no 
foreign  settlement,  and  few  foreign  residents.  It  was 
opened  as  a  treaty  port  in  1877,  and  has  failed  to  develop 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        253 

a  trade.  In  1904  imports  were  valued  at  TIs.1,523,480, 
including  kerosene  oil  (TIs.189,000)  and  sugar  (Tls.137,000)  ; 
and  exports  at  Tls.866,905,  including  tea  (118.505,000) ; 
making  a  total  trade  of  Tls.2,390,385.  The  trade  of  1911 
was  only  a  little  more. 


FUKIEN 

Fukien,  with  an  area  of  46,300  square  miles  and  a 
population  variously  estimated  from  8,000,000  (Ross,  1891) 
to  25,000,000  (Popoff,  1894),  but  given  by  the  census  of 
1910  at  13,100,000,  is  essentially  a  mountainous  province. 
The  principal  river  is  the  Min,  which,  with  its  many  branches, 
drains  the  greater  part  of  the  province,  and  has  its  mouth 
at  Foochow.  The  valleys  and  foot-hills  produce  tea, 
sugar,  opium,  and  food  for  the  inhabitants,  while  from 
the  mountains  come  timber,  bamboos,  and,  in  recent  years, 
camphor.  One  of  the  most  important  industries  is  fishing, 
and  the  passenger  on  the  mail  steamer,  out  of  sight  of  land 
or  seeing  only  projecting  headlands,  will  pass  through  fleets 
of  thousands  of  fishing-boats,  cockle-shells  riding  buoyantly 
on  the  waves  of  the  stormiest  piece  of  vrater  in  the  world, 
the  Formosa  Channel.  Supported  mainly  by  the  sea,  with 
a  rough  and  not  particularly  fertile  hinterland,  the  people 
of  the  province  are  driven  to  emigrate  in  great  numbers, 
and  from  Amoy,  it  is  estimated,  at  least  200,000  able- 
bodied  men  go  every  year  to  the  Southern  Seas,  usually 
on  arrival  indentured  for  terms  of  three  to  five  years.  In 
Fukien  are  three  treaty  ports. 

Santuao  (26**  40'  N.,  119''  40'  E.),  the  "  Haven  of  the 
Three  Marts,"  has  one  of  the  finest  harbours  in  the  world, 
eminently  suitable  for  a  naval  station ;  and  this,  with  the 
desire  to  protect  it  by  quasi-neutralisation,  led  to  its  volun- 
tary opening  in  1899.  The  port  is  shut  off  by  mountains 
from  all  except  a  small  distributing  area,  and  the  opening 
has  produced  but  small  effect  on  trade,  the  only  visible 
result  being  that  a  quantity  of  tea,  which  formerly  was 


254     ^^^  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

carried  by  porters  over  the  mountains  to  Foochow,  now 
originates  in  Santuao,  is  shipped  to  Foochow  for  its  old 
market,  and  is  re-exported  thence.  In  1904  the  imports 
by  steamer  were  valued  at  113.53,723 ;  to  exports,  tea 
(110,772  piculs)  contributed  Tls.1,936,000,  and  all  other 
goods  Tb.5,359. 

Foochow  (25*^  59'  N.,  119**  27'  E.),  the  "  City  of  Happi- 
ness," the  provincial  capital,  has  a  population  estimated 
at  625,000.  It  is  situated  on  the  Min  River  at  a  distance 
of  thirty-four  miles  from  the  sea,  and  nine  miles  above 
Pagoda  Anchorage,  the  highest  point  reached  by  steamers. 
At  Pagoda  is  the  Foochow  Arsenal,  a  government  dock  and 
ship-building  yard,  partly  destroyed  by  the  French  in  1884. 
Foochow  was  opened  as  a  treaty  port  under  the  British 
treaty  of  1842,  but  nothing  was  done  to  develop  its  trade 
until  ten  years  later,  when  traders  went  there  to  secure 
the  teas  of  Fukien,  Kiangsi,  and  Anhwei,  coming  over  the 
mountains  to  the  port ;  even  after  the  opening  of  the 
Yangtze  ports  in  1861,  tea  continued  to  go  to  Foochow 
from  the  southern  part  of  Anhwei.  Foochow  was  opened 
before  the  period  of  residential  concessions  (1861),  nor  has 
it  a  settlement  such  as  those  of  Shanghai,  opened  under 
the  same  treaty.  The  residential  quarter  is  on  the  south 
side  of  the  river,  opposite  the  city,  and  its  municipal  organi- 
sation is  of  the  inchoate  form  described  under  Chefoo. 
The  resident  foreign  population  of  the  district  in  1905  was 
841,  including  194  British,  163  American,  and  349  Japanese. 
Foochow  is  an  instance  of  a  port  which,  as  far  as  foreign 
interests  are  concerned,  is  decadent ;  it  depended  mainly 
on  one  industry,  tea,  and,  with  a  diminishing  tea  trade, 
its  former  prosperity  has  departed.  In  the  following 
figures,  after  the  export  value  are  given  in  parentheses  the 
quantities  (in  thousands  of  piculs)  of  shipments  of  tea, 
including  in  1904  and  191 1  re-shipments  of  tea  received  from 
Santuao. 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS 


255 


Imports. 

Exports. 

TOTAI. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

1864    . 

.   7,134,000 

13,124,000  (487) 

20,258,000 

1874    . 

4,668,220 

15,406,672  (683) 

20,074,892 

1884    . 

.   5,038,689 

8,508,752  (680) 

i3.547.44x 

1894    . 

•   6,425,919 

7,025,013  (487) 

13.450,932 

1904    . 

.  10,048,966 

7,217,002  (293) 

17,265.968 

I9II 

•   8,437,141 

8.859,075  (307) 

17,296,216 

Those  are  the  figures  for  the  trade  by  steamer,  to  which 
in  1904,  to  get  the  total  trade  of  the  port,  must  be  added 
the  value  of  the  junk  trade,  imports  Tls.3,134,173,  exports 
Tls.8,316,932,  total  Tls.11,451,105.  During  the  year  1904 
the  principal  imports,  by  steamer  and  junk,  were  cotton 
fabrics  (Tls.810,000  for  foreign,  and  Tls.584,000  for  native 
weaving),  cotton  yam  (Tls.i,oii,ooo),  tin  (Tls.159,000), 
kerosene  oil  (Tls.747,000),  sugar  (Tls.309,000),  beans 
(Tls.516,000),  bean-  and  tea-oU  (Tls.475,000),  and  wheat 
(Tls.485,000).  The  principal  exports  were  tea  (value, 
including  Santuao  tea,  Tls.7,117,000),  soft-wood  timber 
(Tls.4,736,000),  edible  bamboo  shoots  (Tls.919,000),  paper 
(Tls.3,612,000) ;  among  other  noted  products  of  the  port 
are  lacquered  ware  and  ornaments  carved  from  soapstone. 

Amoy  (24**  27'  N.,  118°  5'  E.),  a  city  of  300,000  in- 
habitants on  an  island  of  the  same  name,  serves  as  steamer 
port  for  the  prefectures  of  Chuanchow  (Chinchew)  and 
Changchow.  The  outer  anchorage  offers  good  holding- 
ground,  but  is  exposed  to  the  south-west,  while  the  inner 
harboiu:  affords  perfect  shelter,  except  from  typhoons  which, 
getting  in,  are  unable  to  find  their  way  out.  TTie  inner 
harbour,  with  a  width  of  a  third  to  a  half-mile,  lies  between 
Amoy,  on  which  are  the  business  ofiices,  and  the  rocky 
island  of  Kulangsu,  which  constitutes  the  foreign  residential 
quarter.  The  municipal  organisation  was  of  the  headless 
and  unsanctioned  kind  until  1903,  when  Kulangsu  was 
made  an  International  Settlement  with  powers  of  self- 
government,  much  on  the  Shanghai  model.    In  1899  a 


256    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

Japanese  concession  was  marked  out  on  the  Amoy  side, 
but  has  not  been  developed.  At  the  upper  end  of  the 
inner  harbour  is  a  graving  dock,  300  feet  long  and  60  feet 
wide.  The  resident  foreign  population  of  the  district  in 
1905  was  1,912,  including  364  British,  35  American,  and 
1,426  Japanese.  Amoy  is  one  of  the  tea  markets  of  China, 
the  earUer  shipments  begin  mainly  of  Amoy  Oolong ;  this 
soon  deteriorated  in  quality,  and,  as  the  export  feU  ofi, 
its  place  was  taken  by  Formosa  Oolong,  the  culture  and 
preparation  of  which  were  introduced  by  Amoy  tea-men, 
and  which,  even  since  the  Japanese  occupation  of  Formosa 
(1895),  has  continued  to  find  its  way  to  Amoy  to  be  there 
blended,  packed,  and  matted.  The  history  of  the  trade  in 
Oolongs  is  interesting,  and  may  be  read  in  the  following 
figures  of  the  quantities  in  piculs  shipped  from  Amoy  and 
from  Tamsui  respectively,  the  Tamsui  output  being  entirely 
re-shipped  to  foreign  countries,  chiefly  the  United  States : 

Amoy  Teas.        Formosa  Teas. 


via  Amoy. 

Direct. 

1864 

..       37,217              — 

— 

1874 

71,560           24,610 

— 

1884 

..       42,923           98,754 

— 

1894 

..       29,312         137.245 

— 

1904 

3,065         100,683 

63.630 

1906 

2,450           59,005 

67.717 

I9II 

1.741              337 

The  following  i 

figxures  show  the  coiirse  of  trade  at  Amoy, 

the  value  of  ex] 

x>rts  includmg  that  of  Formosa 

tea  imported 

and  re-exportec 

I: 

Imports.           Exports. 

Total. 

Tls.                    Tb. 

Tls. 

1864 

7,064,720        2,830,359 

9.895.079 

1874 

5,692,781        4.617.061 

10,309,842 

1884 

8,745,061         4,831,021 

13.576.082 

1894 

10,043,128        7,771.091 

17,814,219 

1904 

14,522.053         6,604,634 

21.126,687 

1911     '     .. 

16,671,785         3.741.554 

20,413,339 

THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        257 

Among  imports  in  1904  the  principal  were  cotton  fabrics 
(Tls.797,000),  cotton  yam  (Tls.1,509,000),  tin  (Tls.208,000), 
bicho  de  mar  (Tls.138,000),  flour  (Tls.505,000),  matches 
(Tls.130,000),  kerosene  oil  (Tls.589,000),  rice  (Tls.1,907,000), 
beans  (Tls.964,000),  and  bean-cake  (ns.1,192,000).  Among 
exports  tea  from  Formosa  (Tls.4,025,000)  constituted 
three-fifths  of  the  whole;  other  exports  were  paper 
(Tls.884,000),  sugar  (Tls.441,000),  and  tobacco  (Tls.324,000). 


KWANGTUNG 

Kwangtung,  the  "  Eastern  Broad,"  forms  with  Kwangsi, 
the  "  Western  Broad,"  the  Viceroyalty  of  Liang  Kwang, 
the  "  Two  Broads."  Kwangttmg  is  in  the  main  a  mountain- 
ous province,  with  two  rich  plains,  one  lying  around  Chao- 
chow  (of  which  the  port  is  Swatow),  the  other  being  the 
delta  of  the  Pearl  River,  formed  by  the  junction  of  the  West 
River,  flowing  from  Kwangsi,  the  North  River,  which  flows 
from  the  watershed  separating  Kwangttmg  to  the  south 
from  Kiangsi  and  Hunan  to  the  north,  and  enters  the  West 
River  at  Samshui,  and  the  East  River,  flowing  from  eastern 
Kwangtung  and  entering  the  deltaic  system  near  Whampoa, 
the  deep-water  anchorage  of  Canton.  Including  the  island 
of  Hainan,  administratively  only  a  prefecture  of  Kwangtung, 
the  area  of  the  province  is  estimated  at  100,000  square  miles, 
and  its  population  at  27,700,000.  The  people  are  sturdy 
and  industrious,  differing  in  this  from  other  sub-tropical 
peoples,  and  are  aggressive  and  independent.  They  are 
of  two  distinct  races,  the  punti  or  indigenous,  and  the 
hakka  or  inunigrants,  intermingled  but  never  coalescing 
or  intermarrying,  speaking  dialects  mutually  unintelligible 
to  each  other,  and  frequently  engaging  in  dan  fights.  From 
the  eastern  to  the  western  extremity  of  its  coast,  a  sailing 
course  from  headland  to  headland,  not  entering  the  inlets 
and  not  including  Hainan,  would  measure  nearly  700 
nautical  miles.  The  people  of  this  coast  are  hardy  fisher- 
men, and,  when  occasion  serves,  bold  pirates.    The  inland 

17 


258     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

people  of  the  country  are  industrious  husbandmen,  and  in 
the  cities  is  a  laborious  industrial  population.  The  province 
produces  great  quantities  of  rice,  and  imports  annually 
some  half-million  tons  additional  to  supply  the  deficiency 
for  its  needs ;  it  also  produces  silk,  good  but  inferior  to 
that  of  Kiangsu  and  Chekiang;  tea,  far  inferior  to  its 
former  quality ;  matting,  from  a  rush  grown  on  the  low 
islands  of  the  delta  coast ;  cassia,  from  Loting ;  ginger,  from 
the  north-west ;  sugar  from  the  eastern  parts  of  the  pro- 
vince, from  Leichow,  and  from  Hainan;  fruits,  from  all 
parts ;  and  sub-tropical  produce  generally.  The  industries 
carried  on  in  the  cities  are  Uterally  innumerable,  but  all 
such  as  can  be  carried  on  by  one  man  and  his  immediate 
family  working  in  his  own  shop  or  in  his  own  home.  In 
the  province  are  six  treaty  ports,  Swatow,  Canton,  Samshui, 
Kongmoon,  Kiungchow,  and  Pakhoi ;  two  Customs  Stations, 
Kowloon  and  Lappa,  to  supervise  the  junk  trade  between 
China  and  Hongkong  and  Macao  respectively ;  and  two 
ceded  and  one  leased  territories,  Hongkong,  Macao,  and 
Kwangchowwan. 

SwATOW  (23°  22'  N.,  116°  40'  E.),  an  unofficial  town 
with  a  present  population  of  60,000,  the  port  of  Chaochowf  u, 
the  easternmost  prefecture  of  Kwangtung,  was  opened 
to  trade  in  i860.  The  anchorage  is  good,  four  miles  up 
stream  from  Double  Island,  which  hes  as  a  breakwater 
across  the  mouth  of  the  Han  River.  The  foreign  com- 
munity lives  partly  on  the  north,  and  partly  on  the  south 
side  of  the  river,  with  the  business  offices  on  the  north  side, 
and  they  have  no  municipal  organisatiom.  The  people  of 
the  Chaochow  prefecture,  conunonly  called  the  Swatow 
men,  are  very  clannish,  holding  themselves  apart  even 
from  their  co-provincials  the  Cantonese,  and  are  well 
organised  and  closely  united  in  every  place  in  the  Empire 
to  which  trade  has  called  them ;  and  on  many  occasions 
they  have  successfully  resisted  attempts  to  impose  more 
stringent  conditions  upon  them  (such  as  lower  prices  for 
their  products,  higher  freights,  special  clauses  in  a  bill  of 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        259 

lading,  etc.)  by  united  gild  action,  proceeding  even  on 
occasion  to  the  extreme  measure  of  a  boycott  or  of  ab- 
stention from  all  trade.  The  district  is  a  large  importer 
of  beans  and  bean-cake,  and,  though  rice-producing,  of  rice 
as  well ;  its  staple  exports  are  sugar  and  tobacco.  The 
following  figures  show  the  course  of  trade : 


Imports. 

Exports. 

Total. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

1864 

6.399,786 

3,700,165 

10,099,951 

1874 

.   11,057,659 

4.367.739 

15.425.398 

1884 

.   12,385,969 

7.386,349 

19.772,318 

1894 

.   19,424,841 

6,483,667 

25.908,508 

1904 

. .   34.615.923 

14,664.863 

49,280.786 

191 1 

•   36.095.506 

15,320,190 

51.415.696 

The  large  excess  of  imports  introduced  into  this  self- 
contained  district  is  striking,  and  is  explained  by  the  value 
of  an  export  not  recorded  in  ordinary  statistics  of  trade, 
that  of  the  hardy  and  industrious  cooUes  who  emigrate  in 
thousands  for  short-term  service  in  the  islands  of  the  Malay 
Archipelago.  Among  imports  in  1904  the  principal  were 
cotton  fabrics  (Tls.2,146,000),  cotton  yam  (Tls.3,699,000), 
tin  (Tls.645,000),  flour  (Tls.312,000),  matches  (Tls.256,000), 
kerosene  oil  (Tls.738,000),  rice  (Tls.7,422,000),  beans 
(Tls.2,525,000),  bean-cake  (Tls.5,432,000),  hemp  (Tls.696,000), 
and  wheat  (Tls.343,000).  The  principal  exports  were 
sugar  (Tls.6,050,000),  tobacco  (Tls.866,000),  grass-cloth 
(Tls.837,000),  and  paper  (Tls.1,749,000). 

Canton  (23°  7'  N.,  113°  16'  E.),  the  provincial  capital, 
is  styled  the  *'  City  of  Rams,"  from  the  legend  of  the  five 
Inunortals  who  rode  into  the  city  on  five  rams  in  the  time 
of  the  Chow  dynasty  (B.C.  1122-255) ;  the  rams  were 
turned  into  stone  and  are  there  to-day  as  visible  evidence 
of  the  truth  of  the  tale.  The  name  of  the  city  is  Kwangchow, 
Canton  being  the  Portuguese  rendering  of  the  name  of  the 
province,  Kwangtung.  The  estimates  of  the  population 
have  ranged  from  500,000  to  2,500,000,  the  figure  now 


260     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

generally  accepted  being  900,000.  The  foreign  residents 
in  the  district  in  1905  were  1,437,  including  225  British, 
484  American,  65  German,  158  French,  140  Japanese,  and 
334  Portuguese.  In  the  early  years  of  trade  the  merchants 
lived  in  the  "  Factories/'  surrounded  by  unsavoury  Chinese 
streets,  and  this  continued  after  Canton  was  made  a  treaty 
port  in  1842  ;  they  were  driven  away  in  1856,  and  on  their 
return  in  1857  found  their  houses  in  ruins.  The  head  houses 
of  the  firms  were  then  generally  established  in  Hongkong, 
and,  in  foreign  trade.  Canton  became  a  mere  conmiercial 
dependency  of  the  British  colony.  At  Canton  the ' '  factory  '  * 
sites  were  abandoned,  and  in  1859,  ^  ^^^  residential  quarter 
was  created  by  embanking  and  reclaiming  Shameen,  a  mud 
flat  about  half  a  mile  long  and  a  fifth  of  a  mile  wide  in  its 
widest  part,  situated  at  the  south-west  comer  of  the  city. 
Of  this  reclamation  four-fifths  were  assigned  as  the  British 
concession  and  one-fifth  as  the  French  concession;  and 
here,  surrounded  by  a  wide  moat  with  guarded  bridges, 
the  foreign  community  lives,  somewhat  restricted  for  space, 
but  self-governing  on  the  model  of.  the  corresponding  con- 
cessions at  Tientsin.  This  completes  the  list  of  the  old-time 
foreign  concessions,  all  dating  from  1859-1861 — ^Newchwang, 
Tientsin,  Hankow,  Kiukiang,  Chinkiang  and  Canton.  The 
city  and  suburbs  of  Canton  form  a  buzzing  hive  of  workers, 
and  few  sights  in  the  world  are  more  instructive,  to  the 
sociologist  and  ethnologist,  than  a  mere  cursory  trip  in  a 
sedan-chair  through  the  narrow,  crowded,  reeking,  and 
malodorous  streets,  in  which  the  busy  throng,  hustling, 
shouting,  and  pushing,  yet  manages  to  disentangle  itself  by 
some  rule  of  the  road  imperceptible  to  the  insight  of  the 
mere  Westerner,  and  where  a  shop,  filled  with  priceless 
treasures  of  antiquity  or  with  the  dainty  work  of  ivory- 
carvers  and  silk-embroiderers,  stands  cheek  by  jowl  with 
a  shop  in  which  an  artisan  carries  on  some  primitive  handi- 
craft with  the  implements  and  by  the  methods  employed 
by  his  progenitors  a  thousand  years  ago.  Even  the  hasty 
globe-trotter,  who  allots  from  his  tour  three  days  to  India 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        261 

and  three  hours  to  the  Empire  of  China,  may  profitably 
employ  those  three  hours  in  such  a  trip,  and  feel  that  his 
time  has  not  been  wasted ;  and  as  he  steams  back  to  Hong- 
kong he  will  have  the  history  of  half  a  century  of  foreign 
relations  recalled  to  his  mind  by  the  sight  of  the  stately 
Roman  CathoMc  cathedral  erected  by  the  French  on  the 
site  of  the  Viceroy's  Palace,  destroyed  in  1857  by  the 
allied  forces,  who  then  occupied  Canton,  as  a  reminder  of 
the  wanton  destruction  of  foreign  property  in  the  preceding 
year.  The  early  history  of  the  trade  of  Canton  is  the 
history  of  the  foreign  trade  of  China,  and  is  treated  in  that 
chapter.  In  1842,  by  the  British  treaty  of  Nanking,  Canton 
lost  its  monopoly  of  trade,  and  the  produce  of  the  country 
was  allowed  to  find  its  outlet  where  best  it  could  by  any 
one  of  the  four  other  ports — Shanghai,  Ningpo,  Foochow, 
and  Amoy — ^then  opened  to  trade ;  and  when,  in  i860, 
the  Yangtze  ports  and  Swatow  were  thrown  open,  Canton 
was  absolutely  restricted  to  its  own  producing  and  supply 
district.  Since  that  time  the  course  of  trade  is  shown  by 
the  following  figures,  the  value  of  silk  and  its  products  (in 
millions  of  taels)  being  put  in  parentheses  after  the  value 
of  the  export  trade : 


Imports. 

Exports. 

Total. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

i860 

.  13,061,230 

11,516,815  (37) 

24.578.045 

1864    . 

.   2,393.085 

9,860,220  (4-0) 

12,253,305 

1874    . 

.   6,626,441 

16,287,633  (91) 

22,914,074 

1884 

, .   11,886,781 

13,853.243  (80) 

25.740,024 

1894    . 

.  27.385.876 

18,031,721  (i2-6) 

45.417.597 

1904    . 

•  52.885.637 

43.361.439  (29"5) 

96,247,076 

I9II 

.  47.597.577 

54,627,044  (33-6) 

102,224,621 

It  will  be  convenient  to  consider  here  the  status  of  the 
two  supervising  stations  for  the  junk  trade  with  Hongkong 
and  Macao,  the  stations  of  Kowloon  and  Lappa. 

The  foreign  colonies  of  Hongkong  and  Macao  being 
tree  ports,  with  no  Customs  duties  or  supervision  to  trammel 


262     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

their  trade,  the  preventive  measures  necessary  to  check 
smuggling  were  obviously  imposed  on  the  Chinese  authori- 
ties alone.  Smuggling  was  easy,  and,  easy  or  difficult,  the 
habit  is  ingrained  in  the  Chinese  character.  Macao  was  on 
the  mainland,  Hongkong  (the  original  cession)  was  separated 
by  a  short  half-mile  of  water  from  Chinese  territory,  and 
smugglers  by  water  from  either  had  their  choice  of  a 
score  of  routes  by  which  to  reach  a  profitable  market. 
Opiirni  and  salt  were  the  principal  subjects  of  the  traffi^c, 
opium  because  of  the  great  value  and  high  duty  attaching 
to  a  small  bulk,  and  salt  because  of  the  strictness  with 
which  the  government  monopoly  is  preserved  in  China ; 
but  smugglers  do  not  in  China  despise  the  profits  from 
evading  the  incidence  of  a  tariff  based  upon  a  5  per  cent, 
levy,  and  smuggling  was  universal.  The  Chinese  authori- 
ties were  driven  to  adopt  some  preventive  measures,  and 
the  result  was  the  so-called  "blockade  of  Hongkong,"  a 
preventive  cordon  instituted  in  1868  and  maintained  by 
cruisers  imder  the  control  of  the  native  authorities  of 
Canton.  The  situation,  with  lax  native  control,  became 
intolerable  in  the  eyes  of  those  who  woidd  maintain  the 
absolute  freedom  of  those  free  ports  ;  and  in  the  Additional 
Article  of  1885  to  the  Chefoo  Agreement  of  1876  between 
Great  Britain  and  China,  it  was  provided  that  the  measures 
for  the  repression  of  the  smuggling,  stipulated  in  the  Agree- 
ment, should  be  considered  at  once.  The  Chinese  Customs 
Stations  of  Kowloon  and  Lappa  then,  in  1887,  came  into 
existence,  and,  to  avoid  the  irregularities  which  had  marked 
the  old  regime,  were  placed  under  the  control  of  the  In- 
spectorate-General of  Customs.  These  establishments  have 
their  head  offices  in  the  respective  colonies,  Hongkong  and 
Macao,  for  the  mutual  convenience  of  all  concerned ;  but 
the  supervising  and  collecting  stations  and  the  preventive 
cruisers  are  echelonned  outside ;  when  the  boundaries  of 
the  British  colony  were  enlarged  in  1899,  the  Kowloon 
Customs  Stations  were  pushed  further  out,  so  as  to  be  in 
Chinese  waters  and  on  Chinese  soil.    These  offices  control 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        263 

the  jtink  traffic  from  Chinese  ports,  mainly  in  the  Canton 
district,  to  Hongkong  and  Macao ;  and  the  value  of  the 
trade  passing  their  stations,  added  to  the  value  of  the  trade 
passing  the  Canton  Customs,  given  above,  may  fairly 
represent  the  collective  trade  of  the  Canton  delta.  This 
collective  trade  has  been  as  f oUows : 

Imports.  Exports.  Total. 

Tls.  Tls.  Tb. 

1887          ..       29,186,636  31,656,019  60,842,655 

1894                   53792,843  41,607,808  95,400,651 

1904          . .       92,650,896  65,102,878  157753.774 

1911          ..       90,961,424  73.760,559  164,721,983 

The  principal  imports  into  the  delta  through  the  three  offices 
in  1904  were  cotton  yam  (Tls.4,171 ,000),  flour  (Tls.1,133,000), 
kerosene  oil  (Tls.3,834,000),  rice  (Tls.i  1,423,000),  sesamum 
seed  (Tls.2,763,000),  and  sugar  (Tls.1,276,000).  The  princi- 
pal exports  were  silk  and  its  products  (Tls.3i,420,ooo)» 
cassia  (Tls.1,233,000),  eggs  (Tls.509,000),  fans  (Tls.572,000), 
leather  (Tls.601,000),  straw  mats  (Tls.929,000),  matting 
(Tls.3,369,000),  paper  (Tls.i, 234,000),  and  tobacco  (Tls. 
1,605,000).  Tea,  which  in  i860  with  shipment  of  263,264 
piculs,  contributed  50  per  cent,  to  the  value  of  the  export 
trade  of  Canton  in  that  year,  in  1904  contributed  (53,250 
piculs)  less  than  2  per  cent,  to  the  value  of  the  exports 
passing  the  three  offices. 

Samshui  (23°  6'  N.,  112°  53'  E.),  "  Three  Waters,"  an 
unimportant  city  of  5,000  inhabitants,  situated  at  the 
junction  of  the  West  and  North  Rivers,  was  opened  as  a 
treaty  port  in  1897.  It  was  expected  to  tap  all  the  North 
River  trade  and-  much  of  that  by  the  West  River,  but  the 
hopes  entertained  have  not  been  realised.  In  1904  imports 
were  valued  at  Tls.  1,828,935  and  exports  at  Tls.1,217,873, 
a  total  of  Tls.3,046,808.  In  1911  the  figures  were  Tb. 
4.370,103,  Tls.1,315,146,  and  Tls.5,685,249. 

KoNGMOON  (22*^  35'  N.,  113**  9'  E.),  "  RivcT-mouth,"  a 
city  of  35,000  inhabitants,  situated  on  a  side  creek  of  the 


264     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

delta  near  the  mouth  of  the  westernmost  branch  of  the 
network  of  rivers,  distant  70  miles  steaming  from  Canton, 
87  miles  from  Hongkong,  and  45  miles  from  Macao,  was 
opened  as  a  treaty  port  in  1904.  The  object  of  its 
opening  was  to  tap  the  trade  of  the  western  part  of  the 
delta  and  of  the  district  lying  west  of  it,  and  a  measurable 
degree  of  success  has  been  obtained.  Not  including  the 
trade  by  junk  to  and  from  Hongkong  and  Macao,  which 
is  included  in  the  statistics  of  the  Kowloon  and  Lappa 
stations,  the  value  of  the  trade  by  steamer  and  junk 
in  1905,  the  year  following  the  opening,  was — ^imports 
Tls.3,082,954,  exports  Tls.3,794,676,  total  Tls.6,877,630. 
In  1911  the  figures  were — ^imports  Tls.4,191,990,  exports 
Tls.1,309,902,  total  Tls.5,501,892.  The  principal  exports 
are  palm-leaf  fans,  straw  mats,  and  poultry. 

KiUNGCHOW  (20°  i'  N.,  110°  16'  E.),  the  prefectural  city 
of  the  island  of  Hainan,  contains  a  population  of  35,000, 
and  is  situated  3  miles  inland  from  Hoihow  ("  Seaport ") 
its  port.  Its  opening  as  a  treaty  port  was  stipulated  in  the 
treaties  of  1858,  but,  as  none  of  the  mercantile  community 
had  any  interest  in  it,  the  actual  opening  was  deferred 
until  1876.  The  port  serves  the  trade  of  Hainan  and  of 
the  prefecture  of  Luichow  on  the  mainland,  across  the 
Straits  of  Hainan,  12  miles  wide.  Hoihow,  the  port,  has  a 
population  of  25,000,  and  the  anchorage  is  a  roadstead  open 
to  the  Straits  from  north-east  around  to  north-west,  and 
accessible  to  cargo-boats  loading  and  discharging  only  at 
high  water  of  the  one  daily  tide  which  rises  here  as  in  the 
whole  of  the  Gidf  of  Tonkin.  The  course  of  trade  has 
been  as  follows : 


1884 
1894 
1904 
J911 


Imports. 

Exports. 

Total. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

1,326,499 
1,817,398 
2,548,725 
3,308,601 

1,119,682 
1,283,821 
2469.878 
2,106.679 

2,446,181 
3,101,219 
5,020,509 
5.415.280 

THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        265 

The  principal  exports  in  1904  were  pigs  (65,306  valued 
at  Tls.881,631),  sugar  (TIs.507,000)  and  betel-nuts 
(Tls.120,000). 

Pakhoi  (21°  29'  N.,  109*"  7'  E.),  "  North  of  the  Sea," 
a  dirty,  insanitary  town  of  20,000  inhabitants,  situated  at 
the  head  of  the  Gulf  of  Tonkin,  is  the  seaport  of  Limchowfu, 
13  miles  distant,  and  was  opened  as  a  treaty  port  in  1877. 
In  common  with  other  ports  on  the  Gulf  it  has  but  one  tide 
in  the  twenty-four  hours.  The  district  directly  served  by 
it  is  poor  and  sandy,  producing  sugar,  indigo,  and  ground- 
nuts, with  fishing  and  piracy  as  bye  industries ;  and  the 
chief  hope  for  any  devdopment  of  trade  lay  in  the  use  of 
the  port  as  a  side  door  through  which  to  evade  the  fiscal 
obstructions  imposed  on  the  natural  routes  to  Yunnan  and 
Western  Kwangsi,  viz.  the  Red  River  through  Tonkin  and 
the  West  River  through  Kwangsi.  The  figures  for  the  trade 
of  Pakhoi  given  below  are  for  years  which  have  been  selected 
to  show  the  paralysing  effect  of  the  Chinese  system  of 
internal  taxation,  driving  trade  from  natural  water  routes 
to  a  channel  by  which  expensive  transport  over  hill  roads 
must  be  substituted;  and  they  must  be  considered  with 
reference  to  the  following  dates : 

1884  (seven  years  after  opening  of  port),  French  occu- 
pation of  Tonkin  transformed  the  frontier  from  an  internal 
to  an  external  boundary. 

1889,  the  opening  of  Mengtsz  and  relaxation  of  fiscal 
restrictions  in  Tonkin  restored  the  Red  River  to  its  natural 
use  as  a  trade  route  to  Yunnan. 

1897,  the  opening  of  Wuchow  as  a  treaty  port,  carrying 
the  one-duty  privilege  into  Kwangsi  and  neutralising  the 
likin  barriers  of  Kwangtung,  made  the  West  River  avail- 
able through  its  entire  course  as  a  route  to  Yunnan  and 
Western  Kwangsi.     (For  table  see  next  page.) 

The  value  of  the  trade  of  Pakhoi  in  1904  was — ^imports 
Tls.1,892,235,  exports  Tls.1,122,423,  total  Tls,3,oi4,658. 
The  exports  included  sugar  (Tls.296,000)  and  indigo 
(TIs.257,000), 


366    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 


Goods. 

Annual  Average  in 

X881-43. 

X888-90. 

1894-96. 

X898-X900. 

Shirtings       Yards 

T.-Cloths 

Fine  cottons       „ 

Cotton  yarn,  Piculs 

Long     Ells    Pieces 

36,120 

1.337.950 
14.600 

".323 
5.306 

4,081,600 

2.987.875 

I.315.660 

91,481 

20.109 

3,127.160 

1.357.050 

790.920 

76,090 

I3.I7I 

1,488.120 

499.250 
5A9OO 

45.654 
6.434 

Total   value   of   all 
cotton  and  wool- 
len   goods      Tls. 

357.899 

2,454.334 

I.922.160 

I.22X.749 

Cessions  in   Kwangtung 

There  are  no  less  than  three  areas  in  Kwangtung  ceded 
to  foreign  Powers  under  different  conditions — ^Macao  to 
Portugal,  Hongkong  to  Great  Britain,  and  Kwangchowwan 
to  France. 

Macao  (22°  n'  N.,  113°  33'  E.)  was  first  occupied 
by  the  Portuguese  in  1557,  after  their  traders  and  trading 
ships  had  been  driven  away  from  Ningpo  and  Foochow. 
Here  for  three  centuries  they  held  under  conditions  which 
were  never  clearly  defined,  one  side  contending  that  it  was 
by  right  of  conquest  and  occupation,  the  other  disputing 
this  and  maintaining  Chinese  taxing  stations  within  the 
colony  itself :  one  indisputable  fact  being  that  the  Portu- 
guese government  paid  to  the  Viceroy  at  Canton  a  rent 
of  Tls.500  in  every  year  up  to  1848.  In  that  year  the 
Portuguese  authorities  refused  to  continue  to  pay  the  rent, 
and  expelled  from  the  colony  the  Chinese  taxing  stations 
and  all  other  signs  of  Chinese  authority.  The  sovereignty 
of  Portugal  was  recognised  finally  by  China  in  the  treaty 
of  1887-  The  Portuguese  and  Dutch  trading  ships  fre- 
quented the  port  in  the  seventeenth  century,  the  English 
came  there  in  the  eighteenth  century,  and  the  English 
and  American  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
making  usually  their  final  departure  from  Macao ;  and 
when,  in  1839  ^ind  again  in  1856,  the  merchants  were 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        267 

driven  from  their  factories  at  Canton,  it  was  in  Macao  that 
they  found  refuge.  The  cession  of  Hongkong  to  the  British 
in  1842  and  its  development  from  1856  gave  a  final  blow 
to  the  decadent  legitimate  trade  of  Macao,  and  from  that 
time  its  prosperity  depended  mainly  upon  the  coolie  traffic, 
until  the  Portuguese  government  suppressed  it  in  1874. 
The  Chinese  Customs  Station  of  Lappa  (vide  antea)  was  estab- 
lished jn  1887  to  control  the  trade  by  junk  between  Macao 
and  Chinese  ports.  Macao  occupies  a  small  peninsula 
connected  by  a  narrow  isthmus  with  Chinese  territory, 
and  the  cession  includes  two  islands,  Taipa  and  Kolowan, 
dominating  the  harbour.  The  population  on  December  31, 
1899,  was  63,991,  composed  of  3,780  Portuguese,  154  other 
foreigners,  and  60,057  Chinese. 

Hongkong  (22^  18'  N.,  114°  10'  E.),  "  Fair  Haven," 
was  formally  occupied  by  the  British  authorities  by  a 
notification  published  on  May  i,  1841,  and  its  cession  was 
recognised  by  China  in  the  treaty  of  Nanking,  the  ratifica- 
tions of  which  were  exchanged  at  Hongkong  on  June  26, 
1843.  The  Royal  Charter  creating  the  colony  was  dated 
April  5,  1843.  The  original  cession  included  only  the 
island  of  Hongkong,  with  an  area  of  29  square  miles.  North 
of  this,  between  it  and  the  mainland,  is  the  fair  haven  of 
Hongkong,  one  of  the  few  harbom-s  in  the  world  which  may 
be  called  perfect,  the  eastern  entrance  being  600  yards  wide, 
and  the  western  entrance  full  wide,  but  protected  by  out- 
lying islands,  while  the  anchorage  has  a  general  width  of 
a  mile.  The  Kowloon  peninsula,  with  an  area  of  about 
two  square  miles,  projecting  towards  the  harbour  on  its  north 
side,  was  added  to  the  cession  in  i860.  The  northern  side 
of  the  harbour  was  dominated  through  its  whole  extent, 
except  for  the  Kowloon  peninsula,  by  Chinese  territory ; 
and  in  1899  the  "  Kowloon  Extension,"  with  376  square 
miles  on  the  mainland,  was  added  to  the  colony  by  a  lease 
from  the  Chinese  government  for  ninety-nine  years,  the  lease 
including  also  the  large  island  of  Lantao  and  the  waters  to 
the  farther  shores  of  Mirs  Bay  and  Deep  Bay.    Hongkong 


268     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHtNA 

has  been  a  busy  mart,  especially  since  1856,  and  has  filled 
for  the  ports  of  South  China  the  function  of  distributing 
centre^  filled  for  North  China  and  the  Yangtze  basin  by 
Shanghai ;  of  the  collective  foreign  trade  of  the  whole  of 
China  it  may,  with  a  fair  degree  of  certainty,  be  said  that 
one-fourth  of  the  imports  and  one-third  of  the  exports  are 
financed  and  distributed  through  Hongkong,  the  balance 
being  handled  by  Shanghai  or,  to  a  small  extent,  directly 
by  subsidiary  ports.  This  cannot  be  supported  by  re- 
ference to  the  statistics  of  Hongkong,  since  the  colony 
publishes  no  statistics  of  trade ;  and  the  only  statistics  it 
publishes — those  of  shipping — are  misleading,  since  they 
include  in  the  foreign  trade  shipping  actually  engaged 
in  the  coasting  trade  to  places  often  only  a  few  miles 
away.  Hongkong  was  formally  declared  a  free  port  on 
February  6,  1842,  and  a  free  port  it  has  remained  ever 
since,  subject  only  to  the  aid  it  has  given,  since  1887,  ^o 
the  Chinese  government  in  the  prevention  of  smuggling  in 
opium.  The  Chinese  Customs  Station  of  Kowloon  {vide  antea) 
was  established  in  1887  to  control  the  trade  by  junk  between 
Hongkong  and  Chinese  ports.  A  garrison  of  about  4,000 
is  maintained  in  the  colony,  and  the  resident  civilian 
population  in  1906  was  319,803,  composed  of  307,388 
Chinese,  6,085  British  and  other  Europeans  and  Americans, 
and  5»902  other  foreigners,  mainly  Asiatics.  Of  the  Chinese 
216,240  were  males  and  91,148  were  females. 

KwANGCHOWWAN  (21°  i'  N.,  110°  2$'  E.)  is  One  of  the 
four  cessions  on  lease  made  in  the  period  after  the  China- 
Japan  war,  the  four,  wiA  dates  of  first  occupation,  being 
Kiaochow  (Germany,  November  14,  1897),  Port  Arthur 
and  Talien  (Russia,  March  27,  1898),  Kwangchowwan 
(France,  April  22,  1898)  and  Weihaiwd  (Great  Britain, 
May  24,  1898).  The  Bay  of  Kwangchow  has  a  good 
anchorage,  but  with  a  difficult  entrance  through  sand-banks  ; 
and  access  to  Kwangsi  by  rail  will  be  possible  over  a  not 
too  difficult  country.  The  French  authorities  have  taken 
no  steps  to  develop  the  Intimate  trade  of  the  colony,  and. 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        269 

apart  from  the  smuggling  incidental  to  a  free  port,  the 
chief  use  of  the  cession  has,  so  far,  been  to  advance  the 
French  flag  so  much  the  farther  to  the  east  and  the  nearer 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Canton  river. 

KWANGSI 

Kwangsi,  with  an  area  of  78,000  square  miles  and  a 
population  of  6,500,000,  is  in  its  central  and  eastern  part  at  a 
general  altitude  of  500  to  800  feet  above  the  sea,  and  slopes 
upward  towards  the  mountains  of  the  north  and  west,  heights 
of  6,000  to  8,000  feet.  It  includes  the  drainage  basin  of  the 
West  River,  the  affluents  of  which  converge,  as  the  fingers 
of  the  hand  converge  to  the  wrist,  to  their  outlet  at  Wuchow, 
the  waters  then  flowing  for  a  short  distance  in  one  channel 
through  Kwangtung  until,  at  Samshui,  they  again  diverge 
to  form  the  channels  of  the  Canton  delta.  Proceeding  up 
the  West  River,  to  the  west,  it  is  known  by  that  name  as 
far  as  Siinchow  (Tamchow  in  local  dialect),  where  it  is 
bifurcated  into  the  North  and  South  Rivers.  The  North 
River  receives  several  important  affluents,  but  slightly 
navigable,  and  is  itself  navigable  for  some  distance  by  boats 
of  20  tons  capacity.  The  South  River  is  often  also  called 
the  West  River  (constituting,  as  it  does,  the  main  trade 
route)  up  to  a  point  30  miles  above  Nanning,  where  it  is 
bifurcated  into  the  Left  Branch  leading  to  Lungchow,  and 
the  Right  Branch  leading  to  Poseh,  whence  is  a  main  trade 
route  into  Yunnan,  by  which  the  trade  with  Hongkong 
and  Canton  via  Wuchow  and  via  Pakhoi  finds  its  way ; 
Poseh  is  accessible  to  large  native  craft,  of  perhaps  30  tons 
capacity,  navigated  through  the  many  rapids  with  great 
skill.  The  fall  of  the  river  from  Poseh  to  Wuchow,  about 
500  miles,  is  800  feet.  Entering  the  system  at  Wuchow  is 
the  Cassia  River,  running  south  from  the  provincial  capital, 
Kweilin,  from  the  head  waters  of  which  a  small  canal  gives 
access  to  the  head  waters  of  the  Hsiang  River,  flowing 
through  Hunan  into  the  Yangtze.  The  people  are  a  riotous 
lot,  considering  brigandage  and  rebellion  the  natural  con- 


270     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

comitants  of  a  bad  harvest ;  it  was  in  Kwangsi  that  the 
Taiping  rebellion  took  its  rise,  and  the  latest  of  the  rebel* 
lions  of  China  was  that  of  Kwangsi  1902-1905.  Its  natural 
products  are  not  important,  with  the  exception  of  aniseed, 
of  which  the  province  has  almost  a  world  monopoly ;  it 
comes  from  two  districts,  one  lying  aroimd  Poseh,  the 
other,  giving  oil  of  better  quality,  lying  across  the  Tonkin 
frontier  between  Limgchow  and  Langson.  In  minerals 
the  province  ofiers  great,  but  as  yet  unproved,  possibihties. 
A  geologist  has  stated,  though  not  with  the  sense  of  re- 
sponsibility attaching  to  a  report,  that  within  one  square 
mile  he  found  by  boring  coal,  iron,  copper,  and  lead,  a 
richness  probably  unsurpassed  by  many  individual  square 
miles  in  the  world.  These  minerals  are  all  known  to  exist, 
as  well  as  gold,  silver,  antimony,  asbestos,  bismuth,  etc. 
Timber  is  cut  on  the  mountains  of  the  north-west.  In  the 
province  are  three  treaty  ports. 

WucHOW  (23''  29'  N.,  111°  20'  E.),  a  city  of  65,000  in- 
habitants, opened  as  a  treaty  port  in  1897,  is  well  placed 
for  its  purpose.  Its  treaty  port  status  enables  the  trader 
to  carry  his  goods,  import  or  export,  past  the  numerous  and 
vexatious  likin  barriers  of  Kwangtmig ;  and  at  Wuchow 
he  commands  the  waterways  of  the  province,  all  of  which 
converge  to  that  point.  The  development  of  the  steamer 
traffic  is  shown  by  the  foUoMring  figiures : 


Imports. 

Exports. 

Total. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

1898 

. .       2,976,807 

1.244,951 

4,221,758 

1904 

. .       7,806,436 

3.277,791 

11,084,227 

I9II 

•  •       6,849,795 

3,807,867 

10,657,662 

In  addition  the  value  of  the  trade  by  junk  was — 

Imports.               Exports.  Total. 

Tls.                      Tls.  TU. 

1911           ..       1,659.880           14,750,024        16409,904 
making  the  total  trade  of  the  port  in 
1911  amount  to        27,067,566 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        27I 

Of  the  total  foreign  import  by  steamer  in  1904  entitled  to 
them,  with  a  value  of  Tls.7,487,289,  no  less  than  80  per 
cent,  was  sent  inland  under  transit  passes,  thereby  escaping 
likin  taxation,  13  per  cent,  within  the  province,  59  per  cent. 
into  Kweichow,  and  8  per  cent,  into  Yunnan.  In  1904  the 
principal  exports  were  aniseed  and  aniseed-oil  (Tls.410,000), 
cattle  (11,126  valued  at  Tls.251,000),  poultry  (Tls.351,000), 
and  hides  (Tls.591,000). 

LuNGCHOW  (22°  22'  N.,  106°  45'  E.),  "  Dragon  City," 
is  of  the  type  of  frontier  port  which  will  be  described  under 
Mengtsz.  It  was  opened  to  foreign  trade  in  1889  in  the 
hope  that  the  trade  of  Western  Kwangsi  might  pass  through 
it  to  Tonkin,  by  the  railway  which  it  was  the  intention  of 
the  French  government  to  promote.  The  railway,  built 
in  Tonkin,  has  not  been  extended  beyond  the  frontier  over 
the  40  miles  of  much  accidented  country  which  intervene 
between  it  and  Lungchow,  and  the  trade  which  it  was  to 
attract  continues  to  find  its  way  to  Canton,  by  a  river 
journey  of  800  miles.  The  Customs  oiSicials  stationed 
there  find  little  to  do  except  to  admire  the  picturesque 
scenery,  the  value  of  the  trade  in  1905  being — ^imports 
Tls.163,330,  exports  Tls.67,122,  total  Tls.230,452.  In  1911 
the  total  was  Tb.257,196.  The  principal  imports  were 
timber  and  dye-yams,  and  the  principal  export,  other  than 
opium,  was  American  kerosene  oil  which  had  come  up  the 
river  firom  Canton. 

Nanning  (22°  48'  N.,  108''  15'  E.),  a  city  of  about 
100,000  inhabitants,  situated  about  30  miles  below  the 
junction  of  the  Right  andLeftBranchesof  themain  (southern) 
stream  of  the  West  River,  is  the  commercial  centre  for 
south-western  Kwangsi,  and  a  forwarding  depot  for  the 
West  River  route  to  Yunnan.  That  portion  of  the  Yunnan 
and  Kwangsi  traffic  which  passes  through  Pakhoi  con- 
verges on  this  point.  The  opening  of  Nanning  to  foreign 
trade  has  been  under  consideration  for  some  time,  and  it 
was  opened  voluntarily  by  China,  on  January  i,  1907.  The 
Municipal  Government  will,  it  is  announced,  be  of  the  type 


272     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

adopted  at  Yochow.    In  1911  the  trade  was  valued  at — 
imports    Tls.2,124,928,    exports    Tk.2,575,589,    total    Tls. 

4700.5I7- 

Yunnan 

Yunnan,  "  South  of  the  Clouds,"  is  an  elevated  plateau 
of  bright  sunshine,  lying  south  of  cloud-covered  and  foggy 
Szechwan.  It  was  the  last  of  the  Eighteen  Provinces  to 
be  assimilated  by  the  Empire,  its  direct  government  by 
China  dating  only  from  the  time  of  Kublai  Khan  (A.D.1260), 
through  whose  conquest  Yxmnan  was  annexed  and  his 
suzerainty  over  Burma,  Annam,  and  Cambodia  reaffirmed. 
The  area  is  put  at  about  145,000  square  miles,  and  the 
population  at  8,500,000.  The  Panthay  rebellion  in  1867, 
occasioned  by  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Mohammedan 
population  to  set  up  a  government  of  their  own,  was  sup- 
pressed with  great  difficulty  and  with  ruthless  slaughter ; 
and  this  brov^ht  in  its  train  the  bubonic  plague,  which 
was  for  many  years  endemic  in  Yimnan  (at  Mengtsz,  with 
a  resident  population  of  12,000,  nearly  1,000  deaths  are 
said  to  have  occiured  in  each  of  the  years  1892  to  1896), 
was  first  seen  by  the  European  sui^eons  at  Pakhoi  in  1882, 
and  reached  Hongkong  and  the  outer  world  in  1894.  These 
causes  for  a  reduction  in  the  population,  combined  with 
the  ungrateful  nature  of  the  soil,  explain  the  small  density 
of  population  for  the  province.  Yunnan  is  decidedly  moun- 
tainous. The  western  part  is  covered  with  mountain  chains 
rising  to  heights  through  which  the  passes  are  over  8,000  feet 
in  altitude,  with  steep  slopes  running  north  and  south,  the 
valleys  containing  rivers  with  great  volumes  of  water, 
formed  by  the  rains  and  melted  snows  of  Himalayan  ranges, 
rushing  down  through  rocky  beds  which  themselves  are 
several  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  The 
greater  part  of  the  eastern  portion  has  been  described 
as  "  an  elevated  broken  plateau,  having  an  average  height 
of  5,000  feet "  ;  but  this  *'  plateau  "  is  so  broken  up  that 
the  plains  cannot  be  discerned,  and  the  mountains  are  the 


THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        273 

most  distinguishing  feature.  The  waterways  are  unavail- 
able for  transport  within  the  province,  acting  with  their 
deep  valleys  rather  as  barriers  to  trade ;  and  the  paucity 
of  the  population  forbids  the  use  of  human  porters,  making 
the  pack-mule  and  horse,  supplemented  on  emergency  by 
pack-cattle,  the  only  agency  of  transportation.  The  water 
outlets  from  the  province  begin  only  on  its  borders,  and 
those  available  for  the  major  operations  of  trade  are  three  : 
the  Red  River  from  the  southern  border  into  Tonkin,  sup- 
plemented by  the  railway  to  Yunnanfu,  the  provincial  capital ; 
the  West  River  from  the  eastern  border,  leading  to  Canton 
and  Hongkong ;  and  the  Yangtze  from  the  northern  border, 
leading  down  to  Hankow  and  Shanghai.  Of  the  agricidtural 
products  of  the  province,  the  only  one  deserving  attention  is 
opiiun,  which  is  considered  in  the  chapter  on  that  drug,  and 
which  is  the  principal  means  by  which  Yunnan  pays  for  the 
imports  which  it  consumes.  The  chief  wealth  of  the  pro- 
vince is  in  its  minerals,  of  which  there  are  known  to  exist 
cinnabar,  coal,  copper,  gold,  iron,  lead,  orpiment,  salt, 
silver,  tin,  and  zinc.  The  mining  industry  was  severely 
crippled  by  the  Panthay  rebellion,  but  prior  to  that  date, 
though  iron  ore  is  the  most  abundant,  copper  was  mined 
on  a  much  larger  scale  in  order  to  provide  for  the  require- 
ments of  the  mints  of  the  Empire,  which  formerly  were 
almost  entirely  dependent  upon  the  Yunnan  mines  for 
their  needs,  which  may  be  put  at  about  6,000  tons  annually. 
Argentiferous  lead  ranks  next  in  importance,  of  which  over 
twenty  mines  were  known.  Tin  comes  from  Kochiu,  about 
20  miles  from  Mengtsz,  from  which  port  4,500  tons 
were  exported  in  1905.  Coal,  though  known  to  exist,  has 
not  been  mined  to  any  considerable  extent.  The  salt 
produced  in  the  province  supplies  its  own  population. 
Along  the  southern  and  western  frontier  of  the  province  are 
three  treaty  ports. 

Mengtsz  (23®  24'  N.,  103**  22'  E.),  population  12,000,  may 
be  taken  to  illustrate  the  frontier  port,  and  is  the  only  one 
of  the  four  now  open  which  has  developed  a  trade  worthy 

18 


274     ^^^  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

of  consideration.  Situated  at  an  altitude  of  4,500  feet,  it 
is  40  miles  distant  from  its  junk  port,  Manhao  (altitude 
900  feet)  on  the  Red  River,  which  again  is  six  days'  junk 
journey  above  Hokow ;  this  last  place  on  the  Yunnan  side, 
opposite  to  Laokay  on  the  Tonkin  side  of  the  frontier,  was 
in  1895  made  the  first  sub-port  of  entry  for  the  Mengtsz 
district.  Before  the  building  of  railways,  the  course  for 
imports  from  Haiphong  during  the  sununer  floods  was  by 
steamer  to  Laokay,  and  during  the  winter  by  steamer  to 
Yenbay,  thence  by  native  craft  up  the  rapids  to  Laokay ; 
thence  by  native  craft  to  Manhao ;  thence  by  pack-animal 
to  Mengtsz,  and  so  on  for  distribution  through  the 
province,  each  pack-animal  taking  an  average  load  of 
160  lb.  Mengtsz  was  opened  as  a  treaty  port  in  1889, 
with  the  special  stipulation,  not  applying  to  coast  and 
riverine  ports,  that  imports  should  pay  only  seven-tenths 
and  exports  only  six-tenths  of  the  tariff  duty ;  moreover, 
when  the  revised  Import  Tariff  was  put  in  force  in  1902, 
it  was  held  that  the  old  tariff,  with  its  lower  duties,  was 
still  to  be  applied  to  the  frontier  ports.  Transit  dues, 
being  half  the  tarifi  duty,  are,  however,  based  on  the  un- 
diminished rate,  and  it  is  chiefly  to  avoid  the  Chinese 
inland  taxation  that  the  trade  of  Mengtsz,  in  particular, 
has  been  developed;  of  the  imports  in  1904  nearly  74 
per  cent,  continued  their  journey  under  transit  pass,  one- 
sixth  of  this  transit  trade  adopting  this  roundabout  way 
for  Kweichow.  The  opening  of  Wuchow  (1897)  produced  no 
effect  on  the  trade  of  Mengtsz,  as  shown  by  the  following 
figures,  the  percentage  of  imports  going  inland  imder  transit 
pass  being  given  in  parentheses  after  the  import  values : 


Imports. 

Exports. 

Total. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

Tls. 

1894 
1899 

1904 
X9IZ 

. .     1,241.879  (92) 
••     3.373.641(85) 
..     6.063,777(74) 
..     4.644.758(77) 

943.321 
1.883,297 
4.683,522 
6,750.304 

2.185,200 

5,256.938 

10,747,299 
11,395.062 

THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS        275 

The  principal  import  in  1904  was  cotton  yam  (Tls.3,732,000), 
and  the  principal  exports  were  opium  (Tls.1,332,000)  and 
tin  (Tls.3,187,000).  Of  the  imports  86  per  cent,  were 
declared  from  Hongkong  in  bond  through  Tonkin,  and  14 
per  cent,  from  Tonkin ;  of  the  exports  70  per  cent,  were 
declared  for  Hongkong,  and  30  per  cent,  (including  opium 
Tls.1,332,000  out  of  Tls.1,404,000)  for  Tonkin. 

SzEMAO  (22^*  47'  N.,  101°  2'  E.),  also  called  Esmok,  with 
a  population  of  15,000,  at  an  altitude  of  4,700  feet,  is  situated 
in  the  south-west  comer  of  Yunnan  at  a  distance  of  eighteen 
days'  pack-animal  jommey  from  Mengtsz  and  from  Yunnanfu 
six  days  from  the  French  Laos  frontier,  and  twelve  days 
from  the  British  Shan  frontier.  The  transport  is  soldy 
by  pack-animals.  The  port  was  opened  in  1896,  and  the 
value  of  its  trade  in  1904  was — imports  Tls.221,753,  exports 
Tls.45,230,  total  Tls.266,983.  The  principal  import  was 
cotton,  and  there  were  no  exports  distinguish^  above 
others.    In  1911  the  total  was  Tls.235,208. 

Tengyueh  (24''  45'  N.,  98**  15'  E.),  with  a  population  of 
10,000,  lies  at  an  altitude  of  5,500  feet.  Situated  on  the 
western  border  of  Yunnan,  it  is  seven  da)rs'  pack-animal 
journey  from  Bhamo  in  Burma,  and  twenty-four  d3Lys' 
from  Yunnanfu,  by  a  road  crossing  a  succession  of  moimtain 
passes  rising  at  times  to  8,000  feet,  and  dipping  into  valleys 
some  as  low  as  2,500  feet  above  the  sea.  The  opening  of 
Tengyueh,  attempted  in  1900,  was  accomplished  in  1902, 
and  in  1904  its  trade  was — ^imports  Tls.1,747,820,  exports 
Tls.337,684,  total  Tls.2,085,504.  In  1911  the  total  was 
Tls.1,684,213.  The  principal  imports  in  1904  were  cotton 
fabrics  (Tls.393,000),  cotton  yam  (Tls.849,000),  and  raw 
cotton  (Tls.184,000 ;  the  principal  export  was  yellow  silk 
(Tls.224,000).  Of  the  imports  74  per  cent,  in  1904  and 
69  per  cent,  in  1911  went  inland  under  transit  pass,  three- 
fourths  to  Yunnan  points,  and  one-fourth  across  the  whole 
width  of  Yunnan  in  Szechwan  and  Kweichow. 


276   the  trade  and  administration  of  china 

Tibet 

Tibet  contains  one  treaty  port,  Yatung  (28®  N.,  89**  E.), 
with  no  inhabitants  and  collecting  no  revenue.  The  value 
of  the  trade  passing  there  in  1903  (before  trade  was  inter- 
rupted by  the  advance  of  the  British  Mission  of  1904) 
was — ^imports  Tls.343.020,  exports  Tls.343,662,  total  Tls. 
686,682. 


CHAPTER   IX 

FOREIGN    TRADE 

The  records  of  the  foreign  trade  of  China  in  olden  time  are 
obscure,  and  the  proper  elucidation  of  that,  trade  would 
require  a  special  treatise  to  discuss  the  routes  by  which 
the  silks  of  China  reached  the  Roman  Empire,  following 
the  Central  Asian  caravan  routes  which  were  later  followed 
by  the  Polo  brothers  and  their  nephew  Marco  Polo ;  the 
routes  by  which  the  Arabs  came  by  sea  to  trade  during 
the  Tang  (a.d.  618-907)  and  Sung  (a.d.  960-1127)  dynasties  ; 
and  the  routes  followed  by  the  Chinese  themselves  in 
trading  with  the  islands  of  the  Southern  Sea,  to  which 
the  north-east  monsoon  of  winter  carried  their  junks  laden 
with  the  products  of  their  own  land,  while  the  south-west 
monsoon  of  summer  brought  them  back  in  surety  with 
the  spices  of  the  tropics.  It  is  sufficient  for  the  purpose 
of  th^  chapter  to  trace  the  progressive  steps  by  which  the 
trade  of  China  was  developed  by  European  nations. 

The  Portuguese  were  the  discoverers  of  the  East,  as 
the  Spanish  were  of  the  West,  and  the  first  recorded  arrival 
of  a  European  ship  in  China  was  that  of  Raphael  Perestrello, 
who  sailed  from  Malacca  in  1516.  In  1517,  Fernando 
Perez  de  Andrade  entered  Canton  waters  with  a  squadron 
of  four  Portuguese  and  four  Malay  ships,  and  was  well 
received  by  the  local  officials,  then  as  ever  quite  ready 
to  encourage  trade,  and  was  allowed  to  proceed  in  person 
to  Peking.  His  brother  Simon  arrived  in  the  following 
year,  and  so  conducted  himself  that  he  was  driven  off  the 
po^t,  whjle  Fernando  was  put  in  prison  in  Peking,  ulti- 

277 


278     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

matdy  losing  his  life.  Other  ships  arrived  and  initiated 
trade  at  Ningpo  (where  a  regular  "  factory,"  or  trading- 
post,  was  established),  Foochow,  and  Amoy,  while  three 
posts  were  established  near  Canton,  one  being  at  Macao. 
The  general  conduct  of  the  Portuguese  was  in  keeping 
with  the  attitude  maintained  at  that  time  by  all  Christian 
nations  toward  the  heathen,  probably  intensified  by  the 
difficulty  of  getting  the  better  of  Chinese  traders  in  a 
bargain,  and  the  Imperial  order  went  out  to  slay  them. 
This  was  done  effectively  in  the  north,  800  losing  their 
lives  at  Ningpo,  and  the  Portuguese  concentrated  at  Macao, 
where  they  were  allowed  to  settle  in  1557  on  pajmtient 
of  Tls.500  annually  as  rent ;  in  1573  the  Chinese  shut  in 
the  settlement  by  a  wall,  and  in  1587  established  a  civil 
magistracy  to  rule  the  Chinese  inhabitants  and  collect  all 
dues  of  the  government :  both  endured  until  1848.  Several 
Portuguese  embassies  went,  or  attempted  to  go,  to  Peking : 
the  first,  accompanying  de  Andrade  in  1517,  was  stopped 
at  Canton  ;  the  second,  in  1552,  was  stopped  by  the  Portu- 
guese Governor  at  Malacca  ;  a  third  in  1667  reached  Peking, 
but  accomplished  nothing  ;  a  fourth  in  1727  was  graciously 
received  at  Court,  but  secured  no  tangible  advantages ; 
and  the  same  result  attended  a  fifth  in  1753.  After  the 
assertion  of  the  independence  of  Macao  in  1848,  political 
relations  became  strained,  and  with  one  exception  (Mexico), 
Portugal  was  the  last  of  the  Western  Powers  to  secure  (in 
1887)  2t  treaty  of  amity  and  commerce  with  the  Imperial 
Government. 

The  Spanish  were  the  next  to  enter  into  the  foreign 
trade  of  China.  They  had  entered  the  East  from  the  West 
through  the  Philippines  in  1543,  by  reason  of  the  decision 
of  the  Borgian  court  of  delimitation ;  and  their  first  visit 
to  China  was  in  1575,  when  they  were  well  received  at 
Canton.  A  diplomatic  mission  started  for  Peking  in  1580, 
but  was  detained  at  Canton  and  sent  back  to  Manila ;  this 
was  the  last  embassy  until  1847,  ^^d  the  first  treaty  was 
made  in  1864.    The  development  of  the  Spanish  trade  with 


FOREIGN  TRADE  279 

China  was  left  to  the  Chinese  trading  between  Manila  and 
Fnkien  ports  (Amoy,  Chinchew,  etc.),  and  the  Chinese 
population  of  Manila  increased  so  fast,  became  so  influential, 
and  showed  so  much  independence,  that  in  1602  the 
Spaniards  instituted  a  general  massacre,  and  killed  most 
of  the  20,000  Chinese  immigrants.  Thus,  up  to  the  begin- 
ning of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  Chinese  could  only 
judge  that  European  traders  based  their  trade  on  cannon 
and  the  sword. 

The  Dutch  first  arrived  in  1604,  and  next  in  1622,  when 
a  fleet  of  seventeen  vessels  appeared  off  Macao.  Portugal 
was  then  a  part  of  the  Spanish  dominion,  and  Macao  was 
fair  spoil  of  war  and  was  attacked  ;  the  Dutch  were,  however, 
driven  off  and  proceeded  to  the  Pescadores,  from  which  they 
were  driven  by  the  Chinese,  partly  by  force  of  arms,  partly 
by  negotiation ;  they  then  settled  in  Formosa,  over  which  at 
that  time  China  had  no  right  of  government.  Here  they 
built  two  massive  brick  blockhouses  (tradition  says  they 
brought  the  bricks  from  Holland  1)  with  walls  six  to  eight 
feet  thick  and  thirty  feet  high,  one  in  1624,  ^^^  Zealandia,  at 
Taiwanfu  in  the  south,  one  at  Tamsui  in  the  north.  Their 
first  embassy  to  Peking  was  in  1655,  where  it  was  received 
and  had  the  distinction  of  being,  except  its  own  successor,  the 
only  European  embassy,  from  first  to  last,  to  perform  the 
kotow.  In  1662,  after  a  siege  in  Fort  Zealandia  of  nine 
months,  the  Dutch  were  driven  from  Formosa  by  Koxinga, 
an  independent  partisan.  In  1663  they  occupied  Amoy,  and 
in  1664  sent  a  trading  expedition  to  Foochow ;  but  after 
that  were  content  to  trade  at  Canton  on  the  same  footing  as 
others.  A  special  embassy  went  to  Peking  in  1665,  and 
their  last  was  in  1795.  Their  treaty,  on  the  same  terms 
as  those  of  other  nations,  was  made  in  1863. 

The  English  made  several  attempts  to  reach  China 
after  the  date,  1596,  when  Elizabeth  wrote  a  letter  to  the 
Emperor,  which  was  not  delivered ;  but  the  first  to  arrive 
in  China  was  Weddell,  who  reached  Macao  in  June  1637. 
The  policy  of  every  nation  in  that  day  was  to  restrict  the 


280     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

trade  of  others,  in  the  belief  that  trade  was  a  stagnant 
reservoir,  the  abstraction  of  a  portion  of  the  contents  of 
which  by  others  would  leave  so  much  the  less  for  them- 
selves ;   and  the  Portuguese  interposed  obstacles  and  mis- 
represented matters  to  the  Chinese  authorities  in  such  a 
way,  that  Weddell's  fleet  was  fired  on  from  the  Bogue  Forts. 
A  good  answer  was  made,  and   in  the  end  Weddell  was 
allowed  to  obtain  a  cargo.    The  next  attempt  was  in  1664, 
when  one  ship  was  sent  to  Macao,  but  returned  without 
a  cargo.    Trade  was  opened  with  Formosa,  not  then  under 
the  Imperial  authority,  and  in  1677  one  small  ship  was 
sent  to  Amoy.     In  1678  the  ships  took  "  trading  goods  " 
valued  at  ;f4iOOO  and  £6,000  in  specie,  and  brought  back 
silks,  rhubarb,  and  spelter.    The  Amoy  post  was  abandoned 
in  1681  and  re-established  for  a  short  time  in  1685.    The 
English  were  unable  to  obtain  a  footing  at  Canton  before 
1684,  and  even  then  could  do  little  trade  owing  to  the 
opposition  of  the  Portuguese,  an  important   item  in  the 
budget  of  the  colony  of  Macao  consisting  of  presents  to 
the  Chinese  officials,  given  to  secure  a  monopoly.    The 
trade  prospered,  however,  little  by  little,  until  in  1701  the 
"  investment "    for'  Canton  amounted  to  £40,800,    while 
that   for  Amoy  was  £34,400.    In   1701   an  improfitable 
attempt  was  made  to  trade  at  Ningpo.    At  Canton  in  1702 
a  beginning  was  made  of  what  afterward  developed  into  the 
'*  Hong  "  or  "  Factory  "  system.    The  English  trade  with 
China  was  in  the  hands  of  the  East  India  Company  imtil 
the  abolition  of  its  monopoly  in  1834,  ^  other  English 
merchants  trading  under  the  Company's  license.    The  first 
British  embassy  to  Peking  was  that  of  Lord  Macartney  in 
I793»  which  was  well  and  honourably  received,  but  produced 
no  practical  result ;    and  the  second  was  that  of  Lord 
Amherst  in  1816,  who  did  not  secure  an  audience,  OMdng 
to  regrettable  misimderstanding.    The  third  was  that  of 
Lord  Napier  in  1834,  whose  necessary  assertion  of  the 
sovereignty    and    dignity    of    his    country    led,    in    the 
natural   sequence    of   events,  to  the  first   war  between 


FOREIGN  TRADE  28l 

China  and  a  Western  Power,  and  to  the  first  British  treaty 
of  1842. 

The  Russians  approached  China  first  by  land,  their 
first,  unsuccessful,  embassy  reaching  Peking  in  1567  ;  others, 
also  unsuccessful,  reaching  Peking  in  1619  and  1653.  Their 
earliest  trading  caravans  reached  Peking  in  1658,  1672,  and 
1677.  The  first  treaty  was  signed  in  1689,  partly  to  regu- 
late land  trade>  but  chiefly  to  recover  from  Russia  ground 
she  had  occupied  in  farther  Manchuria.  Other  diplomatic 
missions  followed  in  1692,  1719,  1727^  1755,  and  others  up 
to  the  mission  which  signed  the  treaty  of  1858.  In  1806 
the  Russians  sent  two  ships  to  open  up  the  sea  trade  with 
Canton;  they  obtained  cargoes,  but  the  only  result  was 
that  the  Chinese  prohibited  all  trade  to  nations  not  already 
established  in  the  Canton  factories. 

The  French  first  made  touch  with  China,  other  than  by 
missionary  enterprise,  by  a  letter  written  by  Louis  XIV, 
to  Kanghi  in  1688.  The  first  commercial  attempt  was  in 
1728,  but  it  was  followed  up  only  by  private  enterprise. 
The  French  flag  was  again  hoisted  at  Canton  in  1802,  but 
was  hauled  down  on  the  resimiption  of  hostilities  with  the 
English,  and  was  not  again  raised  imtil  1829.  Their  first 
diplomatic  mission  was  in  1844,  ^^^  ^Y  i^  *^^  fi^*  treaty 
was  signed. 

The  Americans  first  made  direct  entry  into  the  China 
trade  in  1784,  their  previous  coimection  with  it  having  been 
solely  through  the  East  India  Company,  which  was  espe- 
cially insistent  that  they  should  buy  its  tea.  Though  now 
an  independent  nation,  they  crept  in  under  the  wing  of  the 
English,  but  with  the  friendly  support  of  the  French,  and 
joined  in  the  "  factory  '*  life  of  the  day.  The  only  political 
event  especially  concerning  them  was  the  suspension  of 
American  trading  in  1821  owin&  to  what  the  Americans 
believed  was  the  accidental  killing  of  a  Chinese  by  an 
American  sailor ;  when  the  American  was  given  up  and  had 
been  strangled,  trade  was  resumed.  The  first  American 
embassy  was  in  1844,  when  the  first  treaty  was  signed. 


282     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

By  this  time  the  Americans  had  attained  a  position  in  the 
trade  of  Canton  second  only  to  the  English,  a  development 
fostered  by  their  position  as  neutrals  during  the  Napoleonic 
wars  and  as  free-traders  in  a  world  of  monopoly,  but  furthered 
by  the  Yankee  trading  instinct. 

Other  nations  had  come  at  various  dates  to  share  in 
the  China  trade,  and  there  had  been  established  among 
the  factories  at  Canton  the  Swedish,  Danish,  and  Imperial ; 
the  memory  of  the  Danes  is  still  preserved  in  Dane  Island 
at  Whampoa,  and  the  Imperial  factory  provided  chiefly 
for  what  is  now  Belgian  trade  and,  possibly,  for  that  of 
the  Hanseatic  towns.  Others,  without  separate  factories, 
came  also  imder  British  protection  from  India,  as  if  in  antici- 
pation of  their  future  absorption.  The  Portuguese  remained 
solely  at  Macao,  but  otherwise  Canton  was  a  microcosm 
with  (in  the  order  from  east  to  west)  its  Dutch,  East  India 
Company's,  general  English,  Swedish,  Imperial,  American, 
French,  Spanish,  and  Danish  factories,  with  four  others 
let  out  in  apartments. 

Factory  and   Hong  System 

In  the  old  Canton  regime,  the  "  factory  "  (which  must 
be  understood  in  the  old  sense  of  the  residence  or  station 
of  the  "factor"  or  agent  of  the  home  company)  repre- 
sented the  purely  foreign  side,  being  the  counting-house, 
warehouse,  treasury,  and  residence  of  the  foreign  trader 
during  such  time  of  the  year  as  he  was  allowed  to  remain 
at  Canton.  The  Hong,  or  Co-Hong,  or  Gild  was  the  sole 
medium  through  which  the  foreign  trader  could  enter  into 
trade  relations  with  the  Chinese  Empire.  The  first  steps 
in  this  direction  were  taken  in  1702,  when  one  man  was 
appointed  to  be  the  sole  broker  through  whom  all  foreigners 
should  buy  and  sell.  In  1720  the  Co-Hong  was  established 
as  a  body  corporate,  and  in  1745  their  position  was  re- 
afl&rmed,  they  were  given  an  absolute  monopoly  of  all 
dealings  with  foreigners,  and  were  held  responsible  for  their 


FOREIGN  TRADE  283 

debts  and  good  behaviour ;  in  the  latter  days  the  number 
of  members  was  thirteen.  In  1760  more  stringent  regula- 
tions were  drawn  up  to  the  following  effect : 

I.  All  vessels  of  war  are  prohibited  from  entering  the 
Bogue.  Vessels  of  war  acting  as  convoy  to  merchant- 
men must  anchor  outside  at  sea  imtil  their  merchant 
ships  are  ready  to  depart,  and  must  then  sail  away  with 
them. 

II.  Neither  women,  guns,  spears,  nor  arms  of  any  kind 
can  be  brought  to  the  factories. 

III.  All  river  pilots  and  ships'  compradors  ♦  must  be 
registered  at  the  office  of  the  Chinese  magistrate  at  Macao, 
who  will  furnish  each  with  a  license  or  badge  which  must 
be  worn  at  the  waist.  No  boatmen  or  other  people  must 
hold  communication  with  foreign  ships  unless  imder  the 
immediate  control  of  the  ship's  comprador,  and  the  latter 
will  be  punished  if  any  smuggling  occurs  on  the  ship  to 
which  he  is  attached. 

IV.  Each  factory  is  restricted  to  employ  eight  Chinese 
(their  functions  enumerated). 

V.  Foreigners  are  prohibited  from  going  on  the  river 
at  their  own  will.  By  a  relaxation  made  in  1819,  they  were 
allowed  on  the  8th,  i8th,  and  28th  of  each  month  to  go  to 
the  Flower  Gardens  (about  a  mile  away),  but  not  in  droves 
of  over  ten.  If  they  stayed  out  overnight,  their  exeat 
would  be  refused  for  the  next  holiday.  They  must  always 
be  accompanied  by  a  "  linguist."  and  he  is  punished  for 
any  breach  of  rule. 

VI.  Foreigners  are  not  allowed  to  address  the  officials 
directly ;  if  they  have  any  representations  to  make,  it  must 
be  done  through  the  Hong  merchants. 

VII.  Hong  merchants  are  not  to  owe  money  to 
foreigners.  Smuggling  goods  to  and  from  the  city  is 
prohibited. 

VIII.  Foreign  ships  arriving  with  merchandise  must 
not  loiter  about  outside  the  river ;  they  must  come  direct 

*  Ship  chandlers. 


^84     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

to  Whampoa  and  must  not  engage  in  clandestine  trade 
elsewhere. 

These  and  others  of  the  older  regulations  remained  in 
full  force  up  to  the  very  last  of  the  factory  days.    In  1830, 
for  example,  no  less  than  three  ladies,  wives  of  soihe  of 
the  staff  of  the  E.I.C.  factory,  ventured  to  come  from 
Macao  to  Canton,  where  their  arrival  caused  great  com- 
motion;   they  left  after  a  few  days,  but  not  until    the 
officials  threatened  to  stop  all  trade  I    By  this  system 
the  foreign  trader,  living  ordinarily  at  Macao,  came  to 
Canton  to  attend  to  the  business  of  his  ship,  and  while 
there  Uved  in  his  factory;    when  his  ship's  business  was 
finished,  he  was  supposed  to  return  to  Macao,  or  to  any 
other  place  in  the  outside  world,  obtaining  for  his  exit,  but 
not  for  his  entrance,  a  permit  (or  rather  four  dociunents : 
1st,  a  guarantee  by  several  of  the  Hong  merchants  ;  2nd,  the 
Hoppo's  laissez  passer ;  3rd,  a  formal  pass  to  be  countersigned 
by  each  fort  and  taxing  station  en  route ;  4th,  a  permit  for 
the  effects  and  property  taken  along),  for  which  he  paid  a 
fee  which,  on  occasion,  would  rise  as  high  as  Tls.300  (£100). 
This  was  the  theory  ;  in  practice  the  ships  arrived  in  fleets, 
or  at  fixed  periods,  aiming  at  reaching  Canton  as  soon  after 
the  north-east  monsoon  had  set  in  as  possible  (October), 
and    at    leaving    before    the    south-west    monsoon    had 
developed  force  (say  March)  to  prevent  a  good  passage 
down  the  China  Sea ;  and  the  foreigners  usually  came  and 
went  in  a  body.    During  the  siunmer  one  or  two  members 
would  be  left  in  Canton,  not,  ostensibly,  to  protect  the 
factory,    which   was   imder    the   absolutely    trustworthy 
protection  of  the  Co-Hong,  or    rather  of  that    member 
specifically  assigned  to  the  factory,  but  on  the  pretext, 
always  accepted  for  an  annually  recurring  consideration, 
that  an  out-of-season  ship  was,  or  might  be,  exp)ected, 
or  that  their  import  cargoes  had  not  been  sold.    When 
a  ship  arrived,  its  first  duty  was  to  obtain  a  licensed  pilot 
at  Macao,  and  a  ship's  comprador  first  at  Macao,  later  at 
Whampoa,  the  anchorage,  ten  miles  below  Canton :  these. 


FOREIGN  TRADE  ^8$ 

especiafly  the  latter,  monopolised  all  dealings  with  the  ship, 
as  ship,  fixing  their  own  prices.  On  arrival  at  the  Bogue 
(Boca  Tigris,  Hoomunchai.  Tifi[er's  Gullet),  the  one  narroW 
entrance  for  laden  ships,  a  perniit  to  eifter  had  to  be  taken 
out,  for  which  fees  had  to  be  paid.  An  authentic  account  * 
of  the  fees  paid  for  a  ship  entering  in  1830  shows  the  ex- 
treme elasticity  of  the  official  tariff,  over  and  above  the 
gratifications  paid  to  numerous  subordinates  to  facilitate 
the  smooth  running  of  the  machinery. 

Tls. 
Tonnage  dues  calculated  according  to  measure- 
ment of  length  and  breadth  . .         . .  842' 285 
Loss  in  converting  into  bullion    . .         •  •         . .         75' 806 

Shroffage  15*  161 

Official  gratuity 8io'69i 

Hoppo's  "  fee  for  opening  the  barrier  "             . .  480' 420 
Transport  to  Peking  and  weighing  in  Govern- 
ment scales 150*  145 

To  the  Superintendent  of  the  Treasury  . .  ii6'424 

Add  i^^  per  cent,  converting  into  bullion         . .  i'2i2 


2,492*212 


Difference    in    weights    between    Canton    and 

Peking,  7  per  cent.f 174*455 


Total        ..         ..         Tls.2,666-667 


equivalent  at  the  ordinary  exchange  of  the  day  to  about 
^900,  but  evidently  not  including  "  all  the  old  charges  of 
measurement,  entrance,  and  port-clearance  fees,  daily  and 
monthly  fees,  etc.,"  which,  according  to  the  special  Regula- 
tion of  July  1843,  "  are  to  be  abolished."  Under  present 
regulations,  which  have  been  in  force  since  1858,  the  total 

♦  "The  *  Fan  Kwae '  at  Canton,"  by  W.  C.  Hunter, 
t  The  actual  difference  in  weights  is  under  i  per  cent.,  but  the 
other  way  around,  the  Canton  scale  being  the  heavier. 


286     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

sum  payable  on  the  above  account  for  this  ship  of  420  tons 
is  Tls.i68,  equivalent  at  to-day's  exchange  to  £25.  When 
the  ship  arrived  at  Whampoa,  she  continued  to  be  a  source 
of  daily  profit  to  the  ship's  comprador,  to  the  officials 
from  daily  and  monthly  fees,  from  payments  to  subordinates, 
and  from  some  uncertain  gratuities  to  expedite  her  de- 
parture. Her  agent  in  Canton  took  her  manifest,  giving 
full  particulars  of  the  cargo,  and  handed  it  to  that  member 
of  the  Co-Hong  who  was  responsible,  and  the  Co-Hong 
took  all  the  necessary  steps  and  paid  all  the  necessary 
sums  to  have  the  cargo  discharged  into  privileged  (monopoly) 
lighters  and  brought  to  the  factory.  The  specie,  which 
formed  a  great  part  of  the  inward  lading,  was  then  de- 
posited in  the  treasury  of  the  factory,  and  the  cargo  might 
be  sold  to  the  factory's  member  of  the  Co-Hong  and  to  no 
one  else.  Outside  these  limitations  there  was  no  com* 
pulsion;  the  importer  could  hold  for  a  better  market, 
or  he  could  send  his  goods  back  whence  they  came  (thereby 
materiaUy  reducing  the  space  available  for  tea),  but  he 
need  not  sell  unless  he  wished.  For  export  cargo  the  main 
staple  was  tea,  which  was  almost  invariably  contracted 
for  a  year  ahead ;  here  again  the  foreign  trader  had  his 
option ;  he  could  fix  both  quantity  and  price  at  time  of 
contracting,  or  he  could  fix  the  quantity  only,  leaving  the 
price  to  be  settled  according  to  the  rates  ruling  for  quality 
on  the  opening  of  next  season's  tea  market.  Shipments  of 
silk  could  not  exceed  a  certain  limit  (140-  piculs  =  167  cwt.) 
for  any  one  ship — except  on  paying  for  the  privilege, 
not  according  to  a  tariff,  but  enough  to  secure  the  permit. 
"  Chow-chow"  cargo  (as  it  was  then  termed,  the  "  muck 
and  truck "  of  to-day's  jargon,  "  sundries "  other  than 
tea  and  silk)  could  be  shipped  apparently  without  special 
limit,  but  a  special  permit — ^paid  for — ^was  required  for 
shipments  of  bulhon,  the  export  of  which  was  actually 
prohibited.  When  the  export  cargo,  taken  down  in  privi- 
l^ed  lighters,  was  duly  laden  on  board,  the  Co-Hong 
obtained  the  "  Grand  Chop ''  or  clearance  permit — ^paid 


FOREIGN   TRADE  287 

for ;  provided  with  which  the  ship  could  proceed  to  sea. 
This  was  a  system  which  worked  without  friction.  Every 
one  was  pleased :  the  foreign  merchant  enjoyed  his  practical 
monopoly,  and  had  nothing  of  the  extortion  thrust  under 
his  eyes,  while  the  annoyances  of  his  daily  life  were  as 
nothing  to  the  prospects  of  rapid  fortune ;  the  Co-Hong 
paid,  one  way  and  another,  its  miUions,  but  could  recoup 
itself  many  times ;  and  the  officials  were  quite  contented. 
The  best  commentary  on  its  commercial  aspect  is  the 
admitted  fact  that  there  grew  up  side  by  side,  during  a 
century  of  joint  working,  a  body  of  Chinese  and  of  foreign 
merchants  than  whom  there  has  never,  at  any  time  or  at 
any  place,  been  a  more  honourable ;  with  never  a  written 
contract,  with  many  an  occasion  of  help  in  time  of  difficulty, 
and  with  much  sympathy  and  friendliness  from  one  to  the 
other.  When  the  East  India  Company  was  thrust  from 
its  high  estate  in  1834  ^^d  the  British  government  sent 
a  Royal  Envoy  to  assimie,  for  the  first  time,  the  control 
of  trade,  then  the  full  light  of  day  was  thrown  on  the 
S3rstem,  and  it  was  seen  to  be,  from  its  governmental  side, 
a  system  not  of  taxation  but  of  milking.  From  first  to 
last  the  foreign  trade  was  milked.  From  the  time  a  ship 
entered  port  until  she  left,  she  and  her  equipment  and  her 
cargo  and  her  agents  were  solely  in  the  hands  of  men  who 
were  under  the  authority  and  direct  control  of  the  Co- 
Hong  or  the  officials.  Disregarding  the  smaller  fry — 
the  licensed  and  monopolist  pilots,  ship  chandlers,  steve- 
dores, lighterers,  brokers,  shroffs,  linguists,  guides — aU 
of  whom  dipped  their  hands  into  the  pot,  we  need  only 
consider  the  relations  between  those  most  friendly  of 
rivals,  the  foreign  traders  and  the  Co-Hong  merchants.  The 
foreigner  was  surrounded  by  an  impenetrable  veil ;  he  had 
no  access  to  markets,  he  could  not  even  walk  down  a  street 
of  shops,  he  could  send  no  independent  and  trustworthy 
agent  out  to  inquire  prices,  but  must  in  all  cases  accept 
without  criticism  the  prices  offered  by  his  broker,  a  member 
of  the  Co-Hong.    This  apphed  equally  to  imports  and  to 


288     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

exports  ;  and  that  the  Chinese  system  allowed  the  foreigner 
not  only  to  make  a  living  but  to  accumulate  a  modest 
fortune,  that  a  member  of  the  Co-Hong  would,  when 
occasion  called  for  it,  wipe  out  the  debt  of  a  foreign 
merchant  who  had  fallen  into  difficulties,  says  much  for 
the  generosity  and  the  business  capacity  and  foresight 
of  the  Chinese  merchants,  but  it  emphasises  also  the  fact 
that  there  must  have  been  a  wide  margin  of  profit  to  allow 
of  such  liberality.  For  the  Co-Hong  was  the  milker, 
milking  the  foreign  trade  for  all  it  was  worth,  and  pajring 
heavily  for  the  privil^e.  Its  members  paid  for  their 
appointment,  Tls.200,000  (over  £60,000)  being  reported 
as  the  sum  so  paid  by  one ;  they  were  frequently  called 
upon  for  special  contributions,  say  Tls.100,000,  for  a  YeUow 
River  flood  or  some  other  catastrophe ;  they  had  to  main- 
tain their  position  (their  ''pull")  at  the  capital;  they 
had  to  keep  well  with  the  officials  at  Canton,  especially 
their  over-lord,  the  Hoppo ;  and  every  one  who  knows 
China  knows  that  they  had  to  gain  and  keep  the  good  will 
of  every  subordinate  of  every  official,  down  to  the  humblest 
gate-keeper.  When  Canton  submitted  in  1841  to  pay  a 
ransom  of  $6,000,000,  the  Hong  merchants  contributed 
from  their  private  means  $2,000,000.  And  yet  the  best 
known  among  them,  Howqua,  himself  stated  in  1834,  ^^^ 
years  before  his  death,  that  his  estate  was  valued  at 
$26,000,000,  a  great  fortune  for  those  days,  probably  the 
largest  mercantile  fortune  in  the  world. 

Up  to  1834  China  was  the  admitted  master  of  the 
situation.  China  it  was  that  laid  down  the  terms  on  which 
alone  foreign  trade  was  permitted,  and  foreign  nations, 
represented  by  the  trading  interests  alone,  accepted  those 
terms  and  submitted  to  them  without  a  murmur ;  while 
the  traders  themselves  were  quite  content,  at  Canton  as 
at  Nagasaki,  to  accept  a  position  of  recognised  inferiority 
so  long  as  their  trade  was  profitable.  The  arrival  of  Lord 
Napier  as  British  Envoy  introduced  another  question,  that 
of  equality  between  sovereign  Powers,  and  on  this  the 


FOREIGN  TRADE  289 

Chinese  were  stubborn ;  and  a  further  element  was  thrown 
into  the  crucible  by  the  suddenly  revived  but  undoubtedly 
honest  prohibition  sentiment  of  the  Imperial  Court  towards 
opium.  The  contest  lasted  for  twenty-six  years,  from  1834 
to  i860,  and  had  behind  it  four  main  elements  of  strife — 

ist.  The  claim  for  equality  of  treatment  as  between 
nations;  this  was  settled  by  the  British  treaty  of  1842, 
and  finally  settled  in  i860. 

2nd,  The  opiiun  question:  this,  in  their  treaty  of  1842, 
imposed  at  the  cannon's  mouth,  the  British  left  alone,  and 
it  was  finally  settled  incidentally  by  the  inclusion  of  opiiun 
in  the  tariffs  annexed  simultaneously  to  all  the  treaties 
of  1858. 

3rd,  The  monopoly  of  the  Co-Hong  and  the  irregular 
incidence  of  taxation :  this  was  settled  in  1842. 

4th,  Security  to  foreigners  for  life,  limb,  and  property 
from  the  principles  of  Chinese  law  and  their  inequitable 
application :  this  the  British  treaty  of  1842  left  unsettled, 
and  it  was  first  introduced  into  the  British  supplementary 
treaty  of  Hoomunchai  (1843)  and  the  American  treaty  of 
1844. 

The  position  was  now  reversed,  and  from  i860, 
partly  by  the  action  of  Great  Britain  and  later  of  Great 
Britain  and  France,  partly  through  the  weakness  caused 
to  China  by  rebellion  and  disorder,  the  foreign  Powers  have 
been  masters  of  the  situation,  and  foreign  trade  has  been 
conducted  on  conditions  laid  down  by  them  and  not  by 
China,/^ 

The  component  elements  of  the  old  trade  are  not  well 
known,  and  will  some  day  be  elucidated  by  a  study  of  the 
East  India  Company's  archives  for  the  period.  All  that  is 
known  is  that  China  wanted  very  little  that  the  West  could 
supply.  Cotton  manufactures  in  1905  constituted  44  per 
cent,  of  the  value  (excluding  opium)  of  all  foreign  imports ; 
but  in  this  industry  the  West  could  compete  with  cheap 
Asiatic  labour  only  after  the  development  springing  from  the 
inventions  of  Richard  Arkwright  and  Eli  Whitney,  and 

19 


290     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

in  the  eighteenth  and  early  nineteenth  centuries  the  move- 
ment of  cotton  doth  was  from  China  to  the  West,  in  the 
shape  of  nankeens  to  provide  small-clothes  for  our  grand- 
fathers.   Woollens  were  wanted,  but  only  in  small  quantities, 
the  Chinese  preferring  their  own  silks,  and  even  now  the 
import  of  woollens  does  not  exceed  i   per  cent,  of  the 
total    import  trade      Quicksilver  and  lead  were  wanted, 
but  in  no  great  quantities ;   and  the  goods  introduced  con* 
sisted  to  a  great  extent  of  those  articles  which  were  objects 
of  curiosity  to  the  Chinese,  corresponding  to  the  lacquered 
boxes  and  carved  ivories,   the  painted  fans  and  quaint 
Buddhas,  which  went  to  the  West  in  exchange.     Apart 
from  opium,  to  be  considered  in  another  chapter,  and  raw 
cotton,  imported  into  a  cotton-producing  country,  the  trade 
was  on  a  cash  basis.     It  was  before  the  day  of  extended 
bank  facilities,  by  which  an  excess  of  exports  from  one 
country  is  paid  for  by  the  imports  into  another  country, 
and  at  Canton  there  were  no  banks,  each  factory  and  each 
merchant  having  a  treasury  which  must  always  be  kept 
stocked  with  specie,  an  individual  factory  having  frequently 
over  a  million  dollars  on  hand ;  only  the  East  India  Company 
worked  its  India  and  its  China  trade  one  into  the  other, 
and  drew  or  gave  bills  on  Bombay  or  Calcutta,  receiving 
or  shipping  treasure  only  when  funds  were  not  suificient 
to  cover  its  biDs.    To  some  extent  the  Dutch  India  Com- 
pany could  do  the  same,  but  generally  the  movement  of 
merchandise  from  the  Dutch  Indies  was  outward,  as  it  was 
from  China.    This  course  was  not  open  to  others,  and  the 
lading  of  a  ship  of  498  tons  which  left  New  York  for  Canton 
in  1824  may  probably  be  taken  as  more  or  less  typical ; 
it  consisted  of  furs  (coal  to  Newcastle  I),  bar  and  scrap 
iron  (probably  as  ballast),  lead  (required  for  packing  tea, 
but  also  mined  in  China),  quicksilver  (in  demand,  import 
779,600  lbs.  in  1868  and  156,000  lbs.  in  1905),  and  350,000 
Spanish    doUars    in   kegs.    That    veracious   historian,    J. 
Fenimore  Cooper,*  writing  in  1847  of  a  trade  of  which 
*  "  The  Crater." 


FOREIGN  TRADE  29I 

he  had  some  knowledge,  describes  two  voyages  of  the 
good  ship  Rancocus  in  1796  and  1798.  In  the  first  she 
sailed  from  Philadelphia  to  Europe,  and  there  engaged  in 
trade,  profitable  to  neutrals,  "  imtil  a  certain  sum  in  Spanish 
dollars  (specie  was  scarce  in  America  at  that  time)  could  be 
collected,  when  she  was  to  .  .  .  make  the  best  of  her  way 
to  Canton,''  and  load  tea.  In  the  second  she  sailed  for 
the  South  Pacific  islands  with  "  trade  goods"  and  axes  to 
pick  up  a  cargo  of  sandalwood  (with  some  misgivings  in 
the  minds  of  her  owners  as  to  its  employment  for  idolatrous 
purposes),  and,  after  an  interrupted  voyage,  arrived  in 
Canton,  sold  her  sandalwood  at  good  prices,  bought  tea, 
and  had  some  thousands  of  dollars  surplus,  also  spent  in 
Canton,  but  for  another  purpose.  In  the  year  1831,  so 
Hunter  informs  us,  three  ships,  arriving  from  New  York, 
brought  with  them  $1,100,000  in  coin.  Even  as  late  as 
1859,  a  year  in  which  the  imports  and  exports  of  merchandise 
at  Shanghai  about  balanced,  the  import  of  treasure  at  that 
port  through  foreign  channels  was  Tls.10,483,550  and  the 
export  Tls.4,246,067 ;  and  in  i860,  with  exports  exceeding 
imports  in  value,  the  movement  of  treasure  at  Shanghai 
was  Tls.15,201,277  inwards  and  Tls.1,742,510  outwards. 
After  that  date  banking  facilities  were  more  fxilly  developed 
in  the  East,  and  in  1905  was  seen  the  spectacle  of  a 
Chinese  import  trade  (Tls.447,000,000)  valued  at  nearly 
double  the  value  of  the  export  trade  (Tls.228,000,000) 
and  financed  with  only  a  comparatively  trifling  movement 
of  treasure,  about  ten  million  taels  on  balance  for  the  year, 
and  that  inwards,  in  the  same  direction  as  the  merchandise 
The  truth  is  that  China  has  for  centuries  levied  tribute, 
commercially,  on  the  outside  world  in  a  v/ay  which  will  be 
referred  to  later. 

The  new  trade  of  China,  based  on  conditions  laid  down 
by  the  foreign  Powers,  has  been  conducted  since  i860  on 
lines  similar  in  tnany  ways  to  those  followed  in  other  parts 
of  the  world,  and  practically  identical  up  to  the  moment 
when  foreign  imports  are  sold  to  the  Chinese  distributor, 


aga   the  trade  and  administration  of  china 

and  from  the  moment  when  Chinese  produce  is  bought  for 
shipment ;  but  one  fact  must  be  borne  in  mind,  that  Customs 
duty  is  levied  in  China  on  exports  as  well  as  on  imports, 
both  being  assessed  at  rates  based  on  a  nominal  five  per  cent, 
levy.  The  development  of  trade  in  the  past  forty-five 
years  cannot  be  fully  gauged  by  a  mere  statement  of  the 
total  value  inwards  and  outwards,  since  a  much  more 
important  factor  is  the  increase  in  the  number  of  articles 
demanded  from  the  West  and  of  those  supplied  for  export. 
The  Chinese  Customs  statistics,  issued  from  i860,  assumed 
their  present  shape  in  1867,  and  that  year  is  taken  for 
comparison  with  1905  in  order  to  show  the  progress  made 
in  the  exchange  of  commodities  during  thirty-nine  years  of 
the  new  dispensation. 

Shipping 

During  the  sixteenth  century  the  only  ships  trading 
to  China  were  the  Portuguese.  During  the  seventeenth 
century  Portuguese  ships  traded  to  Canton,  Dutch  to 
Formosa  and  Amoy,  and  English  to  Amoy  and,  from  1684, 
to  Canton.  In  the  eighteenth  century  trade  was  rigidly 
restricted  to  Canton,  and  at  this  port  the  flags  of  the  principd 
maritime  commercial  nations  were  shown  in  greater  or  less 
numbers,  including,  from  1784,  the  American.  In  the  first 
part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  in  the  days  of  the  **  old 
trade,"  restricted  as  before  to  Canton,  the  principal  part 
of  the  carrying  trade  fell  to  the  British  flag,  and,  next  to 
that,  to  the  American.  The  fifth  and  sixth  decades  of  the 
century  were  a  period  of  scramble,  and  since  that  time  the 
development  of  the  carrying  trade  under  the  principal  flags 
is  shown  in  the  table  on  opposite  page. 

Imports 

Imports  generally  (net,  after  deduction  of  re-exports 
to  foreign  countries)  were  valued  in  1867  at  Tls.69,329,741 
(^£23,169,914)  and  in  1905  at  Tls.447,100,791  (£67,065,119). 


FOREIGN  TRADE 


293 


X864. 

X874. 

X884. 

1894. 

1903.* 

X9XX. 

Tons. 

Tons. 

Tons. 

Tons. 

Tons. 

Tons. 

British 

2,862,214 

4,738,793 
3,184,360 

12,152,949 

20,496,347 

28,122,987 

34,712,440 

American 

2.609,390 

2,140,741 

129,127 

559,686 
1,178,200 

712,161 

French 

93,099 

137,253 

93.963 

348,291 

3,154.157 

German 

580,570 

530,377 

939,765 

1,983,605 

7,310,427 

6,849.069 

Japanese      .. 

756 

480 

215,105 

379,044 

7,965,358 

19,172,727 

Norwegian   .. 
Other  Foreign 

38.195 

22,507 

10,455 

288,051 

1,136,056 

1,246,304 

396.673 

197,784 

460.197 

458,290 

1,106,466 

2,043.573 
17,881,542 

Chinese!     .. 

64,588 

494,237 

2,993,613 

5,539.246 

9,911,209 

Total    .. 

6,635,485 

9,305,801 

18,806,788 

29,622,001 

57,290,389 

85,771,973 

opium  was  imported  in  1867  to  the  amount  of  60,948 
piculs,  of  which  26,297  piculs  was  Bengal  (government 
monopoly)  opium,  and  34,651  piculs  from  Malwa  (in- 
dependent Indian  states)  and  Persia ;  the  value  was 
Tls.31,994,576,  being  46  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  all  foreign 
imports  in  that  year.  In  1905  the  import  of  foreign  opium 
was  51,890  piculs,  of  which  34,235  piculs  were  Bengal  and 
17,655  Malwa  and  Persian ;  the  value  was  Tls.34,070,021, 
being  7^  per  cent,  of  all  foreign  imports. 

Cotton  Manufacturesin  1867  were  valuedat  Tls.14,617,268, 
being  21  per  cent,  of  the  total,  and  in  1905  at  Tls.181,452,953, 
being  40  per  cent,  of  the  total ;  the  imports  of  1905  were 
above  the  normal,  but  the  increase  was  maintained  in  1906. 
Of  plain  fabrics  (grey  and  white  shirtings,  sheetings,  drills, 
jeans,  and  T-cloths)  the  import  in  1867  was  3,738*05 
pieces,  about  118,875,000  square  yards,  of  which  130,000 
pieces  came  from  the  United  States  and  the  rest  mainly 
from  England ;  the  value  of  these  plain  fabrics  was  Tls. 
10,537,427,  which  was  72  per  cent,  of  all  cotton  imports. 
Of  these  same  plain  fabrics  the  importation  in  1905  was 
28,702,693  pieces,  about  1,167,600,000  square  yards,  of 
which  the  country  of  origin  was  as  follows: 


*  Japanese  canying  trade  in  1904  affected  by  Russo-Japanese 
War,  1904-1905. 

t  Steamers  and  sailing  vessels  engaging  in  trade  under  the  regn- 
lations  of  the  Inspectorate  General  of  Customs. 


294     ^^J5  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 


Pieces. 

So.  Yards. 

Value.  Tls. 

English 

•     14.393.846 

589,200,000 

43,480,144 

American     . 

.     12,693,793 

519,770,000 

42,977,175 

Japanese 

789.290 

30,530.000 

2,079.313 

Indian 

651,011 

22,330,000 

1.461,369 

All  others     . 

174.753 
.     28,702,693 

5,770,000 

486,884 

Total     . 

1,167,600,000 

90,484,885 

This  value  was  48  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  all  cotton  products 
imported  in  1905.  Fine  cotton  fabrics  were  imported  in 
1867  *o  the  extent  of  781,359  pieces,  about  15,860,000 
square  yards,  composed  more  than  half  of  figured  (white 
and  dyed)  shirting  and  chintzes,  almost  entirely  of  English 
weaving ;  the  value  was  Tls.2 ,464,075,  being  17  per  cent, 
of  all  cotton  imports.  In  1905  fine  cotton  imports  were 
10,821,885  pieces,  about  220,195,000  square  yards,  which 
may  be  divided  approximately  between  the  countries  of 
origin  as  follows : 


Pieces. 

Sq.  Yards. 

Value,  Tls. 

English 
American     . 
Japanese 
All  others     . 

.       7.634.054 

541.977 
.        I.813.480 

832.374 

186,304,000 

16,253,000 

11,368,000 

6,271,000 

23,135,583 

2,006,350 

1,446,054 

921,432 

Total    . 

.     10.821,885 

220,195,000 

27,509.419 

This  value  was  fifteen  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  all  cotton  pro- 
ducts in  1905.  The  kinds  which  were  prominent  in  1867 
have  lost  their  prominence  in  1905,  and  in  the  latter  year 
the  great  bulk  is  made  up  by  "  imitations,"  by  cheap 
cotton  substitutes  for  a  more  expensive  woollen  fabric,  by 
an  appeal  to  the  eye ;  of  the  Tls.27,509,419,  the  value  of 
all  fine  cottons,  no  less  than  Tls.19,240,889  are  supplied 
by  cotton  Italians,  cotton  lastings,  cotton  Spanish  stripes, 
cotton  flannel,  and  cotton  blankets.  The  import  of  cotton 
yam  in  1867  was  33,274  piculs,  entirely  of  English  spinning ; 
it  was  of  the  finer  counts,  with  an  average  value  of  Tls,48'20 


FOREIGN  TRADE  295 

{£16)  a  picul ;  and  the  total  value,  Tls.1,603,807,  was 
II  per  cent,  of  all  cotton  products.  In  1905  the  cotton 
yam  imported  was  2,577,748  piculs,  of  which  22,075  piculs 
were  English  spinning,  1,867,309  Indian,  684,671  Japanese, 
and  3,693  from  all  other  sources ;  this  import  was  mainly 
of  the  coarser  counts  (12's  to  24's),  with  an  average  value 
of  Tls.26  (£3  i8s.)  a  picul,  and  the  total  value,  Tls.66,892,485, 
was  36  per  cent,  of  all  cotton  imports :  in  1903  and  1904 
the  percentage  of  yarn  to  the  total  had  been  52  and  48 
respectively.  If  we  add  Tls.20,000,000,  the  value  of  the 
750,000  piculs  of  yam  machine-spun  annually  in  the  fac- 
tories of  Shanghai  and  other  ports,  it  may  be  declared  that 
normally  and  on  the  average  a  full  half  of  all  foreign  cotton 
products  is  now  in  the  shape  of  the  semi-finished  product 
yarn.  This  yam  is  imported  to  give  a  strong  warp,  on 
which  the  people  in  their  homes  weave  a  coarse  durable 
fabric,  filling  in  with  a  hand-spun  weft  of  Chinese  cotton ; 
it  penetrates  to  every  comer  of  the  Empire,  and  in  every 
village  street  may  be  seen  the  long  white  stretches  arranged 
by  the  women  in  preparation  for  their  labour  at  the  loom. 
In  Western  countries  the  cheapness  of  the  machine-woven 
cotton  fabric  has  driven  out  the  home-spun  of  our  grand- 
mothers, whose  descendants  may  now  more  profitably 
employ  their  time  and  energy  in  other  occupations ;  in 
China  the  machine  has  only  succeeded  in  partially  sup- 
planting the  spinning-wheel,  but  the  hand-loom  is  still 
unconquered. 

Woollens  were  imported  in  1867 of  avalue  of  Tls.7,391,236, 
constituting  10  per  cent,  of  all  foreign  imports.  In  1905 
the  value  was  Tls.4,414,713,  being  less  than  i  per  cent, 
of  all  imports.  Those  Chinese  who  can  afford  woollens 
prefer  silks  and  furs,  and  the  wearers  of  sheep-skins  and 
cotton-wadded  garments  cannot  afford  woollens ;  while 
the  demands  of  fashion  are  met  by  cotton  imitations. 

Metals  were  valued  in  1867  at  Tls.1,630,351,  a  little 
over  2  per  cent,  of  all  imports,  and  in  1905  at  Tls.46,318,231, 
being  10  per  cent,  of  the  whole;    but  this  requires  some 


2g6    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

explanation.     The  import  of  copper  in  1867  was  11,150 

pictils,  valued  at  Tls.198,017,   and  in  1905  was  985,287 

piculs,  valued  at  Tls.31,762,337 :  almost  the  entire  import 

in  the  latter  year  was  for  the  mints  of  China,  which  were 

then    engaged  in   wild  orgies  of  issues   of   copper   token 

coinage.    Lead  (57,780  and  143,652  piculs)  is  chiefly  wanted 

for  packing  tea,  and  tin  {31,758  and  54,193  pictils)  chiefly 

for  making  tin-foil  and  those  paper  simulacra  of  silver 

bullion  which  are  offered  so  profusely  in  religious  worship, 

specially  at  the  ancestral  tombs.      Tinned  plates  in  1867 

amounted  to  1,744  piculs,  and  in  1905  to  182,188  piculs, 

in  addition  to  a  considerable  quantity  of  second-hand  plate 

coming  as  lining  to  cases  containing  piece-goods,  kerosene 

oil,  and  other  commodities,  every  foot  of  which  is  utilised 

in  this  land  of  poverty  and  thrift,  and  the  quantity  of 

which  is  estimated  at  not  less  than  500,000  piculs  a  year. 

The  consumption  of  iron  and  steel  is  in  all  countries  the 

index  of  industrial  progress  ;  the  import  into  China  in  1867 

was  117,381  piculs  {7,000  tons) ;   in  1905  this  had  increased 

to  2,713,113  piculs  (161,500  tons).    This  is  satisfactory,  but 

another  indication  of  the  poverty  and  thrift  of  the  people 

is  found  in  the  fact  that  of  the  import  of  1905  close  on  a  half 

(1,323,593  piculs)  consisted  of  old  iron,  plate  cuttings,  etc., 

thediscardsof  Westemmarkets,  comingmainly  from  England. 

Sundries,  i.e.  all  goods    other    than    opium,    cottons, 

woollens,  and  metals,  were  valued  in  1867  at  Tls.  13,636,376, 

just  under  20  per  cent,  of  the  whole ;    in  1905  their  value 

was  Tls.186,338,096,  just  over  40  per  cent,  of  the  whole. 

Nothing  but  a  brief  summary  of  the  more  important  articles 

can  be  attempted.    Fish  and  products  of  the  sea  in  general 

imported    from   foreign   ports    in    1867   were   valued   at 

Tls.1,358,716,  and  in  1905  at  Tls.11,820,686.  Cigarettes  were 

unknown  in  1867,  and  in  1905  their  value  was  Tls.4,427,171, 

imported    half    from  the  United    States,   a  fourth  from 

England,  and  a  fourth  from  Japan.    In  1867  the  import 

of  coal  was  113,430  tons ;    in  1905  China  produced  some 

400,000    tons,    coming    under    Customs    cognisance,    and 


FOREIGN  TRADE  2^7 

imported  a  further  quantity  of  1,314,032  tons.  Aniline 
dyes  were  not  an  article  of  commerce  in  1867  ;  in  1905  the 
value  was  Tls.2,626,545  for  aniline  dyes  in  general,  not 
including  115,1,726,950  for  synthetic  indigo  to  displace 
the  natural  product  of  the  country.  The  taste  for  foreign 
luxuries  has  been  introduced  by  retiurned  emigrants,  and 
flour,  unknown  in  1867,  was  imported  in  1905  to  the  extent 
of  2,635,000  bags  of  50  lbs.  Window  glass  and  glassware  were 
valued  in  1867  at  Tls.25,182,  and  in  1905  at  Tls.1,554,832. 
Matches  in  1867  figured  for  79,236  gross  of  boxes,  valued 
at  one  tael  a  gross ;  in  1905  the  import  was  26,057,221 
gross,  valued  at  Tls.0"2i5  a  gross,  nearly  ten  boxes  for 
each  one  of  the  400,000,000  of  men,  women,  and  children 
in  the  Empire.  Kerosene  oil  was  not  an  article  of  general 
commerce  in  1867,  the  import  amounting  only  to  29,842 
gallons  for  the  foreign  community ;  the  trade  began  to 
expand  in  1878,  when  the  import  was  4,161,100  gallons, 
entirely  American;  Russian  oil  was  introduced  in  1889, 
Sumatran  in  1894,  and  Borneo  oil  in  1901 ;  in  1905  the 
total  import  was  156,948,040  gallons,  of  whidi  52  per  cent, 
was  American,  8  per  cent.  Russian,  32  per  cent.  Siunatran, 
and  7  per  cent,  from  Borneo.  Rice  is  always  wanted  for 
the  people  of  China,  but  of  the  713,494  piculs  imported  in 
1867  a  large  part  went  to  Ningpo,  whfle  the  2,227,916  piculs 
in  1905  were  mainly  for  Kwangtung.  Of  sugar  the  import 
in  1867  was  186,176  piculs,  entirely  Chinese  sugar  re- 
imported  from  Hongkong  ;  in  1905  the  import  was  4,644,315 
piculs,  of  which  no  more  than  365,000  piculs  could  have 
been  Chinese  sugar  re-imported,  the  greater  part  being 
Java  sugar,  with  some  quantity  from  the  Philippines, 
shipped  to  Hongkong  and  imported  thence  either  in  its 
original  state  or,  to  the  extent  of  1,322,000  piculs,  refined. 
Timber,  hard  and  soft,  was  imported  in  1867  to  the  value 
of  Tls.205,168,  and  in  1905  of  Tls.3,121,841 ;  in  the  latter 
year  the  quantity  of  soft-wood  planks  was  90,432,396  super- 
ficial feet,  of  which  61  per  cent,  came  from  the  United 
States  and  38  per  cent,  from  Japan. 


298     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

Raw  Cotton  occupies  a  peculiar  position  in  China,  being 
both  exported  and  imported.  In  1867  the  export  (from 
Shanghai)  was  29,391  piculs,  and  the  import  from  India 
(chiefly  into  Canton)  was  336,072  piculs,  its  value  con- 
stituting a  third  of  the  foreign  "sundries"  imported. 
In  1904  the  export  was  1,228,588  piculs,  and  the  import 
60,057  piculs.  China  is  a  great  cotton-growing  country, 
and  the  proportions  for  1905  (export  789,273  piculs,  import 
90,581  piculs)  represent  the  normal  movement. 

Exports 

Exported  goods  were  valued  in  1867  at  Tls.57,895,713 
(/i9,298,57i),  and  in  1905  at  Tls.227,888,197  (£341183.230), 
a  much  smaller  development  than  is  shown  in  the  case  of 
imports.  The  export  trade  of  China  is  in  three  broad 
divisions — ^silk,  tea,  and  "  sundries,"  the  last  being  the 
official  designation  of  what  was  called  by  merchai^ts  in  the 
old  trade  "  chow-chow,"  and  to-day  is  called  "  muck  and 
truck."  In  1867,  of  the  whole  export  trade,  silk  and  its 
products  accounted  for  34  per  cent.,  tea  for  59  per  cent., 
and  sundries  for  7  per  cent.  ;  in  1905  the  proportions  were 
— silk  31  per  cent.,  tea  11  per  cent.,  and  sundries  58  per  cent. 

Tea  *  constituted  the  main  staple  of  the  old  trade  of 
China.  As  has  been  stated,  the  fragrant  leaf  formed  the 
main  part  of  the  outward  lading  of  ships,  vessels  which 
could  take  a  thousand  tons  or  moi-e  of  tea  being  restricted, 
in  theory  and  by  law,  to  140  piculs,  less  than  ten  tons  in 
weight,  of  the  other  staple  export,  silk.    This  preponderance 

•  The  English  and  Dutch  obtained  their  first  tea  at  Amoy,  and 
consequently  called  the  leaf  tea  (rhyming  with  obey),  the  name  in 
the  Amoy  dialect ;  French,  Germans,  Americans,  and  others  first 
obtained  the  leaf,  and  with  it  the  name,  through  England  or  Holland. 
The  Portuguese  and  Spanish  obtained  it  from  Canton,  and  conse- 
quently called  it  by  the  Cantonese  name  cha.  The  Russians,  ob- 
taining it  by  the  northern  frontier,  called  it  tchai,  from  the  northern 
Chinese  name  cha-yeh,  "tea-leaf." 


FOREIGN  TRADE 


299 


continued  in  the  new  regime,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  in  1867 
tea  contributed  three-fifths  of  the  value  of  all  exports.  In 
the  two  seasons  1848-1849  and  1849-1850  the  average  of 
shipments  of  tea  to  England  was  335,920  piculs,  of  which 
249.660  piculs  were  shipped  from  Canton  and  87,260  piculs 
from  Shanghai;  and  shipments  to  the  United  States 
averaged  26,600  piculs,  from  Shanghai.  Tea  shipments  from 
China  increased  in  actual  volume  until  the  culminating 
year,  1886,  when,  with  a  quantity  the  highest  on  record, 
the  value  contributed  but  43  per  cent,  of  all  exports ;  there- 
after both  quantity  and  price  fell  off,  until  in  1905  tea 
gave  little  over  a  tenth  of  the  value  of  all  exports.  With 
a  reduction  in  quantity  there  has  been  a  still  greater  decline 
in  value,  notwithstanding  the  reduced  exchange  value  of 
the  unit,  the  tael  of  silver ;  and,  with  a  restricted  market 
for  tea  of  the  finer  qualities,  there  is  a  distinct  falling  off 
in  the  proportion  of  tea  leaf  to  brick  tea,  made  of  refuse 
leaf,  dust,  and  stalks,  as  shown  in  the  following  table : 


TBA  LVAF. 

Buck  Tba. 

QwmUty. 

Value. 

QuanUty. 

Value. 

1867 
1886 
1905 

Pioils. 
1.248,256 
1.846,989 

839.173 

Tla. 
33.838.423 
31.246,063 
21,013,687 

Piculs. 

65.311 
370.212 
530.125 

Tla. 
717.665 

2.258.757 
4.431.965 

This  change  is  the  more  significant  when  it  is  remembered 
that  tea  leaf  goes  to  Europe  and  America  to  be  infused  and 
provide  the  beverage  we  know,  while  the  brick  tea  is  for 
the  inhabitants  of  Siberia  and  Central  Asia,  who  make  of 
it  a  soup.  The  decline  in  the  China  tea  trade  has  come 
from  the  competition  with  India,  which  learned  its  lesson 
from  China  and  has  improved  upon  the  instruction  given. 
The  first  experiments  were  made  in  India  in  1838,  in  which 
year  500  lbs.  were  shipped  to  England ;  it  took  over  twenty 
years  for  shipments  to  reach  a  million  pounds,  but  then 
the  trade  advanced  by  leaps  and  bounds.     In  1867,  when 


300     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

China  shipments  were  one  and  a  quarter  million  piciils,  the 
export  from  India  was  40,000  piculs ;  in  1886,  shipments 
of  all  kinds  from  China  were  2,217,201  piculs,  and  from 
India  565,690  piculs.  Ceylon  came  into  the  market  in 
1883,  and  under  the  influence  of  heavy  shipments  from 
Ceylon  and  from  India,  the  English  market  was  gradually 
lost  to  China  tea,  until  in  1905  the  quantities  withdrawn 
from  bond  for  consimiption  within  the  United  Kingdom 
were  as  follows : 

China      . .         . .  6,658,966  lbs.  =       49,142  piculs 

India       . .         . .  150,530,446  „    =  1,128,978     „ 

Ceylon    . .         . .  89,385,901  „     =     670,394     „ 

Other  countries  12,513,284  „    =     93,850 

Fifty  years  ago  China  supplied  practically  all  the  tea  infused 
in  the  United  Kingdom,  and  to-day  she  supplies  just  one- 
fortieth.  The  United  States  is  not  one  of  the  great  tea- 
drinking  nations,  its  per  capita  consumption  being  about 
one-fifth  that  of  the  British,  and  since  the  opening  of  Japan 
the  American  tea-drinkers  have  taken  rather  to  tea  from 
that  country  ;  in  1867  shipments  to  the  United  States  from 
China  amounted  to  194,153  piculs,  being  65  per  cent,  of 
the  American  import  of  that  year.  In  1905  the  correspond- 
ing quantity  was  182,123  piculs,  which  was  23^^  per  cent, 
of  the  American  consumption.  Russia  has  always  been 
an  important  customer  for  Chinese  tea.  Sea-borne  tea  for 
Russia  in  early  years  cannot  be  distinguished,  since  so 
much  was  bought  on  the  London  market.  Direct  shipments 
declared  for  Russia  have  been  as  follows :  in  1867,  leaf, 
13,251  piculs,  brick,  53,123  piculs ;  in  1886,  leaf,  239,086 
piculs,  brick,  360,091  piculs  ;  in  1903  (before  the  dislocation 
of  trade  occasioned  by  the  Russo-Japanese  war),  leaf, 
401,087  piculs,  brick,  618,458  piculs,  the  total  being  60  per 
cent,  of  all  exports  of  tea  from  China  during  the  year.  The 
English  market  and  that  of  Australia,  with  the  largest  per 
capita  consimiption  in  the  world,  have  been  lost  to  China, 


FOREIGN  TRADE  3OI 

diiefly  for  the  reason  that  the  Indian  and  Ceylon  teas  give 
a  strong  infusion,  and  are  as  strong  in  that  second  drawing 
which  is  so  dear  to  the  housekeeper's  heart.  The  English 
taste  has  become  so  thoroughly  perverted  and  insensible 
of  the  delicacy  and  cleanness  of  flavour  characteristic  of 
China  tea,  that  the  market  can  never  be  recovered  even 
by  reduced  price  ;  and  in  the  contest,  China  is  handicapped 
by  several  factors.  Indian  tea  is  prepared  and  fired  by 
mechanical  appliances,  the  use  of  which  is  possible  only 
where,  as  in  India,  large  plantations,  of  a  thousand  or  more 
acres,  are  under  one  management ;  in  China  all  is  done  by 
hand,  and  no  change  can  be  made  in  a  cotmtry  where  the 
individual  cultivator  has  only  a  small  patch  of  a  very  few 
acres,  ten  acres  being  a  large  plantation.  In  twenty  years 
of  a  declining  market  the  tea  shrubs  have  been  left  un- 
pruned  and  uncultivated,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  they  can  ever 
recover  their  old-time  condition.  Finally,  the  Chinese 
fiscal  system  is  to  tax  everything  in  sight.  In  India  there 
is  no  tax  on  the  production  or  export  of  tea ;  in  China 
not  only  was  there  for  forty-five  years  an  export  duty  of 
Tls.2'5oapicul,  reduced  only  in  1903  to  Tls.  1-25  (equivalent 
at  present  exchange  to  ^d.  per  lb.),  but  on  the  way  from 
the  producing  district  to  the  shipping  port  there  is  levied 
a  series  of  taxes,  amounting  on  the  average  to  more  than 
Tls.2'5o  a  picul  for  official  tax,  with  something  to  be  added 
for  irregular  levy  and  delay  and  loss  of  interest.  No  in- 
dustry thus  burdened  could  compete  with  a  rival  free  of  all 
burden. 

Silk  is  the  product  for  which  China  has  been  noted  for 
two  thousand  years,  and  it  is  now  the  product  which  in* 
dividually  contributes  the  greatest  proportion  of  the  value 
of  the  export  trade.  By  the  nineteenth  century  the  supplies 
obtained  from  China  had  developed  to  a  considerable 
quantity,  the  average  annual  shipments  to  England  in  the 
last  five  years  of  the  East  India  Company's  monopoly^ 
1828-1833,  being  5,393  bales  (4,314  piculs).  During  the  next 
four  years  of  open  trade,  1833-1837,  shipments  increased 


302     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

to  an  annual  average  of  12,497  bales  (9,998  piculs).  Then 
followed  a  period  of  war  and  interrupted  trade,  and  in  the 
five  years  1839-1844  the  annual  shipments  fell  to  2,080 
bales  (1,664  piculs).  Upon  the  restoration  of  peace  and 
the  opening  of  the  five  treaty  ports,  the  annual  export 
to  England  rose  again  in  the  five  years  1845-1850  to  18,654 
bales  (14,923  piculs).  In  i860  Japanese  silk  found  its  outlet 
through  Shanghai  to  the  amount  of  6,248  piculs.  Apart 
from  this  the  export  of  white  and  yellow  raw  silk  from 
Canton  and  Shanghai  respectively  has  been  as  foUows : 

Canton.       Shanghai.  Total,  all  Ports. 


PicuU. 

Piculs. 

Piculs. 

i860     .. 

• .       5.571 

61.552 

67,123 

1867    . . 

.  •       9.259 

30.358 

39.627 

1886    .. 

. .     19.406 

44.967 

64.488 

1905    .. 

••     34.231 

44.303 

80,335 

£ 1»^ 

In  addition,  wild  silk,  the  product  of  silkworms  feeding  on 
the  oak,  was  exported  as  follows :  5,127  piculs  in  i860, 
5,363  piculs  in  1867,  12,555  piculs  in  1886,  and  25,584 
piculs  in  1905.  The  value  of  the  export  of  each  category 
of  silk  products — cocoons,  raw  silk  (white,  yellow,  and  wild), 
waste  silk,  and  woven  silk  goods — ^has  been  as  follows : 


Cocoons. 

Raw  Silk.  Waste  Silk.  Woven  Silk. 

i860 

53.845 

23,804,284          16,807       2,166,481 

1867 

39.598 

16,372,518        113,924       2,234.887 

1886 

. .        350.482 

19,210,052     2,271,996       6,753,939 

1905 

. .     1,344.286 

53.425.473    4.844.343       9.938.750 

In  1905  the  raw  white  originated  almost  entirely  in  Shanghai 
and  Canton ;  yellow  silk  came  chiefly  from  Szechwan,  a 
smaller  quantity  being  also  produced  in  Shantung ;  wild 
silk  came  chiefly  from  Manchuria,  with  secondary  sources 
of  supply  in  Szechwan  and  Kwangtung ;  waste  silk  came 
from  many  quarters ;  and  woven  silks  were  produced 
chiefly  in  the  vicinity  of  Nanking,  Soochow,  Hangchow, 


FOREIGN  TRADE  303 

Shanghai,  and  Canton,  and,  in  the  shape  of  pongees  woven 
from  wild  silk,  at  Chefoo.    Of  all  these  products  raw  white 
silk  is  the  most  important,  and  this  is  mainly  produced 
within  a  radius  of  150  miles  around  Shanghai,  and  in  a 
smaller  district  around  Canton ;   of  the  two  the  Shanghai 
silk  is  of  the  finer  quality.     In  this  district  the  silkworm 
is  by  nature  the  best  in  the  world,  producing  naturally  from 
the  best  mulberry  the  largest  quantity  of  the  finest  silk ; 
and  formerly,  in  silk  as  in  tea,  China  set  the  standard  for 
the  world.    In  the  course  of  years  the  silkworm  all  over 
the  world  was  attacked  by  disease.    In  Europe,  and  later 
in  Japan,  scientific  remedial  measures  were  evolved  by 
patient  study,  with  the  result  that  the  disease  can  make 
no  headway  there,  and  with  the  further  result  that  their 
silk  is  much  improved  in  quality.    China  had  for  centuries 
adopted  a  method  of  eliminating  the  weaklings  from  the 
eggs  by  exposure  to  frost  and  snow,  a  method  more  effective 
than  any  adopted  in  Europe,  and  fully  effective  so  long 
as  no  disease  attacked  the  eggs  or  the  worms ;    but  her 
failure  to  adopt  the  scientific  remedy  of  microscopic  ex- 
amination is  by  degrees  putting  her  behind  in  the  race.    Of 
1,000  eggs  passed  as  healthy  by  this  test  it  may  be  said 
that  700  will  survive  through  all  the  stages  of  moulting 
and  development,  and  will  spin  strong  full-sized  cocoons, 
of  which  it  will  take  3  to  4  lbs.  to  reel  i  lb.  of  silk  ;  of  1,000 
eggs  passed  by  the  test  of  frost  alone,  700  may  hatch  out, 
and  of  these  700,  fully  400  will  die  during  the  successive 
moults,  having  meantime  eaten  leaf  to  waste,   and  the 
surviving  300  will  spin  weak  under-sized  cocoons,  of  which 
it  will  take  6  to  7  lbs.  to  reel  i  lb.  of  silk.    The  proportion 
between  the  producing  capacity  of  the  Italian  and  the 
Chinese  silkworm  may  be  put  at  100  to  25,  apart  from  the 
waste  of  leaf.    Once  upon  a  time  China  was  the  sole  source 
of  supply  of  silk  for  the  West,  and  within  a  half-century  she 
supplied  a  full  half ;   on  the  basis  of  the  average  output  of 
the  three  years  1902-1904,  and  not  including  the  home  weav- 
ing of  Chhia  and  Japan,  the  West  was  supplied  with  silk,  27 


304    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

per  cent,  from  China,  28  per  cent,  from  Japan,  25  per  cent. 
from  Italy,  and  20  per  cent,  from  all  other  countries ;  and 
China's  proportion  in  1905  was  reduced  to  less  than  25 
per  cent.  Owing  to  the  improved  methods  introduced  in 
Japan  that  country  has  now  become  China's  most  important 
competitor,  and  the  export  of  raw  white  silk  from  the  two 
countries  has  been  as  follows,  1899  having  been  the  year 
in  which  China's  export  reached  its  highest  figure : 


1899. 

1904. 

1905- 

Piculs. 

Piculs. 

Piculs. 

China 

. .       109,279 

81.511 

69.617 

Japan 

59,069 

96,586 

72.419 

Can  it  be  that  silk,  which  furnishes  a  third  of  China's  ex- 
ports, is  going  the  way  of  her  tea  ? 

Sundries  furnish  the  evident  line  of  advance  for  China 
in  providing  commodities  for  shipment  abroad,  their  value 
having  risen  from  Tls.4,487,414,  being  7  per  cent,  of  the  total 
of  all  exports,  in  1867,  to  Tls.132,008,712,  or  58  per  cent, 
of  the  whole,  in  1905.  In  the  earlier  year  the  only  notice- 
able items  were  cassia  (Tls.325,686),  cotton  (Tls.458,424), 
mats  and  matting  (Tls.384,542),  and  sugar  (Tls.462,157). 
Those  commodities  which  were  of  importance  in  1905  are 
considered  below. 

Beans  are  used  to  make  an  oil  for  cooking  and,  prior  to 
the  introduction  of  kerosene,  for  illuminating  purposes  ;  the 
bye-product  of  this  process,  bean-cake,  is  used  to  fertilise 
the  fields  chiefly  of  Kwangtung  and  Japan.  The  foreign 
export  of  beans  is  first  recorded  in  1870  with  shipment  of 
578,209  piculs,  and  of  bean-cake  in  1890  with  96,297  piculs  ; 
in  1905  the  export  of  beans  was  2,665,523  piculs,  of  which 
80  per  cent,  went  to  Japan,  and  of  bean-cake  2,897,948, 
entirely  for  Japan ;  in  addition,  over  two  million  piculs  of 
beans  and  two  and  a  half  miUion  piculs  of  bean-cake  were 
imported  into  Kwangtung  ports.  The  chief  source  of 
production  is  Manchuria,  next  to  that  Shantung,  Hupeh^  and 


FOREIGN  TRADE  305 

the  lower  Yangtze;    and  from  those  provinces  a  large 
export  to  Europe  has  been  developed. 

Bfisttes  must  always  be  an  important  export  from  a 
land  in  which  the  pig  provides  the  principal  meat  for  the 
table.  Their  export  is  first  recorded  in  1894,  with 
18,378  piculs,  increased  in  1905  to  39,588  piculs.  They 
come  chiefly  from  Tientsin,  Chungking,  Hankow,  and 
Canton. 

CaUon  has  been  referred  to  before.  In  1864,  owing  to 
the  American  Civil  War,  shipments  to  Europe  were  made 
amounting  to  391,287  piculs,  while  the  import  was  4,528 
piculs ;  in  1867  the  export  was  29,391  piculs,  and  the 
import  (from  India  into  the  southern  ports)  336,072  piculs ; 
in  1902  the  export  was  774,536  piculs,  and  the  import 
251,219  piculs,  introduced  from  India  into  the  chief  cotton- 
producing  centre  in  order  to  regulate  prices ;  in  1904,  with 
high  prices  ruling  in  the  Western  markets,  exports  rose  to 
1,228,588  piculs,  and  imports  fell  to  65,129  piculs ;  in  1905 
exports  were  789,273  piculs,  and  imports  94,243  piculs. 
The  cotton  is  produced  in  the  entire  Yangtze  basin  from 
Hupeh  to  Chekiang,  Shanghai  being  the  chief  centre ;  and 
fully  90  per  cent,  of  all  shipments  go  to  Japan. 

Firecrackers  and  fireworks,  almost  entirely  to  help 
young  America  in  celebrating  the  Glorious  Fourth,  were 
exported  to  the  extent  of  16,186  piculs  in  1867,  and  128,245 
piculs  in  1905 ;  nearly  the  whole  export  came  from 
Canton. 

Fibres,  hemp,  jute,  and  ramie,  are  first  recorded  as  an 
export  in  1879  ^^^  10,456  piculs  ;  the  export  in  1905  was 
262,443  piculs,  coming  chiefly  from  Hupeh  and  Kiangsi,  and 
going  chiefly  to  Japan. 

Hides  were  exported  in  1867  to  the  extent  of  146  piculs, 
and  of  279,976  piculs  in  1904,  which  was  about  normal ; 
the  export  in  1905  was  only  189,446  piculs.  About  half 
came  from  Hupeh,  and  next  in  importance  were  Szechwan 
and  Kwangsi :  their  destination  was  fairly  divided  between 
the  principal  countries  of  Europe, 
20 


306    THE  TRADE  AI^D  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

Matting,  entirely  the  product  of  the  Canton  district, 
and  almost  entirely  destined  for  the  United  States,  was 
shipped  in  1867  to  the  extent  of  89,908  rolls  of  40  yards  ; 
in  1905  the  export  was  438,009  rolls. 

Minerals  make  but  a  poor  showing.  With  all  her  vast 
mineral  wealth  China  provides  but  a  small  surplus  for  ship- 
ment abroad.  China  is  a  coal  country,  and  the  total 
foreign  export  in  1905  (11,534  tons)  was  less  than  i  per  cent, 
of  the  quantity  imported ;  it  has  large  fields  of  iron  ore, 
and  the  export  in  1905  (24,600  tons)  was  less  than  a  sixth 
of  the  import ;  it  is  a  copper  country,  and,  with  no  export 
in  1905,  it  drew  from  abroad  57,000  tons  to  supply  the 
demands  of  the  mints ;  it  is  a  tin  country,  and  in  1905 
imported  54,193  piculs,  while  its  export,  entirely  from 
Yunnan  to  Hongkong,  was  75,302  piculs,  this  being  the  first 
year  in  which  the  export  exceeded  the  import.  Antimony 
is  the  only  other  mineral  deserving  notice ;  the  export  of 
ore,  regulus  and  refined,  coming  from  Hunan,  in  1905  was 
94,327  piculs. 

Provisions  were  shipped  in  1905,  chiefly  for  consumption 
at  Hongkong,  to  a  value  of  Tls.7,239,410,  including  cattle, 
sheep,  pigs,  and  goats,  valued  at  Tls.3,210,100,  and  eggs 
valued  at  Tls.1,554,607. 

Oil  seeds  (cotton,  rape,  and  sesamum)  have  only  recently 
entered  into  the  foreign  trade.  In  1888  the  export  of 
rape-seed  was  873  piculs,  and  of  sesamum-seed  3,027  piculs ; 
in  1898  the  export  was — ^rape-seed  212  piculs,  sesamum- 
seed  47,388  picids,  and  cotton-seed  566,105  piculs  ;  in  1905, 
rape-seed  19,751  piculs  (from  Hupeh  and  Anhwei), 
sesamimi-seed  575,721  piculs  (from  Hupeh  and  Kiangsu), 
and  cotton-seed  659,705  piculs.  The  rape-seed  and  cotton- 
seed go  entirely  to  Japan,  the  sesamum-seed  chiefly  to 
Germany  and  Japan. 

Skins,  consisting  mainly  of  goat,  kid,  and  lamb,  coming 
from  the  Mongolian  plateau,  chiefly  through  Tientsin,  to 
a  secondary  degree  through  Hankow,  form  an  increasing 
industry.    The  export  in  1867  was  valued  at  Tls.5,501 


FOREIGN  TRADE  307 

in  1887  at  Tls.652,174,  in  1897  at  113.3,083,517,  and  in 
1905  at  Tls.9,684,286.  Of  the  export  of  1905  the  United 
States  took  42  per  cent.,  Great  Britain  30  per  cent.,  with 
Japan,  Italy,  and  Germany  next. 

Slraw  braid  is  one  of  the  few  home  industries  introduced 
expressly  for  the  foreign  trade.  The  seat  of  the  industry  is 
in  the  plain  bordering  the  Yellow  River  in  western  Shantimg 
and  southern  Chihli,  producing  a  wheat  with  long  straw. 
The  export  was  1,361  piculs  in  1867  ;  25,930  piculs  in  1877  ; 
82,413  piculs  in  1886  ;  100,184  piculs  in  1896  ;  and  110,222 
piculs  in  1905.  The  principal  demand  is  for  Great  Britain, 
which  in  1905  took  44  per  cent.,  with  France,  the  United 
States,  and  Germany  next. 

Wool  comes  mainly  from  Kansu  and  Mongolia  through 
Tientsin,  and  to  some  extent  from  Tibet  through  Chungking, 
and,  notwithstanding  the  long  caravan  journeys,  finds  an 
increasing  market.  The  export  in  1867  was  1,097  piculs ; 
in  1887  this  had  increased  to  56,261  piculs,  and  in  1897  to 
232,343  piculs.  In  1905  the  export  was  281,294  piculs, 
viz.  35,331  piculs  of  camels'  wool  (entirely  for  England) 
and  245,963  piculs  of  sheep's  wool  (mainly  to  the  United 
States). 

Balance  of  Trade 

An  essential  part  of  any  study  of  the  foreign  trade  of 
China  is  the  consideration  of  the  means  by  which  the  balance 
of  indebtedness  between  China  and  the  outer  world  is  struck. 
Up  to  1895  the  Empire  had  practically  no  foreign  debt.  As 
the  result  of  the  war  with  Japan  which  ended  in  that  year  a 
foreign  debt  of  over  £50,000,000  was  incurred;  and  the 
indemnities  to  be  paid  to  foreign  Powers  in  settlement  of 
the  military  operations  necessitated  by  the  Boxer  move- 
ment of  1900  added  to  the  foreign  obligations  a  further 
sum  of  £67,500,000 ;  the  annual  charge  for  obligations 
incurred  since  1895  is,  according  to  the  exchange,  between 
Tls.42,000,000  and  Tls.45,000,000.    The  natural  commercial 


308     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

effect  on  the  trade  of  the  country  would  be  to  increase  the 
quantity  of  conunodities  required  to  be  exported  to  maintain 
commercial  equilibrium ;  but»  in  fact,  the  tendency  has  been 
in  the  direction  of  an  increase  of  imports.  Considering  mer- 
chandise only,  passing  through  the  various  Custom  Houses, 
imports  exceed  exports  in  1901  by  27  per  cent.,  in  1902 
by  28  per  cent.,  and  in  1903  by  31  per  cent. ;  in  1904  the 
excess  increased  to  43  per  cent.,  and  in  1905  to  no  less 
than  97  per  cent.,  but  in  these  two  years  the  greatly  increased 
import  trade,  apart  from  any  question  of  increased  absorp- 
tive power  by  the  people,  was  largely  financed  by  remittances 
to  maintain  the  Russian  and  Japanese  armies  in  the  field, 
rendering  the  conditions  of  trade  abnormal.  The  year 
1903  must  then  be  taken  as  the  last  normal  year.  Outside 
the  maritime  Customs,  statistics  are  unknown  in  China, 
and  all  that  can  be  done  in  seeking  information  is  to  adopt 
a  reasonable  working  hypothesis,  and  on  it  to  base  a  con- 
jecture. With  this  serious  limitation,  an  attempt*  has 
been  made  to  investigate  the  different  liabilities  and  assets 
of  international  indebtedness  as  for  1903. 

Liabilities. — ^The  first  is  the  visible  liability  of  mer- 
chandise imported,  valued  at  Tls.310,453,428,  to  which 
must  be  added  bullion  and  coin  imported,  Tls.37,000,000 ; 
in  the  last  is  included  an  estimated  sum  of  Tls.10,000,000 
brought  back  in  cash  in  the  pockets  of  returning  emigrants, 
but  the  treasure  movement  is  obscured  by  the  fact  that 
China  must  return  as  foreign  all  movement  to  and  from 
Hongkong,  the  financial  centre  for  South  China.  Then 
we  have  Tls.44,210,000,  the  annual  charge  for  loans  and 
indemnities  for  1903  at  the  exchange  of  that  year.  For 
invisible  liabilities  it  is  estimated  that  Tls.4,320,000  were 
spent  for  the  maintenance  of  Chinese  legations,  consulates, 
and  students  abroad;  and  that  the  net  profits  of  foreign 
residents,  merchants,  and  others,  and  of  foreign  shipping 
and  insurance  companies  amounted  to  Tls.22,750,000.  A 
*  "An  Inquiry  into  the  Commercial  Liabilities  and  Assets  of 
China  in  International  Trade,"  by  H.  B.  Morse. 


FOREIGN  TRADE  309 

farther  sum  of  Tls.5,000,000  is  added  as  the  possible  value 
of  war  material  not  included  in  merchandise.  The  total  so 
estimated  is  Tls.423,733,428. 

Asssis. — The  merchandise  exported  was  Tls.236,205,162, 
and  bullion  and  coin  Tls.33,046,000,  including  as  before 
shipments  to  Hongkong.  Then  there  is  an  item  of  un- 
recorded trade  across  the  land  frontier,  which,  on  the 
authority  of  the  Russian  statistics  of  trade  with  China, 
must  be  put  at  over  Tls.20,000,000  excess  of  exports. 
The  money  and  material  provided  from  abroad  for  the 
development  of  railways  and  mines,  a  future  but  not  a 
present  liability  of  China,  is  estimated  at  Tls.27,000,000. 
The  sums  required  to  be  remitted  for  the  maintenance  of 
foreign  legations  and  consulates,  foreign  garrisons  and 
navies,  for  the  maintenance  and  repairs  of  foreign  shipping. 
for  the  upkeep  of  foreign  missions,  hospitals,  and  schools, 
and  for  the  expenditure  by  foreign  travellers,  were  con- 
sidered in  the  light  of  all  the  information  obtainable,  and 
were  estimated  at  Tls.51,500,000.  Finally,  there  remains 
China's  most  important  invisible  asset,  her  export  of  brawn 
and  brains  in  the  emigration  of  a  portion  of  her  redundant 
population,  whether  as  traders  or  as  labourers,  remitting 
to  their  homes  the  fruit  of  their  labour  in  an  annual  sum 
which,  on  the  lowest  possible  estimate,  is  Tls.73,000,000. 
The  total  assets  so  estimated  amount  to  Tls.440,741,162. 


CHAPTER   X 

INTERNAL    TRADE 

China  is  a  continent,  mountains  and  deserts  replacing  on 
the  west  the  seas  which  circumscribe  it  on  the  east  and 
south ;  and  no  study  of  its  trade  conditions  would  be 
complete  which  was  restricted  to  its  maritime  traffic.  Prior 
to  the  application  in  Europe  of  the  magnetic  needle  to  the 
mariner's  compass  in  the  twelfth  century,  the  only  traders  by 
sea  to  the  land  of  Sinim  were  the  venturous  Arabs ;  but 
centuries  before  that  date  the  Serica  vestis  had  reached 
the  West  by  land  transport  over  the  mountains,  plateaux, 
and  deserts  of  Central  Asia,  through  the  hundred  degrees  of 
longitude  which  separated  the  silkworm  from  the  European 
wearer  of  its  product.  These  routes  were  mainly  in  the 
north.  From  the  north-east  the  routes  taken  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  and  those  taken  to-day  by  the  Russian 
tea  caravans,  outflanked  the  deserts  and  struck  well  north 
until  they  emerged  in  what  is  now  Siberia.  The  main 
trade  routes,  however,  struck  north-west  through  the 
province  of  Kansu,  following  those  lines  which  appeared  on 
the  school  maps  of  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century 
with  the  mysterious  designations  Tien  Shan  Pei  Lu  and 
Tien  Shan  Nan  Lu,  which,  being  interpreted,  mean  the 
Routes  North  and  South,  respectively,  of  the  Mountains  of 
Heaven.  This  is  no  longer  a  through  trade  route.  Another 
such  route  is  that  taken  to-day  in  supplying  tea  and  salt 
to  Tibet  from  Szechwan  by  Tatsienlu,  with  an  alternative 
route  by  Sungpan;  and  another  is  the  now  unimportant 
route  from  Yunnan  by  Szemao  into  Burma. 

310 


INTERNAL  TRADE  3II 

The  same  enterprise  which  built  up  a  foreign  trade  by 
land,  was  applied  also  to  the  development  of  internal  trade 
between  provinces  of  the  size  of  kingdoms,  passing  by  routes 
many  hundreds  of  miles  in  length.  At  times  of  falling 
dynasties  this  traffic  would  become  insecure ;  but  as  each 
succeeding  djmasty  became  established  in  power  the  ways* 
were  opened,  and  a  pax  Romana  allowed  the  free  inter- 
change of  commodities  between  the  different  parts  of  the 
Empire.  In  the  competition  between  the  coasting  trade  by 
sea  and  the  internal  trade,  the  latter  had  many  advantages, 
more  than  compensating  for  the  economic  gain  from  water 
transport  in  large  bulk.  On  the  internal  route  there  were 
no  "  Rhine  Barons  "  or  others  to  levy  illegal  toll,  while 
the  danger  from  bandits  was  more  than  counterbalanced 
by  the  risk  of  piracy  on  the  sea  ;  until  less  than  fifty  years 
ago  there  was  no  likin  or  other  tax  on  transit  in  general ; 
and,  while  generally  water  transport  could  be  utilised 
through  the  whole  or  the  greater  part  of  the  distance  on 
most  of  the  routes,  the  cheapness  of  human  labour  minimised 
the  cost  of  transport  by  land.  By  sea,  the  clumsy  j\mks 
were  at  the  mercy  of  the  monsoon,  making  good  speed  to 
the  north  during  the  summer,  and  to  the  south  in  autumn 
and  winter,  but  unable  to  make  commercially  profitable 
voyages  against  the  prevailing  winds ;  while  the  Custom 
Houses  were  established  at  the  seaports  alone,  and,  more- 
over, taxed  all  movement,  to  home  as  well  as  to  foreign 
ports,  and  repeated  the  tax  whenever  goods  came  again 
under  their  cognisance,  as  if  all  previous  levy  had  been 
made  by  alien,  as  it  was  by  independent  authority. 

There  are  no  records  of  this  internal  trade,  and  its 
component  parts  can  be  studied  only  by  the  light  of  the 
coasting  trade  by  steamer  which  to-day  has  taken  its  place 
on  many  routes.  The  routes  themselves  are  innumerable, 
but  a  selection  will  be  made  for  description  of  a  few  of  the 
most  important,  viz. : 


3ia     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

1.  The  West  River  route,  west  from  Canton. 

2.  The  Cheling  Pass  route,  north-west  from  Canton. 

3.  The  Meiling  Pass  route,  north  from  Canton. 

4.  The  Min  River  route,  north-west  from  Foochow. 

5.  The  Lower  Yangtze  route,  as  far  west  as  Hupeh 
and  Hunan. 

6.  The  Upper  Yangtze  route,  from  Ichang  into  Szechwan. 

7.  The  Kweichow  route. 

8.  The  Han  River  route,  from  Hankow  into  Shensi. 

9.  The  Grand  Canal,  from  Hangchow  to  Tientsin. 

10.  The  Shansi  route. 

11.  The  Kiakhta  route. 

12.  The  Manchurian  route. 


I.  The  West  River  route  from  Canton  conunands  the 
whole  of  the  trade  of  Kwangsi,  and  penetrates  into  Yunnan 
and  Kweichow.  At  Wuchow  the  Cassia  River  provides 
a  water-way,  interrupted  by  rapids  but  navigable  by  small 
boats,  to  the  provincial  capital,  Kweilin.  Farther  up, 
at  Tamchow,  the  route  again  divides,  the  river  coming 
in  from  the  north-west  providing  a  route,  interrupted  by 
rapids  and  shallows,  but  navigable  by  boats  of  15  tons  dead- 
weight capacity,  and  penetrating  to  the  north-western 
part  of  Kwangsi  and,  via  Liuchow  and  Kingyuan,  into 
Kweichow.  The  southern  of  the  two  branches  at  Tamchow 
continues  the  name  of  West  River  until,  some  30  miles 
above  Nanning,  it  divides  into  the  Left  Branch  continuing 
west  to  Lungchow,  and  the  Right  Branch  leading  north- 
west to  Poseh:  to  these  points  boats  of  25  tons  dead- 
weight capacity  can  safely  pass  the  rapids.  From  Poseh  runs 
the  main  trade  route  for  trafl&c  by  pack-animal  into  western 
and  central  Yunnan.  There  are  no  statistics  of  the  Chinese 
produce  brought  down  and  sent  inland,  and  the  only  gauge 
of  the  volume  of  trafl&c  on  this  route  is  in  the  quantity  of 
foreign  goods  sent  inland  under  transit  pass,  which,  from 
Canton  and  Wuchow  in  1905,  was  as  follows  : 


P 


u 

> 

-♦J 

H 


fi 


INTERNAL  TRADE  313 


No.  OF  Passes. 

Valub  of  Goods. 
Tls. 

:o  Kwangsi  . . 
„  Kweichow 
„  Yunnan    .. 

•  •       22,275 

. .       83,228 

5.114 

860.803 

4.856.903 
340,086 

Before  the  development  of  traffic  by  Mengtsz  the  Yunnan 
trade  by  the  West  River  route  was  very  much  greater  than 
at  the  present  time.  From  Yunnan  and  Kweichow  comes 
opium,  and  the  tin  of  Yunnan,  which  now  finds  its  outlet 
by  Mengtsz,  formerly  followed  this  route.  Great  rafts  of 
timber  are  floated  down  from  the  mountains  of  north- 
western Kwangsi. 

2.  The  Cheling  Pass  route  follows  the  North  River  up 
from  Canton,  and  a  branch  which  falls  into  it  from  the 
north-west  at  Shaochow ;  thence  by  porters  over  the  pass 
to  the  water-wajrs  of  Hunan.  This  pass,  of  less  than  1,500 
feet  altitude,  ofiers  but  slight  impediment  to  the  sturdy 
coolies  of  South  China ;  but  the  surveys  of  the  American 
engineers,  prospecting  for  the  line  of  the  Hankow-Canton 
railway,  have  revealed  the  fact  that  the  true  pass  is  not  on 
the  line  of  the  old  highway,  and  that  for  many  centuries 
millions  of  tons  of  merchandise  passing  over  this  route  have 
been  laboriously  carried  on  men's  shoulders  to  a  height 
150  feet  higher  than  nature  demanded.  The  water-ways  of 
Hunan  are  reached  at  Chenchow,  on  an  affluent  of  the 
Siang  River,  and  thence  traffic  passes  by  small  boats  down 
into  the  Siang.  At  Siangtan,  once  a  place  of  great  import- 
ance with  a  population  estimated  at  700,000,  transhipment 
was  ordinarily  effected  into  the  larger  deep-draft  junks 
pljring  down  the  Siang  and  into  the  Yangtze*  Descending 
the  Siang,  the  traffic  then  reached  the  Tungting  Lake,  a 
lake  in  summer  with  vast  uncharted  shoals,  but  in  winter  a 
congeries  of  wide  and  shallow  channels  meandering  between 
broad  islands  of  alluvial  deposit,  and  neither  in  summer 
nor  in  winter  available  for  conmiercial  use.  The  main 
stream  of  traffic  skirted  the  eastern  side  of  the  lake  and. 


314     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

entering  the  Yangtze  at  Yochow,  descended  that  stream  125 
miles  north-east  to  Hankow.  The  lesser  part  of  the  traffic 
passed  through  the  crooked  channels  of  the  alluvial  delta 
of  the  Siang  and  the  Yuan,  forming  the  south  shore  of  the 
lake,  and  then,  skirting  the  western  shore,  passed  into 
the  Yangtze  near  Shasi  by  the  canals  which  were  the  work 
of  the  Great  Yu  in  times  long  gone  by  ;  thence  the  Yangtze 
furnished  a  route  west  into  Szechwan.  By  the  Cheling  Pass 
route  came  the  teas  of  Hunan  and  Hupeh  for  shipment 
abroad  from  Canton  in  the  old  factory  days,  and  a  con- 
servative trade  calls  those  teas  to-day,  in  the  land  of  their 
origin,  by  the  old-time  Cantonese  names  Oonam  and  Oopack 
(Hunan  and  Hupeh).  By  this  route,  too,  passed  an  enormous 
traffic,  of  which  to-day  the  only  remnant  is  the  amount 
required  for  local  trade  by  the  way.  Not  a  single  package 
is  now  carried  through  between  Canton  and  Hankow,  for, 
even  in  this  land  of  cheap  transport,  the  cheapness  and 
security  offered  by  steam  carriage  have  prevailed,  and  this 
trade  now  passes  around,  via  Shanghai,  by  the  sea  and  the 
Yangtze.  The  railway  taking  the  Cheling  Pass  route  from 
Canton  by  Hankow  to  Peking  will  adhere  closely  to  the  air 
line  between  the  two  termini. 

3.  The  Meiling  Pass  route  follows  the  North  River  up 
from  Canton,  and  at  Shaochow  goes  north-east  to  the 
Meiling  (Pliun  Ridge)  Pass.  This  ridge  has  an  elevation 
of  2,000  feet,  and  the  route  is  through  a  notch,  at  an 
altitude  of  only  1,000  feet,  over  which  a  land  portage  of 
24  miles  carries  the  trader  to  the  waters  of  the  Kan  River. 
This  river  has  the  ordinary  winter  shallows  of  a  stream 
running  through  a  deforested  country,  but  has  few  dangerous 
rapids ;  and  it  leads  through  the  channels  of  the  shallow 
Poyang  Lake  into  the  Yangtze  near  Kiukiang.  By  this 
route  passed,  in  the  old  factory  days,  the  teas  of  Kiangsi  and 
Anhwei ;  and  by  this  route  passed  then,  and  passes  now, 
the  porcelain  of  Kingtehchen.  The  porcelain  of  to-day, 
however,  consists  of  plain  ware  sent  to  Canton  to  be  painted 
with  the  florid  and  multicoloured  designs  peculiar  to  that 


INTERNAL  TRADE  315 

market.  A  curious  instance  of  the  conservatism  of  Chinese 
trade  was  shown  in  1903.  In  that  year,  in  the  general  search 
for  additional  sources  of  revenue,  an  increase  was  made  in 
the  rate  of  likin  levied  at  Canton  on  porcelain  from  Kiangsi. 
The  trade  resented  this ;  but,  instead  of  resorting  to  steam 
traffic  by  the  Yangtze  and  the  sea,  and  thereby  escaping 
the  likin  levied  on  the  inland  route,  the  traders  adopted 
the  time-honoured  Chinese  method  of  cessation  of  all  business 
until  their  grievance  was  removed,  and  the  export  of  porce- 
lain from  Canton,  from  an  average  of  105,142  piculs  in  the 
two  preceding  years,  fell  to  59,010  piculs  in  1904.  The 
Meiling  is  the  route  taken  for  centuries  by  Chinese  officials 
proceeding  to  their  posts  in  the  south,  and  was  followed  by 
the  various  foreign  embassies  going  to  Peking  in  the  seven- 
teenth and  eighteenth  centuries  ;  and  its  continued  use  as 
a  trade  route  to-day  is  due  to  the  short  length  of  land 
portage  and  the  slight  rise  over  the  pass. 

4.  The  Min  River  route  serves  mainly  its  own  province, 
Fukien.  The  Min,  emptying  into  the  sea  at  Foochow, 
waters  with  its  ramifications  the  greater  part  of  the  pro- 
vince ;  but  its  chief  interest  for  us  lies  in  the  fact  that  the 
teas  of  Kiangsi,  following  this  route,  foimd  their  way  to 
Foochow  in  the  interval  after  Canton  lost  its  monopoly  of 
foreign  trade,  and  before  Hankow  established  its  firm  grasp 
on  the  market  for  teas  from  the  Yangtze  basin.  Down 
this  river  come  to-day  the  rafts  of  timber  from  the  mountains 
in,  and  on  the  western  border  of,  Fukien,  and  the  paper  made 
from  their  forests  and  bamboo  groves, 

5.  The  Lower  Yangtze  is  to-day,  except  for  wayside 
traffic,  given  up  to  steam.  From  Shanghai  to  Hankow  the 
winter  provides  a  way  for  river  steamers  of  from  one  to  two 
thousand  tons  register,  while  in  summer  full-sized  ocean 
steamers  proceed  to  Hankow,  and  at  least  two  battleships 
of  12,000  tons  have  ascended  the  river  to  that  point.  The 
myriads  of  junks  of  former  daj^,  whose  sails  of  matting 
reflected  the  sun  in  golden  patches,  have  shielded  the  main 
thoroughfare  to  their  quicker  and  handier  rivals,  and  have 


3l6     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

been  driven  to  the  bjrways  of  trade ;  but  to  this  general 
statement  there  are  some  exceptions.  Salt,  owing  to  the 
government  connection  with  the  traffic,  continues  to  go 
solely  by  jtmk ;  and  steamer  preponderance  is  manifest  only 
as  far  up  the  river  as  Hankow.  The  Hunan  trade  with 
Hankow  has  not  yet  taken  to  steam;  the  huge  timber 
rafts  continue  to  float  down  to  Hankow  and  below ;  the 
coal  continues  to  come  to  Hankow  in  roughly  constructed 
barges,  which  are  there  broken  up ;  and  the  tea  and  rice 
continue  to  be  carried  in  the  old-time  junks,  which  take 
back  from  Hankow  their  freights  of  the  products  of  foreign 
countries  and  of  the  southern  provinces.  Nor  on  the 
Middle  Yangtze,  from  Hankow  to  Ichang,  has  steam  entirely 
conquered.  The  trade  of  central  Hupeh,  which,  if  steamer- 
borne,  would  pass  through  the  port  of  Shasi,  continues  to 
follow  the  canals  which  subtend  the  arc  formed  there  by 
the  Yangtze ;  and  the  traffic  of  West  China  continues  to 
pass  over  this  portion  of  the  route  in  as  great  volume  by 
junk  as  by  steamer.  The  trade  by  the  Yangtze  route  may 
be  gauged  by  the  figures  for  the  value  of  the  net  import 
and,  original  export  by  steamer  alone  at  the  ports  from 
Chinkiang  up,  which  in  1905  were  as  follows  : 

TIs. 

Net  Imports 129,407,753 

Original  Exports 118,104,228 


Total       ..         ..      247,511,981 

A  moderate  estimate  for  the  junk  trade  would  carry  this 
total  well  over  Tls.300,000,000. 

6.  The  Upper  Yangtze  route  is  one  continuous  struggle 
of  man  against  the  forces  of  nature.  The  Yangtze,  flowing 
for  the  upper  two-thirds  of  its  course  through  a  valley 
nowhere  wider  than  the  river  bed,*  emerges  from  ;this 
narrow  channel  at  Ichang  after  passing  the  famous  Yangtze 
Gorges.  The  flow  of  the  river  past  Ichang  is  560,000  cubic 
*  "  The  Bbx  East/'  by  Aithlbald  Little. 


INTERNAL  TRADE  317 

feet  per  second  as  an  average  for  the  whole  year  round ; 
and  this  volume  of  water,  in  passing  through  the  Ichang 
Gorge,  flows  through  a  channel  contracted  to  a  width 
nowhere  exceeding  250  yards  and  in  places  diminished  to 
100  yards,  hemmed  in  by  precipitous  cliffs  on  either  hand ; 
in  the  Fengsiang  (Wind-box)  Gorge,  100  miles  farther  up 
stream,  the  channel  is  even  more  restricted  and  the  difls 
more  precipitous.  The  average  speed  of  the  current 
throughout  the  year  is  not  less  than  five  knots  an  hour, 
and  at  times,  especially  diuing  the  sununer  floods,  and  in 
places,  this  speed  rises  to  twelve  knots  and  even  more. 
The  swift  current  drives  the  boatmen  to  tracking  on  their 
upward  journey,  and  the  trackers  find  but  scanty  foothold 
on  the  steep  hill-sides,  and  in  many  places  are  driven  to 
follow  paths  which  are  little  more  than  goat  tracks,  traced 
on  the  sides  of  the  difis,  up  to  a  himdred  feet  or  more  abeve 
the  level  of  the  water.  This  is  the  least  of  their  difiiculties. 
From  the  upper  end  of  the  Ichang  Gorge  to  Fengtu,  a  distance 
of  300  miles,  the  river  is  strewn  with  rapids,  full  forty  being 
considered  worthy  of  enumeration  in  that  distance,  not 
including  mere  whirlpools  and  races.  Of  the  difiiculties 
apart  from  the  rapids  the  following  episode,  occurring  before 
the  lowest  rapid  was  reached,  furnishes  an  illustration  : 

"  October  6th.   The   boats   under  way  6    a.m., 
tracking  up  the  right  bank.    At  8.30  a.m.  the  track- 
ing-line of  No.  I  boat  broke,  and  in  less  than  fifteen 
minutes  we  had  drifted  back  nearly  to  last  night's 
anchorage."  * 
The  tracking-lines  are  made  of  long  strips  of  bamboo 
plaited  together  into  a  cable  as  thick  as  a  man's  arm.    Of 
the  ascent  of  the  rapids  Mr.  Hobson  says — 

"  More  dangerous  navigation  it  is  impossible  to 
conceive ;  double  tracking-lines  having  been  paid 
out,  extra  breastlines  provided,  and  extra  trackers 
engaged,  we  started  from  under  the  lee  of  the  rocks, 
outside  which  the  mighty  torrent  poiured.  Inch  by 
*  ''  Ichang  to  Chungking,"  1890,  by  H.  £.  Hobson. 


3l8    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

inch  only  did  the  boats  advance,  until  by  nightfall 

we  reached  the  shelter  of  a  small  bay  beyond." 

At  several  rapids  he  records  that  the  trackers  of  three  boats 

were  put  on  to  haul  one.    From  Mr.  Little's  account  ♦  we 

gather  some  illuminating  sentences  describing  the  difficulty. 

"  We  had  a  tough  job  to  get  round  the  point  which 

forms  the  western  limit  of  the  gorge,  the  boatmen 

clinging  on  to  the  crevices  in  the  rock,  with  long 

bamboos  armed  with  small  steel  hooks.  .  .  .  Half 

of  our  crew  then  drag  the  boat  by  main  force  around 

the  point,  those  remaining  on  board  fending  her  off 

the  rocks,  the  water  meanwhile  boiling  and  foaming 

under  the  bows  and  threatening  to  swamp  her.  .  .  . 

The  hookers  have  to  be  mighty  careful  never  to  lose 

their  hold,  as  that  involves  drifting  back  into  the 

current  .  .  .    losing  in  a  minute  or  two  the  fruits  of 

hours  of  work.  .  .  .  The  boat  heeled  over,  threatening 

to  capsize  on  the  instant ;    fortunately  our  trackers 

promptly  cast  off  the  tow-line  in  the  nick  of  time, 

and  we  incurred  no  other  danger  than  being  swept 

violently  down-stream  in  the  eight-knot  current." 

The  stream  thus  characterised  furnishes  the  only  water 

outlet  for  the  trade  of  one  of  the  richest  provinces  of  China, 

the  alternative  routes  being  mountain  roads  over  a  much 

accidented  country  intersected  by  deep  ravines,  feasible 

only  for  light  packages  carried  on  men's  shoulders.    By 

this  route  the  traffic  is  carried  in  junks  of  varying  size.    The 

largest  are  of  a  dead-weight  carrying  capacity  of  60  to  70 

tons,  with  a  regular  crew  of  24  and  a  force  of  85  trackers 

(re-enforced  at  the  worst  rapids),  engaged  for  the  upward 

voyage ;   junks  of  medium  size  carry  30  to  40  tons,  with  a 

crew  of  18,  and  45  trackers ;    small  junks  carry  14  to  20 

tons,  with  a  crew  of  10  and  20  trackers.    The  upward 

journey  takes  about  four  weeks  at  the  most  favourable 

season,  while  in  the  summer,  against  the  full  strength  of 

the  Yangtze  in  flood,  the  voyage  may  be  extended  to  three 

♦  "  Through  the  Yangtze  Gorges,"  by  Archibald  J.  Little. 


INTERNAL  TRADE  319 

or  even  four  months:  under  the  most  favom'able  con- 
ditions the  average  rate  of  progress  does  not  exceed  15 
miles  a  day,  and  it  may  fall  as  low  as  3  mfles  a  day  through 
the  whole  of  the  coui-se  of  420  miles  from  Ichang  to  Chung- 
king. 1 1  is  on  the  upward  journey  that  most  of  the  accidents 
occur,  and  a  full  tenth  of  the  junks  arriving  at  Chungking 
arrive  with  their  cargo  more  or  less  damaged  by  water, 
while  total  loss  is  not  uncommon.  Down  stream  sails 
are  furled  and  masts  struck,  and  the  jimks,  driven  by  oars 
to  give  sufficient  speed  for  steerage  way,  are  taken  down 
in  charge  of  the  skilled  pilots  working  the  route,  and  seldom 
meet  with  accident :  the  downward  journey  may  take 
from  three  or  four  days  to  a  week.  By  this  route  merchants 
may  elect  to  pass  their  goods  through  the  maritime  Customs 
or  to  pay  likin  on  the  way,  each  offering  certain  advantages 
for  Chinese  produce  upward  or  downward.  In  1905  the 
value  of  the  trade  passing  the  maritime  Customs  was, 
upward  Tls.16,562,371,  downward  Tls.ii, 169,256,  total 
Tls.27,731,627  ;  a  fair  allowance  for  the  goods  passing 
the  likin  offices  would  bring  the  total  value  of  the  water- 
borne  traffic  of  Szechwan  to  Tls40,ooo,ooo. 

7.  The  Kweichow  route  up  the  Yuan  River  from 
Changteh  and  the  Tungting  Laie,  is  barred  by  numerous 
rapids  and  available  only  for  small  boats.  The  downward 
traffic  consists  of  timber,  opiimi,  and  mining  products ; 
the  officially  declared  value  of  the  timber  is  Tls.6,000,000 
a  year,  from  which,  in  China,  a  true  value  of  Tls.10,000,000 
and  more  may  be  inferred.  The  upward  traffic  is  not 
great.  The  only  index  to  its  volume  is  the  value  of  the 
foreign  goods  sent  under  transit  pass  from  Hankow  into 
Kweichow,  valued  in  1904  at  Tls.i, 207,695,  and  in  1905 
at  Tls.835,277 ;  by  other  routes  in  1905  Kweichow  re- 
ceived foreign  goods  under  transit  pass  to  the  value  of 
Tls.4,856,903  by  the  West  River,  Tls.598,432  from  Mengtsz, 
and  Tls.30,636  from  Tengyueh  by  land  route  crossing  the 
whole  width  of  Yunnan. 

8.  The  Han  River  route  from  Hankow   into  Shensi 


320     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

presents  few  difficulties  to  navigation,  beyond  the  gradoally 
diminishing  depth  of  water,  as  far  up  as  Sichwanting  in  the 
south-west  comer  of  Honan,  and  for  small  boats  as  far  as 
Shangnan  in  Shensi,  a  distance  of  1,730  li  (nominally  575 
miles)  from  Hankow.  From  that  point,  land  transport 
for  320  li  (nominally  100  miles)  over  the  rugged  Tsingling 
mountains,  carries  goods  to  Sianfu,  the  capital  of  Shensi. 
Beyond  Sianfu  land  transport  alone  is  available  to  other 
parts  of  the  province,  and  on  to  Kansu,  Mongolia,  and 
Siberia.  Tea,  less  in  amount  than  by  Tientsin  and  Kiakhta 
but  still  in  considerable  quantity,  goes  by  this  route  over- 
land to  Russia ;  the  quantity  fluctuates,  and  has  been 
small  in  the  past  few  years,  but  in  1896  was  valued  at 
Tls.1,617,401,  and  in  1900  at  Tls.1,032,471 ;  in  the  former 
year  the  greater  part  was  tea  leaf,  78,297  piculs,  and  in 
the  latter  year  brick  tea,  70,905  picids.  The  foreign 
goods  going  from  Hankow  under  transit  pass  in  1905  into 
Shensi  were  valued  at  Tls.825,540,  and  into  Kansu  at 
Tls.26,319. 

9.  The  Grand  Canal  furnishes  an  inland  water  route 
from  Hangchow  to  Tientsin,  a  distance  of  900  miles,  cutting 
through  the  flat  alluvial  plains  and  intersecting  the  provinces 
of  Chekiang,  Kiangsu,  Shantung,  and  Chihli.  The  oldest 
section,  from  the  Yangtze  to  the  Hwai,  was  opened  for 
traffic  B.C.  486,  and  is  therefore  2,400  years  old.  The  next 
section  to  be  made  was  that  from  the  Yangtze  at  Chinkiang 
to  Hangchow,  which  was  constructed  between  A.D.  605 
and  617,  and  this  section  was  much  improved  by  the 
Southern  Sung  Emperors,  who  had  their  capital  at  Hang- 
chow. Kublai  Khan  (a.d.  1260-1295),  besides  beginning 
(but  not  completing)  the  canal  from  Kiaochow  intended 
to  cut  off  the  mountain  mass  of  Shantung,  improved, 
deepened,  straightened,  widened,  and  extended  the  Grand 
Canal  under  the  supervision  of  the  famous  mathematician 
Kwo  Show-king  as  engineer ;  by  him,  the  capital  having 
for  the  first  time  been  established  at  Peking,  the  water-way 
was  extended  to  the  north  from  the  then  course  of  the 


§ 


E 

3 


13 

a 
a 

1-4 

o 

G 
O 


O 
Pi 


Bridge  over  Grand  Canal  at  Wusih. 


Grand  Canal  passing  through  Wusih. 


INTERNAL  TRADE  321 

Yellow  River,  where  it  was  joined  by  the  Grand  Canal  at 
Tsingkiangpu,  over  the  summit  level  skirting  the  higher 
land  of  Shantung,  until  it  joined  the  Wei  River,  which, 
improved,  became  then  the  Grand  Canal  to  Tientsin. 
Succeeding  Emperors  of  the  Ming  and  Tsing  Dynasties, 
until  within  the  past  fifty  years  of  material  national  de- 
cadence, have  spared  no  effort  to  maintain  the  canal  as  a 
navigable  water-way ;  even  when,  in  1853,  the  Yellow  River 
took  its  last  plunge  to  the  north-east  and  cut  the  canal 
farther  to  the  north,  the  crisis  was  met  and  the  intersection 
of  the  two  streams  duly  provided  for.  Starting  from 
Hangchow  the  canal  goes  by  Kashing  to  Soochow,  a  distance 
of  100  miles,  and  thence  by  Wusih  and  Changchow  through 
long  straight  stretches  to  Chinkiang,  another  100  miles.  It 
is  here  unlike  our  preconceived  ideas  of  a  canal — a  current- 
less  water-way  barely  wide  enough  to  allow  two  streams  of 
boats  to  pass  each  other — and  has  often  a  width  of  over  a 
hundred  feet  between  its  sides,  faced  in  many  parts  of  its 
coinrse  with  cut  stone  bunding.  Many  of  its  picturesque 
accessories  were  destroyed  by  the  Vandals  of  China,  the 
Taiping  rebels,  but  much  still  remains  to  attest  its  past 
magnificence ;  here  and  there  are  fine  stone  bridges  spanning 
the  main  canal,  some  with  their  three  arches,  graceful  to 
an  extreme,  others  with  a  single  arch,  lofty  and  imposing, 
and  well  adapted  for  a  country  with  no  wheeled  traffic ; 
along  the  baiiks  are  numerous  specimens  of  single-span 
hump^backed  bridges  by  which  the  tow-path  is  carried  over 
side  canals  connecting  with  the  system  of  canals  which 
intersect  the  covmtry  for  many  miles ;  and  from  the  canal 
are  to  be  seen  on  both  sides  many  memorial  arches  of 
stone  and  lofty  tapering  pagodas.  In  these  200  miles 
there  is  no  difference  of  level,  and  therefore  no  locks ;  and 
after  all  these  years  of  neglect  there  is  everjnvhere  a  safe 
depth  of  5  feet  of  water  at  the  lowest  stage,  the  depth  at 
the  Hangchow  end  being  ordinarily  7  feet  at  low-water 
stage,  rising  after  prolonged  rains  to  11  and  at  times  to 
13  and  more  feet ;  only  at  Tanyang,  some  20  miles  south 
21 


322     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

from  Chinkiang,  the  depth  is  frequently  too  little  for  the 
larger  boats  during  the  season  of  low  water.  In  this  section 
boats  up  to  forty  tons  dead-weight  capacity  ply  regularly. 
At  Chinkiang  the  traffic  crosses  the  Yangtze  and  enters  the 
oldest  section  of  the  canal,  which,  passing  Yangchow,  goes 
to  Tsingkiangpu,  130  miles  from  Chinkiang ;  in  this  section 
there  is  a  constant  depth  of  water  sufficient  for  boats  of 
30  to  40  tons  capacity.  Of  this  part  of  the  country  it  is 
that  Mr.  Parker  says : 

"  The  Chinese  engineers  who  manipulate  the 
complicated  system  of  lakes  and  levels  forming 
the  network  about  the  Grand  Canal  and  Hungtseh 
Marsh,  are  almost  as  expert  in  an  empirical  sense  as 
the  wary  Dutchmen  who  keep  an  ever-watchful  eye 
on  the  Zuider  Zee  and  the  intricate  system  of  Nether- 
lands dykes.  The  supply  of  water  and  the  sacrifice 
of  land  are  carefully  measured  and  jealously  watched 
with  a  view  to  keeping  open  the  canal  and  preventing 
disasters  of  great  magnitude." 

The  next  section  is  the  worst :  it  starts  from  Tsingkiangpu 
and,  passing  Tsining,  debouches  on  the  present  course  of 
the  Yellow  River  near  Tungping,  full  450  miles  from  Chin- 
kiang. This  section  was  made  by  improving  and  connecting 
existing  rivers,  and  follows  all  their  original  meanderings. 
Though  the  country  is  flat,  there  are  still  some  differences 
of  level— of  20  or  30  feet  at  most — ^and  these  are  provided 
for,  not  by  locks,  which  do  not  exist  in  China,  but  by 
barrages  across  the  canal,  over  which  the  boats,  after 
discharging  their  cargo,  are  hauled  by  windlasses.  The 
whole  of  this  part  is  much  neglected  and  silted  up,  and  is 
only  available  generally  for  navigation  during  the  sunmier, 
and  even  then  is  generally  traversed  only  by  the  tribute 
rice  boats  which  go  together  in  fleets.  North  of  the  Yellow 
River  the  newest  part  of  the  canal — made  by  Kublai  Khan- 
continues  until  it  strikes  the  Wei  River,  cut  in  places  to  a 
deptl^  60  or  70  feet  below  the  level  of  the  surroimding 


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INTERNAL  TRADE  323 

country,  and  prolongs  the  route  for  another  250  miles  to 
its  northern  end  at  Tientsin;  water  transport  continues 
for  another  120  miles  by  the  winding  course  of  the  Peiho 
to  Tungchow,  and  thence,  for  tribute  rice  only,  for  13  miles 
by  an  artificial  canal  to  the  government  granaries  on  the 
eastern  side  of  Peking.  This  is  the  Grand  Canal,  from 
Hangchow  by  Chinkiang  to  Tientsin,  and  thence  to  Peking, 
a  main  artery  of  trade  traversing  a  network  of  water-ways 
which  provide  means  of  transport  for  a  country  incredibly 
rich  in  material  resources.  No  estimate  can  be  formed 
of  the  number  of  millions  in  which  the  value  of  the  traffic 
on  its  surface  must  be  stated ;  its  chief  value  to  the  Empire 
lies  in  the  fact  that  it  provides  a  safe  inland  route  for  a 
thousand  miles  from  south  to  north  in  a  country  in  which, 
in  the  past,  time  has  had  no  value,  and  that  thereby  trade 
was  enabled  to  escape  the  perils  of  the  sea  passage.  One 
small  indication  of  the  extent  of  traffic  is  found  in  the  value 
of  the  transit  pass  trade  with  Shantung  passing  the  Chin- 
kiang Customs,  traversing  a  distance  along  the  Grand 
Canal  of  250  miles,  a  part  of  it  the  worst  portion  of  the 
route,  to  the  nearest  markets  in  Shantung,  valued  in  1904 
at  Tls.3,646,000,  and  in  1905  at  Tls. 3,331, 000. 

10.  The  Shansi  route  is  mentioned  to  illustrate  the 
mediaeval  conditions  prevailing  in  China  wherever  transport 
by  water  is  not  available.  The  province  may  be  described 
either  as  an  accidented  plateau  or  an  unaccidented  movm- 
tain  region,  with  a  steep  escarpment  on  the  east,  where  it 
rises  some  4,000  feet  from  the  plain  of  Chihli.  The  route 
followed  by  the  railway  in  course  of  construction  from 
Chentow,  near  Chengtingfu,  in  Chihli,  to  Taismanfu,  the 
capital  of  Shansi,  affords  the  direct  route  from  the  lowland 
into  the  heart  of  the  province ;  but  this  is  what  may  be 
termed  an  express  package  route,  short  and  direct,  but  too 
difficult  for  ordinary  purposes  of  trade.  When  the  great 
famine  of  1877,  which  more  than  decimated  the  province, 
made  it  necessary  to  send  supplies  of  food  to  Shansi,  this 
route  was  naturally  selected  to  meet  the  lurgency  of  the 


334    ^^^  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

case ;  and  the  result  was  visible  in  the  piles  of  grain  in  bags, 
the  broken  carts,  and  the  foundered  mules  which  strewed 
the  road  leading  up  to  the  plateau.    Another  route  avail- 
able for  access  to  Shansi  passes  from  Kaifeng  in  Honan  up 
the  valley  of  the  Yellow  River  to  the  south-western  comer 
of  Shansi,   thence  up  the  valley  of  the  Fenho  toward 
Taisruanfu ;    neither  the  Yellow  River  nor  its  tributaries 
are  generally  navigable,  and  this  circuitous  route  is  in  the 
main  available  only  for  land  transport.    A  third  route, 
and  the  one  generally  adopted  for  the  transport  of  mer- 
chandise into  Shansi,  follows  in  its  beginning  the  next 
route  to  be  mentioned,  the  Kiakhta  route,  leaving  it  at 
Kalgan  (Changkiakow),   entering  Shansi  as  its  northern 
end,    and  preceding  by   Tatungfu  south   to   Taiyuanfu. 
The  length  of  land  transport  from  the  nearest  navigable 
water-way  by  this  route  is  not  less  than  400  miles,  and 
by  the  road  from  Chengtingfu  is  only  150  miles,  yet  this 
is  the  best  and  cheapest  and  the  most  frequented  route 
into  Shansi. 

II.  The  Kiakhta  route  is,  and  has  been  for  more  than 
two  centuries,  one  of  the  most  important  trade  routes  in 
the  Empire.  North  of  the  Yangtze  conununication  from 
east  to  west  is  blocked  by  steep  mountain  slopes,  the  Yellow 
River  acts  as  a  barrier  to  trade,  and  north  of  the  Yellow 
River  the  elevated  mass  of  Shansi  interposes  a  further 
barrier.  It  is  only  when  the  elevated  but  generally  traver- 
sable plains  of  Mongolia  are  reached,  that  a  way  is  found 
available  for  traffic  from  the  eastern  shore  to  the  extreme 
west.  The  main  route  from  Tientsin  and  Peking  goes  by 
Kalgan  across  Mongolia  to  Kiakhta,  and,  branching  off  at 
Kalgan,  the  traffic  goes  also  west  to  Shensi,  and,  farther 
west,  to  Kansu ;  camels  and  mule  carts  furnish  the  means 
of  transport.  By  this  route  go  the  caravan  tea  for  Russia 
and  brick  tea  for  Siberia,  and  by  this  route  and  its  branches 
Mongolia,  Shansi,  northern  Shensi,  and  Kansu  obtain  their 
supplies  and  forward  their  products,  making  Tientsin  the 
shipping  port  for  a  hinterland  extending  considerably  over 


INTERNAL  TRADE  325 

a  thousand  mfles  to  the  west  and  north-west.  Statistics 
give  us  but  a  slight  indication  of  the  volume  of  this  traffic, 
burdened  by  the  cost  of  land  transport  over  long  distances, 
but  a  few  items  may  be  noted.  In  1905  tea  vrith  a  net 
weight  of  357,265  piculs,  valued  at  Tls.2,861,660,  crossed 
the  Mongolian  frontier  by  this  route;  and  in  the  same 
year  foreign  products  were  forwarded  from  Tientsin,  under 
transit  pass,  to  Shansi  valued  at  Tls.5,664,950,  to  Shensi 
Tls.74,509,  to  Kansu  and  Turkestan  Tls.679,575,  and  to 
Mongolia  Tls.217,300.  Certain  articles  of  Chinese  produce 
shipped  from  Tientsin  can  be  identified  as  probably  originat- 
ing in  Mongolia  or  in  Kansu ;  among  these  are  wool  (of 
camel,  goat,  and  sheep),  of  which  the  Tientsin  export  in 
1905  was  186,918  piculs  valued  at  Tls.3,326,000,  and  skins 
(goat  and  sheep),  valued  at  Tls.3,725,000. 

12.  The  Manchurian  route  is  important  because  of 
the  construction  of  the  railway  from  Talien  (Dairen  or 
Dalny)  to  Harbin,  and  thence  east  to  Vladivostock  and 
north-west  into  Russian  territory ;  and  by  this  railway 
in  1903  went  378,739  piculs  of  Chinese  tea.  My  present 
concern  is,  however,  with  the  internal  trade  of  China.  This 
route,  proceeding  east  from  Peking  and  north-east  from 
Tientsin,  passes  through  the  narrow  defile  between  the 
mountains  and  the  sea  at  Shanhaikwan,  where  the  Great 
Wall  ends  on  the  shore,  and  then  goes  on  to  Ningyuan,  where 
three  himdred  years  ago  the  Manchu  invaders  met  their 
only  serious  check.  By  this  route  came  the  Manchus,  and 
by  this  route  have  come  tribute  and  ginseng  from  Korea, 
until,  in  1894,  the  tribute  ceased.  With  the  development 
of  steam  traffic,  trade  between  Chihli  and  Manchuria 
by  this  portal  fell  away,  until  the  exigencies  of  war  shut 
out  the  merchants  of  Newchwang  from  their  hinta*land 
and  drove  its  trade  temporarily  to  Tientsin,  from  which 
port  the  foreign  goods  sent  by  railway  into  Manchuria  under 
transit  pass  in  1905  were  valued  at  Tls.4,925,000.  From 
Newchwang  the  Liao  River  in  sunmier  and  the  frozen  plain 
of  Manchuria  in  winter  furnish  the  means  of  distributing 


326     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

a  trade  which,  import  and  export,  was  in  1905  valued  at 
more  than  Tls.70,000,000. 

These  are  the  principal  internal  trade  routes  of  the 
Chinese  Empire,  thronged  with  boats  or  with  the  carts  and 
pack-animals  engaged  in  the  interchange  of  conmiodities 
between  a  race  of  traders  developed  through  the  course 
of  many  centuries.  By  these  routes  comes  the  Chinese 
produce  intended  for  export  from  the  shipping  ports,  and  by 
these  routes  foreign  products  are  distributed  for  consumption 
in  the  marts  of  the  interior ;  but  there  are  no  statistics  to 
show  the  volume  of  the  enormous  traffic  which  originates 
and  ends  within  the  limits  of  the  Empire.  Some  slight 
indication  is  given  by  the  quantities  of  a  few  articles  of  the 
purely  domestic  trade  conveyed  by  the  steamers  which, 
on  some  routes,  have  now  displaced,  wholly  or  partially, 
the  old  primitive  means  of  conveyance ;  and  a  few  brief 
notes  are  given  on  the  more  important  commodities. 

Rice,  shipped  from  producing  to  non-producing,  from 
agricultural  to  industrial  districts,  has  always  been  an 
important  item  in  the  domestic  trade  of  China,  shipment  to 
foreign  countries  being  prohibited.  From  Hunan  it  is 
estimated  that  an  average  annual  surplus  of  1,000,000 
piculs  is  available  for  shipment  to  Haidcow.  Anhwei  is 
the  principal  rice-field  of  the  Empire,  and  from  its  port, 
Wuhu,  were  shipped  5,621,143  piculs  in  1904,  and  8,438,093 
piculs  in  1905.  From  Chinkiang  the  export  in  1905  was 
619,190  piculs,  and  from  Shanghai  1,70(5,845  piculs.  Of 
these  shipments  2,804,164  piculs  were  sent  to  Tientsin, 
i»553t894  piculs  being  tribute  rice  and  the  rest  in  merchants' 
hands,  and  1,337,479  piculs  to  Chef 00 ;  except  some  small 
shipments  to  other  southern  ports,  the  balance  went  to 
the  industrial  centres  of  Kwangtung,  in  addition  to  2,227,916 
piculs  of  foreign  rice,  to  supplement  the  produce  of  the 
rich  rice  fields  of  that  province. 
—  Beans  were  shipped  in  1903  (much  of  the  trade  was 
diverted  from  Manchuria  dturing  the  Russo-Japanese  war) 
to  the  extent  of  3,453,766  piculs  from  Newdiwang,  1,928,543 


INTERNAL  TRADE  327 

piculs  from  Hankow,  404,063  piculs  from  Chinkiang,  and 
enough  from  other  ports  to  make  a  total  of  6,327,080  piculs ; 
of  this  quantity  1,836,707  piculs  were  shipj)ed  to  Japan, 
some  72,000  piculs  to  other  foreign  destinations,  and  the 
balance,  except  590,000  piculs  for  Amoy,  went  to  the 
Kwangtung  ports.  Canton  and  Swatow.  In  the  same  year 
Bean-cake  was  shipped,  4,553,367  piculs  from  Newchwang, 
1,192,948  piculs  from  Chefoo,  583,095  piculs  from  Hankow, 
423,447  piculs  from  Chinkiang,  with  total  shipments  of 
7,030,325  piculs ;  of  this  quantity  3,400,444  piculs  went 
to  Japan,  and  the  balance,  except  731,161  piculs  for  Amoy, 
went  to  Kwangtung. 

Coal  shipments  in  1905  amounted  to  193,759  tons  from 
Tientsin  and  Chinwangtao,  16,887  tons  from  Kiaochow, 
5,793  tons  from  Chungking,  and  72,422  tons  from  Hankow, 
with  a  total  of  290,477  tons.  Of  this  10,384  tons  were 
shipped  to  Hongkong  and  Indo- China,  120,766  tons  to 
Shanghai,  and  the  balance  to  other  Chinese  ports,  chiefly 
Chefoo,  Wuhu,  and  Chinkiang.  In  1909  the  output  of  the 
Kaiping  mines,  for  which  the  shipping  port  is  Chinwangtao, 
was  1,226,000  tons. 

CoUon  hand-woven  doth  was  shipped  by  steamer  in 
1905  to  the  extent  of  229,609  piculs,  equivalent  to  about 
100,000,000  square  yards,  of  which  189,649  piculs  originated 
in  Shanghai.  This  went  pretty  much  to  every  place  where 
there  are  Chinese,  the  largest  proportion  to  I^nchuria,  but 
32,116  piculs  to  the  Chinese  colonies  in  foreign  parts.  In 
1904  Newchwang  imported  in  addition  82,667  piculs  by 
junk. 

Gfoundrfiuts  were  shipped  to  the  extent  of  183,601  piculs 
from  Tientsin,  109,042  piculs  from  Chefoo,  79,726  piculs 
from  Hankow,  and  489,353  piculs  from  Chinkiang,  with 
total  shipments  of  978,519  piculs ;  of  this  quantity  24,600 
piculs  went  to  foreign  countries,  and  912,555  piculs  to 
Canton. 

Hemp,  Juie,  and  Ramie  shipments  amounted  to  365,988 
piculs,  of  which  153,005  piculs  came  from  Hankow  and 


5^8     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

113,634  piculs  from  Kiukiang ;  134,002  piculs  went  to  Japan 
and  128,441  piculs  to  other  foreign  countries,  leaving 
103,545  piculs  for  home  consumption. 

Medicines  of  the  Chinese  pharmacopoeia  were  shipped 
to  a  value  of  Tls.i, 082,247  from  Chungking,  Tls.i, 050,853 
from  Hankow  (much  of  it  the  product  of  Szechwan,  coming 
by  junk),  with  a  total  of  Tls.4,854,835,  which  was  dis- 
tributed to  every  part  of  China,  Tls.1,875,825  going  to 
Hongkong  for  the  Chinese  there  and  in  other  parts  of  the 
outside  world. 

Musk  comes  chiefly  from  Tibet  via  Chungking,  but 
6,400  ounces  reached  its  market  in  1905  through  Tientsin, 
in  a  total  supply  of  60,885  ounces.  Of  this,  29,717  ounces 
went  to  foreign  countries,  leaving  an  equal  quantity  for 
the  delectation  of  Chinese  nostrils. 

Oil  expressed  from  beans,  grovmd-nuts,  and  the  seeds  of 
the  Camellia  oleifera  and  the  Aleurites  cordata,  provides  the 
Chinese  housekeeper  with  fat  for  cooking  and  for  fllumination 
and  oil  for  painting  and  for  varnishing.  Shipments  in  1905 
amounted  to  1,030,701  piculs,  of  which  33,373  piculs 
(116,498  piculs  in  1903)  came  from  Newchwang,  168,333 
piculs  from  Kiaochow,  419,444  piculs  from  Hankow, 
171,310  piculs  from  Chinkiang,  and  148,915  piculs  from 
Shanghai.  It  was  imported  into  every  port  where  it  is  not 
produced. 

Oil-seeds  were  shipped  in  1905  to  the  extent  of  1,581,514 
piculs.  Cotton-seed  supplied  657,379  piculs,  the  entire 
amount  going  to  Japan.  Rape-seed  shipments  in  1902  were 
223,149  piculs,  but  in  1905  only  28,919  piculs,  the  greater 
part  going  to  Japan.  Sesamum-seed  was  895^216  piculs,  of 
which  379,530  piculs  went  to  Europe,  chiefly  to  Germany, 
39,911  piculs  to  Egypt,  and  125,474  piculs  to  Japan ;  the 
balance  of  shipments  remaining  for  home  consumption 
amounted  to  320,000  piculs. 

Silk  in  its  raw  state,  when  not  exported  to  foreign 
countries,  is  generally  woven  in  the  producing  district.  Of 
silk  piece  goods  the  shipments  in  1905  amounted  to  26,926 


INTERNAL  TRADE  329 

pkuls,  valued  at  Tls.19,747,539.  Of  this  9,793  piculs 
went  to  Hongkong  for  further  distribution,  and  2,597  piculs 
to  other  foreign  ports,  leaving  14,536  piculs,  valued  at 
Tls.10,849,912,  for  home  consumption  in  other  than  the 
original  producing  districts. 

Sugar  was  shipped  to  the  extent  of  1,481,524  piculs, 
almost  entirely  from  Kwangtung  ports,  and  found  its  market 
in  the  Yangtze  and  northern  ports.  This  was  in  addition 
to  4,156,663  piculs  imported  from  abroad. 

Vegetable  tallow,  expressed  from  the  seeds  of  the  SiiUingia 
sebifera,  was  shipped,  almost  entirely  from  Hankow,  to  the 
extent  of  167,160  piculs.  Of  this  67,277  piculs  were  shipped 
abroad,  chiefly  to  Italy,  leaving  100,000  piculs  for  home 
consumption. 

Toftacco,  leaf  or  prepared  and  cut,  was  shipped  to  the 
amount  of  529,253  piculs,  of  which  216,704  piculs  came  from 
Hankow,  98,522  piculs  from  Kiukiang,  and  182,346  piculs 
from  Kwangtung  ports,  and  it  goes  wherever  there  are 
Chinese.  This  was  in  addition  to  cigarettes,  Chinese-made, 
valued  at  Tls.  1,667,698,  shipped  coastwise,  and  cigarettes, 
valued  at  Tls.4,427,171,  and  cigars,  worth  Tls.381,466,  im- 
ported from  foreign  countries. 

Railways 

This  volume  deals  with  the  past  and  the  present,  and 
not  with  the  future,  but  a  few  words  must  be  said  on  the 
traffic  by  railway.  The  railways  completed  or  actually 
under  construction  on  Chinese  soil  at  the  end  of  1911  are 
set  out  on  the  next  page. 

The  Chinese  people  have  taken  very  kindly  to  railways, 
and  the  passenger  traffic  is  already  considerable.  The 
development  of  goods  traffic  is  a  subject  for  future  investiga- 
tion. At  Tientsin,  not  including  steamer  cargoes  coming 
from  and  going  to  Tangku  and  Chinwangtao,  the  trade  with 
the  interior  carried  by  railway  in  1905  was  valued  at 
Tls.51,500,000 ;    in  the  same  year  the  Tientsin  trade  by 


330     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 


I^ength  in  miles. 

Provinoc  thronsh 
which  paasing. 

FlSCCS  MTVCQ* 

Com- 

Under 

pleted. 

ooa- 
stractioiU 

Manchuria    . . 

(Irkutsk),        Manchuli,       Harbin, 

Suifenho  (Vladivostock) 

1.098 



»»             •  • 

Harbin,     Kwanchengtze,     Newch- 

wang,  Dairen        

664 

— 

f» 

Moukden,  Antung 

187 

— 

»»             •  • 

Kwanchengtze,  Kirin 

30 

50 

Chihli          ^ 

Peking,     Tientsin,     Chinwangtao, 

Manchuria  J 

Moukden,  Newchwang   . . 

608 



Chihli          ' 
Shansi 
Chihli          ] 
Honan 
Hupsh 

. 

Peking,  Kalgan,  Tatungfu,  Suiyuan 

195 

165 

Peking,     Chengting,     Chengchow, 

Kwangshui,  Hankow 

828 

— 

Shansi         } 
Chihli          J 

Chengting,  Taiyuanf u 

155 

40 

Honan 

Taokow,  Tsinghwa  . . 

103 

— 

Honan 

Kaiieng,  Chengchow,  Honanfu     . . 

140 

— 

Shantung 

Tsingtau,  Tsinanfu,  Poshan 

284 

— 

Shantung     . . 

Hwangtaikiao,  Lokow 

4 

— 

Chihli          \ 

Shantung 

Tientsin,  Tsinanfu,  Pukow 

626 

— 

Kiangsu      J 

Honan 

Honanfu,  Tungkwan 

— 

166 

Hupeh         \ 
Szechwan    J 

Kwangshui,  Ichang,Kweichow  (Sze.), 

Chengtu 

— 

800 

Kiangsu 

Shanghai,      Soochow»     Chinkiang, 

Nanking 

210 

— 

Kiangsu      \ 
Chekiang     / 

Shanghai,  Hangchow,  Ningpo 

118 

100 

Fukien 

Amoy,  Changchowf u 

10 

23 

Hupeh 
Hunan 
Kwangtung. 

Hankow,      Changsha,      Chtichow, 

Canton      .,         

103 

627 

Kiangsi 
Hunan 

Pingsiang,  Chiichow 

64 

— 

Kiangsi 

Kiukiang,  Nancbang 

20 

62 

Kwangtung  . . 

Canton,  Shumchun  (Kowloon) 

90 

— 

ft              •  • 

Sunning,  Kongmoon 

40 

15 

i»              •  • 

Swatow,  Chaochowfu 

24 

Yunnan 

291 

— 

5.892 

2.048 

INTERNAL  TRADE  331 

the  Grand  Canal  was  valued  at  Tls.2i, 000,000,  and  that 
between  Tientsin  and  Paoting  by  the  (Chihli)  West  River 
at  Tls.23,500,000.  The  line  from  Tsingtau  to  Tsinan  in 
Shantung  carried  303,000  tons  of  merchandise  and  795,000 
passengers  during  1905.  At  Hankow,  in  the  same  year,  a 
sum  was  collected  for  likin  on  goods  carried  by  rail,  which, 
capitalised,  represents  a  value  of  Tls.6,000,000  for  mer- 
chandise carried  over  a  road  which  was  not  a  trade  route  in 
the  past.  These  are  mdications  that  even  of  stagnating 
China  it  may  be  said  e  pur  si  muave. 


CHAPTER   XI 

OPIUM 

Opium  presents  a  thorny  subject  to  handle  for  any  writer. 
If  he  is  a  partisan  of  the  opium  trade,  his  tendency  is  strong 
to  leave  the  ground  with  which  he  may  be  familiar,  that  of 
commercial  dealings  and  statistics,  and  to  try  to  demonstrate 
the  innocuousness  of  the  drug  as  smoked  by  the  Chinese — 
to  compare  it  to  the  relatively  harmless  ante-prandial  glass 
of  sherry.  If  his  mission  is  to  denoimce  the  opium  traffic, 
he  invariably  seems  impelled,  by  an  irresistible  inclination, 
to  leave  the  high  moral  ground  on  which  he  is  unassailable, 
and  descend  into  the  arena  of  facts  and  figures,  with  which 
he  is  not  likely  to  be  so  familiar,  and  among  which  his  pre- 
disposition will  lead  him  to  pass  by  or  to  misinterpret  those 
which  make  against  his  case.  The  writer  who  tries  to 
investigate  the  facts  with  no  predisposition  to  either  side, 
is  likely  to  find  himself  branded  as  a  trimmer  by  the  one 
party  and  a  Laodicean  by  the  other,  with  no  opportimity 
to  defend  himself.  This  chapter  falls  into  the  third  category, 
and  an  attempt  will  be  made  to  present  the  general  facts  of 
the  history  of  opium  in  China,  in  such  a  way  that  either 
party,  by  judicious  selection  of  passages,  may  find  argmnents 
with  which  to  confute  its  opponents.  There  wiQ  be  no 
attempt  to  elucidate  the  really  vital  point  in  the  opium 
question,  the  moral  aspect  pure  and  simple. 

The  Poppy* 

Previous  to  the  Tang  dynasty  (a.d.  6i8)  the  poppy  was 
•  "  The  Poppy  in  China,"  by  J.  Edkins. 
33a 


OPIUM  333 

apparently  unknown  to  the  Chinese  botanists  and  physicians. 
Ilie  first  mention  in  literature  is  in  the  "  Supplementary 
Herbalist  "  of  Chen  Tsang-chi,  an  author  writing  in  the  first 
half  of  the  eighth  century,  who  quotes  from  an  earlier  lost 
writer.  Sung  Yang-tze,  a  statement  that  "  the  poppy  has 
four  petals,  white  or  red.  .  .  .  The  seeds  are  in  a^bag  (capsule 
described)  .  .  .  being  like  those  of  millet."  At  this  time  the 
Arabs  had  been  trading  with  China  for  a  full  century.  The 
second  reference  is  in  the  "  Book  on  the  Culture  of  Trees  " 
by  Kwo  To-to,  a  writer  of  the  latter  part  of  the  eighth  century 
living  in  the  inland  province  of  Shensi.  The  poet  Yiuig  Tao, 
a  resident  of  Szechwan  in  the  closing  years  of  the  Tang 
dynasty  (ended  906),  wrote  a  poem  describing  the  poppy 
growing  in  the  plains  near  his  home. 

Medicinal  Use 

In  the  "  Herbalist's  Treasury,"  composed  by  order  of 
the  Emperor  by  a  commission  of  nine  in  973,  is  a  reference 
to  the  medicinal  use  of  the  poppy :  "Its  seeds  have  healing 
power.  When  men  .  .  .  they  may  be  benefited  by 
mixing  these  seeds  with  bamboo  juice  boiled  into  gruel, 
and  taking  the  mixture."  About  the  same  period  the 
poet  Su  Tung-po  says  in  one  of  his  poems,  "  the  boy  may 
prepare  for  you  the  broth  of  the  poppy."  His  brother  Su 
Che  wrote  "  A  Poem  on  the  cultivation  of  the  medicinal 
plant  Poppy,"  in  which  he  says :  "  I  built  a  house  on  the 
west  of  the  city.  .  .  .  The  gardener  came  to  me  to  say 
'  The  poppy  is  a  good  plant  to  have.'  ...  Its  seeds  are  like 
autumn  miUet ;  when  ground  they  yield  a  sap  like  cow's 
milk ;  when  boiled  they  become  a  drink  fit  for  Buddha. 
Old  men  whose  powers  have  decayed  .  .  .  should  take 
this  drink.  Use  a  willow  mallet  and  a  stone  basin  to 
bruise  ;  boil  in  water  that  has  been  sweetened  with  honey. 
(When  depressed)  then  I  have  but  to  drink  a  cup  of 
this  poppy-seed  decoction.  I  laugh  and  am  happy.  I 
have  come  to  Yingchwan  (his  later  home)  and  am  wandering 


334     ^^^  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

on  the  banks  of  its  river.  I  seem  to  be  climbing  the  slopes 
of  Mount  Lu  (home  of  his  boyhood)  in  the  far  west."  In 
the  Herbalist  of  Su  Sung,  prepared  by  order  of  the  Emperor 
about  the  year  1057,  it  is  stated  that  "  the  poppy  is  found 
everywhere.  .  .  .  There  are  two  kinds,  one  with  red 
flowers,  one  with  white.  .  .  .  When  the  capsules  have 
become  dry  and  yellow,  they  may  be  plucked.  ...  In 
cases  of  nausea  it  will  be  foimd  serviceable  to  administer 
a  decoction  of  poppy-seeds  made  in  the  following  way.  .  ." 

A  medical  writer,  Lin  Hung,  probably  of  the  twelfth 
century,  makes  the  first  reference  to  the  use  of  the  capsules, 
which  contain  the  juice  from  which  opium  is  prepared. 
He  directs  that  the  entire  poppy  head  be  taken,  washed, 
and  the  juice  pressed  out  and  filtered,  and  then  boiled 
and  afterward  steamed:  the  residue  may  then  be  taken 
out  and  "  made  up  into  cakes  shaped  like  a  fish."  The 
result  of  this  process  is  opium,  mixed  with  the  impurity  of 
the  vegetable  substance  of  the  capsule.  Three  other 
writers  of  the  same  period,  Yang  Shih-ying,  Wang  Chiu,  and 
Wang  Shih,  refer  explicitly  to  the  merits  of  the  poppy 
capsule  in  curing  djrsentery.  Three  writers  on  medical 
subjects  of  the  thirteenth  centmy,  Liu  Ho-kien,  Li  Kao, 
and  Wei  I-lin,  and  one  of  the  fourteenth  century,  Chu 
Chen-heng,  also  describe  the  mode  of  preparing  the  "  fish- 
cake "  paste  from  the  capsule  and  its  use  in  the  pharma- 
copoeia. The  last-named  states  "  it  is  used  also  for  diarrhoea 
and  djrsentery  accompanied  by  local  inflammation ;  though 
its  effects  are  quick,  great  care  must  be  taken  in  using  it, 
because  it  kills  like  a  knife." 

The  first  reference  to  scoring  the  fresh  capsule  in  situ 
to  obtain  the  inspissated  juice,  which-  by  manipulation 
becomes  opium,  is  in  the  writings  of  Wang  Hi,  who  died 
in  1488 ;  he  says,  "  Opium  is  produced  in  Arabia  from 
poppies  with  red  flowers  .  .  .  after  the  flower  has  faded 
the  capsule  while  still  fresh  is  pricked  for  the  juice." 
Wang  Hi  was  Governor  for  twenty  years  of  the  province 
of  Kansu,  where  he  would  come  in  contact  with  Moham- 


OPIUM  335 

medans,  from  whom  he  cotild  learn  of  Arab  arts  and  in* 
dustries.  In  the  "  Eastern  Treasury  of  Medicine,"  a 
Korean  work  of  the  same  period,  is  given  an  exact  accoimt 
of  the  method  of  scoring  the  capstile,  gathering  the  exuded 
sap,  and  drying  it  in  the  sun,  much  as  practised  to-day ; 
and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  preparation  of  opium 
was  introduced  into  China  through  Arab  channels  by  the 
end  of  the  fifteenth  century.  The  "  Introduction  to 
Medicine  "  of  Li  Ting,  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
gives  an  exact  account  of  the  method  of  preparing  opium, 
under  the  name  A-fu-yung.  The  Arabs,  in  taking  the 
Greek  name  opium  (ihtiov),  transformed  it  into  afyi^n. 
In  China  the  provinces  along  the  coast  have  transliterated 
the  name  opium  into  ya-pien,  by  which  the  drug  is  generally 
known ;  but  in  the  inland  province  of  Yunnan,  where  the 
Mohammedan  influence  has  always  been  strong,  and  the 
Mohammedan  population  predominated  up  to  the  Panthay 
rebellion  (1867)  and  the  resultant  massacres,  opium  of 
indigenous  production  is  to  this  day  referred  to  in  official 
documents,  tax  receipts,  etc.,  as  fu-yung,  which,  except  as 
a  truncated  form  of  a-fu-jomg,  is  unintelligible  in  Chinese. 

Opium  Smoking 

It  may  be  said  broadly  that,  while  all  other  opium- 
using  people  take  it  by  the  mouth  and  stomach,  the  Chinese 
alone  smoke  it. 

Opium  smoking  came  in  through  tobacco  smoking. 
As  we  have  seen  (Chapter  IX.*)  the  Spanish  occupied  the 
Philippines  from  the  west  in  1543,  and  made  their  first 
attempt  to  trade  with  China  in  1575  ;  thereafter  they  left 
the  development  of  the  trade  between  China  and  Manila 
entirely  to  the  Chinese.  Through  the  Philippines  the 
American  narcotic,  tobacco,  was  introduced  at  Amoy, 
and  thence  to  Formosa,  which  was  in  process  of  colonisation 
from  Amoy  in  that  period.    In  the  "  Notes  on  the  Conduct 

•  Page  278. 


336     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

of  Business  "  published  about  1650,  the  year  1620  is  given 
as  the  date  of  the  introduction,  about  the  time  of  the 
"  CounterUaste  to  Tobacco  "  of  King  James  the  Sixth  of 
Scotland  and  First  of  En^and.  The  Chinese  Emperors  were 
animated  by  the  same  feelings  as  King  James,  and  the 
last  of  the  Ming  Emperors  (1628-1644)  prohibited  tobacco 
smoking  in  his  dominions.  The  first  of  the  Manchu 
Emperors,  before  his  occupation  at  Peking,  while  he  was 
Emperor  of  the  Manchus  but  not  of  the  Chinese,  issued  in 
1641  an  edict  on  archery,  in  which  he  says :  "  To  smcdce 
tobacco  is  a  fault,  but  not  so  great  a  faidt  as  to  neglect 
practice  with  the  bow.  As  to  the  prohil^tion  of  tobacco 
smoking,  it  became  impossible  to  maintain  it  because  you 
princes  and  others  smoked  privately,  though  not  publidy ; 
but  as  to  the  use  of  the  bow,  this  must  not  be  neglected." 
Other  prohibitive  edicts  followed,  but  were  quite  as  in- 
effective ;  and  to-day  in  China,  with  few  exceptions,  every 
man,  woman,  and  weaned  child  is  a  smoker  of  tobacco : 
the  "  Society  of  Total  Abstainers  "  (from  wine,  tobacco,  and 
tea)  is  in  times  of  trouble  classed  with  the  secret  societies, 
for  which  extermination  is  the  prescribed  treatment. 

Formosa  is  a  land  of  jungle  and  malaria,  and  where 
malaria  prevails  opium  is  a  natural  resource,  as  exemplified 
by  the  opium  pills  of  the  Norfolk  fen-men  a  short  century 
ago.  Of  the  tropical  jungle  we  have  a  note  of  Jacobus 
Bontius,  a  Dutch  physician  of  Java,  dated  Batavia,  1629, 
in  which  he  says  that  "  unless  we  had  opium  to  use  in 
these  hot  countries,  in  cases  of  dysentery,  cholera,  burning 
fever,  and  various  bilious  affections,  we  should  practise 
medicine  in  vain."  In  Formosa  malaria  is  deadly  to  this 
day,  and  the  early  colonists  mixed  with  their  tobacco 
various  ingredients  to  neutralise  the  effects  of  the  fever, 
among  them  opium  and  arsenic:  the  latter  is  still  used 
by  the  Chinese  in  what  is  called  "  water  tobacco,"  and  is 
prescribed  in  cases  of  malaria  by  Western  physicians  when 
for  any  reason  quinine  is  contra-indicated.  Kaempfer 
visited  Java  in  1689,  and  in  his  accoimt  of  Batavia  is  th^ 


OPIUM  337 

first  mention  of  an  "  opium-smoking  divan,"  in  which  was 
smoked  "  opium  diluted  with  water  and  mixed  with  tobacco" ; 
and  as  the  Dutch  controlled  the  trade  of  Formosa  from  1624 
to  1662,  it  seems  probable  that  the  practice  of  smoking 
mixed  tobacco  and  opium  was  introduced  from  Java. 
From  Formosa  the  practice  extended  to  the  mainland 
through  Amoy,  the  "  metropolis  "  of  the  colonists.  There 
is  nothing  to  show  when  opium  ceased  to  be  mixed  with 
tobacco  for  smoking.  The  only  reference  to  the  habit  in 
Staunton's  account  of  Lord  Macartney's  mission  (1793)  is 
that  many  of  the  higher  Mandarins  took  opium,  and  that 
"  they  smoke  tobacco  mixed  with  other  odorous  substances, 
and  sometimes  a  little  opium." 

The  Emperor  Kang-hi,  in  his  course  of  settling  the 
Empire,  came  to  the  conquest  of  Formosa  in  1683,  with 
his  base  at  Amoy.  Here  the  governing  powers  were  first 
brought  into  actual  contact  with  the  evil ;  but  in  an  age 
when  edicts  were  readily  issued,  no  immediate  steps  were 
taken.  The  first  prohibitory  edict  was  issued  by  his  suc- 
cessor Yung-cheng,  in  1729,  enacting  severe  penalties  on 
the  sale  of  opium  and  the  opening  of  opium-smoking  divans, 
and  from  this  time  dealing  in  opium  became  a  crime. 

Foreign  Opium 

At  the  time  of  this  edict  the  importation  of  foreign 
opium  amounted  to  200  chests  a  year,  introduced  by  the 
Portuguese  trading  from  Goa,  and  by  none  others  until 
1773 ;  English  private  merchants  then  engaged  in  the 
trade  up  to  1781,  when  the  East  India  Company  took  it  into 
its  own  hands.  In  the  forty  years  up  to  1767  the  importa- 
tion increased  gradually  from  200  chests  to  1,000,  a  chest 
containing  from  135  lbs.  (free-trade  opium,  as  from  Malwa 
or  Persia)  to  160  lbs.  (Bengal  regie  opium).  The  machinery 
of  an  Imperial  edict  cannot  have  been  directed  against  so 
insignificant  a  quantity  as  200  chests,  the  annual  amount 
at  the  date  of  the  edict ;  and  that  it  was  not  considered  by 

22 


338     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

the  Canton  authorities  to  be  directed  against  the  foreign 
importation,   is  shown  by  the  gradual  and  unconcealed 
increase  at  the  rate  of  20  chests  a  year.    A  distinction  was 
recognised  and  made  between  opium  for  medicinal  use, 
and  its  sale  for  smoking ;    and  its  introduction  for  the 
former  purpose  was  permitted.    In  the  "  Hoppo  Book  "  ♦ 
^^  1753*  which  is  based  on  tariffs  of  1687  and  1733,  then 
still  in  force,  opium  is  included  as  pa3dng  Tls.3  a  picul. 
which  is  at  the  rate  of  6  per  cent,  (the  then  official  rate 
of  levy)  on  a  value  of  Tls.50  ;   and  in  a  valuation  book  of 
the  same  date  (1755),  the  values  of  certain  conmiodities  are 
given,  among  them  silk  at  Tls.ioo,  tea  at  Tls.8,  rhubarb 
Tls.i'50,  musk  Tls.150,  and  opium  Tls.50.    The  inference 
is  that  the  Canton  officials  were  quite  honest  in  holding 
that  the  prohibitory  edict  of  1729  did  not  apply  to  the 
importation  of  the  foreign  drug.    The  trade  went  on  without 
restriction  on  the  importation,  and  in  1773  the  English  mer- 
chants made  their  first  imports  from  Calcutta,  Mdth  the 
probable  effect  of  increasing  the  amoimt  introduced.      In 
1780  a  new  Viceroy  was  appointed  to  Canton,  who  had 
"  the  reputation  of  an  upright,  bold,  and  rigid  minister,"  f 
and  who  determined  to  apply  the  Imperial  restriction  to 
the  importation  of  the  drug,  as  well  as  to  its  sale  for 
smoking;    but  the  connection  between  this  and  the  as- 
sumption of  control  of  the  opium  traffic  by  the  East  India 
Company  in  the  following  year,  is  a  matter  of  inference. 
The  evils  arising  from    the  use  of  opium  became  more 
apparent  from  year  to  year,  the  import  in  1790  having 
increased  to  4,054  chests;    and  in    1796,  on  the  repre- 
sentation of  the  Viceroy,   an  Imperisd  edict  was  issued 
imposing  heavier  penalties  on  opium  smoking.     In  1800  an 
edict  was  issued  prohibiting  the  importation  of  foreign 
opium  and  the  cultivation  of  the  poppy.    From  this  date 
the  traffic  became  contraband,  and  about  the  same  time 
smuggling    became    organised    by    detailed    arrangements 

*  "  Journal  China  Branch  of  Royal  Asiatic  Society,"  1882. 
t  "British  Parliamentary  Papers,"  1783. 


OPIUM 


339 


made  between  the  importers  and  the  officials  at  Canton 
and  elsewhere  along  the  coast. 

Drain   of  Specie* 

In  addition  to  the  high  moral  ground  taken  by  the 
Imperial  Government  in  their  desire  to  suppress  the  opium 
traffic,  they  rest  their  case  upon  their  statement  of  the 
fact  that  the  necessity  of  paying  for  the  opium  drained 
the  country  of  silver,  giving  as  an  instance  the  "  average 
annual  export  of  Tls.  10,000,000  in  the  ten  years  previous  " 
to  1839 '  ^i^d  this  instance,  and  the  drain  of  silver  deducible 
from  it,  have  been  generally  accepted  in  the  histories. 
This  drain  of  silver  is  not  proved  by  facts.  The  sum  is 
first  to  be  discounted  as  being  a  fine-sounding  round  figure 
useful  to  support  a  prohibitory  edict ;  and,  being  in  a 
Chinese  official  document,  the  statement  must  be  inter- 
preted strictly,  and  not  taken  to  imply  more  than  it  says. 
Assuming  that  in  ten  years  shipments  of  treasure  amounted 
to  upwards  of  Tls.10,000,000  annually,  which  was  not  the 
fact,  it  does  not  follow  that,  on  balancing  exports  against 
imports,  the  net  export  was  as  much.  Several  foreign  writers 
of  the  time  refer  to  the  permits  specially  required  for  the 
shipment  of  treasure,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  any 
reported  export  of  treasure  was  derived  from  the  records  of 
such  permits  without  any  offset  or  the  introduction  of  alien 
matters.  It  was  before  the  day  of  banks  ;  and  while  it  is 
almost  true  that  at  that  time  each  ship  had  to  square  with 
hard  cash  its  accounts  for  imports  and  exports,  it  is  abso- 
lutely true  of  each  merchant,  whether  in  a  season  he  had 
one  ship  or  several.  India  supplied  the  opium,  but  took 
no  tea  and  no  considerable  quantity  of  silk,  and  shipment 
of  treasure  to  India  was  inevitable.  In  the  present  day 
that  country  sends  to  China  commodities  to  the  average 
annual  value  of  over  Tls.80,000,000,  and  receives  in  return 
*  For  a  detailed  consideration  of  this  subject,  see  the  author's 
*•  International  Relations  of  the  Chinese  Empire  " — "  The  Period 
of  Conflict/'  chap.  viii.  §  35. 


340     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

commodities  not  exceeding  Tls.io,ooo,ooo  in  value ;  to-day 
the  difference  is  adjusted  by  bank  bills,  but  then  the 
opium  from  India  could  not  be  paid  for  by  tea  shipped 
to  England  or  America,  but  must  be  paid  for  in  cash  and 
the  specie  shipped,  except  in  so  far  as  it  might  be  taken 
over  by  the  East  India  Company  against  its  bills  on  Calcutta, 
to  provide  funds  with  which  to  buy  tea.  Except  for  the 
opium  of  India  and  the  spices  of  the  Southern  Isles,  the 
rest  of  the  world  could  provide  little  that  China  wanted. 
England  could  send  a  few  pieces  of  camlet,  probably  not 
a  hundredth  of  what  was  needed  to  buy  a  cargo  of  tea ; 
and  from  the  English,  American,  Dutch,  Portuguese,  and 
other  trade,  poured  in  a  stream  of  silver  in  the  shape  of 
Spanish  dollars,*  which  to  this  day  are  current  in  Anhwei, 
and  were  current  in  Formosa  up  to  1895,  in  which  year 
two  and  a  quarter  millions  of  them  were  introduced  into 
the  island  for  the  tea  season.  The  movement  of  silver  was 
inward,  not  outward ;  and  the  explanation  of  the  fact  that 
merchants  of  the  highest  repute  brought  themselves  to 
engage  in  a  trade  which  we  have  come  to  regard  as  dis- 
reputable, is  to  be  found  in  the  imperative  commercial 
necessity  of  lessening  the  constant  flow  of  silver  from  the 
depleted  European  market,  and  of  substituting  for  it  any 
commodity  which  the  Chinese  would  consent  to  buy. 

Opium   Contraband 

Opium  was  the  one  thing  the  Chinese  would  consent 
to  buy,  and  buy  it  they  did  and  continued  to  do,  after  the 
prohibitory  edict  of  1800,  as  they  had  before;  and  ar- 
rangements were  made  with  business-like  method  for  cir- 
cumventing the  prohibition,  allowing  the  buyers  to  get 
the  drug  they  wanted,  and  securing  what  they  considered 
their  proper  dues  to  the  rulers  of  the  land  whose  duty  it 
was  to  see  that  the  edicts  were  enforced.  The  edicts  never 
were  enforced;  for  forty  years  there  was  no  pretence  at 
enforcing  them  in  the  spirit,  and  the  restrictions  of  their 
♦  See  page  165. 


OPIUM  341 

letter  had  only  the  effect  of  covering  the  traffic  with  a  veil 
of  decency  such  that  the  importing  merchants  might  engage 
in  it,  the  officials  might  not  have  it  thrust  under  their  eyes, 
and  the  dealers  might  get  their  supplies  with  more  trouble 
and  at  considerably  more  cost.  The  irregular  dues  levied 
over  and  above  the  official  tariff  were  already  heavy,  but 
when  it  became  necessary  to  pay  for  connivance  in  addition 
to  the  payments  demanded  for  complaisance,  they  became 
heavier ;  and  they  were  distributed  between  the  officials, 
Hoppo,  Viceroy,  Governor,  Treasurer,  and  so  on  down  the 
list,  not  as  bribes  in  one  payment  to  secure  that  eyes  should 
be  judiciously  shut,  but  as  dues  levied  on  each  chest  divided 
in  proper  proportion  to  each  official.  As  the  trade  was 
prohibited  the  dues  received  could  not  be  included  in  the 
regular  reports  of  revenue  collected,  and  the  regular  New 
Year's  gratifications  sent  in  accordance  with  custom  to  the 
Ministers  of  State  and  the  officials  of  the  Court  at  Peking- 
heavier  because  of  the  greater  amount  of  lucrum  attaching 
to  the  provincial  posts — ^had  no  peculiar  odour  attaching  to 
them  to  betray  their  origin ;  it  was  therefore  to  the  interest 
of  all  officials  concerned,  below  the  Emperor  and  except 
an  occasional  honest  statesman,  that  the  prohibition  should 
be  enacted  and  that  the  traffic  should  go  on*  The  Emperor 
might  prohibit  the  trade,  but  the  Emperor's  representatives 
continued  to  sanction  it. 

On  the  issue  of  the  prohibitory  edicts  it  became  im- 
possible to  continue  the  open  storage  of  stocks  in  the  factories 
at  Canton,  and  the  depots  were  established  at  Macao, 
which,  it  must  be  remembered,  was  under  Chinese  fiscal 
control  until  1848 ;  quantities  were,  however,  still  brought 
on  in  the  importing  ships  and  kept  on  board  at  the  anchorage 
at  Whampoa  imtil  they  could  be  delivered  to  purchasers. 
This  went  on  until  1820,  when  the  order  went  out  that 
no  opitun  was  to  be  stored  in  Macao  or  at  Whampoa ;  the 
importers  then  established  store  ships  at  Lintin  Island, 
in  the  estuary  of  the  Canton  River.  Up  to  this  date  the 
import  had  not  in  any  year  exceeded  Sfioo  chests. 


342     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

When  the  edict  of  1800  was  issued,  the  East  India 
Company  ceased  to  cany  opium  on  its  own  account.  From 
that  time  it  was  of&ciaUy  responsible  for  the  production  of 
that  portion  of  the  drug  which  came  from  Bengal  and  for 
its  sale  in  Calcutta,  but  had  no  direct  concern  ynih  its 
transportation  and  sale  in  China,  nor  did  it  ever  have  any 
connection  with  opium  from  Malwa  or  from  Persia. 

During  the  Lintin  period,  opium  (then  regularly  called 
"  tea,"  and  still  ordinarily  so  termed  at  Canton)  was  sold 
by  sample,  and  paid  for  invariably  in  hard  cash  against 
a  delivery  order.  The  importer  had  nothing  else  to  do 
with  sales  for  local  delivery.  The  purchaser  having  arranged 
for  the  necessary  protection  from  official  interference,  took 
his  order  to  the  receiving  ship  at  Lintin,  where  he  repacked 
into  mat-bags,  marked  with  his  private  chop,  and  took  it 
away  in  fast  boats  with  crews  of  sixty  to  seventy  men. 
The  trade  would  be  temporarily  interrupted  on  the  arrival 
of  each  new  official  of  high  rank,  until  he  had  settled  into 
his  place ;  and  occasionally  there  would  be  a  brutum  fidmen 
of  a  proclamation  ordering  vessels  "  loitering  at  the  outer 
anchorage  "  either  to  come  into  port  or  to  sail  away ;  but 
never  was  Lintin  mentioned  by  name,  and  never  was  a 
guard-boat  so  unmannerly  as  to  poke  its  nose  into  the 
anchorage,  though  doubtiess  there  were  many  watchful 
eyes  round  about. 

Opium  for  the  eastern  part  of  Kwangtung  was  ordinarily 
sold  at  Canton,  also  always  for  cash,  to  be  delivered  by 
the  seller  ordinarily  at  Namoa,  an  island  near  Swatow,  the 
station  of  the  Commander-in-chief  of  the  provincial  coast 
forces.  Hunter  ♦  describes  a  visit  he  made  in  1837  in  an 
American  clipper  schooner  of  150  tons  regularly  despatched 
by  his  firm  from  Lintin  to  deliver  their  sales.  On  arrival 
at  Namoa  he  found  there  two  English  brigs  belonging  to 
two  English  firms,  engaged  in  the  same  traffic,  and  lying 
near  them  the  "  Admiral's  flagship."  The  Admiral  came 
on  board,  and  all  concerned  went  through  some  solemn 
•  **  The  Fankwae  at  Canton." 


OPIUM  343 

foolery,  the  object  of  which  was  tc  secure  supplies  for  the 
schooner,  on  its  way  from  Singapore  to  Canton,  driven  into 
Namoa  in  distress  ;  afterwards,  at  a  more  private  int^iew 
opened  by  the  direct  question  "  How  many  chests  have 
you  ?  "  a  bargain  was  struck,  and  non-interference  provided 
for,  on  terms  additional  to  those  which  were  arranged  by 
the  purchasers  at  Canton.  After  this  the  opium,  which 
had  been  packed  in  bags  at  Lintin,  was  delivered  to  junks 
fl3dng  a  private  signal,  without  further  formality.  The 
jurisdiction  of  the  Canton  Hoppo  and  Viceroy  ended  at 
Namoa,  and  farther  up  the  coast  the  sweet  simplicity  of 
the  Canton  procedure  could  not  be  carried  out  in  such, 
perfect  detail.  The  vessel  in  which  Hunter  returned  came 
into  Namoa  from  the  north,  and  "  her  entire  freight  to 
Canton  consisted  of  $430,000  in  value  of  gold  bars  and 
sycee-silver." 

This  contraband  traffic  went  on  uninterruptedly  until  the 
end  of  1838.  In  1830  the  annual  import  had  increased  to 
16,877  chests,  and  in  1838  to  20,619  chests.  The  appoint- 
ment of  Lord  Napier  in  1834  ^  Ambassador  of  His  Britannic 
Majesty,  brought  to  the  fere  a  different  aspect  of  China's 
foreign  relations,  the  right  of  foreign  Envoys  to  treat  directly 
with  the  representatives  of  the  Empire,  and,  connected  with 
it,  the  position  of  monopoly  inherent  in  the  Co-Hong,  with 
which  alone  Envoy  and  merchant  were  to  have  any  dealings  ; 
but  opium  was  no  more  in  question  from  1834  to  1838,  during 
the  time  of  Lord  Napier  and  Captain  Elliot,  than  it  had 
been  before.  At  Peking,  however,  there  was  renewed  dis- 
cussion of  the  evils  arising  from  opium  smoking,  and  of 
the  still  greater  demoralisation  from  smuggling  an  article 
declared  contraband  by  law ;  and  there  was  even  serious 
consideration  6i  a  proposal  to  legalise  the  traffic  in  order 
to  bring  the  evil  under  better  control.  The  proposal  was 
negatived,  and  the  Emperor  decided  to  enforce  the  edict 
issued  by  his  father  in  1800,  and  found  a  willing  agent  for 
the  purpose  in  Lin  Tse-su.  In  this  decision  the  Emperor 
may  have  been  mistaken,  he  may  have  attempted  to  sweep 


344     ^^^  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

back  the  tides  of  the  ocean  with  a  broom,  but  he  was  un- 
doubtedly honest  and  intended  that  his  will  should  be 
carried  out.  Lin  vras  appomted  Imperial  Commissioner, 
and  sent  to  Canton  to  carry  out  the  will  of  his  master, 
superseding  ad  hoc  both  Viceroy  and  Hoppo.  Had  it  been 
only  a  question  of  opium,  his  mission  was  hopeless ;  it  was 
as  if  a  Prohibition  Government  at  Washington  had  sent  Neal 
Dow  to  carry  out  a  Maine  Liquor  Law  in  the  state  of 
Te^cas,  But  both  he  and  his  master  had  misjudged  the 
situatiion;  when  they  said  *' opium,"  the  English  Envoy, 
backed  by  the  English  admiral,  answered  "  equality,"  and 
equality  it  was,  and  not  opium,  which  was  settled  by  the 
treaty  of  Nanking.  This  treaty  decided  the  equal  status  of 
o^cials  of  the  two  Powers,  the  abolition  of  the  monopoly  of 
th^  Co-Hong,  and  the  adoption  of  uniform  dues  and  duties  ; 
but  it  left  the  Chinese  government  free  to  adopt  its  own 
n^easures  for  the  regulation  of  the  opium  traffic.  The  Eng- 
lish government  did  not  undertake  to  perform  preventive 
se^ce  for  China,  since  others  than  English  were  already 
i^Pgaged  in  the  trade,  and  others  still  could  easily  have  taken 
it  up ;  but  it  forbade  the  establishment  of  an  opium  depot 
at;  the  outset  in  Hongkong,  and  it  afforded  no  naval  pro- 
tection to  smugglers. 

,.  Commissioner  Lin  arrived  in  Canton  on  March  loth,  1839, 
and,  after  remaining  inscrutable  for  some  days,  on  the  i8th 
issued  a  proclamation  that  the  foreigners  should  deliver  up 
all  the  opium  in  store  and  give  a  bond  to  import  no  more, 
on  penalty  of  death.  When  they  refused,  the  entire  body 
of  foreign  residents,  of  all  nationalities,  were  shut  up  in 
the  factories^  deprived  of  servants  and  of  outside  supplies 
of  food  and  water,  and  informed  that  they  were  hostages 
for  the  due  execution  of  the  order.  "  Hostage "  is  an 
awkward  word  to  use,  and  a  still  more  awkward  thing 
to  be ;  and  in  fear  of  death  the  merchants  surrendered  their 
opium,  even  bringing  eight  chests  up  from  Macao.  The  total 
quantity  surrendered  was  20,291  chests,  and  the  earnest* 
ness  of  conviction  of  the  Emperor  and  his  Commissioner  is 


OPIUM  345 

evidenced  by  the  fact  that  this  was  effectually  destroyed 
to  the  last  ounce.  Of  the  firms  contributing  the  opium, 
the  largest  ccmtributor  was  an  English  firm  with  7,000  chests, 
then  another  English  firm,  then  an  American  firm  with 
1,500  chests  \  after  them  came  English,  Parsee,  and  other 
merchants,  natives  of  India.  Some  fifty  chests  of  Turkey 
opium  in  the  possession  of  an  American  firm  were  not 
surrendered  as  not  being  from  India.  The  only  effect  of 
the  Imperial  Conwnissioner's  action,  directed  against  the 
foreigner  and  not  against  his  own  coimtrymen,  was  to 
check  the  local  trade  for  a  time,  but  it  did  not  do  away 
with  it :  the  demand  remained,  new  supplies  came  forward, 
and  the  trade  went  on. 

The  loss  of  prestige  by  the  Imperial  Government  not  only 
inspired  the  smugglers  with  greater  activity  and  less  fear 
of  the  consequences,  but  caused  the  ofiicials  along  the  coast 
to  throw  off  such  modest  feelings  of  restraint  as  they  may 
have  felt  before.  Then,  in  the  decade  1850-1860,  the  spread 
of  the  Taiping  rebellion  over  whole  provinces,  involving 
millions  of  people,  caused  vast  misery,  which  drove  many  to 
the  Chinese  equivalent  of  *'  drink,"  filled  the  pockets  of 
myriads  with  plunder  to  be  spent  in  indulgence,  and  brought 
into  the  field  on  both  sides  armed  forces  whose  chief  occupa- 
tion, then  as  in  later  times,  was  opium  smoking.  The  result 
of  this  laxity  and  this  increase  in  the  demand  was  a  perfect 
carnival  of  smuggling.  Prior  to  Lin's  mission  the  trade, 
though  not  legalised,  was  fully  regulated,  and  it  is  a  misuse 
of  terms  to  apply  the  word  "  smuggling  "  to  what  went  on 
then :  the  foreign  merchant  imported  his  opium  without 
concealment,  but,  during  the  last  twenty  years  of  the  period, 
instead  of  bringing  it  to  his  factory  at  Canton  and  storing 
it  there  or  at  Macao,  he  deposited  it  on  store-ships  at  Lintin ; 
he  sold  it,  gener^y  speaking,  and  obtained  payment  at 
Canton,  all  subsequent  proceedings  being  the  concern  of  the 
purchasers,  Chinese  subjects ;  and  he  delivered  it  on  board 
bis  own  ship,  usually  at  Lintin,  to  a  certain  extent  at  definite 
points  on  the  coast  to  the  east  and  north,  but  always  under 


346     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

official  oversight.  To  a  limited  extent  the  sales  were  not 
effected  at  Canton,  but  at  the  points  of  delivery  on  the 
coast.  After  Lin's  mission  the  trade  was  neither  legalised 
nor  regulated;  even  such  restraint  as  might  come  from 
publicity  was  absent,  since  at  first  the  British  authorities 
refused  to  permit  the  establishment  of  a  depot  in  Hongkong. 
The  result  was  to  drive  the  importers  into  closer  relations 
with  the  officials,  who  were  in  a  position  to  impede  the  traffic 
at  all  places  along  the  coast ;  to  what  extent  they,  and  to 
what  extent  the  purchasers,  made  the  actual  arrangements, 
who  was  the  active  agent  in  perverting  from  their  duty 
the  only  too  willing  representatives  of  the  humiliated 
Emperor,  is  not  known,  because  the  whole  traffic  during 
this  period  is  covered  by  a  veil  of  seciecy  and  mystery. 
From  this  driving  of  the  traffic  away  from  the  light  of  day, 
from  the  increased  activity  of  the  importers  in  suppljong 
an  increased  demand,  from  the  greater  enterprise  of  the 
smugglers,  whether  they  were  foreign  or  Chinese,  and  from 
the  greater  laxity  and  depravity  of  the  officials  of  China — 
from  all  these  causes  came  two  consequences:  from  the 
20,619  chests  of  1838  the  import  of  opium  increased  to 
about  50,000  chests  in  1850,  and  to  85,000  chests  in  i860 ; 
and,  as  opium  smoking  had  debauched  the  Chinese,  the 
opium  traffic  debauched  the  foreign  traders  and  dragged 
them  down  from  their  high  estate. 

It  will  be  well  to  repeat,  in  a  brief  summary,  the  salient 
facts  relating  to  opium.  The  poppy  has  been  known  in 
China  for  at  least  twelve  centuries,  its  medicinal  use  for 
nine  centuries,  and  that  the  medicinal  properties  lay  in  the 
capsule  for  six  centuries.  Opium  has  been  made  in  China 
for  four  centuries.  Tobacco  smoking  was  introduced  through 
the  Spanish  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
and  the  smoking  of  opium  mixed  with  the  tobacco  through 
the  Dutch  in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century ;  there 
is  no  historical  record  to  show  when  opium  was  first  smoked 
by  itself,  but  it  appears  to  have  nearly  coincided  with  the 
prohibition   of   all   opium  importation   in   1800.    Foreign 


OPIUM  347 

opium  was  first  imported  by  the  Portuguese  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  was  first  handled 
by  the  English  in  1773 ;  from  1781  to  1800  it  was  mainly 
in  the  hands  of  the  East  India  Company.  After  that  the 
principal  importers  were  English,  though  there  is  nothing 
to  show  that  traders  of  any  nationality,  who  could  lay  hands 
on  the  drug,  refused  to  deal  in  it ;  it  is  on  record  that  in 
1839,  ^^  *1^^  occasion  of  the  famous  surrender,  one-thirteenth 
of  aJl  the  opiiun  surrendered  was  given  up  by  an  American 
firm,  and  smaller  quantities  came  from  Parsees,  who,  though 
under  British  protection,  would  readily  have  transferred 
their  protectorate  to  others,  had  there  been  sufficient  motive. 
For  the  pandemonium  of  the  period  1840  to  i860  the  Chinese 
must  be  held  primarily  responsible ;  the  Emperor  and  his! 
Commissioner  Lin  attempted  the  impossible  in  applying  to  ( 
foreign  nations  alone  the  restrictions  which  they  could  not  \ 
enforce  on  their  own  subjects,  so  removing  all  regulation  i 
from  a  trade  which  they  would  not  consent  to  legalise  y\ 
and  his  representatives,  the  whole  length  of  the  coast,  acted 
in  every  respect,  except  as  to  turning  their  receipts  into 
the  treasmy,  as  if  the  trade  had  been  legalised.  The  dis- 
turbed state  of  the  coimtry  from  1850  to  i860  weakened 
the  authority  of  the  government,  and  gave  the  officials  an 
excuse  and  an  opportimity  for  their  laxity  which  they  did 
not  need,  but  it  could  not  transfer  the  responsibility  from 
the  Imperial  Government  to  the  shoulders  of  foreign  nations. 

Opium  Trade  Legalised 

The  treaties  made  in  1858  as  the  result  of  the  second  war 
left  the  opium  question  still  tmsettled.  The  treaty  of 
Nanking  of  1842  was  silent  on  the  subject,  leaving  China  to 
enact  and  enforce  her  own  stmtiptuary  and  prohibitive  laws, 
and  to  adopt  her  own  preventive  measures.  The  same 
sflence  was  observed  in  the  four  treaties  of  Tientsin  of  1858, 
in  the  British  and  French  treaties  imposed  on  China  as  the 
result  of  the  war,  and  in  the  identical  and  simultaneous 


348     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

American  and  Russian  treaties  which  must  be  considered 
to  be  also  the  direct  result  of  that  war.  But  (to  quote  the 
premier  treaty)  Article  XXVI.  of  the  British  treaty  pro- 
vided for  the  appointment  of  a  Conmussion  to  revise  the 
Customs  tarifi ;  and  when,  in  November  1858,  the  Com- 
mission agreed  on  the  tariff,  opium  was  quietly  inserted  in 
it  at  a  duty  of  Tls.30  per  picul.  Opium  was  included  with 
the  full  consent  of  the  Chinese  negotiators  ;  of  this  there  is 
no  doubt,  ior  we  have  the  testimony  of  Sir  Thomas  Wade 
and  Mr.  Laurence  Oliphant,  who  were  the  representatives 
of  the  British  Envoy  on  the  Commission.  That  so  binning 
a  question  as  the  opium  trade  should  not  be  mentioned  in 
those  unofficial  colloquies  which  accompany  all  negotiations 
was  impossible ;  and  that  the  wisdom  of  legalisation  cum 
regulation  was  fully  explained  to  the  Chinese  negotiators 
as  a  measure  of  political  economy  is  made  known  to  us  by 
Oliphant.  The  first  suggestion  that  the  matter  should  be 
taken  into  consideration  was  made  by  the  American  Minister, 
Mr.  William  B.  Reed,  who  came  out  to  China  with  a  strong 
bias  against  the  opiirni  trade,  and  with  instructions  from 
his  government  conceived  in  the  same  spirit,  but  who  never- 
theless became  an  advocate  of  the  legalisation  of  the  trade, 
from  witnessing  the  abuses  to  which  its  contraband  char- 
acter gave  rise.*  With  this  changed  view  he  wrote  to  Lord 
Elgin  as  follows : 

"  I  have  more  than  once  understood  your  Excel- 
lency to  say  that  you  had  a  strong,  if  not  invincible, 
repugnance,  involved  as  Great  Britain  already  was  in 
hostilities  at  Canton,  and  having  been  compelled  in 
the  north  to  resort  to  the  influence  of  ttureatened 
coercion,  to  introduce  the  subject  of  opium  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  Chinese  authorities.  Yet  I  am  con- 
fident, unless  the  initiative  is  taken  by  your  Excellency, 
things  must  continue  as  they  are,  with  all  their  shame ; 
and  I  appeal  to  your  Excellency's  high  sense  of  duty, 

•  "  Narrative  of  the  E^l  of  Elgin's  Mission  to  China  and  Japan/' 
i860.  Vol.  II.,  chap.  ziii. 


OPIUM  349 

so  often  and  so  strongly  expressed  to  this  helpless 
though  perverse  people,  whether  we,  the  representa- 
tives of  Western  and  Christian  nations,  ought  to 
consider  oin:  work  done  without  some  attempt  HS 
induce  or  compel  an  adjustment  of  the  pernicious 
difficulty.  In  such  an  attempt  I  shall  cordially 
unite." 
After  alluding  to  the  possibility  of  putting  a  stop  to 
the  growth  of  opium  in  India,  Mr.  Reed  goes  on  to  say : 

"  Of  effective  prohibition,  and  this  mainly  through 
the  inveterate  appetite  of  the  Chinese,   I  am  not 
sanguine ;    and  I  therefore  more  confidently,  though 
not   more    earnestly,   call   your  Excellency's  atten- 
tion to  the  only  other  course  open  to  us — attelhpt  to 
persuade  the  Chinese  to  put  such  high  duties  on  the 
drug  as  will  restrain  the  supply,  regulate  the  import, 
and  yet  not  stimulate  some  other  form  of  smuggling, 
with  or  without  the  connivance  of  thfe  Chinese.    The 
economical  arguments  in  favour  of  this  course  are  so 
fully  stated  in  the  accompanying  paper  that  I  need 
not  allude  to  them  further." 
It  was  therefore  decided  that   the  matter  should  be 
brought  to  the  notice  of  the  Chinese  Commissioners,  who, 
however,  required  no  long  persuasion ;    they  were  fully 
awake  to  the  evils  of  what  had  become  unrestricted  trade 
in  the  drug,  and  their  government  needed  the  revenue  which 
had  for  so  long  a  time  gone  into  the  pockets  of  its  servants. 
After  approval  by  the  French  and  American  Envoys,  the 
tariff  was  agreed  to,  including  opium.    At  the  same  time 
it  was  recognised  that  opium  was  eminently  an  article  of 
import  which  must  be  left  to  the  unfettered  discretion  of 
the  Chinese  government  to  deal  with  ;   and  the  fifth  of  the 
Rules  of  Trade  appended  to  the  tariff  reads  as  follows : 

"  The  restrictions  affecting  trade  in  Opium,  Cash, 
Grain,    Pulse,    Sulphur,    Brimstone,    Saltpetre,    and 
Spelter,  are  relaxed,  under  the  following  conditions : 
"  I.  Opium  will  henceforth  pay  thirty  taels  per 


350     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

picul  Import  Duty.    The  importer  will  sell  it  only  at 

the  port.    It  will  be  carried  into  the  interior  by  Chinese 

only,  and  only  as  Chinese  property;    the  Foreign 

trader  wiU  not  be  allowed  to  accompany  it.    The 

provisions  of  Article  IX.  of  the  Treaty  of  Tientsin,  by 

which  British  subjects  are  authorised  to  proceed  into 

the  interior  with  Passports  to  trade,  will  not  extend 

to  it,  nor  will  those  of  Article  XXVIII.  of  the  same 

Treaty,  by  which  the  Transit  Dues  are  regulated. 

The  Transit  Dues  on  it  will  be  arranged  as  the  Chinese 

Government  see  fit ;    nor  in  future  revisions  of  the 

Tariff  is  the  same  rule  of  revision  to  be  applied  to 

Opium  as  to  other  goods." 

The  next  step  in  the  history  of  opium  is  found  in  the 

Chefoo  Agreement  of  1876,  by  which  the  British  government 

accepted  in  principle  a  proposal  that  inland  taxation  (lil^in) 

on  the  drug  shoidd  be  collected  simultaneously  with  the 

import  duty,  i.e.  by  the  Imperial  and  not  by  the  provincial 

authorities.    This  was  made  effective  by  an  Additional 

Article  signed  on  July  18,  1885,  by  which  the  amount  of 

likin  was  settled  at  Tls.8o  per  picul,  making,  with  the 

import  duty,  a  total  of  Tls.iio  per  picul  which  the  Chinese 

government  is  entitled  to  collect ;  and  the  establishment 

in  1887  of  the  Kowloon  and  Lappa  Customs,  to  control  the 

junk  traffic  with  Hongkong  and  Macao,  operated  further 

to  the  benefit  of  the  Imperial  exchequer  by  the  restraint 

thereby  imposed  on  smuggling. 

The  only  restriction  imposed  by  China  on  the  opium 
trade  and  accepted"  by  a  foreign  Power,  other  than  the 
inclusion  of  opium  as  *'  contraband  "  in  the  tariff  annexed 
to  the  American  treaty  of  1844,  is  contained  in  the  Supple- 
mental Treaty  of  1880  between  the  United  States  and  China, 
of  which  Article  II.  is  as  follows  : 

*'  The  Governments  of  China  and  of  the  United 
States  mutually  agree  and  undertake  that  Chinese  sub- 
jects shall  not  be  permitted  to  import  opium  into  any 
of  the  ports  of  the  United  States ;  and  citizens  of  the 


OPIUM 


351 


United  States  shall  not  be  permitted  to  import  opium 
into  any  of  the  open  ports  of  China,  to  transport  it 
from  one  open  port  to  any  other  open  port,  or  to  buy 
and  sell  opium  in  any  of  the  open  ports  of  China.  This 
absolute  prohibition,  which  extends  to  vessels  owned 
by  the  citizens  or  subjects  of  either  Power,  to  foreign 
vessels  emplo3red  by  them,  or  to  vessels  owned  by 
the  citizens  or  subjects  of  either  Power,  and  employed 
by  other  persons  for  the  transportation  of  opium, 
shall  be  enforced  by  appropriate  legislation  on  the 
part  of  China  and  the  United  States ;  and  the  benefits 
of  the  favoured  nation  clause  in  existing  Treaties  shall 
not  be  claimed  by  the  citizens  or  subjects  of  either 
Power  as  against  the  provisions  of  this  Artide/' 


X863. 

2867. 

i«79. 

x888. 

1897. 

X905. 

19x1. 

Pfeuls. 

PIcuU. 

Pteols. 

Plcub. 

Picuto. 

PIculs. 

Piculs. 

Manchuria 

— . 

2.585 

2.453 

"3 

28 

25 

— 

Chihli  . . 

3.708 

7.898 

5,181 

1.555 

918 

225 

— 

Shantung 

873 

2,735 

3.536 

318 

320 

440 

205 

Hunan 
Hupeh 

J" 

I.4I2 

4.242 

3.294 

1. 163 

519 

/     240 
\    322 

99 
71 

Kiangsi 

1.993 

2,202 

2.153 

3.077 

2.483 

I.7I5 

1. 491 

Anhwei 
Kiangsu 

J" 

22,389 

16,788 

/  3.I4I 
128,199 

3.400 
22,182 

1.557 
17.676 

1.626 
18,077 

1.228 
11.812 

Chekiang 

2,679 

5.047 

7.728 

6,274 

4.873 

4.041 

441 

Fukkn 

9.821 

9.238 

8,903 

13.039 

7.877 

6,600 

4,280 

Formosa 

— 

2.586 

5.552 

4.646 

— 

— 

Kwangsi      \ 
Kwangtungj  ' ' 

7,212 

7.627 

12,787 

26,845 

13.058 

/           22 
I18.587 

94 
8.037 

Other  channels* 

20,000 

20,000 

20,000 

5,000 

5.000 

5,000 

3,000 

Total 

} 

50,087 

60,948 

82,927 

82,612 

49.309 

51.920 

27.758 

70,087 

80,948 

102,927 

87,612 

54.309 

56.920 

30,758 

*  Other  channels,  i,e.  by  junk,  either  legitimately,  but  not 
reporting  to  the  Imperial  Maritime  Customs,  or  smuggled.  In 
1905  a  quantity  unreported  was  introduced  through  Kwangchow- 
wan,  estimated  not  to  exceed  2,000  picub.  Of  the  official  import 
into  Kwangtung,  the  Canton  delta  ports  in  1905  took  13,207  piculs. 
8.150  piculs  in  1897,  ^^^  ^7 '77^  piculs  in  1888  ;  before  the  opening 
of  the  Kowloon  and  Lappa  Customs,  in  1879  they  took  only  1,194 
piculs,  in  1867  only  2,111  piculs,  and  in  1863  only  3,469  picub 
officiaUy  reported. 


352     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

The  only  commentaxy  on  this  agreement  is  found  in  the 
fact  that  when,  in  1884-1885,  temporarily  and  for  reasons 
over  which  the  American  government  had  little  or  no 
control,  the  American  flag  reappeared  on  the  coast  and 
engaged  in  the  carrying  trade  no  attempt  was  made  to 
enforce  the  restriction.  A  subsequent  Act  of  Congress, 
approved  February  23rd,  1887,  sup^died  the  legislation 
necessary  to  make  the  restriction  effective. 

The  course  of  the  trade  in  foreign  opium  since  the 
legalisation  is  shown  in  the  table  on  preceding  page.  In  1863 
Tientsin  and  Chefoo  had  been  opened  in  the  north,  and 
Hankow,  Kiukiang  and  Chinkiang  on  the  Yangtze.  In 
1879  *he  recorded  import,  82,927  piculs,  reached  its  maxi- 
mum. The  opening  of  the  Kowloon  and  Lappa  Customs 
in  1887  may  be  assumed  to  have  reduced  smuggling  in  junk 
by  between  10,000  and  15,000  piculs. 

The  table  on  next  page  shows  the  proportion  of  each  kind 
of  foreign  opium  imported  during  the  past  fifty  years, 
viz.  Bengal  (Patna  and  Benares),  the  production  of  the 
Opium  R6gie  of  the  government  of  India;  Malwa,  the 
free  trade  product  of  the  states  of  Central  India,  feudatory 
to  the  British  government  but  otherwise  self-governing; 
and  Persian  (formerly  also  called  Turkey),  the  product  of 
Persia.  In  comparing  the  figures  it  must,  however,  be 
borne  in  mind  that  the  province  of  Kwangtung  ordinarily 
prefers  Bengal  opium  to  the  extent  of  fully  three-fourtlis 
of  the  foreign  drug  consumed,  and  that  prior  to  1887  much 
of  the  supply  for  that  province  passed  through  channels 
which  did  not  lead  to  its  inclusion  in  the  figures  given 
in  the  table  shown  on  next  page. 

Native  Opium 

Opium  was  produced  in  China  before  the  vice  of  smoking 
was  introduced,  and,  in  China  as  elsewhere,  was  valued  for 
its  medicinal  properties.  There  is  no  evidence  to  show 
that,  otherwise  than  medicinally,  the  Chkiese  ever  took 


OPIUM 


353 


1863 
1867 
1873 
1879 
1883 
1888 
1893 
1897 
1901 
1905 
191 1 


^^^^  {g^S2 


Picnls. 
15.120 
26,297 
24,300 
37.952 
27.504 
45.040 
32,416 
26,816 
27,250 

34.195 
17.182 


28,552 

47-8 


Xjxwa. 


Flcuto. 

34.967 
34.006 
40,910 
39.509 
34.632 
33.127 
28.694 
19.635 
21.799 
16,034 

9.338 


28.423 
476 


FxBSUxr. 


Flcuto. 

645 

587 

5.466 

6,032 

4.445 
6.998 
2,858« 

435 
1.691 
1.238 


2.764 
4-6 


Total. 


Ficuls. 

50,087 

60.948 

65.797 
82,927 
68.168 
82.612 
68.108 
49,309 
49.484 
51,920 

27.758 


59.739 

zoo-o 


opium  in  the  shape  of  pills,  as  was  for  centuries  the  practice 
in  Central  and  Western  Asia  ;  and  the  evidence  is  all  against 
the  supposition  that  the  Chinese  smoked  the  drug  because 
they  already  produced  it.  Smoking  came  in  independently, 
and  fed  on  foreign  or  native  supplies  indifferently,  as  evi- 
denced by  the  fact  that,  at  the  date  of  the  first  Imperial 
prohibition  of  the  evil  in  1729,  the  importation  of  foreign 
opium  was  only  200  chests  a  year,  and  forty  years  later  did 
not  exceed  1,000  chests.  But,  while  it  cannot  be  said  that 
an  already  existing  production  of  native  opium  created  the 
evil  of  smoking,  neither  is  it  wholly  true  that  the  evil  was 
created  by  the  introduction  of  foreign  opium.  The  vice 
came  because  opium  existed  in  the  world ;  had  there  been 
no  native  production,  the  foreign  drug  would  have  supplied 
its  food ;  had  there  been  no  foreign  importation,  the  native 
supidy  would  have  sufficed,  or  would  have  become  sufficient 
for  aU  requirements,  even  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  a  craving 
which  has  extended  to  every  comer  and  to  all  classes  in 
the  Empire.  It  would  therefore  be  a  task  leading  to  no 
useful  result,  to  search  for  statistics  to  determine  if  the 

*  Formosa,  the  chief  consumer  of  Persian  opium,  passed  under 
the  Japanese  flag  in  1895. 

*3 


354     ^^^  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

native  production  exceeded  the  foreign  importation  in 
1729 — we  know  it  did ;  or  if  it  exceeded  the  foreign  supply 
of  1800 — it  very  probably,  almost  certainly  did.  Coming 
down  to  the  nineteenth  century,  during  its  fourth  decade, 
when  the  great  question — to  legalise  the  foreign  trade  or 
stamp  it  out — was  under  consideration,  the  native  pro- 
duction was  referred  to  in  several  memorials  presented 
to  the  Throne.  In  1830  it  was  stated  that  *'  the  poppy  is 
cultivated  over  one-half  of  Chekiang,"  a  rhetorical  exaggera- 
tion. In  1836  a  memorial  of  Hu  Nai-tsi  proposed  to  legalise 
the  traffic  on  various  economic  grounds,  and,  incidentally, 
because  of  the  already  great  native  production.  This  was 
opposed  in  a  memorial  of  Chu  Tsun,  who  was  convinced  of 
the  evils  of  smoking,  and  based  his  objections  largely  on 
the  amount  of  the  home  production,  instancing  that  in  his 
native  province  of  Yunnan  the  annual  production  was  many 
thousand  piculs.  The  habit  of  smoking  opium  had  been 
known  in  China  for  at  least  a  century  and  a  half,  and  it  is 
probable  that  it  had  extended  to  the  inland  provinces ; 
while  it  is  improbable  that  the  15,000  to  20,000  chests, 
which  constituted  the  foreign  supply,  penetrated  far  from 
the  coast,  and  it  is  not  probable  that  they  supplied  much 
more  than  the  provinces  of  Kwangtung,  Fukien  (including 
Formosa),  and  possibly  Chekiang ;  it  seems  probable  that 
the  foreign  drug  reached  along  the  coast  beyond  the  mouth 
of  the  Yangtze  only  after  1840.  This  is  supposition,  which 
is  alien  to  the  purpose  of  this  chapter ;  but  it  finds  some 
support  in  the  fact  *  that  at  Hankow,  prior  to  the  opening 
of  the  port  in  1861,  foreign  opium  was  practically  unknown, 
a  few  piculs  only  being  introduced  to  satisfy  Cantonese 
palates ;  that  prior  to  1859  Hankow  was  supidied  with 
opium  from  Shansi,  but  that  these  supplies  were  cut  off  by 
disturbances  in  that  province,  and  in  i860  Hankow  drew 
its  supplies,  to  the  extent  of  2,000  piculs,  from  Szechwan 
and  Hunan. 

Statistics  are  unknown  in  China,   the  only  statistics 
♦  "  Native  Opium,  1863."    Shanghai.  1864. 


OPIUM  355 

obtainaUe  being  those  of  the  trade  carried  on  under  the 
cognisance  of  the  Inspectorate  General  of  Customs.  Statis- 
tics relating  to  opium  are  especially  unobtainable,  since  a 
conmiodity  having  so  high  a  value  in  small  bulk,  and  so 
heavily  taxed,  does  not  in  general  follow  the  ordinary  trade 
routes,  on  which  taxing  stations  are  numerous,  but  is 
carried  by  armed  bands  over  unfrequented  mountain  roads* 
on  which  the  taxing  stations  are  few  and  so  poorly  equipped, 
as  to  yield  readily  to  superior  force,  and  accept  a  com^. 
position  for  taxes  much  lower  than  the  o£Gicial  rate.  All 
this  leads  to  concealment  on  both  sides,  and,  in  estimating 
the  present  production  of  opium  in  China,  inquirers  have 
been  driven  to  base  their  investigations  on  the  observations 
of  travellers  and  the  opinions  of  people  interested  to  discover 
the  truth.  The  results  of  the  investigations  of  many 
inquirers  are  given  below  for  each  province,  divided  into 
Coast  Provinces,  in  which  the  original  demand  was  chiefly 
met  by  supplies  of  foreign  drug  (the  northern  only  since 
i860) ;  Yangtze  Provinces,  accessible  to  the  foreign  drug 
only  since  i860 ;  and  Inland  Provinces,  which  have  never* 
to  any  known  extent,  been  supplied  with  foreign  opium. 
The  figures  and  statements  in  the  present  tense  are  to  be 
taken  as  referring  to  1906. 

Coast  Provinces 

Kwangtung  produces  little  opium.  At  Canton  in  1863 
it  was  estimated  that  1,500  piculs  of  native  opium  found 
a  market,  of  which  800  came  from  Yunnan,  400  from 
Kweichow,  200  from  Szechwan,  and  100  were  the  product 
of  Kwangtung,  coming  from  the  mountains  of  the  northern 
part.  There  has  been  no  great  increase  of  poppy  cultivatioD, 
and  the  production  of  opium  in  the  province  to-day  probably 
does  not  exceed  500  piculs. 

Fukien :  opium  is  produced  chiefly  in  the  Tungan  dis- 
trict, of  which  the  output  was  estimated  in  1863  at  500 
piculs,  and  in  1879  at  1,000  piculs.  The  lowest  •  estimate 
tot  the  whole  province  to-day  is  2^000  piculs. 


356    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

Chekiang  produces  a  considerable  quantity,  especially 
in  the  Wenchow  and  Chuchow  prefectures,  the  production 
being  estimated  at  10,000  to  16,000  piculs  in  1879,  and  at 
4,500  piculs  in  1887.  It  will  be  safe  to  put  the  output 
to-day  at  5,000  piculs. 

Kiangsu,  in  1879,  ^^  estimated  to  produce  2,500  piculs 
of  opium.  There  has  recently  been  increased  production 
in  the  Hsiichow  prefecture  in  the  north-western  comer  of 
the  province,  and  the  output  of  Kiangsu  to-day  cannot  be 
less  than  5,000  piculs. 

Shantung  imported  3,536  piculs  of  foreign  opium  in  1879 1 
in  1888  this  had  fallen  to  318  piculs,  which  is  now  the  aver« 
age  amount.  In  1887  it  was  estimated  that  the  annual  con- 
sumption of  native  opium  was  8,000  piculs,  mostly  Shantung 
product.  The  production  of  the  province  to-day  must  be 
at  least  10,000  piculs. 

Chihli  imported  7,898  piculs  of  foreign  opium  in  1867, 
and  5,181  piculs  in  1879 ;  in  1905  this  fell  to  225  piculs. 
Native  opium  was  reported  as  coming  from  Shansi  in  1863 
in  considerable  quantities ;  in  1879  the  production  of 
Chihli  was  estimated  at  3,000  piculs,  and  in  1887  it  was 
reported  to  be  "very  large/'  Within  forty  years  7,500 
piculs  of  foreign  opium  have  been  entirely  displaced  by  native 
opium,  and,  allowing  for  increase  in  the  population  and 
extension  of  the  habit,  the  consumption  of  the  latter  is  now 
from  15,000  to  20,000  piculs.  Some  comes  from  Manchuria 
and  some  from  Shansi,  and  the  production  of  Chihli  is 
probably  10,000  and  certainly  5,000  piculs. 

Manchuria  has  probably  taken  up  the  production  of 
opium  within  fifty  years  past.  Foreign  opium  was  imported 
to  the  extent  of  2,585  piculs  in  1867,  and  2,453  piculs  in 
1879 ;  in  1888  the  import  was  113  piculs,  and  in  1905  was 
only  25  piculs.  Native  opium  in  1863  came  chiefly  from 
Shansi,  and  it  is  on  record  that  in  that  year  200  piculs 
were  introduced  into  the  city  of  Moukden.  In  1879  the 
production  of  Manchuria  was  estimated  at  3,000  piculs, 
and  in  1887  at  8,000  piculs,  and  the  quality  was  reported 


OPIUM  357 

to  be  equal  if  not  superior  to  that  of  foreign  opium.  The 
population  has  been  greatly  increased  by  immigration  in 
the  past  thirty  years,  and,  apart  from  the  temporary  effects 
of  war,  the  output  to-day  may  be  estimated  at  15,000 
piculs. 

For  the  Coast  Provinces  the  annual  production,  estimated 
on  a  conservative  basis,  is  42,500  piculs. 

Yangtze   Provinces 

Hunan  opitmi  was  known  at  Hankow  in  1863  and 
before,  and  in  1879  ^^^  production  was  estimated  at  1,000 
piculs.  Hunanese  have  filled  the  armies  of  China  for  fifty 
years,  and  returned  soldiers  have  brought  back  the  habit 
of  heavy  smoking.  But  little  foreign  opium  is  imported 
(240  piculs  in  1905),  and  the  production  of  opium  in  Hunan 
to-day  is  probably  at  least  3,000  piculs. 

Hupeh  consumed  no  foreign  opium  prior  to  1861,  and 
imported  4,242  piculs  in  1867,  and  (including  Hunan)  562 
piculs  in  1905.  Native  opium  is,  and  has  always  been, 
introduced  from  other  provinces,  but  there  has  also  been 
a  home  production,  estimated  in  1879  at  2,000  to  3,000 
piculs,  and  in  1887  at  3,000  :  the  output  to-day  is  probably 
4,000  piculs. 

Kiangsi  maintains  its  consumption  of  foreign  opium 
of  forty  and  thirty  years  ago.  In  1863  the  local  production 
was  estimated  at  200  piculs ;  there  has  been  no  great 
increase  in  poppy  growing,  and  to-day  the  output  probably 
does  not  exceed  500  piculs. 

Anhwei  imports  to-day  of  foreign  opium  but  half  the 
import  of  1879  and  1888.  In  1887  the  local  production 
was  estimated  at  2,000  piculs,  and  to-day  it  is  probably 
over  3,000  piculs. 

For  the  Yangtze  Provinces,  accessible  since  1861  by 
steamer,  the  annual  production  may  be  put  at  10,500 
piculs. 


yfi    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINtSTRATION  OP  CHINA 
IlOAND  PBOVIKCES 

HofiSH  opinm  was  known  at  Shanehai  in  1863 ;  in  1879 
the  production  was  estimated  at  3,500  to  5,000  pknds,  and 
in  18S7  at  5,000  picnls:  the  output  to-day  is  probably 
fofly  5,000  picnls. 

Shansi  formeriy  siqyplied  a  large  area  witfa  opium, 
from  Hankow  in  the  west  and  Shanghai  in  the  east  to 
Manchuria  in  the  north.  In  1879  the  production  was 
estimated  at  4,000  piculs,  and  it  will  be  safe  to  put  it  to-day 
at  5,000  picds. 

ShMsi,  as  we  know,  cultivated  the  poppy  in  the  eighth 
century ;  and,  as  the  practice  of  scoring  the  capsule  to  ob- 
tain opium  was  introduced  through  the  adjoining  province, 
Kansu,  it  may  be  assumed  that  Shensi  was  one  of  the  first 
provinces  to  produce  opium,  and  stood  ready  to  supply 
the  demand  when  it  arose.  In  1872  Baron  von  Richthofen 
records  that  ''  in  some  portions  of  the  cotmtry  it  (the 
poppy)  formed  the  most  conspicuous  winter  crop."  In 
Z879  it  was  estimated  at  Hankow,  to  which  some  part  of 
the  product  was  sent,  that  the  annual  output  was  5,000 
piculs ;  and  it  would  not  be  safe  to  put  the  output  to-day 
at  less  than  10,000  piculs. 

Kansu,  according  to  Richthofen,  "  does  not  consume 
all  the  opium  it  produces,  but  exports  considerable  quantities 
both  east  and  west,  and  imports  none."  With  a  population, 
largely  Mohammedan,  estimated  at  the  lowest  at  8,000,000, 
the  production  of  opium  must  be  over  5,000  piculs. 

Szechwan  must  have  early  acquired  the  art  of  opium 
manufacture,  bounded  as  it  is  to  the  north  by  Kansu  and 
to  the  south  by  Yunnan,  both  centres  of  Mohammedan 
influence  from  early  times  to  the  present  day ;  and,  when 
the  practice  of  smoking  the  drug  was  introduced,  it  must 
have  spread  at  once  to  the  inhabitants  of  this  mist-covered 
province,  steamy  in  summer  and  chilly  in  winter.  The 
universal  testimony  of  travellers  is  that  the  people  are, 
in  general,  heavy  smokers,  the  consumption  per  capita 


OPIUM  359 

being  confidently  stated  to  be  three  times  that  of  the  coast 
provinces.  No  foreign  opium  has  ever  been  imported,  and 
the  poppy,  cultivated  certainly  as  early  as  the  ninth  century, 
is  to-day  grown  everywhere;  Mr.  E.  C.  Baber  (1878) 
sajrs :  "  We  were  astoimded  at  the  extent  of  the  poppy 
cultivation  in  Szechwan  and  Yunnan."  Baron  von 
Richthofen  (1872)  expresses  the  same  astonishment,  and 
estimates  the  production  of  opium  at  a  minimimi  of  60,000 
piculs  and  a  probable  output  of  100,000  piculs.  In  1904 
the  quantity  passing  by  the  river  route  to  the  east  through 
Ichang  was  36,856  piculs,  and  in  1905  it  was  36,311  piculs. 
Of  this  quantity  11,011  piculs  were  imported  and  11,025 
piculs  re-exported  by  steamer  at  Hankow  in  1904,  and 
2,736  piculs  imported  and  2,492  piculs  re-exported  in  1905, 
the  remainder  of  the  Ichang  transit  going  in  the  same  way 
by  junk  ;  this  furnishes  an  apt  illustration  of  the  well-known 
fact  that  opium  in  China  comes  into  the  light  of  day  only 
when  there  is  some  obvious  fiscal  advantage  to  gain.  In 
addition  to  the  river  route  there  are  three  main  land  routes, 
besides  many  unfrequented  motmtain  roads,  by  which  opium 
is  carried  to  the  east ;  and  the  total  export  from  the  province 
eastward  must  be  well  over  50,000  piculs,  and  is  possibly 
upwards  of  100,000  piculs.  The  recognised  authority  for 
Szechwan  to-day  is  Sir  Alexander  Hosie.  In  his  consular 
report  for  1903  (presented  to  both  Houses  of  Parliament, 
October  1904,  Cd.  2247),  he  records  the  fact  that "  in  the  pro- 
vincial capital,  Chengtu,  there  is  one  opium-smoking  saloon 
to  every  67  of  a  population  of  500,000  ;  these  saloons  are  open 
to  men  only,  and  women  have  to  smoke  in  their  own  homes." 
As  the  result  of  a  careful  detailed  calculation  he  states  that 
the  consumption  of  Szechwan-grown  opium  by  the  in- 
habitants of  Szechwan  is  182,500  piculs.  If  to  this  be  added 
the  probable  export  eastward  from  the  province,  we  have 
a  probable  production  of  not  less  than  250,000  piculs. 

Yunnan  has  long  produced  opium,  the  production  in 
1836  being  stated  to  be  "  many  thousand  piculs."  Baber 
(1878)  says :    "  We  were  astounded  at  the  extent  of  the 


^Go^THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

poppy  cultivation  in  Szechwan  and  Yunnan.  .  .  .  With 
a  consciousness  that  I  am  underestimating,  I  estimate 
that  the  poppy  fields  constitute  a  third  of  the  whole  culti- 
vation of  Yunnan."  The  province  has  to-day  but  two 
articles  of  importance  with  which  to  pay  for  extra-provincial 
products  consumed — ^viz.  opium  and  tin.  The  latter  comes 
from  one  spot  twenty  miles  from  Mengtsz,  and  the  value 
of  the  output  in  1904  was  Tls.3,200,000.  Opium  comes 
from  all  parts  of  the  province  and  goes  in  all  directions, 
that  portion  shipped  for  the  use  of  the  Opium  R6gie  in 
Tonkin  in  1904  amounting  to  2,958  piculs,  the  quantity 
going  by  land  into  China  being  very  much  greater.  Yunnan 
opium  was  known  at  Canton  and  at  Chinkiang  in  1863  ; 
in  1879  the  production  was  variously  estimated  from  12,000 
to  22,000  piculs  ;  in  1887  it  was  estimated  at  27,000  piculs. 
A  low  estimate  of  the  production  to-day  is  30,000  piculs. 

Kweichow  opium  was  known  at  Canton  in  1863.  In 
1879  the  estimates  range  from  10,000  to  15,500  piculs ; 
in  1887  one  authority  estimates  it  at  9,000  piculs,  and 
another  states  "  total  production  nearly  as  much  as 
Yunnan."  A  safe  estimate  of  the  production  to-day  must 
be  fully  15,000  piculs. 

Kwangsi  imports  practically  no  foreign  opium  (22  piculs 
entered  at  Wuchow  in  1905),  and  is  a  thoroughfare  for 
Szechwan,  Yunnan,  and  Kweichow  opimn  for  its  own  con* 
sumption,  and  in  transit  to  Kwangtung.  The  poppy  is  also 
cultivated  in  the  province,  but  to  what  extent  is  little 
known.  The  production  of  opium  was  estimated  in  1879 
at  3,000  piculs,  and  may  be  put  at  the  same  figure  to-day. 

For  the  Inland  Provinces,  not  accessible  at  any  time, 
except  Honan,  to  the  invasion  of  foreign  opium,  the  annual 
production  may  be  put  at  323,000  piculs,  making  for  the 
whole  of  China  a  total  of  376,000  piculs. 

It  cannot  be  asserted  that  this  figure  is  measurably 
exact ;  but  it  may  be  safely  asserted  that  the  production 
of  opium  in  China  to-day  ♦  is,  at  the  lowest,  six-fold,  and 

•  In  1906, 


OPIUM 


361 


is  more  probaUy  eight-fold,  the  quantity  of  the  present 
import  of  foreign  opium. 


Morphia 

For  one  vice,  both  for  its  introduction  and  its  main- 
tenance, foreigners  must  be  held  responsible.  How  or 
when  the  practice  of  injecting  morphia  was  first  introduced, 
except  in  hospitals,  is  not  known ;  it  has  been  suggested 
that  it  arose  from  the  well-meant  administration  of  anti- 
opium  pills  containing  the  alkaloid,  intended  to  satisfy  the 
craving  without  the  knowledge  of  the  druggard  that  opiiun 
was  administered  in  any  form.  However  or  whenever 
first  started,  hypodermic  injections  have  taken  hold,  and 
the  attention  of  the  Chinese  government  has  been  drawn 
to  the  necessity  of  checking  the  evil.  The  first  record  of 
importation  is  in  1892 :  since  that  date  the  quantities  im- 
ported have  been  as  follows : 


Ounces. 

Ounces. 

1892 

. .   15,761 

1898 

92.159 

1893 

.   27,993 

1899   . 

•   154.705 

1894 

•   43,414 

1900 

.   114.768 

1895 

.   64,043 

1901 

.   138.567 

1896 

.   67,320 

1902 

•   195.133 

1897 

81,716 

Up  to  April  1903  duty  had  been  levied  on  import  at  the 
rate  of  5  per  cent,  ad  valorem,  representing  a  tax  of  about 
Tl.o'o8  per  ounce ;  then  a  prohibitory  tax  of  Tls.s'oo 
per  ounce,  about  200  per  cent,  ad  valorem,  was  imposed, 
and  the  imports  declared  to  the  Customs  fell  off  as  follows : 

Ounces. 

1903  106,148 

1904  128 

X905  54 

19W  .•         .^         *^         -.         •.  501 


362     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

An  ounce  of  morphia  will  give  from  one  to  two  thousand 
injections,  according  as  they  are  for  the  requirements  of 
druggards  or  the  ordinary  dose.  The  falling  off  in  the  later 
years  given  above  is  explained,  not  by  a  diminished  demand, 
but  by  smuggling. 

Opium  Reform 

During  the  past  two  centuries  attempts  have  been  made 
from  time  to  time  by  the  Chinese  to  check  the  evils  resulting 
from  the  abuse  of  opium.  In  1729  severe  penalties  were 
ordained  against  smoking  opium  or  selling  it  by  retail  for 
that  purpose.  In  1796  this  restriction  was  made  more 
stringent  and  heavier  penalties  were  imposed ;  and  in  1800 
an  edict  was  issued  prohibiting  absolutely  the  importation 
of  foreign  opiimi  and  the  cultivation  of  the  poppy  in  China. 
All  these  prohibitions  were  nugatory,  owing  to  the  direct 
connivance  of  the  mandarins,  who  were  interested  in  the 
revenue  derived  from  a  trade  which  had  been  declared  to 
be  illicit ;  but  in  1838  the  Emperor,  supported  by  a  few 
high-minded  officials,  initiated  an  active  crusade  against 
the  evil.  This  fafled ;  partly  because  the  Emperor's  agent, 
Lin  Tse-sii,  tried  to  ride  rough-shod  over  all  obstacles  and 
came  into  collision  with  foreign  interests  having  no  con- 
nection with  opium  and  held  to  be  of  greater  importance 
than  the  upholding  of  China's  sumptuary  laws ;  partly 
because  its  success  was  rendered  impossible  through  the 
active  connivance  of  every  Chinese  official  who  came  into 
touch  with  the  traffic.  Other  efforts,  which  did  not  get 
beyond  the  issuing  of  an  edict,  were  made  in  1851  and  1862  ; 
and  in  1881  a  tentative  movement  to  that  end  was  made  by 
Li  Hung-chang,  who  failed  in  showing  that  China  would 
be  able  to  check  in  any  way  the  home  production  of  the  drug. 

After  1900  public  opinion  in  China  was  better  informed. 
Education  had  impressed  upon  the  minds  of  many  Chinese 
a  feeling  that  in  matters  in  which  China  differed  from  the 
West  she  might  be  considered  to  occupy  a  position  of 
inferiority,  and  this  feeling  made  them  sensitive  to  criti- 


OPIUM  363 

cism  or  the  suspicion  of  a  sneering  attitude.  The  govern- 
ment also  reached  a  point  on  the  path  of  reform  so  far 
advanced  that  it  could  again  take  up  social  reforms,  and 
this  time  with  a  fair  prospect  of  support  from  below,  which 
had  been  denied  to  it  on  previous  occasions.  Foreign 
nations  too  had  so  far  advanced  in  the  development  of 
public  morality  that  it  seemed  probable  that  they  were 
ready  to  abandon  the  laissez-faire  policy  of  the  nineteenth 
century — ^the  attitude  of  "  mind  your  business,  and  we'll 
mind  ours."  The  impulse  to  reform  was  strong  and  the 
time  propitious  ;  and  on  November  21st,  1906,  an  Imperial 
edict  was  issued,  providing  that  within  ten  years  all  land 
then  planted  in  poppy  should  by  instalments  be  with- 
drawn from  its  cultivation ;  that  all  smokers  must  take 
out  a  license,  those  under  sixty  years  of  age  gradually 
reducing  their  consumption ;  that  restrictions  should  be 
placed  on  the  sale  of  opium  appliances  and  the  extension  of 
smoking  divans ;  that  smoking  be  absolutely  prohibited 
to  all  in  the  government  service ;  and  that  steps  be  taken 
for  the  gradual  reduction  of  the  import  of  foreign  opium, 
and  for  its  absolute  cessation  within  ten  years. 

The  coimtries  chiefly  concerned  in  the  production  were 
India  and  Persia.  The  latter  has  no  treaty  with  China 
and  is  therefore  not  entitled  to  the  privileges  of  extra- 
territoriality or  to  most-favoured-nation  treatment ;  and 
the  British  government  promptly  responded  to  the  demand 
for  support  in  this  great  moral  movement,  and,  in  December 
1906,  agreed  to  restrict  the  export  from  India  by  one-tenth 
in  each  year.  The  agreement  was,  however,  to  be  in  force 
only  for  three  years,  after  which  its  continuance  was  to 
depend  on  the  extent  to  which  China  had  made  effective 
her  own  reduction  in  the  production  of  opium. 

While  the  existing  supply  came  mainly  from  India, 
or,  in  the  case  of  Persian  opium,  through  India,  it  was  still 
open  to  other  countries  to  produce  and,  under  existing 
treaties,  to  their  nationals  to  import  the  drug.  Accord- 
ingly an  international  conference  was  held  at  Shanghai 


364     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

in  February  1909,  with  the  American  Bishop  Brent  presiding, 
in  order  to  arrive  at  a  common  agreement  on  the  subject. 
The  conference  adopted  resolutions  recognising  the  "  un- 
swerving sincerity  of  the  government  of  China  in  their  efforts 
to  eradicate  the  production  and  consumption  of  opium 
throughout  the  Empire"  ;  and  lurging  the  various  govern- 
ments represented  at  it  to  adopt  regulations  which  would 
aid  China  in  accomplishing  her  declared  purpose. 

The  three  years'  probationary  period  having  expired,  the 
British  government  on  May  8th,  191 1,  signed  an  agreement 
with  China  by  which  continued  co-operation  between  the 
two  was  assured.  On  the  one  hand  proof  had  been  given 
that  the  cultivation  of  the  poppy  had  been  diminished  in 
China  even  beyond  the  stipulated  rate  ;  and,  on  the  other, 
the  import  from  India  to  China,  which  in  1907  had  been  taken 
as  being  51,000  chests  a  year,  had  been  reduced  by  law 
by  an  amount  of  5,100  chests  in  each  of  the  years  1908-09-10. 
Accordingly  the  new  agreement  provided  for  a  continued 
reduction  at  this  rate  for  the  years  from  191 1  on  to  the  end 
of  1917 ;  and  it  was  further  agreed  that  Indian  opium 
should  not  be  conveyed  into  any  province  in  which  the 
production  and  import  of  native  opimn  had  been  entirely 
suppressed,  and  that  the  tax  on  Indian  opium  should  be 
increased  from  Tls.iio  to  Tls.350  per  picul,  "as  soon  as  the 
Chinese  government  levy  an  equivalent  excise  tax  on  all 
native  opium." 

A  second  international  conference  was  held  at  The 
Hague  in  January  1912,  at  which  were  represented  Germany, 
America,  China,  France,  Great  Britain,  Italy,  Japan,  The 
Netherlands,  Persia,  Portugal,  Russia,  and  Siam.  An 
international  convention  was  agreed  to  and  signed  on 
January  23rd,  by  which  it  was  provided : 

That  the  Powers  should  enact  effective  laws  or 
regulations  for  the  control  of  the  production  and 
distribution  of  raw  opium ; 

That  they  should  take  measures  for  the  gradual 
and  effective  suppression  of  the  manufacture  of, 


OPIUM  3^ 

internal  trade  in,  and  use  of  prepared  opium,  and 
should  prohibit  its  import  and  export ; 

That  they  should  pass  laws  to  control  the  trade 
in  and  use  of  morphia,  cocaine,  and  their  respective 
salts;  and 

That  they  should  co-operate  in  preventing  the 
smuggling  of  these  drugs  into  and  from  China. 
While  the  present  (1912)  distiurbed  state  of  China  has 
temporarily  made  her  government  less  able  to  enforce  her 
laws  on  her  own  people,  the  world,  looking  on,  still  hopes 
that  the  re-estaUishment  of  order  will  enable  her  to  press 
forward  in  this  great  reform. 


CHAPTER   XII 

THE    INSPECTORATE    OF    CUSTOMS 

The  foundations  of  the  "  Foreign  "  Customs  were  laid  in 
the  necessities  of  the  Chinese  government,  and  not  in  any 
demand  by  the  foreign  merchants  that  an  improved  revenue 
service  should  be  provided  for  them.  The  forces  of  the 
Taiping  rebellion,  marching  from  Kwangsi  in  1852,  worked 
their  way  north  through  Hunan  and  thence  down  the  valley 
of  the  Yangtze,  destroying  the  fabric  of  Imperial  govern- 
ment in  all  the  provinces  through  which  their  devastating 
course  was  marked ;  twelve  months  later  they  entered 
Kiangsu  from  the  west,  and  in  September  1853  the  Chinese 
city  of  Shanghai  was  captured  by  the  Triad  Society,  a  local 
body  of  rebels  acting  on  the  inspiration  of  the  Taiping  suc- 
cess. The  limit  of  the  occupation  was  the  moat  of  the  city, 
the  foreign  settlements,  immediately  adjoining,  being 
defended  by  the  foreign  naval  forces ;  and  to  this  haven 
of  refuge  the  Chinese  officials  all  fled.  The  Custom  House 
was  thus  closed  by  force  majeure ;  and  for  a  time  there  was 
no  authority  to  collect  the  revenue  from  the  important 
foreign  trade  of  Shanghai.  The  merchants,  then  chiefly 
English  and  American,  inherited  the  honourable  tradi- 
tions of  the  old  factory  days  of  Canton,  and  had  in  general 
no  desire  to  evade  the  pajonent  of  their  dues,  which  had 
been  placed  upon  a  just  and  moderate  basis  by  the  treaties 
of  1842  and  later  years ;  and  the  Consuls,  newly  armed 
with  extraterritorial  jurisdiction,  conceived  it  to  be  as 
much  their  duty  to  control  as  to  protect  their  nationals^ 
control  being  rendered  the  more  easy  by  the  fact  that  but 

366 


CO 
O^ 
00 

M 

4 

to 

00 


3! 
o 

a 
s 

o 

en 

O 

G 


THE  INSPECTORATE  OF  CUSTOMS  367 

few  Powers  were  involved.  The  first  step  taken  to  tide 
over  the  moratorium  was  an  arrangement  by  which  the 
foreign  merchants  declared  to  their  Consuls  the  nature  of 
the  merchandise  imported  and  exported,  and  deposited 
at  the  Consulates  bonds  for  the  duty  leviable  thereon,  which, 
be  it  noted,  was  on  a  moderate  5  per  cent,  basis.  This 
was  foimd,  for  many  reasons,  to  be  irksome  to  the  Consuls ; 
and,  with  the  approval  of  the  British,  American,  and  French 
Ministers,  then  at  Shanghai,  an  agreement  was  made  on 
Jime  29th,  1854,  between  the  Shanghai  Taotai,  Wu  Kien- 
chang,  who  was  a  refugee  in  the  English  concession,  and 
the  three  Consuls,  the  British,  (Sir)  Rutherford  Alcock,  the 
American,  R.  C.  Miuphy,  and  the  French,  B.  Edan,  the  first 
article  being : 

"  Rule  i.  The  chief  difficulty  experienced  by  the 
superintendent   of  customs  having  consisted  in  the 
impossibility  of  obtaining  custom-house  officials  with 
the  necessary  qualifications  as  to  probity,  vigilance, 
and  knowledge  of  foreign  languages,  required  for  the 
enforcement  of  a  dose  observance  of  treaty   and 
custom-house  regulations^  the  only  adequate  remedy 
appears  to  be  in  the  introduction  of  a  foreign  element 
into  the  custom-house  establishment,  in  the  persons 
of  foreigners  carefully  selected  and  appointed  by  the 
taiUai,  who  shall  supply  the  deficiency  complained  of, 
and  give  him  efficient  and  trustworthy  instrtmients 
wherewith  to  work." 
Under  this  agreement  a  board  of  three  Inspectors  was 
nominated,  British,  Captain  (Sir)  Thomas  F,  Wade  (after- 
wards British  Minister  to  Peking),  American,  L.  Carr,  and 
French,  Arthur  Smith.    Only  one  of  the  three.  Captain 
Wade,  had  any  knowledge  of  the  Chinese  language  or  any 
aptitude  for  the  duties  of  his  post,  and  on  his  shoulders 
fell  the  chief  burden  of  organising  the  new  office ;  and,  on 
his  resignation  a  year  later,  his  place  was  filled  by  Mr. 
Horatio  Nelson  Lay,   who   had  an  equal  knowledge  of 
Chinese  and  equally  good  powers  of  organisation.    The 


368     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

board  of  three  continued,  but  the  actual  control  came 
into  the  hands  of  the  working  member  of  the  board. 

The  attitude  of  the  foreign  merchants  toward  the  new 
Inspectorate  is  shown  by  the  representation  addressed  by 
the  American  merchants  to  their  Minister,  Mr.  Peter  Parker, 
upon  his  arrival  in  Shanghai : 

"  Shanghai,  August  5,  1856. 

"  Sir, — We  take  advantage  of  your  arrival  at  this 
Port  to  address  you  upon  the  subject  of  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  foreign  inspectorship  in  the  Chinese 
Custom-house  here,  in  so  far  as  it  affects  American 
trade. 

'*  When  estaUished  here  in  the  fall  of  1854,  chiefly 
at  the  suggestion  and  by  the  efforts  of  the  Honourable 
Mr.  McLane,  the  affairs  of  the  Custom-house  were 
in  much  confusion  in  consequence  of  existing  political 
troubles  in  this  neighbourhood,  and  some  remedy 
was  ardently  desired ;  not  only  by  those  interested 
in  securing  to  the  Authorities  their  rightful  dues, 
but  by  the  great  body  of  Merchants  themselves, 
both  English  and  American. 

"  The  firms  which  we  represent  were  unanimous 
in  approving  of  an  arrangement  which  promised  to 
reform  the  abuses  into  which  the  Custom-house  had 
fallen,  and  to  put  a  stop  to  the  irregularities  pre- 
vailing. 

"  We  understood,  however,  that  the  new  institution 
was  not  intended  to  be  permanent,  unless  continued 
political  troubles  and  the  concurrence  of  all  the 
Powers  interested  induced  the  establishment  of  the 
same  system  at  all  the  ports. 

"  The  first  and  pressing  cause  for  its  establishment 
here  has  passed  away,  the  authorities  having  fully 
reorganised  their  affairs  and  being  able  under  their 
own  sjTStem  and  superintendence  to  conduct  those 
of  the  Custom-house  with  as  much  effect  as  ds^ 


THE  INSPECTORATE  OF  CUSTOMS  369 

where ;  and  with  this  cessation  of  any  necessity  for 
its  continuance,  we  cannot  but  perceive  the  great 
disadvantage  in  which  we  are  placed  by  it  in  com- 
parison with  the  other  ports.  Custom-house  business 
in  China  under  Chinese  supervision  is  conducted 
with  a  facility  which  greatly  aids  in  the  despatch  of 
business  and  the  ready  lading  of  ships  when  haste 
is  of  importance,  while  with  the  minute  and  in  some 
respects  vexatious  regulations  established  by  the 
inspectors,  this  advantage  disappears,  and  this  in 
itself  is  no  small  item  in  the  account  against  us.  There- 
fore, while  expressing  our  desire  in  all  cases  and 
circumstances  fully  to  meet  our  obligations  under 
the  Treaty,  a  desire  we  have  proved  to  be  sincere 
by  our  conduct  on  all  former  occasions,  we  feel  our- 
selves called  upon  by  the  interests  of  the  port  and  of 
those  whom  we  represent,  to  press  earnestly  upon 
your  attention  the  expediency  and  justice  of  abolish- 
ing the  present  system." 

British  opinion  was  divided,  some  of  the  merchants 
supporting  the  American  representation,  while  others 
approved  of  the  existing  r6gime  and  pressed  for  its  ex- 
tension to  all  ports.  The  letter  is  noteworthy  in  three 
respects.  It  emphasises  the  unanimity  with  which  the  plan 
had  been  accepted,  and  it  betrays  a  hankering  for  the 
flesh-pots  of  Egypt — for  a  return  to  the  "facility"  with 
which  Custom-house  business  was  conducted  in  China 
imder  Chinese  supervision ;  it  also  marks  the  inherent 
weakness  of  the  arrangement  in  the  stricter  control  applied 
to  one  only  of  the  ports  open  to  foreign  trade.  The  last 
consideration  was  held  to  be  the  most  important  when  the 
Tariff  Commission  met  and,  in  November  1858,  agreed 
to  Rules  of  Trade,  of  which  the  tenth  (substituting  French 
and  American  respectively  for  British)  was,  for  all  three, 
as  follows : 


24 


370     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

"  Rule  io.  Collection  of  Duties  under  one  System  at 
all  Ports.  It  being,  by  Treaty,  at  the  option  of  the 
Chinese  Government  to  adopt  what  means  appear 
to  it  best  suited  to  protect  its  Revenue,  accruing  on 
British  trade,  it  is  agreed  that  one  imiform  system 
shall  be  enforced  at  every  port. 

"The  High  Officer  appointed  by  the  Chinese  Govern- 
ment to  superintend  Foreign  trade  will  accordingly, 
from  time  to  time,  either  himself  visit,  or  will  send 
a  deputy  to  visit,  the  different  ports.    The  said  High 
Officer  will  be  at  liberty,  of  his  own  choice,  and  in- 
dependently of  the  suggestion  or  nonunation  of  any 
British  authority,  to  select  any  British  subject  he  may 
see  fit  to  aid  him  in  the  administration  of  the  Customs 
Revenue ;  in  the  prevention  of  smuggling ;  in  the  defi- 
nition of  port  boundaries ;  or  in  discharging  the  duties 
of  harbour-master ;  also  in  the  distribution  of  Lights, 
Buoys,  Beacons,  and  the  like,  the  maintenance  of  which 
shall  be  provided  for  out  of  the  Tonnage  Dues." 
This  article   foreshadowed  the  appointment  of  an  In- 
spector General  of  Customs,  and  the  obviously  indicated 
person  was  Mr.  Lay.    Under  his  authority  Custom  Houses 
had  been  opened  at  seven  ports  when,  in  June  1861,  he  was 
granted  leave  of  absence  and  returned  to  England.     He 
resumed  duty  as  Inspector  General  on  May  9th,  1863,  and 
was  relieved  from  duty  on  November  30th  of  the  same  year. 
A  man  of  marked  ability,  he  conceived  that  he  was  destined 
to  be  the  Clive  and  Dupleix,  the  Lally  and  Hastings,  of  a 
renovated  China ;   and  when  he  failed  to  induce  the  Imperial 
Government  to  share  this  view,  he  fell.    While  in  England 
he  had  been  conunissioned  to  procure  a  fleet  of  gunboats 
for  the  repression  of  rebellion  and  piracy ;  and  the  demand 
of  Mr.  Lay  and  his  commander.  Captain  Sherard  Osbom, 
that  this  fleet  should  be  directly  and  solely  under  their 
orders,  was  one  that  could  not  be  acceded  to.    The  fleet 
was  accordingly  paid  off,  the    ships  sold,  and  Mr.  Lay 
'*  permitted  to  resign/' 


THE  INSPECTORATE  OF  CUSTOMS  371 

Mr.  Robert  Hart,  "  The  I.G./'  was  appointed  on 
June  30th,  1861,  to  exercise  conjointly  with  Mr.  G.  H. 
Fitz-Roy  the  functions  of  Inspector  General  during  Mr. 
Lay's  absence  from  China.  The  appointment  by  the 
Prince  Minister  was  communicated  by  a  circular  despatch 
signed  by  Mr.  Hart  and  addressed  to  seven  Commissioners 
of  Customs,  including  Mr.  Fitz-Roy,  viz. : 

At  Tientsin,  C.  Kleczkowsky  (French) ; 

„  Chinkiang,  J.  K.  Leonard  (British) ; 

„  Shanghai,  G.  H.  Fitz-Roy  (British) ; 

„  Ningpo,  Geo.  Hughes  (British) ; 

„  Foochow,  W.  W.  Ward  (American) ; 

„  Swatow,  F.  Wilzer  (German) ; 

„  Canton,  Geo.  B.  Glover  (American). 

The  appointment  was  in  the  following  terms : 

*'  The  Prince  of  Kung, 

by  Imperial    appointment,   Minister    and 
Superintendent  of  Foreign  Affairs, 

issues  the  following  Instructions  : 

*'  Whereas  it  is  laid  down  in  Article  X.  of  the  Sup- 
plementary Treaty  and  Tariff,  that,  in  order  to  the 
protection  of  the  Revenue,  one  system  shall  be  adopted 
at  every  port,  and  that,  if  it  seems  good  to  the  officer 
deputed  to  administer  the  Customs  Revenue,  he 
shall  employ  Foreigners  to  assist  him,  whom  he  shall 
procure  without  Foreign  recommendation  or  inter- 
vention, &c. ;  and  Whereas,  the  Inspector  General 
Li-TAi-KWOH  [Mr.  Lay],  now  absent  on  sick  leave, 
having  introduced  the  Commissioners  of  Customs 
Fei-sze-lae  [Mr.  Frrz-RoY]  and  Heh-teh  [Mr.  Hart], 
under  whose  supervision  Customs  Revenue  has  been 
ably  and  satisfactorily  administered  at  Shanghai 
and  Canton,  the  said  Fei-sze-lae  and  Heh-teh 
were  officially  directed  by  the  Imperial  Commissioner, 


372     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

HsiKH,  to  exercise  conjointly  a  general  surveillance 
over  all  things  pertaining  to  the  collection  of  Customs 
Revenue  and  Foreign  Trade  at  the  Treaty  Ports :  Now, 
therefore,  the  Prince  instructs  the  said  functionaries, 
Fei-sze-lae  and  Heh-teh,  that  it  will  be  their  duty, 
officiating  as  Inspectors  of  affairs  in  accordance  with 
the  Treaties ;  not  allowing  Foreigners  to  sell  goods 
for  Chinese,  or  the  goods  of  Chinese  to  be  clandes- 
tinely included  in  Foreign  cargoes,  with  a  view  to 
the  commission  of  frauds ;  distinguishing  carefully 
Imports  from  Exports,  and  Native  from  Foreign 
Produce,  and  preventing  the  one  being  confounded 
with  the  other. 

"  It  will  be  their  duty  to  report  quarterly  the 
amounts  of  Duties  and  Tonnage  Dues  collected,  to- 
gether with  the  expenses  of  collection ;  their  statements 
must  be  truthful,  perspicuous,  and  accurate,  and 
should  be  transmitted  in  duplicate,  one  copy  being 
for  the  Board  of  Revenue,  and  the  other  for  the 
Foreign  Office. 

"  It  will  be  their  duty,  inasmuch  as  it  is  impossible 
for  the  Chinese  Government  to  form  an  estimate  of 
the  merits  of  the  different  Commissioners  and  other 
Foreigners  employed  in  the  public  service,  to  take 
cognisance  of  the  same,  and  make  examination  and 
inspection  from  time  to  time. 

"  As  regards  the  salaries  to  be  paid  and  the  sums  to 
be  expended,  the  Chinese  Superintendents  of  Customs 
and  the  Inspectors  General  will  proceed  conjointly 
to  determine  the  same  in  accordance  with  the  state  of 
the  Revenue  at  the  ports,  and  with  due  attention  to 
the  prevention  of  waste  and  excess. 

"  For  the  transaction  of  all  business  connected  with 
the  various  classes  of  Foreign  merchant  ships  that 
arrive  or  depart,  the  Chinese  Superintendents  of 
Customs  are  commanded  to  consider  it  their  duty 
to  act  in  concert  with  the  Inspectors  General ;    and 


THE  INSPECTORATE  OF  CUSTOMS  373 

the  Inspectors  General  must  make  strict  and  faithful 
inquiry  into  all  breaches  of  regulations  committed 
by  ships  that  presume  to  move  about  in  contraven- 
tion of  law,  and  into  all  cases  wherein  smuggling  is 
attempted  or  the  revenue  defrauded.  Should  any  such 
irregularities  and  offences  be  allowed  to  occur,  the  In- 
spectors General  will  be  held  responsible  for  the  same. 

"  The  zealous  and  satisfactory  manner  in  which 
business  has  hitherto  been  conducted,  fully  evinces 
that  Fei-sze-lae  and  Heh-teh  are  trustworthy  and 
to  be  depended  upon ;  the  Prince,  therefore,  hereby 
confers  on  them  the  requisite  powers  and  authority, 
and  commissions  them  to  officiate  as  Inspectors 
General.  The  salaries  they  are  paid  by  the  Chinese 
Government  are  liberal,  and  the  responsibilities  of  the 
office  to  which  they  are  appointed  are  very  serious ; 
it  therefore  behoves  them  to  be  just,  energetic,  and 
assiduous  in  the  performance  of  their  duties. 

"  The  Foreigners  employed  in  the  Customs  are  not 
to  engage  in  trade ;  mismanagement  or  bad  conduct 
must  be  followed  by  dismissal  from  the  service. 

"  The  Officiating  Inspectors  General  must  not  dis- 
appoint the  great  confidence  the  Prince  reposes  in 
them,  in  appointing  them  to  their  present  Office. 

"  Let  this  Instruction  be  carried  strictly  into  exe- 
cution! 

"  A  Special  Instruction  addressed  to  the  Officiating 
Inspectors  General  of  Maritime  Customs,  Fei-sze-lae 
and  Heh-teh  (Mr.  Fitz-Roy  and  Mr.  Hart). 

"  HsiMn-FAng,  nth  y&ar,  $th  motUh,  2yd  day 
"  30th  June,  i86i." 

The  office  was  in  fact  administered  by  Mr.  Hart  alone, 
with  his  headquarters,  in  1861,  June  at  Peking,  July  at 
Tientsin,  September  at  Peking,  November  at  Shanghai; 
1862,  May  at  Canton,  then  back  to  Shanghai ;  1863,  February 
gtt  Canton,  April  back  to  Shanghai,  where  on  May  9th  he 


374     r^^  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

surrendered  his  office.  Mr.  Lay,  resuming  his  office,  estab- 
lished himself  at  Peking.  Upon  the  substantive  appoint- 
ment of  Mr.  Hart,  November  30th,  1863,  he  establi^ed  his 
office  at  Shanghai,  and  in  May  1864  transferred  the  In- 
spectorate General  to  Peking,  where  it  has  since  remained. 
During  his  only  two  absences  from  China,  in  1866  the  office 
was  administered  by  Mr.  G.  H.  Fitz-Roy,  and  in  1878-1879 
by  Mr.  (Sir)  Robert  E.  Bredon  conjointly,  first  with  Mr.  W. 
Cartwright,  later  with  Mr.  I.  M.  Daae. 

Upon  his  appointment  Mr.  Hart  found  himself  con- 
fronted by  the  difficulty  that  each  Custom  House  had 
continued  the  decentralised  system  characteristic  of  Chinese 
administration,  and  that  each  Commissioner,  acting  con- 
jointly with  his  Chinese  colleague  the  Superintendent, 
looked  to  the  provincial  authorities  and  considered  local 
needs,  and  was  disinclined  to  conform  without  question  to 
the  leading  given  by  the  centralising  office,  the  Inspectorate 
General.  The  ability  and  tact  which  he  has  shown  so 
uniformly,  and  in  so  many  instances  since,  were  never  more 
marked  than  in  Mr.  Hart's  first  decade  of  office,  the  Sixties, 
when  he  had  to  reconcile  the  Imperial  Government  to  a 
form  of  administration  which,  though  working  in  its  interest, 
was  distinctly  alien ;  to  lead,  with  small  powers  of  com- 
pulsion, subordinates  of  marked  personality  and  of  different 
nationalities  to  submit  their  judgment  to  his,  and  accept 
his  instructions  for  their  guidance ;  and  to  introduce  into 
Customs  procedure  the  uniformity  and  system  which  are  the 
necessary  concomitants  of  effective  administration.  During 
that  decade  elementary  questions  were  vital,  and  an  unwise 
settlement  could  easily  have  undermined  the  foundations 
of  the  structure  he  was  erecting.  The  Chinese  Customs 
collect  duty,  not  only  on  imports  from  foreign  countries, 
but  also  on  exports  whether  abroad  or  to  another  Chinese 
port,  and  on  re-importation  at  a  Chinese  port  coUect  an 
import  duty ;  they  also  collect  tonnage  dues  on  shipping, 
transit  dues  exempting  from  further  taxation  foreign  im- 
ports conveyed  inland  and  native  produce  from  inland  marts 


THE  INSPECTORATE  OF  CUSTOMS  375 

intended  for  export  to  foreign  countries,  and,  since  1887, 
likin  on  foreign  opium  ;  with  all  this  complexity  there  had 
to  be  maintained  simultaneously  foreign  and  native  control, 
foreign  and  native  record,  and  foreign  and  native  report. 
To  introduce  simplification  into  this  complexity  was  the 
task  of  the  first  ten  years,  and  among  the  questions  to  be 
decided  were :  the  regulation  of  the  coastwise  trafiic  ;  the 
provision  that  the  original  duty  payment  exempted  imports 
from  further  tax,  instead  of  the  provincial  system  of  refund 
and  repayment  on  each  reshipment ;  the  regulation  of 
the  inland  transit  trade ;  the  compilation  and  publication 
of  statistics ;  pilotage  ;  emigration  ;  the  ton  equivalents 
of  various  lasts  and  metric  and  other  tons ;  and,  above  all, 
the  proper  dovetailing  of  the  foreign  and  Chinese  sides  of 
the  administration  ;  and  all  these  were  settled  on  lines  which 
have  endured.  Mention  must  not  be  omitted  of  the  lieu- 
tenants who  seconded  the  work  of  the  Inspector  General 
during  this  formative  period.  In  addition  to  the  seven 
mentioned  before,  who  were  Commissioners  in  charge  of 
ports  in  1861,  it  is  right  to  record  the  work  done  in  instituting 
this  new  experiment  by,  among  others,  E.  C.  Bowra,  Chas. 
Hannen,  Thos.  Dick,  A.  Macpherson,  and  W.  Cartwright, 
British ;  E.  C.  Taintor,  F.  E.  Woodruff,  and  E.  B.  Drew, 
American ;  Baron  de  M6ritens  and  A.  Huber,  French ;  and 
F.  Kleinwachter  and  G.  Detring,  German. 

In  all  matters  of  procedure  and  regulation — ^in  admini- 
stration ad  rem — the  Inspector  General  has  always  referred 
to  the  Imperial  (Government,  giving  of  course  his  views, 
and  the  instructions  he  has  issued  for  the  guidance  of  the 
Conmiissioners  have  always  been  based  upon  the  instructions 
given  to  him  by  the  government,  sometimes,  in  important 
matters,  after  reference  to  and  report  by  the  High  Com- 
missioners of  Trade,  the  Viceroys  at  Tientsin  and  Nanking 
acting  ex  officio  ad  hoc ;  and  the  bilateral  character  of  the 
Service  is  exemplified  by  the  practice  of  issuing  identical 
and  simultaneous  instructions  through  the  Inspector  General 
to  the  Commissioners  and  through  the  High  Commissioners 


376     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

to  the  Superintendents.  Originally  the  Inspector  General's 
phraseology  was  "  I  have  received  the  commands  of  H.I.H. 
Prince  Kmig  to  direct "  ;  it  then  became  "  I  enclose  for 
your  information  and  guidance  copy  of  a  despatch  from 
the  Tsungli  Yimen  directing/'  and  this  form  (with  the 
substitution  from  1901  of  the  Wai-wu  Pu,  and  from  May 
1906  of  the  Shui-wu  Chu,  for  the  Tsungli  Y&men)  continued 
to  be  adopted  for  over  forty  years.  Given  an  Inspector 
General  loyal  to  the  government  he  served,  the  most  hostile 
scrutiny  could  detect  no  development  of  an  alien  imperium 
in  imperio,  and  during  a  service  of  close  on  half  a  century 
not  a  breath  of  suspicion  has  even  been  thrown  on  the  I.G.'s 
entire  loyalty  to  those  whose  salt  he  ate. 

In  the  administration  ad  personam  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment has  never  interfered.  The  aim  in  establishing  the 
Inspectorate  was,  momentarily  to  secure  from  foreign 
traders  a  revenue  which  the  disturbed  state  of  the  country 
might  otherwise  render  precarious,  and  permanently  to 
secure  to  the  central  government  the  advantages  of  Western 
system  and  organisation  in  one  branch  of  its  revenue; 
and  at  the  outset  it  was  recognised  that  it  was  "  impossible 
for  the  Chinese  government  to  form  an  estimate  of  the 
merits  of  the  different  .  .  .  foreigners  employed  in  the 
public  service."  The  Outer  Barbarians  could  only  be 
controlled  by  one  of  themselves,  and  the  Chinese  government 
having  for  that  function  found  a  man  they  could  trust, 
trusted  him.  The  appointment  of  a  Commissioner  in  charge 
of  a  port,  or  his  transfer  to  another  post,  has  always  been 
reported  to  the  higher  authorities  ;  but  apart  from  this  the 
Inspector  General  has  been  left  to  the  exercise  of  his  discre- 
tion in  the  appointment,  promotion,  and  discharge  of  all 
placed  under  his  orders,  keeping  in  his  own  hands  movements 
affecting  foreigners,  and  leaving  to  the  Commissioner  at  each 
port  much  of  the  control  over  the  Chinese  staff.  During  the 
period  covered  by  the  I.G.'s  tenure  of  office  there  has  been 
probably  nowhere  in  the  world  any  servant  of  the  state  so 
unfettered  in  the  exercise  of  so  large  a  patronage ;  and  the 


THE  INSPECTORATE  OF  CUSTOMS  377 

general  testimony  is  that  his  rule  has  been  a  benevolent 
despotism  tempered,  at  times,  by  Legation  representations. 
His  rule  has  in  general  been  marked  by  great  fairness: 
probably  of  no  other  man  in  the  world,  with  so  much 
personal  power  and  such  extended  patronage  at  his  disposal, 
can  it  be  said,  as  it  can  of  him,  that  his  appointments  of 
men  connected  with  himself  by  ties  of  friendship  or  of 
relationship  have  been  so  few.  In  general,  under  the 
administration  of  Sir  Robert  Hart  (he  was  knighted  in  1882) 
there  was  developed  a  strong,  loyal,  honest,  well-organised, 
and  cosmopolitan  senqce.     .-^ 

The  Customs  Service"  is  now  (1906)  organised  in  four 
departments,  the  "  Inspector  General  of  Customs  and  Posts  " 
being  the  directing  head  of  all. 

I.  Revenue  Department. 

1.  Indoor  Staff,  the  executive,  controlling  and 

clerical  branch. 

2.  Outdoor  Staff,  the  inspecting  and  preventive 

branch. 

3.  Coast  Staff,  the  preventive  cruiser  branch. 
II.  Marine  Department. 

1.  Engineers'  Staff,  for  construction  of  Lights,  etc. 

2.  Harbours  Staff,  for  Coast  work  in  general  and 

Harbour  work  at  Shanghai. 

3.  Lights  Staff,  for  operation  of  Lights. 
HI.  Educational  Department. 

1.  Tung  Wen    Kwan    at    Peking,   which    after 

nearly  forty  years'  good  work  was  amalga- 
mated with  the  Imperial  University  of  1902. 

2.  Tung  Wen  Kwan  at  Canton. 

IV.  Postal  Department  (instituted  in  1896  as  a  branch 
separate  from  the  Revenue  Department). 

The  growth  of  the  Service  and  its  cosmopolitan 
character  may  be  gauged  by  the  following  comparative 
statements  of  the  numbers  in  1875  and  in  1906 : 


378     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OP  CHINA 


Stan. 

i«75. 

1906. 

Fdrdga. 

Chin^**, 

Foceisn. 

n^ipM^, 

I.  Revenue  Department : 

I.  Foreign  Indoor 

136 

— . 

343 

— 

2.        „      Outdoor 

203 



754 

— 

3.  Coast  Staff 

19 

145 

54 

672 

4.  Chinese  Clerical 

— 

282 

950 

5.          „    Non-clerical 

— 

802 

— 

2,858 

II.  Marine  Department : 

I.  Engineers'  Staff 

9 



7 

}    310 

2.  Harbours  Staff 

14 



32 

3.  Lights  Staff 

43 



59 

267 

4.  Chinese  employees  . . 

188 

— 

— 

III.  Educational  Department : 

Staff , 

10 



I 

— 

IV.  Postal  Department : 

Control  and  Clerical  Staff 

— 



95 

2,388 

Non-clerical  Staff 

— 



3,190 

424     1,417 
1,841 

1*345 

10,635 

Total 

11,980 

NatkKiaUty. 

X873. 

X906. 

American 

. 

46 

88 

Austrian 

5 

18 

Belgian    .. 

4 

10 

British     . . 

265 

738 

Danish    .. 

9 

42 

Dutch      .. 

2 

15 

French 

28 

64 

German  .. 

34 

170 

Greek 

I 

Hungarian 

2 

I 

ItaUan     . . 

3 

30 

Japanese 

21 

Luxemburger      . 

— 

I 

Norwegian 

2 

68 

Portuguese 

2 

27 

Russian    . . 

3 

20 

Siamese    .. 

3 

Spanish    .« 

5 

14 

Swedish    .. 

12 

49 

Swiss 

I 

3 

THE  INSPECTORATE  OF  CUSTOMS  379 

An  attempt  will  now  be  made  to  give  some  idea  of 
the  nature  of  the  work  done  by  the  Chinese  Customs 
Service,  differing,  as  it  does,  so  much  from  the  work 
done  by  corresponding  organisations  in  other  parts  of  the 
world. 

On  the  entry  of  a  ship,  her  papers  are  deposited  with 
the  Consul  of  her  nationality,  to  be  surrendered  only  upon 
issue  of  a  provisional  Customs  clearance.  The  passing  of 
the  import  cargo  proceeds  much  as  elsewhere,  but  note  is 
to  be  taken  of  the  fact  that  from  point  to  point  the  foreign 
ship  and  the  foreign  merchant  are  covered  by  the  privilege 
of  extraterritoriality.  Against  an  offending  ship  the 
Customs  have  only  three  remedies,  all  strictly  limited  by 
treaty.  For  clandestine  trading  she  may  be  prohibited 
from  further  trading  along  the  coast,  a  penalty  which  has 
never  yet  been  enforced ;  and  for  having  on  board  un- 
manifested  goods — for  a  "  false  manifest " — she  may  be  fined 
after  joint  investigation  and  decision  by  the  Customs  and 
the  Consul  concerned,  the  limit  of  fine  being  Tls.500. 
The  third  remedy  is  in  the  withdrawal  of  an  extra-treaty 
concession  made  by  the  Customs ;  the  treaties  were  made 
to  fit  the  old  sailing-ship  conditions,  and  it  is  only  in  the 
modem  steamer  procedure  that  any  means  can  be  found 
for  enforcing  proper  preventive  measures,  by  the  with- 
drawal of  the  privilege  of  clearing  before  the  payment  of 
all  import  duties  on  the  ship's  cargo,  whereby  the  Customs 
are  often  forced  to  use  a  steam  hammer  to  crack  a  nut. 
Against  the  merchant  the  Customs  have  even  less  power, 
and,  in  effect,  any  penalties  for  false  declaration  are  enforced 
against  the  incriminated  goods,  and  never  against  the 
offending  merchant :  to  confiscate  an  importer's  goods 
and  to  fine  him  in  addition  for  a  breach  of  Customs  regula- 
tions is  imheard  of  in  China.  This  arises  partly  from  the 
very  considerable  degree  of  protection  accorded  to  foreign 
merchants  by  treaty,  and  partly  from  the  fact  that  there 
is  no  competent  tribunal  before  which  a  revenue  case  can 
be  carried;    the  Chinese  territorial  courts  are  ruled  out. 


380     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

the  Consul  is  necessarily  the  advocate  of  his  national,  and 
the  Conunissioner  of  Customs  is  a  party  to  the  case. 

Goods,  having  paid  their  import  duty,  are  in  most 
countries  free  to  go  anywhere ;  in  China  movement  is  taxed 
at  every  point,  and  documentary  protection  must  be  ac- 
corded to  imports  at  every  point.  This  protection  is  given 
to  foreign  imports  at  any  treaty  port  without  further 
payment,  provided  that  the  original  payment  within  three 
years  past  can  be  proved ;  and  so  vsduaUe  is  this  pro- 
tection that  Chinese  produce  may  be  shipped  to  a  foreign 
port,  e.g.  Hongkong  and  back  to  China,  paying  once  duty 
on  export  and  once  duty  on  import,  and  a  half  duty  on 
transport  inland,  and  show  a  balance  of  profit  over  transport 
from  the  place  of  production  direct  to  another  place,  perhaps 
only  a  couple  of  hundred  miles  away.  At  Shanghai  the  great 
volume  of  the  re-export  trade  has  caused  the  institution 
of  a  S3^tem  of  "  Importers'  Passes,"  by  which  the  importer 
nmy  convey  his  rights  to  a  purchaser.  When  re-exported 
to  another  treaty  port,  either  by  the  original  importer  or 
by  the  purchaser  under  a  pass,  the  goods  are  covered  by 
an  "  exemption  certificate,"  without  which  they  are  liable 
to  import  duty  at  the  second  port ;  and  the  exemption 
applies  only  to  goods  in  their  original  packing.  If  again 
re-exported,  goods  are  again  covered  by  exemption  certifi- 
cate. If  imports  are  intended  for  an  "inland"  place, 
i.e.  any  place  not  being  a  treaty  port,  the  purchaser  has  the 
option  of  paying  likin  en  route,  or  of  paying  half  the  import 
duty  additional  and  obtaining  a  "  transit  pass  inwards," 
and  being  then  exempt  from  likin. 

Chinese  produce  may  be  brought  to  a  treaty  port  on 
payment  of  likin,  or,  if  intended  for  shipment  abroad, 
and  only  in  that  case,  may  be  covered  by  a  "  transit  pass 
outwards"  on  pajrment  of  a  half  duty.  On  shipment 
at  any  port  export  duty  is  paid,  whether  for  a  foreign  or 
another  Chinese  port :  in  the  latter  case  the  goods  are 
covered  by  a  "  duty  proof."  On  arrival  at  a  Chinese  port 
a  half  duty  is  paid  as  "  coast-trade  duty."    Upon  r^ 


THE  INSPECTORATE  OF  CUSTOMS  381 

export  to  any  destination  from  this  second  port  the  coast- 
trade  duty  is  refunded ;  if  re-exported  to  a  third  Chinese 
port,  the  goods  are  covered  by  a  "  duty-paid  certificate," 
and  on  arrival  the  coast-trade  duty  is  again  paid.  Going 
inland  these  goods  have  no  transit  pass  privilege,  and  the 
greatest  confusion  results  from  the  necessity  of  distinguishing 
between,  e.g.,  Swatow  sugar  shipped  to  Shanghai  direct, 
thence  re-exported  to  Hankow  and  thence  going  inland, 
and  Swatow  sugar  going  inland  from  Hankow  after  having 
reached  there  via  Hongkong  and  Shanghai. 

Upon  payment  of  tonnage  dues  a  "  tonnage  dues 
certificate  "  is  issued  to  the  ship,  exempting  from  further 
payment  for  a  period  of  four  months,  which  is  extended 
by  the  time  spent  in  effecting  repairs  in  a  Chinese  port. 

Foreign  opium,  having  paid  duty  and  likin,  is  covered 
by  labels  affixed  to  each  ball  or  small  package,  and  ex- 
empted from  all  further  pajrment  so  long  as  the  labels  are 
intact.  Native  opium  is  since  1906  treated  in  the  same  way 
whenever  it  comes  under  the  cognisance  of  the  Customs. 

Since  November  nth,  1901,  the  Native  or  Regular 
Customs  have  been  under  the  supervision  of  the  Com- 
missioner of  Maritime  Customs  at  each  port.  To  exercise 
this  supervision  over  a  Chinese  office  run  by  Chinese  methods, 
operating  on  a  purely  Chinese  trade,  with  the  original 
Chinese  staff,  and  with  little  or  no  aid  from  foreign  agents, 
and  without  published  regulations  or  a  unified  tariff,  is  to 
impose  on  the  Commissioner  a  task  of  quite  a  different 
character  from  his  ordinary  work,  varied  and  complicated 
though  that  be,  and  calls  for  the  exercise  of  the  diplomatic 
function  as  much  as  the  executive.  He  must  not  rub 
too  much  the  wrong  way  those  who  have  previously 
exercised  control ;  he  must  not  render  too  much  discon- 
tented the  staff  whose  irregular  practices  he  is  there  to 
check :  while  facilitating  work  to  the  traders  by  the  in- 
troduction of  regularity,  he  will  find  that  too  much  im- 
accustomed  rigidity  may  lead  to  discontent  and  even  to 
riot;    he  must  satisfy  the  representatives  of  the  foreign 


382     THE  TBADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

Powers  in  whose  interest,  to  secure  fonds  for  due  pajon^it 
of  the  indemnities,  he  is  {daced  in  contrdl ;  his  measures 
must  be  such  as  not  to  alienate  the  Chinese  gov^imient 
whose  servant  he  is,  while  he  is  often  called  upon  to  ^iforce 
against  them  the  provisions  of  their  own  treaties ;  and  all 
this  he  must  do  from  a  position  which,  in  some  respects, 
is  rather  advisory  than  executive. 

In  the  control  of  the  Foreign,  as  of  the  Native  Customs, 
the  Commissioner  is  freed  from  one  responsibility,  in  that 
he  does  not  handle  the  revenues.  In  a  country  in  which 
the  currency  is  a  tangled  mass  of  complexity,  and  banking 
is  an  exact  science  of  great  inexactitude,  this  would  be  an 
impossiUe  function  for  the  foreigner  to  assume ;  and  the 
Commissoner's  function  is  only  to  obtain  a  receipt  certi- 
fjring  to  the  payment  to  the  properly  constituted  authority 
of  the  amounts  due,  and  to  report  the  revenue  so  collected. 
This  authority  is  the  Customs  Bank,  appointed  by  the 
Chinese  government  at  each  port,  and  revenues  received 
by  the  bank  pass  directly  under  the  control  of  the  Chinese 
side  of  the  Customs,  the  Superintendent  and  not  the  Com- 
missioner. Malpractice  by  the  bank  might  be  made  the 
subject  of  representation,  but  for  effective  action  would 
be  rather  a  diplomatic  than  an  executive  matter,  the  affair 
of  the  Consul  concerned  than  of  the  Commissioner. 

The  Coast  Service  for  preventive  duty  is  composed  of 
6  revenue  steamers,  officered  by  a  special  Coast  Staff,  4 
revenue  cruising  launches,  21  revenue  launches,  and  9 
sailing-craft,  officered  by  men  detached  from  the  Revenue 
Staff.  For  movement  from  one  district  to  another,  and  for 
general  control,  they  are  under  the  orders  of  the  Inspector 
General ;  for  personnel  and  matdriel  they  are  under  the 
Coast  Inspector;  and  for  control,  discipline,  supplies, 
and  work  they  are  directly  subject  to  the  Commissioner 
in  whose  district  they  are.  Besides  their  ordinary  pre^ 
ventive  duty,  the  revenue  steamers  are  used  in  connection 
with  new  Lights  work  and  for  supplying  Lights,  and  for 
coast  work  (surveying,  etc.)  as  well. 


THE  INSPECTORATE  OF  CUSTOMS  383 

The  Marine  Department  is  divided  into  the  Engineers', 
Harbours,  and  Lights  branches. 

The  Engineer-in-Chief  is  charged  with  the  construction 
of  new  and  maintenance  of  existing  Lights,  and  the  pro- 
vision of  illuminating  and  other  special  supplies.  He 
reports  direct  to  the  Inspector  General  on  new  proposals 
and  on  Lights  work  affecting  the  whole  coast,  and  through 
the  Commissioner,  who  has  joint  authority,  on  work  affect- 
ing only  one  district.  Under  the  superintendence  at  first 
of  Mr.  David  Marr  Henderson  and  recently  of  Mr.  J.  Reginald 
Harding,  there  have  been  installed  by  this  office  and  are 
now  working  106  Lights  (of  which  14  are  of  the  first  order, 
and  39  are  occulting,  flashing,  or  revolving),  4  Light- vessels, 
and  22  Light-boats. 

At  the  head  of  the  Harbours  Staff  is  the  Coast  Inspector, 
who  supervises  coast  work,  surveying,  sea  and  river  con- 
servancy ;  selects  the  sites  for  new  Lights ;  and  is  in 
technical  control  of  all  Harbomrs  work  and  Pilotage  for 
China  generally.  He  reports  direct  to  the  Inspector 
General  on  matters  affecting  the  whole  coast,  and  through 
the  Commissioner,  who  has  joint  authority,  on  work  affect- 
ing one  part  or  lying  within  one  district.  Subject  to  the 
direct  control  of  the  Commissioner,  he  has  general  control 
over  the  revenue  steamers  and  their  personnel.  He  is 
also  charged  with  the  general  supervision — ^the  direct  con- 
trol being  with  the  Commissioner — over  buoys  (iii  estab- 
lished) and  beacons  (105  established).  Record  must  be 
made  of  the  good  work  done  by  Captain  A.  M.  Bisbee  while 
he  occupied  this  post.  A  Harbour  Master,  paid  from  Marine 
funds,  exists  only  at  Shanghai;  elsewhere  the  duties  of 
the  post  are  performed  by  the  Tide  Surveyor,  a  Revenue 
officer  who  is,  under  the  Commissioner,  in  direct  control 
of  the  Outdoor  Staff.  The  Harbotur  Master  is  the  official 
charged  with  the  supervision  of  pilotage,  conservancy, 
movement  of  shipping  in  port,  and  similar  matters ;  port 
regulations  on  these  subjects  are  issued  with  the  authority 
of  his  signature,  but,  as  he  is  the  subordinate  of  the  Com- 


384     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

missioner,  while  the  hand  is  the  hand  of  the  Harbour  Master 
the  voice  is  the  voice  of  the  Commissioner.  In  all  these 
matters  the  Commissioner  is  the  buffer  between  many 
conflicting  interests,  over  which  he  can  often  exercise  only 
an  influence  and  not  an  authority ;  he  may,  for  eicample, 
be  appealed  to  for  a  decision  on  a  foreshore  case,  where 
the  Chinese  territorial  authorities  and  a  Consul  acting  for 
his  national  may  hold  opposite  and  irreconcilable  views, 
where  the  Harbour  Master  is  in  theory  expected  to  apfdy 
the  principles  of  Chinese  law,  but  where  neither  he  nor 
the  Commissioner  can  enforce  his  authority  on  the  rival 
parties.  Such  a  case  becomes  then  a  question  of  diplomacy, 
bringing  in  the  heavy  artillery  of  Foreign  Ofiice,  L^ation, 
and  Inspector  General,  unless  the  Commissioner  can  devise 
a  modus  vivendi  acceptable  to  all  concerned. 

The  Lights  Staff  consists  of  58  foreign  and  244  Chinese 
lightkeepers,  the  latter  being  subordinated  at  the  larger 
Lights  stations  or  in  charge  of  the  smaller  stations.  The 
maintenance  of  each  light  and  the  control  of  its  staff  are 
directly  under  the  Commissioner  of  the  district ;  except 
that  the  Amoy  Commissioner  controls  most  of  the  lights  in 
the  adjoining  districts — Foochow  and  Swatow,  while  the 
Shanghai  lights  and  most  of  those  in  the  Ningpo  district 
are  directly  under  the  Cx)ast  Inspector. 

The  Educational  Department  (merged  in  the  Peking 
University  by  Imperial  Decree  of  January  nth,  1902)  had 
only  an  indirect  connection  with  the  Customs.  It  was 
supplied  with  funds  through  the  Customs,  and  the  Inspector 
General  nominated  to  vacant  chairs  in  the  Peking  College, 
and  frequently  "  lent "  men  from  the  Customs  for  temporary 
instructing  duty ;  but  the  College  was  built  up  and  directed 
for  many  years  by  the  venerable  Dr.  W.  A.  P.  Martin, 
educator  and  sinologue.  The  College  at  Canton,  which 
still  survives,  is  smaller,  and  is  under  the  direct  control 
of  the  Commissioner,  as  quasi  colleague  of  the  Tartar 
General,  appointments  to  its  staff  being  made  by  the 
Inspector  General. 


THE  INSPECTORATE  OF  CUSTOMS  385 

The  Postal  Department  will  be  more  fully  described 
in  the  chapter  on  the  Post  Office,  and  it  will  suffice  here 
to  show  its  connection  with  the  Customs.  In  the  early 
days  foreign  mails  were  sent  along  the  coast  by  the  primitive 
method  of  handing  them  to  the  steamer  agents.  The 
Customs  organised  a  Postal  Department  for  the  transmission 
of  its  own  mail  matter,  and  in  1876  the  postal  facilities  of 
the  offices  at  Shanghai,  Tientsin,  and  Peking,  subsequently 
extended  to  Newchwang  and  Chefoo,  were  thrown  open 
to  the  public,  in  order  to  provide  uninterrupted  commimicaf 
tion  with  Peking  and  the  north  during  the  winter,  when 
the  northern  ports  were  closed  by  ice.  Commimication 
was  maintained  by  a  trunk  line  of  couriers  from  Chinkiang 
to  Tientsin,  a  distance  of  800  miles,  and  a  postal  service 
organised  by  Mr.  G.  Detring,  Commissioner  at  Tientsin, 
was  in  full  working  order  by  1878.  This  "  Customs  Post  " 
was  found  to  be  a  convenience  to  the  public,  and  in  i88z 
the  facilities  were  extended  to  all  ports  north  of  Fukien« 
In  1896  a  decree  was  issued  creating  an  Imperial  Post, 
the  organisation  and  management  of  which  were  entrusted 
to  Sir  Robert  Hart.  The  new  establishment  was  thus 
grafted  on  the  Customs,  which  was  called  upon  to  provide 
men  and  funds  for  its  development,  and  a  new  burden  was 
laid  on  theshoulders  of  Inspector  General  and  Commissioners. 
In  the  organisation  of  the  Post,  the  Customs  organisation 
was  the  foimdation  on  which  the  structure  was  erected; 
the  Customs  district  became  the  Postal  district,  the  Com- 
missioner of  Customs  became  the  District  Postmaster,  the 
Customs  Accoimtant  became  the  Postal  District  Account- 
ant, and  the  net  balance  of  Postal  receipts  and  expenditure 
became  a  receipt  or  payment  entry  in  the  Customs  "  Un« 
classed  "  account — and  invariably  a  payment  entry.  The 
life-blood  of  Customs  energy  was  drained  away,  but  without 
this  aid  a  Chinese  service  could  not  have  bc^n  instituted ; 
without  it  an  exotic  organisation  would  have  been  formed, 
having  its  roots  in  Western  practice  but  not  satisf3dng  the 
needs  of  China,  and  with  it  has  grown  up  a  Service  which 

25 


386     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

has  grafted  Western  methods  on  Chinese  requirements. 
An  enormous  mass  of  organising  work  was  thrown  on  the 
broad  shoulders  of  the  Inspector  General  of  Customs  and 
Posts,  and  on  his  lieutenant,  the  Postal  Secretary;  and 
^  no  less  enormous  amount  of  organising  on  the  Conmiis- 
sioners.  It  speaks  volimies  for  the  spirit  which  animates 
the  Service  that  this  unaccustomed  work  has  been  cheerfuUy 
undertaken  and  carried  through.  The  Commissioner,  as 
District  Postmaster,  is  a  Postmaster  General  for  his  district, 
which  in  most  cases  is  of  the  size  and  with  the  population 
of  many  a  European  kingdom.  He  audits  the  accounts  of 
each  post  office,  and,  with  his  accountant,  prepares  his 
district  accounts ;  he  exercises  a  direct  supervision  over 
the  working  of  the  head  office  at  his  jport,  which  serves  as 
model  for  the  other  offices  in  his  district,  and  is  responsible 
that  existing  instructions  and  new  procedure  are  properly 
understood  and  duly  carried  out ;  he  studies  the  needs  of  his 
district,  and  himself  decides  on  opening  new  "  agencies," 
corresponding  to  the  fourth-class  post  offices  of  the  United 
States  and  village  grocery  offices  of  England;  he  refers 
to  headquarters  his  proposals  for  opening  "  branch  offices  " 
or  for  raising  the  status  of  an  agency ;  and  he  is  the  medium 
of  conmnmication  with  the  territorial  officials  and  with 
foreign  Post  Offices  established  in  his  district.  He  is  the 
responsible  head  of  the  district,  and  its  working  and 
personnel  are  subject  to  his  authority.  All  this  adds 
no  small  amount  to  the  already  extended  work  and  re- 
sponsibility of  that  Jack-of-all-trades,  the  Commissioner 
of  Customs. 

Nor  is  this  all.  The  many  departments  of  work  which 
devolve  on  the  Customs  in  China  trench  so  often  on  matters 
outside  even  the  extended  sphere  of  the  Customs  Service, 
that  it  is  naturally  and  inevitably  brought  into  touch  with 
questions  even  more  remote ;  where  the  foreign  merchant 
has  so  privileged  a  position,  and  the  relations  between 
foreign  and  Chinese  are  so  complicated  and  have  so  many 
ramifications,  it  would  be  difficult  to  define  the  exact  limits 


THE  INSPECTORATE  OF  CUSTOMS  387 

of  a  Customs  establishment  working  on  and  in  a  situation 
characterised  by  the  principles  of  extraterritoriality.  To 
exemplify  this  by  action  tsJsen  by  the  Inspector  General 
would  be  to  give  a  r&umi  of  the  foreign  relations  of  China 
for  forty  years,  and  it  will  be  enough  to  refer  to  matters, 
purely  local,  in  which  the  Commissioner  of  a  port  may  be 
called  upon  to  intervene.  The  first  recorded  intervention 
was  national  rather  than  local,  and  constituted  the  several 
Conunissioners  the  intermediaries  for  paying  to  the  British 
and  French  governments  the  quarterly  instalments  of  the 
indemnities  due  under  the  treaties  of  1858  and  i860 ;  the 
"  1st  quarter  "  for  this  purpose  began  on  October  ist,  i860, 
and  the  successive  quarterly  reports  and  returns  to  the 
Chinese  government  are  still  nimibered  from  that  date, 
the  184th  quarter  ending  on  September  30th,  1906.  Follow- 
ing this  precedent  the  Customs  have  often,  both  generally 
through  the  Inspector  General  and  locally  through  the 
Commissioner,  been  made  the  financial  and  disbursing  agent 
for  the  payment  of  indemnities  or  of  principal  and  interest 
of  loans.  One  such  instance  will  suffice.  In  1895  the 
Canton  authorities  issued  an  internal  loan  of  Tls.5,000,000, 
the  prospectus  and  bonds  stipulating  that  the  bonds,  to 
bearer,  should  be  countersigned  by  the  Commissioner  of 
Customs  at  Canton ;  the  proceeds  of  the  loan  be  received 
by  him ;  the  monthly  instalments  paid  into  banks  to  his 
order ;  the  coupons  and  drawn  bonds  paid  by  his  cheque ; 
the  register  to  be  kept  and  bonds  cancelled  by  him ;  and 
in  case  of  default  the  bonds  should  be  received  by  him 
at  face  value  in  satisfaction  of  Customs  duties.  The 
Chinese  government  recognised  that  the  Chinese  public 
would  not  trust  its  agents  of  the  official  hierarchy,  but 
would  trust  the  Commissioner,  and  the  loan  was  a  success. 
In  times  of  foreign  complication  the  reading  and  experience 
of  the  Commissioner  have  been  freely  drawn  upon  to  supple- 
ment the  deficiencies  of  provincial  officials,  whose  reading 
and  experience  offered  them  nothing  to  meet  the  exigencies 
of  a  novel  situation ;    and  many  a  well-intended  breach 


388     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OP  CHINA 

of  international  conventions  has  been  averted,  many  an 
Asiatic  incitement  in  dealing  with  a  Western  enemy  has 
been  withdrawn  or  modified,  many  a  blimder  based  on 
Asiatic  ignorance  of  modem  conditions  has  been  avoided, 
tmder  representations  made  by  the  Commissioner  and 
pressed  upon  the  notice  of  the  responsible  officials.  The 
application  of  the  principle  of  extraterritoriality,  too, 
brings  within  the  purview  of  the  Conmiissioner  many  cases 
which  are  not  strictly  Customs  matters;  and  yet,  apart 
from  missionary  cases,  it  may  be  said  that  there  are  few 
questions  arising  under  this  principle  which  do  not  touch 
in  some  way  on  commerce  or  revenue.  In  such  cases  it 
rarely  happens  that  some  one  of  the  parties  interested, 
the  Chinese  territorial  authority,  the  Consul,  or  the  foreign 
merchant,  does  not  invoke  the  aid  or  the  influence  of  the 
Commissioner,  and  it  is  one  of  his  hardest  tasks  to  limit 
the  extent  of  his  own  interference.  Even  in  cases  where 
the  apparent  Customs  connection  is  of  the  slightest,  how- 
ever, it  has  often  been  found  of  the  greatest  advantage  to 
all  concerned  to  have  the  representative  of  the  foreign  side 
of  a  Chinese  administration  available  to  act  as  intermediary ; 
though  a  Chinese  official,  he  is  a  foreigner,  and  though  a 
foreigner,  he  is  a  part  of  the  Chinese  administration;  he 
supplies  to  the  Chinese  that  connection  with  foreign  ways 
and  principles  in  which  they  have  in  the  past  been  lackiiig« 
and  he  supplies  to  the  foreign  Consul  and  merchant  the 
intimate  knowledge  of  Chinese  legal  and  official  machinery 
which  they  do  not  always  possess ;  and,  in  the  past  at  least, 
his  position  may  be  likened  to  that  of  the  man  in  the  middle 
of  the  see-saw,  able  to  raise  or  to  depress,  as  he  may  judge 
the  right  to  lie  on  one  side  or  the  other.  The  general 
testimony  is  that  this  position  of  influence  has  not  been 
used  arbitrarily,  either  in  favour  of  the  Chinese  government, 
whose  servant  he  is,  or  in  favour  of  the  foreigners,  to  whom 
he  is  allied  by  birth  and  education. 

In  all  these  local  matters  the  closest  touch  has  always 
been   maintained  with   the  Inspector  General.    Commis- 


THE  INSPECTORATE  OP  CUSTOMS  389 

sioners  have  never  failed  to  make  the  fullest  reports  to  him, 
and  from  him  have  come  the  guidance  and  encouragement 
which  have  enabled  them  to  gmpple  with  questions  beyond 
their  ordinary  capacity.  He  has  seldom  interfered  unduly 
-with  "  the  man  on  the  spot "  ;  but  an  illuminating  sentence, 
coming  from  the  experience  acquired  at  the  centre  of 
affairs,  has  often  supplied  the  missing  thought  unattainable 
by  a  more  circumscribed  knowledge. 

As  one  of  themselves,  I  say  of  my  colleagues  that  among 
them  are  many  of  sturdy  independence  of  thought ;  that, 
one  and  all,  they  are  animated  in  their  conduct  by  the 
strictest  rectitude;  and  that,  with  all  their  independence 
and  with  their  varying  national  characteristics,  no  one  in 
all  these  years  has  ever  impugned  their  entire  loyalty  to 
their  chief  and  the  government  they  serve,  or  the  absolute 
impartiality  of  their  administration. 

The  appointment  of  Robert  Hart  in  1861  as  Officiating 
Inspector  General  was  communicated  to  the  Commissioners 
in  charge  of  seven  ports  then  open ;  his  substantive  ap- 
pointment in  1863  was  communicated  to  thirteen  ports ; 
and  his  last  circular  instructions  were  issued  to  Commissioners 
of  Customs  at  more  than  forty  ports,  to  six  Likin  CoUectorates, 
and  to  four  Postal  Commissioners.  The  revenue  collected  for 
the  Imperial  Government  by  the  Service  organised  by  him 
increased  from  Tls.8,296,275  in  1865  to  Tls.37,080,457 
in  1906.  The  foreign  trade  under  its  cognisance  increased 
from  Tls.121,898,792  in  1865  to  Tls.674,988,988  in  1905 ; 
to  these  figures  must  be  added  Tls.28,523,449  in  1865 
and  Tls.128,647,510  in  1905,  as  the  value  of  the  original 
exports  of  Chinese  produce  carried  coastwise.  This  gives 
Tls.803,636,498  as  the  value  of  the  trade  handled  by  the 
Customs  during  1905,  but,  with  the  necessity  of  continuing 
documentary  protection  at  every  stage,  the  work  done  by 
the  Customs  is  by  no  means  measured  by  this  value.  During 
1905  permits  and  protecting  documents  on  import,  export, 
re-export,  re-import  or  transit  inland,  were  issued  for  goods 
valued  at  Tls.1,737,546,961. 


390     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

Sir  Robert  Hart,  the  organiser  of  the  Service  which  has 
done  this  work,  was  bom  on  February  20,  1835.  After 
graduating  (A.B.  and  Senior  Scholar)  at  Queen's  University, 
Ireland,  in  1853,  he  was  appointed  Supernumerary  In- 
terpreter to  the  British  Superintendency  of  Trade  at  Hong- 
kong in  May  1854 ;  and  in  May  1859  was  granted  special 
permission  to  resign  in  order  to  join  the  newly  instituted 
Chinese  Customs  Service.  He  was  appointed  Officiating 
Inspector  General  in  1861  and  Inspector  General  in  1863. 
In  May  1885  he  was  appointed  Her  Britannic  Majesty's 
Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  the 
Emperor  of  China  and  also  to  the  King  of  Korea,  but  did 
not  take  up  the  appointment,  and  continued  as  Inspector 
General.  His  services  to  China  and  to  the  world  have 
been  recognised  in  a  tangible  way  by  the  bestowal  of  many 
honours.  From  China  he  received  in  1864  the  brevet  title 
of  Provincial  Judge,  with  civil  rank  of  the  third  dass ; 
in  1869  the  brevet  title  of  Provincial  Treasurer,  with  civil 
rank  of  the  second  class  ;  in  1881  the  red  button  of  the  first 
class ;  in  1885  the  order  of  the  Double  Dragon,  second 
division,  first  class,  and  the  distinction  of  the  Peacock's 
Feather ;  in  1889  Ancestral  Rank  of  the  first  dass  of  the 
first  order,  dated  back  for  three  generations,  with  Letters 
Patent ;  in  1901  the  brevet  title  of  Junior  Guardian  of 
the  Heir  Apparent ;  and  in  1902  he  was  received  in  Audience 
by  the  Empress  Dowager  and  Emperor.  In  1908,  on  his 
departure  on  furlough,  he  was  given  the  brevet  rank  of 
Shang-shu,  President  of  a  Board  {v,  p.  44).  His  native  land 
has  recognised  the  distinction  he  has  conferred  upon  it 
by  making  him  in  1879  a  Companion  of  the  Most  Distin- 
guished Order  of  St.  Michael  and  St.  George,  in  1882  a 
Knight  Commander,  and  in  1889  a  Knight  Grand  Cross 
of  the  same  order ;  and  in  1893  a  Baronet  of  the  United 
Kingdom.  Other  countries  also  have  shown  their  apprecia- 
tion of  the  value  of  his  work,  and  he  has  received  decorations, 
many  of  them  Grand  Croix  or  Grand  Officier,  from  Belgium, 
Sweden,  Austria,  France,  Italy,  Portijgal,  Norway,  Holland, 


THE  INSPECTORATE  OF  CUSTOMS  391 

Prussia,  and  the  Pope.  From  the  United  States  has  come 
the  degree  of  LL.D.,  bestowed  upon  him  by  the  University 
of  Michigan.  For  native  ability  and  power  of  organisation 
h^  may  be  compared,  in  one  aspect  or  another,  with  John 
Lawrence  and  Alexander  Hamilton.  His  monument  is  in 
the  Service  he  created  and  his  life-record  is  in  the  history 
of  the  foreign  relations  of  China  during  a  period  of  forty 
years  of  transition.  Another  sits  in  his  chair,*  another 
signs  as  Inspector  General,  but  in  the  history  of  China 
there  will  be  but  one  '*  I.G." 

*  Sir  Robert  Hart  died  on  September  20th,  191 1,  and  Mr.  F.  A. 
Aglen  was  appointed  to  sacceed  him  as  Inspector  General  of  Castoms. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

THE  POST  OFFICE 

An  organised  service  for  the  conveyance  of  government 
despatches  has  existed  in  China  for  many  centuries,  the 
I-chan,  or  Government  Service  of  Couriers,  being  mentioned 
in  the  records  of  the  Chow  djmasty,  the  beginnings  of  which 
date  back  3,000  years.  During  the  succeeding  centuries  the 
necessity  was  always  felt  of  maintaining  regular  com- 
munication between  the  Emperor  and  his  government  at 
the  capital,  and  his  officials  and  garrisons  in  the  provinces  ; 
and  what  may  be  called  postal  communication  was  as  fully 
organised  in  China  as  it  was  under  Persian  Kings  or  Roman 
Emperors.  The  I-chan  is  wholly  maintained  by  the  State 
through  provincial  contributions  from  ordinary  local  taxes, 
the  cost  being  estimated  in  a  joint  memorial  to  the  Throne  in 
1902  by  the  two  Yangtze  Viceroys,  at  some  Tls.3,000,000 
annually.  The  service  is  under  the  supervision  of  the 
Board  of  War  at  Peking.  The  direct  control  is  exercised 
by  the  Cart  and  Chariot  Department  of  the  Board,  and 
under  it,  the  Horse  OflBice  controls  the  couriers  and  their 
horses,  and  the  Despatch  Office  receives  and  forwards  the 
official  mails  at  the  capital  itself.  At  each  provincial 
capital  is  a  Director  of  Posts,  a  military  officer  appointed  by 
the  Board  of  War,  and  placed  under  the  orders  of  the  Pro- 
vincial Judge,  his  duty  being  to  see  that  despatches  are 
transmitted  without  impediment.  The  actual  forwarding 
is  done  by  each  District  Magistrate  from  border  to  border  of 
his  district,  and  the  cost  is  a  charge  on  his  budget.  With 
the  constitutional  conservatism  of  Chinese  officialdom  in 

392 


THE  POST  OFFICE  393 

matters  of  expenditure — in  never  letting  go  a  good  thing 
when  they  have  it — ^the  full  machinery  of  the  I-chan  is  still 
maintained,  though,  when  available,  steamers  and  raflwajrs 
-are  now  utilised  for  the  more  rapid  transmission  of  despatches. 

The  Wenpao  Chii,  or  Document  Office,  is  an  oifshoot  of 
the  I-chan,  but  quite  independent  of  it.  On  the  appointment 
of  Ministers  to  foreign  countries  in  1875,  it  became  necessary 
to  arrange  for  the  transmission  of  their  despatches  between 
Peking  and  Shanghai,  where  they  could  be  deposited  in  and 
taken  from  the  foreign  Post  Offices ;  and  offices  were  opened 
for  this  purpose  at  Tientsin  and  Shanghai.  In  subsequent 
years  offices  were  opened  at  Yangtze  ports  from  Hankow 
down,  and  at  coast  ports  as  far  south  as  Canton ;  and  much 
of  the  work  of  the  I-chan  along  the  coast  and  on  the  Yangtze 
is  done  by  these  offices.  Notwithstanding  the  development 
of  the  Imperial  Post,  the  Wenpao  Chii  continues  to  function. 

The  only  really  Government  Post  open  to  the  public^ 
organised  by  Chinese  officials,  was  established  in  Formosa. 
When,  after  the  attack  by  the  French  naval  forces  in  1884- 
1885,  the  attention  of  the  Imperial  Government  was  drawn 
to  the  necessity  of  organising  the  island  as  a  province,  the 
Imperial  High  Commissioner  and  Governor,  Liu  Ming-chuan, 
introduced  several  startling  innovations,  among  them  a 
railway  and  a  Post  Office.  For  the  latter  it  was  at  first 
proposed  to  adopt  adhesive  stamps  and  they  were  ordered 
from  England  in  two  denominations,  red  3-cent  for  short 
distances,  and  green  5-cent  for  longer  distances.  The 
simplicity  of  an  almost  uniform  tariil  worked,  as  always  in 
China,  against  its  adoption  ;  and  these  stamps  had  a  history 
unique  in  philately,  being  used  for  railway  tickets.  This 
Post  Office  was  tdtimately  organised  on  the  following  lines : 

I.  Mails  were  carried  by  couriers  on  foot. 

a.  The  postal  routes  were  divided  into  stages,  averaging 
a  day's  Journey  in  length,  or,  say,  70  to  100  li. 

3.  Letters  and  packages  were  carried  at  the  rate  of  20 
cash  per  tael  per  stage,  with  additional  charges 
for  delivery  at  places  not  on  the  main  routes. 


394     ^^^  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

4.  Postage  stamps  were  of  two  kinds — official  and 
ordinary.  The  former  were  supplied  to  public 
offices,  free  of  charge,  to  be  used  on  official 
mail  matter;  and  the  latter  were  sold  to  the 
public.  As  regards  stamps,  the  sjrstem  was 
cimibrous.  Stamps  were  not  sold  to  the  public 
indiscriminately.  Any  one  who  had  a  letter  to 
forward,  say  from  Tamsui  to  Tekcham,  took 
it  to  the  Tamsui  district  Post  Office,  where  he 
prepaid  60  cash  for  the  three  stages,  and  got 
a  receipt  for  his  letter,  the  Post  Office  affixing 
the  stamp.  The  letter  was  then  sent  on  to 
Taipei,  and  thence  to  Tiongleck  and  Tekcham, 
receiving  at  each  stage  an  additional  stamp, 
probably  as  evidence  of  the  responsibility  of 
the  affixing  office. 
This  organisation  fell  on  the  cession  of  Formosa  to  Japan 
in  1895. 

These  are  the  postal  organisations  instituted  by  the 
government  of  China,  and,  except  in  Formosa,  for  the 
.  transmission  of  official  despatches  only.  The  people  of 
China  are  essentially  a  literary  and  commercial  people,  and 
in  both  capacities  are  a  letter-writing  people ;  and  for 
centuries  past  they  have  attended  to  the  transniission  of 
their  business  and  family  correspondence  with  no  more 
support  or  interference  from  the  government  than  is  given 
to  any  other  commercial  undertaking.  This  they  did  by 
'•  Letter  Hongs,"  usually  established  by  a  remittance  bank 
or  a  merchant's  firm  having  its  own  business  connections 
with  certain  other  places,  and  having  its  own  correspondence 
to  forward,  undertaking  for  a  consideration  to  forward  the 
letters  of  other  people,  and  gradually  extending  their  postal 
operations  to  other  places  in  the  same  direction  to  which 
their  ordinary  business  does  not  extend.  Under  this  system 
very  strong  letter  hongs  have  been  developed,  utilising 
every  means  of  conveyance,  and  meeting  in  every  way  the 
wishes  of  the  public;    maintaining  fast  special  services 


THE  POST  OFFICE  395 

where  they  are  wanted,  content  with  slow  channels  where 
economy  is  the  first  object,  keeping  open  until  after  midnight 
when  that  hour  is  more  suitable,  and,  most  attractive  in 
China,  making  the  addressee  pay  a  portion  of  the  postage, 
usually  half.  The  transmission  of  silver,  bank  draits,  and 
parcels  is  a  most  lucrative  part  of  their  business.  They  have 
a  tariff,  more  or  less  fixed  according  to  distance,  ranging 
from  20  cash  (\d,)  to  200  cash  (si.)  for  each  letter,  but  are 
not  particular  to  an  ounce  or  two  in  the  weight ;  and  these 
rates  may  be  reduced  to  an  important  customer  or  commuted 
for  an  annual  subsidy,  while  smaller  people  will  ordinarily 
pay  more,  and  addressees  are  regularly  mulcted  in  extra 
payments.  On  the  whole  the  system  has  suited  admirably 
the  public  which  it  serves,  but  has  the  fatal  effect,  from  a 
national  point  of  view,  that  it  does  not  encourage  postal 
development  on  lines  not  inunediately  profitable,  the  funds 
for  this  purpose,  derived  from  the  more  profitable  routes, 
being  diverted  to  private  pockets. 

Any  national  and  general  postal  organisation  has  thus 
two  strong  vested  interests  to  encoimter:  the  first,  the 
official  interest  in  the  expenditure  of  Tls.3,000,000  annually 
in  rendering  a  service  which  could  be  performed  by  other 
hands  at  less  than  half  the  cost ;  the  second,  the  com- 
mercial interest  in  a  profitable  business  enterprise,  under 
a  government  which  never  coerces  the  people  but  acts 
mainly  by  moral  suasion  and  on  the  principle  of  "  live 
and  let  live." 

The  Imperial  Post  was  established  by  Imperial  Decree 
on  March  20th,  1896,  as  the  result  of  a  long  experiment 
begun  as  far  back  as  1861  by  the  Inspector  General  of  the 
Chinese  Maritime  Customs  Service,  Sir  Robert  Hart ;  and 
Mr.  T.  Piry  traces  the  development  in  his  report  on  the 
Working  of  the  Post  Office  for  the  year  1904 : 

"  Early  in  the '  sixties,'  during  the  first  few  winters 
after  Foreign  Representatives  took  up  their  residence 
at  Peking,  the  Legation  and  Customs  mails  were 
exchanged  between  Shanghai  and  Peking^  under  the 


396     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

auspices  of  the  Tsung4i  Y&men,  by  means  of  the 
Government  couriers  employed  for  the  transmission  of 
official  despatches.    It  was  then  found  convenient  to 
arrange  that  the  Customs  should  undertake  the  respon- 
sibility of  making  up  and  distributing  these  mails,  a 
practice  which,   for  the  overland  service  during  the 
winter  months,  involved  the  creation  of  Postal  Depart- 
ments at  the  Inspectorate  and  in  the  Custom  Houses  at 
Shanghai    and    Chinkiang,    and,    similarly,    for    the 
transmission  of  mails  by  coast  steamers  during  the 
open  season,  the  opening  of  quasi-Postal  Departments 
in  the  Tientsin  and  other  coast  port  Custom  Houses. 
At  that  early  date  it  could  be  seen  that  out  of  this 
simple    beginning    might    be    elaborated    a  system 
answering   other   and   larger    requirements,    on   the 
principle    of    a    National    Post    Office.      This    idea 
gradually  shaped  into  form  and  had  already  so  much 
ingratiated  itself  in  the  official  mind  that  in  1876, 
when  the  Chefoo  Convention  was  being  negotiated, 
the  Tsung-li  Y&men  authorised  the  Inspector  General 
to  inform  the  British  Minister,  Sir  Thomas  Wade,  that 
it  was  prepared  to  sanction  the  establishment  of  a 
National  Postal  S3rstem  and  willing  to  make  it  a  Treaty 
stipulation    that    postal    establishments    should    be 
opened  at  once.    Unfortunately,  through,  so  to  Speak, 
a  conspiracy  of  silence,  the  insertion  of  the  postal 
clause  was  omitted  in  the  official  text  of  the  Treaty, 
and  thus  the  project  was  postponed  sine  die.    Mean- 
while, however,  the  experiment  was  persevered  with 
and  warmly  encouraged  by  the  Imperial  Commissioner 
Li  Hung-chang,  who  promised  to  '  father '  it  officially 
as  soon  as  it  proved  a  success.    Hence  the  more 
formal   opening  of  Postal   Departments  at  various 
Custom  Houses,   the  1878  experiment  of  trying  a 
Native  Post  Office  alongside  the  Customs  Post,  and 
the  establishment  of  Customs  couriers  from  Taku  to 
Tientsin,  from  Tientsin  to  Peking,  and  the  Customs 


THE  POST  OFFICE  397 

winter  mail  service  overland  from  Tientsin  to  New- 
chwang,  from  Tientsin  to  Chefoo,  and  from  Tientsin 
to  Chinkiang,  as  also  the  introduction  of  Customs 
postage  stamps  in  1878. 

"  The  growing  importance  of  the  Service  thus 
quietly  built  up  and  its  convenience  for  regular  com- 
munications with  Peking  and  between  Treaty  ports 
were  not  only  appreciated  by  the  foreign  public,  but 
were  also  recognised  by  the  foreign  Administrations 
having  postal  agencies  in  China.  In  1878  China  was 
formally  invited  to  join  the  Postal  Union.  In  the  same 
year,  while  gn  a  visit  to  Paris,  the  Inspector  General 
was  sounded  by  the  French  Minister  for  Foreign  Afifairs 
as  to  a  possible  way  of  withdrawing  the  French  Post 
Office  in  Shanghai ;  and  while,  more  than  once,  the 
British  Postmaster  General  at  Hongkong  expressed 
his  readiness  to  close  the  Hongkong  Post  Office 
agencies  along  the  coast,  arrangements  were  actually 
discussed  for  the  absorption  by  the  Customs  Depart- 
ment of  the  Municipal  Post  Office  at  Shanghai.  But  no 
definite  response  to  these  overtures  could  be  given,  or 
final  steps  taken,  before  the  Chinese  Government  had 
declared  its  intention  to  undertake  national  responsi- 
bilities ;  and  the  Customs  Department  continued  to 
satisfy  only  certain  wants  and  prepare  the  system 
for  further  development  till,  twenty  years  after  the 
Chefoo  Convention,  the  Decree  of  the  20th  March, 
1896,  appeared.  This  Decree  created  an  Imperial 
Post  for  all  China,  to  be  modelled  on  Western  lines,  the 
organisation  and  management  of  which  were  confided 
to  Sir  Robert  Hart,  who  from  that  date  has  acted 
in  the  double  capacity  of  Inspector  General  of  Customs 
and  Posts. 

"  This  long  hesitation  on  the  part  of  the  Chinese 
Government  to  formally  recognise  and  foster  an 
institution  known  to  have  worked  with  such  profitable 
results  in  foreign  countries,   both  from  public  and 


398    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

revenue  standpoints,  may  be  to  some  people  a  matter 
of  surprise.  But  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  from 
immemorial  times  the  Chinese  nation  has  possessed 
two  postal  institutions :  one,  the  I-chan  (or  Imperial 
Government  Courier  Service),  deeply  rooted  in  official 
routine ;  the  other,  the  Native  posting  agencies,  long 
used  and  respected  by  the  people.  Both  give  employ- 
ment to  legions  of  couriers,  and  are  still  necessary  to 
the  requirements  of  an  immense  nation ;  they  can 
neither  be  suppressed,  transformed,  nor  replaced  at  a 
stroke.  The  Imperial  decision  therefore  only  gave 
final  sanction  to  a  new  and  vast  undertaking,  but 
abolished  nothing;  it  is  through  competition  and 
long  and  persevering  efforts  that  the  two  older  systems 
must  be  gradually  superseded  and  the  implantation 
of  the  National  Post  Office  patiently  pursued." 

The  first  notification  of  the  extension  to  the  public  of 
the  Customs  postal  facilities  appeared  in  the  Shanghai 
newspapers  in  the  following  terms : 

CUSTOMS  NOTIFICATION 
Winter  Sbrvicb 

Postage  stamps  and  copies  of  Postal  Tariff  may 
be  obtained  on  application  at  the  Customs  Postal 
Department. 

(Signed)  J.  H.  HART. 

Shanghai,  i6/A  December,  1878. 

This  winter  service  was  organised  by  the  Tientsin 
Customs  Commissioner,  Mr.  G.  Detring,  in  1876,  so  as  to 
maintain,  with  an  overland  courier  service  via  Chinkiang, 
the  postal  communications  with  the  outer  world  necessarily 
interrupted  by  the  port  of  Tientsin  being  ice-blocked. 

Mr.  Detring  sent  to  Shanghai  one  of  his  Writers,  a 
Mr.  Wu  Kuan,  who,  under  the  control  of  the  Shanghai 


THE  POST  OFFICE  399 

Commissioner,  supervised  the  overland  courier  service  to 
the  north.  This  department,  which  was  called  the  Shu 
Hsin  Kuan,  or  Post  OflBice,  was  opened  on  July  24th,  1878, 
and  started  with  a  staff  of  seventeen  men 

Under  instructions  issued  in  December  1882,  the  sjrstem 
was  extended  to  all  treaty  ports  north  of  Fukien,  but  still 
working  on  "  Postal  Department "  principles,  and  this 
continued  until  the  issue  of  the  Imperial  Decree  in  1896. 
Up  to  this  time  Mr.  Detring  had,  under  the  Inspector 
General,  been  mainly  responsible  for  the  organisation  and 
development  of  postal  work,  under  the  designation  of  Postal 
Commissioner.  In  1896  Mr.  H.  Kopsch  was  appointed  the 
first  Postal  Secretary ;  he  was  succeeded  in  1897  by  Mr.  J. 
A.  van  Aalst ;  and  he  in  1901  by  Mr.  T.  Piry,  to  whom  the 
present  organisation  of  the  Post  OflBice  is  mainly  due. 

Under  its  present  organisation  the  headquarters  of  the 
Imperial  Post  Oflfice  are  at  Peking,  where  all  postal  affairs 
are  dealt  with  by  the  Postal  Secretary  under  the  Inspector 
General  of  Customs  and  Posts.  There  is  also  at  Shanghai 
a  Deputy  Postal  Secretary  to  attend  to  supplies.  The 
Eighteen  Provinces  and  Manchuria  have  been  divided  into 
postal  districts,  now  fifty  in  number.  Next  to  the  head- 
quarters staff  come  Postal  Commissioners — now  four, 
at  Peking,  Hankow,  Shanghai,  and  Canton — exercising  direct 
control  over  their  own  district  and  a  supervising  direction 
over  neighbouring  districts.  The  other  treaty-port  districts 
are  under  the  Commissioner  of  Customs  acting  ex  officio  as 
District  Postmaster ;  and  the  inland  districts,  six  in  number, 
are  under  District  Inspectors  stationed  at  the  respective 
provincial  capitals. 

Each  Head  or  Sub-Head  Ofidce  has  under  it  a  certain 

number  of  subordinate  offices ;   these  are  of  three  kinds : 

Branch  Offices,  at  which  the  Imperial  Post  Office 

maintains  its  own  staif  on  its  own  premises ; 
Inland  Agencies,  at  which  licensed  Agents,  who  are 
usually  substantial  shopkeepers  of  the  place  and 
guaranteed,  undertake  all  postal  business,  indud* 


400    THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

ing  the  delivery  of  correspondence,  in  return  for 
a  fixed  commission  and  certain  other  ^nduments  ; 
and 
Box    OfiGlces — ^that    is,    small    shops    in    whidx    the 
Imperial  Post  Office  places  letter-boxes,  cleared  at 
certain  times  during  the  day,  and  where  the  owner, 
under  license  and  guarantee,  is  allowed  to  sell 
stamps  to  the  public  in  return  for  a  small  com- 
mission :  ordinary  postal  business^  including  regis- 
tration, can  be  effected  at  these  shops,  but  the 
owners  do  not  undertake  delivery.    Box  Offices 
are  placed  in  all  large  cities  as  adjuncts  to  the 
Head  and   Branch  Offices   situated   there.    In 
addition,  in  certain  cities  are  to  be  found  street 
pillar-boxes,  which  are  cleared  at  regular  intervals. 
All    Branch   Offices    established   at    important    places 
undertake  the  transmission  of  small  sums  of  money  by 
means  of  a  Money  Order  system,  with  a  limit  of  $50  for 
places  served  by  steam,  and  $10  for  other  places.    The 
value  of  money  orders  issued  in  1910  was  $5,280,000. 

The  size  of  each  postal  district  was  originally  determined 
by  consideration  of  the  distance,  the  density  of  population, 
and  the  means  of  communication  available  in  the  district ; 
but,  the  limits  once  defined,  it  has  been  left  to  Postmasters 
to  extend  to  inland  places  within  their  districts  on  ca:tain 
broad  lines  fixed  by  headquarters,  and  this  extension,  begun 
in  1901,  is  continued ;  and  it  is  intended  to  open  and  establish 
direct  postal  routes  to  as  many  as  possible  of  the  prefectural 
and  district  cities,  and  to  bring  every  open  place  into  postal 
communication,  via  the  treaty  ports  or  Peking,  with  the 
foreign  mail  termini  at  Shanghai,  Tientsin,  Canton,  thence 
with  Union  coimtries  and  the  outside  world. 

The  result  of  this  first  period  of  extension  has  been 
that  at  this  date  the  Imperial  Post  Office  is  to  be  found  and 
all  postal  business  can  be  transacted  in  every  provincial 
capital  of  the  Empire,  in  most  prefectural  and  district 
cities,   and  in  the  more  important  smaller  centres  and 


THE  POST  OFFICE  401 

towns  throughout  China.  The  total  number  of  establish- 
ments on  December  31st,  1906,  was  2,096,  and  5,357  ^^  *he 
end  of  1910. 

Communication  between  Imperial  establishments  is 
kept  up  by  means  of  contract  steamers  (26,000  li)  on  the 
coast  and  large  rivers ;  by  railways  (15,000  li)  where  they 
*  exist ;  by  steam-launches,  junks,  or  hong-boats  (24,000  li) 
on  the  inland  waterways ;  and  on  the  numerous  overland 
routes,  which  now  measure  over  287,000  li  (95,600  miles) 
in  length,  by  mounted  or  foot  couriers ;  a  total  in  1910  of 
352,000  li  or  about  117,000  miles. 

The  coast  and  river  steamers  and  laimches  run  on 
certain  lines  and  between  fixed  points,  and  are  availed  of 
wherever  possible.  Railways  are  still  in  their  infancy  in 
China,  but  lines  already  open  are  used  to  their  full  extent. 
Hong-boats  are  chiefly  used  in  the  southern  part  of  Kiangsu 
and  northern  Chekiang — a  district  with  a  large  network 
of  canals  and  small  creeks,  many  of  them  unnavigahle  by 
launches.  This  part  of  China  is  also  very  densely  populated, 
and  although  the  Shanghai,  Hangchow,  and  Ningpo  districts 
are  not  extensive,  they  contain  an  unusually  large  number 
of  post  offices,  a  remark  likewise  applicable  to  the  Canton 
delta  districts. 

Communication  by  couriers,  of  a  kind  to  fulfil  the 
requirements  of  a  Postal  Service  built  up  on  Western  lines, 
has  naturally  been  no  easy  matter  in  a  vast  coimtry  like 
China,  presenting  every  variety  of  geographical  features 
and  where  public  roads  are  utterly  neglected.  Old-estab- 
lished trade  routes  are  usually  followed,  even  at  the  cost  of 
extra  distance,  as  offering  greater  safety  for  the  couriers, 
and  as  capable  of  convenient  subdivision  into  stages,  from 
the  number  of  towns  and  villages  found  on  them.  Stages 
are  generaUy  limited  to  100  li  (33  English  miles),  and  the 
couriers  run  according  to  schedule  on  fixed  days ;  but  on 
the  main  routes  speed  is  accelerated  as  much  as  possible, 
daily  despatch  being  ensured  on  them  for  light  mails  and 
an  every-two-days  or  semi-weekly  service  for  heavy  mails. 

26 


402 


THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 


For  light  mafls  night-and-day  foot  couriers  are  used  in 
some  parts  and  mounted  couriers  in  others,  raising  the 
speed  to  200  li  (or  65  miles)  per  day.  The  couriers  are 
the  employees  of  the  Imperial  Post  Oflftce,  and  wear 
uniforms  or  badges. 

As  actually  constituted,  the  staff  of  the  Imperial  Post 
Ofi&ce  included  in  1906— 


Foreign 
Inspector  General  and  Headquarters 

Staff  

Postmasters  ex  officio 
Postal  Commissioners 
Postmasters,    Deputy    Postmasters, 

and  Assistants 

District  Inspectors 

Postal  Ofi&cers  

Mail  Escort  Officers 


Chinese 
Inspecting  Clerks 
Chinese  Clerks — ^linguists 

„  non-linguists 

Postal  Agents 

Writers  

Sorters,  Letter-carriers  and  Couriers, 
Miscellaneous 


5 

33 

4 

14 

4 
78 

6 
—     144 


29 

319 
674 

.     1,361 

5 
and 

.     3.190 


Total  Foreign  and  Chinese 


5>578 
5722 


In  1910  the  foreign  staff  numbered  120,  and  the  Chinese 
staff  over  14,000. 

The  functions  of  Postmasters  are  for  the  present  fulfilled 
by  the  Commissioners  of  Customs  authorised  to  act  at  the 
treaty  ports  as  Postmasters  ex  officio,  or,  for  a  few  ports, 
by  separate  appointees.  Deputy  Postmasters  are  ad- 
ditional at  the  largest  ports.    District  Inspectors  reside  in 


THE  POST  OFFICE  403 

the  interior  in  charge  of  sub-districts  or  travel  on  tours  of 
inspection  of  the  inland  establishments.  Postal  Officers 
supervise  all  Service  details  at  Head  Offices,  and  control 
from  there  all  the  routine  work  and  active  operations 
carried  on  by  native  hands  throughout  the  districts.  Chinese 
linguist  clerks  possess  a  practical  knowledge  of  English,  and 
do  duty  at  Head  Offices  or  act  in  charge  of  Branch  Offices 
at  places  where  foreign  communities  are  foimd.  Non- 
linguists  are  not  required  to  know  a  foreign  language,  and 
work  at  Head  Offices  imder  the  linguists,  or  in  charge  of 
various  establishments  inland.  Grades  and  rates  of  pay 
are  fixed,  and  all  employees  advance  by  promotion.  Chinese 
clerks  are  all  guaranteed,  and  the  whole  S5rstem,  which,  in 
the  main,  rests  on  their  honesty  and  their  efficiency,  works 
satisfactorily,  cases  of  loss,  misbehaviour,  or  peculation 
being  of  extremely  rare  occurrence. 

A  uniform  and  elaborate  system  of  accounts  has  been 
devised  for  recording  all  receipts  and  expenditure.  Each 
Head  Office,  under  foreign  supervision,  keeps  the  accoimts 
of  its  district  and  renders  them  to  Peking,  where  they  are 
audited  and  passed  to  a  General  Account  for  the  whole 
Service. 

The  organisation  as  above  described,  incomplete  as  it 
is  yet,  answers  the  most  immediate  requirements  of  postal 
work  ;  and  the  progress  made  these  last  few  years — ^that  is, 
since  steady  expansion  began  in  1901 — ^vouches  for  the 
soundness  of  the  S5rstem  upon  which  it  is  established. 

A  few  comparative  figures  will  prove  interesting. 


1901. 

X903. 

1906. 

19x0. 

District  Offices 

30 

34 

j: 

49 

Branch  Offices 

134 

^ 

736 

Agencies           .. 

13 

1,574 

4,57a 

Articles  dealt  with      .. 

10,500,000 

42,500,000 

1x3,000,000 

355,000,000 

Paxoels:  number 

126,800 

487,000 
2,673.000 

1.383,000 

3,766,000 

weight  in  lbs. 

552,000 

9,482,000 

25,373,000 

Letters      in       Native 

dnbbed  mails 

7,300,000 

7,a67,500 

7,8^,000 

7,409^000 

404     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

Divided  between  the  foiir  large  geographical  divisions 
of  China,  the  results  for  1906  and  1910  can  be  summarised 
as  follows: 


1906. 

19x0. 

Bstah- 
Uah- 
aents. 

ArtklM. 

Paicds. 

QBtab- 
ligh- 
mcatft. 

Artlcks. 

FaiceU. 

North  China 
Central  China      .. 
Lower  Yangtze   . . 
Southern  China  .. 

696 
4x5 

37,000,000 
17,500,000 
38,500,000 
20,000,000 

397,000 
248,000 
450,000 
288,000 

a,i74 

1,002 

751 

1,430 

151,000,000 
53,000,000 
94,000,000 
57,000,000 

1,837,000 
571,000 
S99,ooo 
459,000 

Total    .. 

2,096 

ii3,0oo»ooo 

1,383.000 

5,357 

355.000,000 

3,766,000 

A  few  words  must  be  said  on  the  financial  means  of  this 
large  Service.  It  may  not  be  generally  known  that,  not 
only  had  the  postal  experiment  started  in  1861  to  be 
carried  on  for  over  thirty  years  against  numerous  difficulties 
and  without  the  avowed  support  of  the  government,  but, 
even  after  its  formal  recognition  in  1896,  without  any 
special  pecuniary  help  from  it.  The  Customs  Service,  imder 
the  leadership  of  Sir  Robert  Hart,  had  alone,  from  the 
beginning,  to  support  this  stupendous  enterprise,  lending 
to  it  the  assistance  of  its  staff  and  such  resources  as  it 
could  spare ;  the  independent  and  quiet  creation  of  an 
administration  so  new  and  so  useful  is  the  more  wonderful 
in  this  inunovable  country,  and  it  will  not  be  the  least  of 
the  services  rendered  by  the  Customs  and  its  chief  to  China 
and  her  people.  In  the  middle  of  1904  the  Chinese  govern- 
ment, confident  at  last  of  the  ultimate  success  of  the  National 
Post  Office,  granted  the  subsidies  required  to  bring  up  this 
Service  to  a  state  of  completeness.  On  June  12th,  1904, 
the  Inspector  General  was  notified  by  the  Yamen  that 
in  future  an  annual  grant  of  Hk.  Tls.720,000  would  be 
issued,  payable  in  monthly  instalments  of  Hk.  Tls.10,000 
at  six  of  the  treaty  ports  —  Tientsin,  Shanghai,  Hankow, 
Foochow,  Swatow,  and  Canton.    This  grant  has  not  been 


THE  POST  OFFICE  405 

received  in  full,  not  more  than  half  being  forthcoming,  but 
it  enables  the  Service  to  provide  for  its  actual  money 
deficiency.  The  Post  OflBce  is  worked  "  on  the  cheap." 
Chinese  cheap  labour  is  utilised  to  the  fullest  extent  com- 
patible with  paying  a  suflBcient  living  wage  to  remove  from 
the  staff  the  necessity  of  supplementing  it  by  peculation ; 
and  in  addition  much  is  still  provided  from  funds  of  the 
Revenue  Department  of  the  Customs.  The  salaries  of  the 
Inspector  General,  the  Deputy  Postal  Secretary,  the  District 
Postmasters  ex  officio,  the  District  Accountants,  and  many 
subordinate  employees  are  not  a  charge  on  postal  funds  ;  the 
mass  of  printed  forms  required,  about  thirty  million  in 
a  year,  are  provided  without  special  accounting ;  oflBce 
accommodation  is  provided  on  Customs  premises  at  many 
of  the  smaller  ports  ;  steamer  mail  subsidies  are  paid  from 
Customs  funds ;  and  it  is  probable  that  a  complete  sever- 
ance of  Customs  and  Postal  expenditure  would  add  to  the 
latter  some  lakhs  of  taels  a  year.* 

It  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  Postal  undertaking 
has  long  passed  the  experimental  stage.  Large  communities, 
foreign  and  Chinese,  are  now  dependent  on  the  Imperial 
Post  Office  for  the  transmission  of  their  correspondence, 
and  the  public  duties  of  the  Service  increase  every  day. 
New  establishments  are  wanted  in  every  direction,  and 
at  those  now  open  the  work  is  becoming  heavier.  The 
system  hitherto  followed,  to  stretch  out  lengthy  lines  of 
couriers  so  as  to  rapidly  bring  all  large  cities  of  the  interior 
into  communication  with  treaty  ports,  had  to  be  carried 
on  without  special  regard  to  the  local  exploitation  of  each 
great  centre,  and,  as  a  consequence,  many  are  still  only 
provided  with  Agencies  quite  inadequate  to  their  require- 
ments. Every  fu  and  hsien  city  t  should  now  have  its  own 
and  properly  constituted  Post  Office,  able,  separately,  to 

*  In  1911  the  Post  Office  was  severed  from  the  Customs,  and 
provided  with  its  own  budget. 

t  In  1910,  in  a  total  of  1,910  such  cities,  1,680  were  provided 
with  Poet  Offices,  leaving  only  230  for  the  future. 


406     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

undertake  the  establishment  and  control  of  agencies  or 
box  of&ces  in  all  the  localities  in  its  neighbourhood.  A 
larger  staff  and  larger  means  are  required  for  this,  and  it 
is  obvious  that  until  this  is  done  much  of  the  advantages 
and  possibilities  of  the  new  system  will  be  neglected.  These 
considerations  have  been  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  Chinese 
government,  and  effective  ofi&cial  support  in  various  direc- 
tions is  now  assured.  Doubts  can  no  longer  be  entertained 
that  the  Postal  programme  is  definitely  accepted  and 
welcomed  in  official  circles,  and  we  have  seen  in  Shansi, 
Honan,  Hupeh,  and  some  other  provinces  the  high  pro- 
vincial authorities  issue,  of  their  own  accord,  remarkable 
proclamations  making  known  to  the  population  the  char- 
acter and  aims  of  the  Imperial  Post  Office,  and  enjoining 
upon  all  to  welcome  and  support  it  as  the  national  institu- 
tion. There  is  now  no  more  trouble,  on  the  opening  of  new 
establishments,  to  obtain  local  proclamations  from  the 
authorities  of  the  place,  and,  in  fact,  Magistrates  not 
unfrequently  apply  of  themselves  for  the  planting  of  es- 
tablishments in  their  cities,  and  wherever  protection  is 
asked  for  offices  or  couriers  it  is  readily  granted.  Indica- 
tions are  seen  everywhere  of  the  growth  of  the  institution ; 
its  low  rates,  quickness,  and  regularity  draw  the  public 
more  and  more  to  its  coimters. 

China  has  not  yet  formally  entered  the  Universal  Postal 
Union,  but  special  Conventions  entered  into  with  Japan, 
France,  Hongkong,  and  India  place  her,  through  the  inter- 
mediary of  the  contracting  Administrations,  in  exactly  the 
same  postal  relations  with  all  Union  coimtries  as  if  she  had 
already  joined  it.  Under  these  Conventions  Chinese  mail 
matter  for  abroad,  franked  in  Chinese  stamps,  is  handed 
over  in  open  bags  to  the  foreign  Post  Office  at  the  foreign 
mail  terminus  port,  and  that  Post  Office,  by  date-stamping 
each  cover,  confers  on  it  the  right  of  admission  into  any 
Union  country  in  the  world ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  foreign 
Post  Office  hands  over  in  a  similar  way  its  incoming  cor- 
respondence for  transmission  through  Chinese  lines.    There 


THE  POST  OFFICE  407 

is  thus  between  the  Chinese  and  foreign  Offices  an  exchange 
of  services  which  are  paid  for,  as  is  done  by  any  two  Union 
countries,  on  the  basis  of  yearly  statistics  taken  during  the 
first  twenty-eight  days  of  May  or  November  of  alternate 
years,  and  which  are  settled  at  the  established  Union  rates. 
For  this  exchange  of  services  foreign  governments  have  made 
ample  provision.  At  Shanghai,  where  a  reason  for  the 
presence  of  a  few  of  them  exists  in  the  necessity  of  con- 
necting with  various  national  and  subsidised  lines  of  mail 
steamers,  there  are  no  less  than  six  foreign  Post  Offices — 
British,  French,  German,  American,  Japanese,  and  Russian 
— ^and,  to  utilise  fully  the  postal  facilities  of  the  port,  the 
public  may  find  it  expedient  to  keep  supplies  of  the  postage 
stamps  of  seven  nations.  At  other  ports  no  such  neces- 
sity now  exists,  but  foreign  Post  Offices,  from  one  to  five 
(the  American  not  participating),  have  been  established 
at  twenty-five  ports,  not  including  French  Offices  at  Mengtsz 
and  Chungking  for  an  internal  and  purely  Chinese  postal 
traffic.  Of  these,  the  British  offices  were  established  many 
years  ago  to  supply  the  need  of  merchants  when  no  other 
postal  facilities  were  offered  to  the  public ;  but,  except  at 
Shanghai,  the  others  all  date  from  the  general  scramble  for 
political  influence  of  the  past  two  decades. 

It  should  be  remembered  here  that  in  dealing  with 
international  correspondence,  China  in  every  respect  con- 
forms to  the  rules  of  a  Union  country.  In  April  1896, 
shortly  after  the  promulgation  of  the  Imperial  edict  es- 
taUishing  the  National  Post,  China  addressed  the  Conseil 
F6d6ral  Suisse,  notifying  the  creation  of  the  Imperial 
Postal  Service,  and  her  formal  intenfion  to  join  the  Union 
as  soon  as  organisation  permitted;  meanwhile  her  Post 
Offices,  as  they  opened  at  the  treaty  and  other  ports,  were 
to  observe  Union  practice  and  rules.  These  declarations 
she  confirmed  again  before  the  Universal  Postal  Congress 
of  Washington  in  1897,  and  ever  since  she  has  ackno^edged, 
at  these  places,  Universal  Postal  Union  regulations  and 
rates,    Consequently,  all  international  mail  matter,  to  and 


408     THE  TRADE  AND  ADMINISTRATION  OF  CHINA 

from  treaty  ports  and  steam-served  places,  are  passed  free 
at  Chinese  Offices  if  fully  prepaid  at  Union  tariffs,  and, 
when  a  tax  is  applied  for  insufficiency  of  postage,  it  is  done 
in  conformity  with  Union  rules.  To  non-steam-served 
places,  where  communications  have  to  be  maintained  by  a 
costly  service  of  land  couriers,  the  rule  remains  the  same 
for  light  articles — ^letters  and  postcards ;  but  on  printed 
matter  and  other  heavy  mail  articles  the  Chinese  Adminis- 
tration imposes  a  domestic  charge,  distinct  from  Union 
rates,  to  cover  courier  expenses.  As  regards  more  par- 
ticularly mail  matter  arriving  from  British  places  at  the 
penny  postage  rate  or  from  the  United  States  at  American 
domestic  rate,  if  received  for  distribution  at  Shanghai  it 
is  distributed  free,  but  if  received  for  further  transmission 
through  the  Imperial  Post  Office  system  it  is  taxed  in 
conformity  with  Union  rules. 

The  native  letter  hongs  present  a  far  more  difficult 
problem.  Entrenched  in  monopoly  and  possessing  a 
profitable  vested  interest  in  postal  work,  they  obtain  the 
backing  which  is  alwaj^  given  in  China  to  vested  interests, 
and  even  the  provision  of  cheaper  postal  facilities  to  the 
public  does  not  prevail  against  their  plea  that  "  they  are 
there,  and  wish  to  remain  there."  Compulsion  and  the 
monopoly  of  postal  transmission  to  the  Government  Office 
are  out  of  the  question,  and  the  Imperial  Post  has  been 
driven  to  invite  them  to  co-operate.  Registration  hurts  no 
one,  and  they  have  been  given  practically  free  transport  * 
for  their  closed  mails — called  "  clubbed  mails  " — along  the 
coast,  and  these  mails  they  have  consented  to  hand  over 
for  transmission.  Unprofitable  inland  lines  they  have  been 
willing  to  abandon,  but  for  the  profitable  routes  they  fight 
tooth  and  nail.  Between  them  and  the  National  Post  it 
is  "  a  fair  field  and  no  favour,"  and  the  latter,  with  fixed 
rules  and  more  or  less  fixed  hours,  is  heavily  handicapped 
against  business  agencies  with  flexible  rules  and  no  hours 
to  speak  of.  The  Chinese  trader  and  official  know  no  limi- 
'*  A  charge  for  transport  was  imposed  from  Kovember  1906. 


THE  POST  OFFICE  409 

tation  to  their  hours  of  business,  and  they  patronise  the 
agency  which  consults  their  convenience.  The  Post  Office 
must  close  at  some  fixed  hour,  even  if  it  is  at  9  or  10  p.m. 
The  business  agency  may  remain  open  imtil  2  or  3  or  4  a.m. 
if  thereby  business  is  furthered,  and  makes  a  practice  of 
collecting  mail  matter,  even  at  those  hours,  from  its  clients' 
places  of  business.  By  these  conditions  the  Post  Office  in 
China  is  driven  to  develop  on  lines  of  its  own,  without 
much  regard  to  procedure  elsewhere,  and  several  innovations 
have  been  introduced  experimentally.  An  *'  express  de- 
livery "  S5rstem  has  been  instituted  at  and  between  Peking, 
Tientsin,  Shanghai,  Hankow,  Foochow,  and  Canton ;  house- 
to-house  collection  has  been  started  in  the  business  section 
of  certain  large  cities  ;  and,  in  general,  every  effort  is  made 
to  increase  postal  facilities  to  meet  the  views  of  an  exacting 
Chinese  public. 

On  May  28th,  191 1,  the  Post  Office  severed  its  connection 
with  the  Customs  and  was  placed  directly  under  the  Yu- 
chuan  Pu  (Ministry  of  Posts  and  Communications). 


APPENDIX  A 


FOREIGN  DEBT  OF  CHINA  OUTSTANDING  DECBMBER  31ST,   IQII. 

(Exchange  at  35.  per  tael.) 


Title. 

Issued. 

Principal 
Amount. 

Rate 
of 
Int. 

Chaxge 
191Z. 

onto 
Dee.  1911. 

Principal 
Dec.  19x1. 

NtdiofuA  Loam  : 

113.080 

8,400 

87,780 

27,300 

z.  1,01111  H,  Tls.767.aeo  . . 

1886 

a.  HongkoogandShaiigliai 

Bank,  Tls.  10,900,000 

3.  Aniliold,Kaft>ctgftCo. 

1894 

1.633,000 

197,833 

1,308,000 

327,000 

(Nanktngl^ou)      .. 

1893 

i»ooo,ooo 

84,600 

733.300 

366,700 

4.  CaMdl^oaii     .. 

1893 

1,000,000 

84.600 

733.300 

366,700 

3.   Hftaglnnwg  awftftliapghfij 

Bank 

1895 

3.000,000 

248,000 

2,400,000 

600,000 

6.  Ftanoo-Raadan  I^oan 

(Fr.400,000,000) 

1898 

i3.8ao,ooo 
16,000,000 
16,000,000 

4| 

836,669 

4»452,527 
3.6oa,573 
1,977.375 

xx,367,473 
12,397.425 
14,022,633 

9.  Hongkong  anrtRhanghal 

Bank 

1903 

1,000,000 

6i,a3o 

800,000 

200,000 

10.  Japanese  Loan 

11.  Tclegimplia  Unn 

1911 

1,000,000 

30,000 

— 

X, 000,000 

1911 

300,000 

23.000 

— 

300,000 

IndtmnUUt  (1901) : 

la.  Scries  A 

it,a3o,ooo 

374,423 

1,493.86a 

9,756,138 

13.  Series  B 

9,000,000 

320,470 

• 

9,000,000 

14.  Series  C 

aa,3oo,ooo 

900,000 

1913  t 

33,500,000 

13.  Scries  D. 

7.300,000 

300,000 
690,000 

1916 

7,500,000 

z6.  Series  B 

17.230,000 

i932)t 

X  7. 350,000 

124,370,080 

6,373.416 

17.588,7x9 

106.981,361 

RMilwmyt  : 

17.  Jinperiaiaiin«eRly. 

1899 

a»30o,ooo 
1,000,000 
1,640,000 

169.626 

402,506 
(i93X)t 
(i9X5)t 

1,897.500 

16.  Shansl  Rly 

19.  Kaifeng-Bonanfa  RI7. 
ao.  Shan^-^anUng  Ay. 

190a 
Z903-7 

80,000 
8a,ooo 

z,6oo,ooo 

1,640,000 

1904-7 

2,900,000 

145,000 

3,900,000 

ai.  Taokow-TBlngiiwa  Rly. 

1903 

700,000 

35.000 

1933  t 
1915 
1920  t 

700,000 

aa.  Canton-Hankow  Rly. 
a3.  Canton-Kowloon  Rfy. 

1903 

1,100,000 

4i 

49,500 

x,xoo,ooo 

1907 

1,300,000 

75.000 

x,5oo,ooo 

1908 

1,300,000 

75.000 

1919  t 
(1919  t 

x,3oo,ooo 

23.  Tlcntsin-Pukow  Rly. 

1908-10 

8,000,000 

400,000 

8,000,000 

a6.  FeUng-HankowRly. 
37.      Dttto. 

1908 

3,000,000 

330,000 

5,000,000 

Z910 

430,000 

31,500 

(X9i6)t 

450,000 

a8.  Manchnrian  Rys.  (Ja- 

a9.  Hukrag  Ryi.'  * 

1909 
191X 

^  a38,3oo 
0,000,000 

"•915 
300,000 

=: 

358,300 
6,000,000 

32,948,300 

i,705.54X 

402,500 

33,345,800 

Tetsl  Limhilitin 

137,3x8,380 

8.078,957 

17,991,219 

X39,5«7,x6x 

^  Rcdcfoptioa  to  bcgia  X91Z,  Imt  delayed  by  Revolntioa. 

4" 


to 


APPENDIX   B 

A  FEW  t3q>ical  instances  are  given  below,  showing  the  nature 
of  the  cases  which  come  before  the  foreign  Courts  in  China,  and 
the  way  they  are  dealt  with. 

BRITISH   SUPREME    COURT 

Shanghai,  May  2isi,  1906. 

Before  Sir  Havilland  de  Sausmarez,  Judge 

A.  Pavlow  v.  Baron  Ward 

This  was  an  adjourned  rehearing  with  regard  to  the  defen- 
dant's set-ofiE  of  Tls.40,000. 

Mr.  L.  E.  P.  Jones  appeared  for  the  plaintiff,  and  Mr.  A.  S.  P. 
White-Cooper  for  the  defendant. 

Mr.  Jones  said  that  at  the  last  hearing  the  Court  had  asked 
him  for  an  assurance  that  there  was  another  Court  in  Shanghai 
which  was  competent  to  deal  with  Baron  Ward's  claim  against 
Mr.  Pavlow  in  the  event  of  this  Court  dismissing  it ;  and  on 
the  strength  of  the  correspondence  which  he  had  filed  counsel 
was  now  able  to  give  the  assurance  that  the  Russian  Consular 
Court  had  the  necessary  jurisdiction  in  the  case. 

Mr.  White-Cooper  said  he  had  not  yet  any  evidence  available, 
smd  asked  for  the  hearing  to  be  adjourned  till  June  15th.  The 
Tls.40,000  had  been  retained  by  Mr.  Kristensen ;  it  had  never 
been  in  the  hands  of  Baron  Ward. 

His  Lordship  said  the  state  of  the  case  was  that  there  would 
have  to  be  some  issue  determining  the  amount  to  be  set  ofi. 
It  had  been  held  that  the  plaintiff  was  entitled  to  set  off  some- 
thing, but  the  amount  had  not  been  ascertained.  A  new  trial 
was  to  be  had  as  to  the  propriety  of  the  sum  of  Tls.40,000. 
At  the  trial  before  the  full  Court  the  Assistant  Judge  said :  "  I 
therefore  agree  there  ought  to  be  a  new  trial  as  to  this  issue, 
which  I  would  frame  somewhat  as  follows :  '  What  is  the  proper 
sum  to  be  set  ofE  in  respect  of  the  Edendale  transaction  ?  '  " 
Then,  his  Lordship  supposed^  the  order  was  drawn  up. 

4" 


APPENDIX  B  413 

Mr.  Jones  said  that  the  defendant  had  had  ample  oppor- 
tunity aJSorded  him  of  coming  to  the  Court  and  proving  his 
claim.  He  had  failed  to  do  that,  and  counsel  applied  that  that 
claim  be  dismissed,  that  the  order  be  amended  accordingly, 
and  Baron  Ward  be  now  left  to  take  such  steps  as  he  thought 
fit  against  Mr.  Pavlow  in  the  Russian  Court. 

I£s  Lordship  said  he  had  considered  the  matter  very  care- 
fully, and  what  he  would  do  would  be  this :  grant  an  adjourn- 
ment until  June  15th  and  fix  that  date  peremptorily  so  that, 
in  the  event  of  the  defendant  not  appearing  to  substantiate 
his  defence,  he  would  immediately  fail,  and  the  judgment, 
as  modified  by  the  order  of  November  i6th,  1905,  and  the  order 
of  the  Full  Court  would  stand.  As  regarded  this  particular 
claim  something  had  been  said  by  Mr.  Jones  as  to  its  nature. 
His  Lordship  had  looked  very  carefully  through  the  record  of 
the  case  and  also  the  report,  and  had  been  unable  to  find 
that  it  had  been  seriously  argued  at  any  time  that  this  was 
a  counter-claim  and  not  a  set-off.  At  the  same  time,  looking  at 
the  Order  in  Council,  Article  151(3),  *'  Cross-action. — ^A  counter- 
claim shall  not  be  brought  in  the  Court  against  a  plaintiff  being 
a  foreigner,"  his  Lordship  felt  clearly,  from  what  had  occurred, 
that  the  plaintiff  in  this  case  did  not  consent  to  a  counter-claim 
being  brought  against  him  in  that  Court ;  and  it  was  perfectly 
evident  to  his  Lordship's  mind,  on  the  terms  of  the  Order,  that 
if  he  did  adjudicate  on  a  counter-claim  which  was  not  properly 
before  the  Court  the  Court  would  be  exercising  jurisdiction 
which  it  did  not  possess,  and  therefore  any  judgment  which 
might  be  passed  in  the  matter  would  be  necessarily  void,  or  could 
be  attacked  and  easily  upset.  He  thought  therefore  that  if  it 
was  made  to  appear  to  him,  either  at  once  or  on  June  15th,  that 
this  was  a  coimter-claim  and  not  a  set-off,  then  he  ought  not 
to  exercise  jurisdiction.  If,  however,  it  should  prove  to  be  a 
set-off  on  argimient,  then  it  seemed  to  him  that  would  sub- 
stantiate the  defence,  and  the  Order  in  Council  did  not  modify 
the  right  in  any  way  to  raise  siich  a  defence  as  a  set-off.  In 
this  particular  case,  the  proceedings  had  gone  on  so  long  and  had 
so  nearly  reached  an  end,  and  the  findings  of  the  jury  were  very 
^explicit  now  that  they  had  been  dealt  with  in  the  judgment  of 
the  Full  Court,  that  he  thought  clearly  he  ought  to  entertain 
this  set-off  if  it  proved  to  be  a  set-off  and  not  a  counter-claim. 
Therefore  he  would  grant  an  adjournment  until  June  15th, 
and  the  case  would  be  set  down  peremptorily  for  that  date ; 
but  in  the  meantime,  or  at  the  trial,  if  plaintiff's  counsel  chose 
to  move  that  this  Court  did  not  entertain  this  claim  on  the  ground 


414  APPENDIX  B 

that  it  had  no  jurisdiction  to  do  so,  he  would  entertain  the  motion. 
He  had  felt  it  necessary  to  say  this  about  the  counter-claim  and 
the  set-oi!  because  he  did  not  want  it  to  be  thought  that  he  was 
assuming  jurisdiction  which  ought  properly  to  be  exercised 
by  the  Russian  Consular  Court,  but  he  felt  that  he  was  bound 
by  the  statute ;  if  he  was  wrong,  of  course  there  was  occasion 
for  an  appeal,  and  if  the  Russian  authorities  were  not  satisfied 
with  the  judgment,  of  course,  after  it  had  been  reviewed  by  the 
Privy  CouncU,  they  could  move  for  a  new  Order  in  Council. 
The  Court  then  rose. 

Shanghai.  May  yd,  1906. 
Before  Sir  Havilland  de  Sausmarez,  Judge 
Joseph  John  Gilmgre  v.  Henry  Bennertz 

The  hearing  of  this  case  was  concluded.  Mr.  W.  N.  Symonds 
appeared  for  the  plaintiff  and  Mr.  Loftus  £.  P.  Jones  for  the 
defendant. 

Mr.  Jones  said  the  only  other  evidence  which  he  would  like 
to  put  before  the  Court  was  a  copy  of  the  judgment  which  was 
given  in  the  case  against  Mr.  Bennertz  in  which  Tsau  was  plaintiff. 
The  case  was  heard  before  the  Consular  Court  at  Changsha. 
Counsel  also  had  a  copy  of  the  claim  made  by  Mr.  Bennertz 
upon  which  this  Tls.5,200  was  paid ;  also  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Fraser,  British  Consul-General  at  Hankow,  with  regard  to  that 
claim. 

Defendant  was  recalled.  Witness  put  in  a  claim  for  an 
indemnity,  and  the  document  produced  was  a  despatch  he  re- 
ceived from  Mr.  Fraser  in  relation  to  the  matter.  (Counsel 
read  the  despatch  to  show  that  there  were  no  profits  contemplated 
in  this  indemnity ;  it  was  solely  made  up  of  Tls.400  a  month 
compensation.)  Witness  said  at  the  time  Mr.  Gilmore  left 
Changsha  for  Hankow  the  liabilities  of  the  business  exceeded 
Tls.5,200 ;  and  at  the  time  the  indemnity  was  received  the 
liabilities  exceeded  Tls.5,200. 

Mr.  Symonds  put  in  a  letter  written  by  Mr.  Woo  to  Mr. 
Gilmore  dated  April  20th,  1906,  in  which  he  said  the  matter 
was  setted  between  Bennertz  and  Gilmore  before  the  latter 
left  for  Hankow.  Woo  proceeded  to  relate  the  understanding 
which  he  said  was  come  to. 

Witness,  in  reply  to  Mr.  Symonds,  said  he  was  not  satisfied 
with  an  indemnity  of  Tls.5,200.  The  Tls.25,000  was  not  the 
rest  of  the  indemnity. 


APPENDIX  B  415 

Mr.  S3niion(ls  produced  a  statement  in  Mr.  Giles's  hand- 
writing of  the  pa}anents  witness  had  made  out  of  the  Tls.25,000 
up  to  February  15th,  1906.  Cotmsel  pointed  out  that  according 
to  this  statement  there  was  a  balance  of  nearly  Ts.1,700.  What 
had  witness  done  with  that  ? 

Defendant  said  the  Tls.1,700  had  been  spent  in  meeting 
expenses  of  liquidation  of  Chinese  debts  in  Changsha.  There 
was  still  a  small  balance  which  he  had  been  using  to  pay  his 
expenses  in  Shanghai  since  March. 

Mr.  Jones  and  Mr.  Symonds  then  briefly  addressed  his  Lord- 
ship on  the  case. 

Judgment 

His  Lordship  proceeded  to  deUver  judgment  as  follows  : 
The  dispute  in  this  case  has  arisen  out  of  an  enterprise  imder- 
taken  by  the  parties  on  the  opening  of  the  port — I  call  it  a  port 
so  as  not  to  use  a  compromising  word  with  regard  to  the  dty, 
or  fu,  or  whatever  it  might  have  been— of  Changsha,  for  foreign 
trade.  Up  to  this  time,  or  immediately  preceding  this  time, 
the  parties  were  carrying  on  business  at  Hankow.  The  plaintiff 
thought  there  might  be  an  opening  and  he  went  up  to  Changsha 
to  look  about  him,  and  in  consequence  of  his  negotiations  there 
he  thought  an  opportunity  occurred  of  starting  a  business,  and 
he  in  consequence  communicated  with  the  firm  of  Bennertz  & 
Estemau,  with  whom  he  appears  to  have  been  in  communication, 
in  Hankow.  The  details  of  what  happened  do  not  seem  to  me  to 
very  much  affect  the  matter,  but  the  result  of  it  all  was  that 
the  plaintiff  remained  in  Changsha  and  the  defendant  came  up, 
and  they  did  in  fact  start  business.  But  previous  to  that  certain 
negotiations  were  entered  into  and  a  company  was  sketched.  I 
think  that  is  about  all  that  happened  as  regards  that  company. 
It  was  sketched  out,  and  certain  steps  no  doubt  were  taken  to  fill 
in  the  details  of  the  sketch,  but  I  do  not  think  they  ever  amounted 
to  enough  to  give  that  company  any  real  consistency.  The 
consequence  is  that  where  I  find  a  reference  to  the  action  of  the 
company  in  Changsha  I  look  upon  it  as  simply  indicating  the 
business  to  be  carried  on  by  these  people  in  the  company,  and 
who  were  realities,  and  who  continued  to  be  connected  with  the 
trade  name.  There  were  certain  Chinese,  but  they  one  after 
another  fell  out,  and  in  the  end  the  two  parties  to  this  action 
were  the  only  two  people  who  can  be  described  as  people  having 
anything  to  do  with  this  company,  and  they  do  appear  to  have 
carried  on  business  under  the  name  of  Bennertz  &  Co.  and  the 
Chmese  hong  name  of  Yu  Hung-tih.    That  is  the  name  which 


4l6  APPENDIX  B 

continued  throughout,  and  it  appears  to  exist  still.  Difficulties 
arose,  and  I  do  not  see  that  it  makes  any  difference  to  the  present 
action  as  to  whether  these  difficulties  arose  tlux)ugh  the  nature  of 
things  or  from  personal  objection  to  the  defendant  on  the  part 
of  the  Chinese,  as  suggested  by  the  plaintiff.  From  whatever 
source  they  did  arise,  the  business  (ud  not  flourish,  and  after 
about  a  year  things  were  so  bad  that  the  plaintiff  left  Changsha 
because  he  thought  it  was  useless  to  go  on,  and  he  returned  to 
Hankow.  A  claim  was  later  made  for  the  intervention  of  the 
British  authorities  in  Peking,  and  they  cUd  intervene,  with  the 
result  that  payment  of  Tls.5,200  was  made.  I  think  it  is  quite 
clear  from  Mr.  Eraser's  letter,  which  was  put  in,  how  that  sum 
was  arrived  at  and  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  paid.  It  was 
to  be,  shortly,  for  compensation  for  disturbance ;  and  the  person 
who  had  approached  the  British  authorities  was  the  defendant 
in  this  action,  and,  therefore,  naturally  it  was  to  him  that  the 
communications  of  the  British  Consul-General  at  Hankow  were 
addressed.  The  terms  of  the  communications  between  the 
British  Consul  and  Mr.  Bennertz  would,  of  course,  in  no  way 
affect  any  liability  which  Mr.  Bennertz  was  under  to  third  parties 
— ^that  is  to  say,  parties  other  than  himself  and  the  British  govern- 
ment— ^in  the  distribution  of  this  sum.  That  appears  to  be  the 
way  the  Tls.5,200  was  paid.  As  regards  the  various  sums 
which  were  from  time  to  time  expended  in  this  business,  I  am 
unable  to  find  that  there  was  any  capital  found  by  either  of  the 
parties  ;  I  think  they  each  managed  to  scrape  along  as  best  they 
could  in  Changsha,  pajrtng  their  own  expenses  and  hoping  things 
would  improve.  Unfortunately  they  did  not.  Then  comes  the 
29th  of  June,  when  there  was  an  interview ;  when  the  plaintiff 
decided  that,  as  he  had  something  definite  to  go  to  at  Hankow  and 
nothing  definite  to  remain  for  at  Changsha,  he  had  better  go  to 
Hankow.  On  the  evidence  before  me  I  have  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  these  two  parties  did  do  business  in  partnership  from 
the  date  of  this  contract,  namely  July  4th,  1904,  down  to  June 
29th,  1905,  and  that  on  that  date  the  partnership  was  dissolved  by 
mutual  consent.  I  will  finish  the  story  first,  before  I  come  to  the 
terms  of  that  partnership.  I  think  that  after  that  the  business 
was  carried  on  by  Mr.  Bennertz  alone.  He  came  down  to  Shang- 
hai to  see  what  he  could  do  ;  the  whole  of  the  responsibility  was 
upon  him  ;  he  was  the  only  person  looked  to  by  the  Chinese 
authorities  in  Changsha ;  and  the  plaintiff  does  not  appear  to 
have  taken  any  steps  with  respect  to  the  business,  and  except 
with  regard  to  a  loan  on  one  occasion — ^which  amounted  to  very 
little — ^he  does  not  appear  to  have  done  anything  with  reference 


APPENDIX  S  41^ 

to  this  partnership  or  the  affairs  of  the  defendant.  Unfortunately 
things  did  not  improve.  Mr.  Bennertz  did  not  seem  to  get  on 
any  better  with  the  Chinese  than  before,  and  Changsha  seems  to 
have  opened  its  doors  to  foreign  trade  in  an  extremely  reluctant 
manner.  The  end  of  it  was  that  Mr.  Bennertz  appeared  at 
Changsha  with  a  considerable  amount  of  goods  which  he  had 
been  able  to  secure  in  Shanghai  and  things  had  to  be  finally 
settled  up.  The  result  was  that  an  agreement  came  to  be  made 
between  Mr.  Bennertz  and  the  Chinese  in  which  the  sum  of 
Tls.25,000  was  paid  for  the  stock-in-trade  which  he  had  there, 
and  various  other  things  which  are  enumerated  in  this  agreement, 
and  he  was  to  clear  out — ^all  connection  between  him  and  Chang- 
sha was  to  cease.  I  consider  this  agreement  was  made  personally 
between  the  Chinese  and  Mr.  Bennertz — ^not  Bennertz  &  Co., 
but  Mr.  Bennertz  himself  and  the  parties  in  Changsha  who  paid 
him  the  Tls.25,000.  I  need  not  go  into  the  different  terms  of 
this  agreement,  but  I  think  what  I  have  already  stated,  and  the 
document  itself  will  enable  any  one  who  comes  to  take  the 
accounts  to  see  how  the  money  should  be  appUed.  I  think  there 
is  only  one  other  thing.  I  think  that  the  Tls.25,000  was  intended 
to  cover  not  only  the  debts  which  Mr.  Bennertz  himself  had 
contracted  in  Changsha,  both  before  and  after  the  time  that 
this  partnership  was  dissolved,  but  I  think  it  also  was  intended 
to  clear  up  any  debts  which  had  been  contracted,  and  which 
might  still  be  outstanding  to  the  partnership  while  it  existed. 
Therefore,  assuming  for  the  moment  that  the  Tls.25,000  was 
more  than  enough  to  cover  all  claims,  then  I  think  the  Tls.25,000 
should  be  applied  in  wiping  them  sdl  out,  and  any  balance  of 
the  Tls.25,000  would  have  to  be  considered  as  belonging  to 
Mr.  Bennertz,  subject  to  any  contracts  which  he  might  have 
with  other  parties.  The  Tls.5,200  stand  in  a  different  position. 
Assuming,  as  I  say,  that  the  Tls.25,000  was  sufficient,  that 
Tls.5,200  definite  compensation  would  remain  to  be  divided 
between  the  two  parties. 

Now  as  to  the  terms  of  the  contract.  They  appear  to  me 
to  be  embodied  in  this  agreement  of  July  4th,  1904,  in  so  far  as 
they  were  at  that  time  put  into  force.  Mr.  Gilmore  was  so  far 
as  was  possible  made  a  partner  in  the  firm  of  Bennertz  &  Co.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  that  firm  never  having  come  seriously  into 
existence,  the  fact  that  he  was  made  a  partner  in  it  did  not  give 
him  any  claim,  because  Bennertz  &  Co.  having  no  property, 
there  was  nothing  for  him  to  have  a  claim  to.  But  the  partners 
— ^the  plaintiff  and  the  defendant— did  carry  on  business  under 
the  form  of  Bennertz  &  Co.,  and,  from  all  the  documents  before 

27 


4l8  APPENDIX  B 

me,  there  is  no  doubt  they  were  carrying  on  business  in  partner- 
ship. There  is  or  there  might  be,  in  consequence  of  this  sum 
for  disturbance,  something  to  be  divided,  and  it  will  be  divided 
on  the  terms  on  which  the  partners  agreed  to  trade.  We  have 
the  definite  statement  here  that  of  whatever  profit  Henry 
Bennertz  touched,  he  should  pay  25  per  cent,  to  the  plaintifi. 
There  is  the  suggestion  that  an  agreement  was  come  to  on 
June  29th  that  the  sum  of  one-third  instead  of  one-quarter  should 
be  paid  to  Mr.  Gilmore  out  of  this  sum  paid  as  indemnity,  but 
there  appeared  to  be  the  stipulation  that  Tls.3,500  should  first 
be  paid  to  the  Chinese.  There  are  various  other  matters  which 
certainly  are  somewhat  complicated,  and  which  I  should  expect 
to  find  reduced  to  writing.  We  have  the  version  of  it  given  by 
the  plaintiff,  which  no  doubt  represents  his  own  view,  and  there 
is  on  the  other  hand  a  denial  of  it  by  the  defendant,  and  I  cannot 
come,  on  the  evidence  before  me,  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
original  agreement  of  one-quarter  of  the  profits  was  varied  by 
anything  that  took  place  on  that  occasion.  It  will  have  to  be 
ascertained  what  accounts  come  under  this  exhibit  *'  Q  " — ^the 
deed  of  January  30th,  this  year,  by  which  the  Tls.25,000  was  paid. 
I  think  this  includes  all  debts  due  by  the  partnership,  as  well  as 
by  the  defendant,  to  the  people  who  are  eniunerated  in  this 
deed.  There  are,  for  instance,  the  Chinese  in  Changsha,  and  the 
firms  in  Shanghai,  and  there  are  certain  others.  I  will  take 
for  instance  the  siun  of  Tls.64,  which  is  a  small  simi  due  to 
Messrs.  Hall  &  Holtz  in  Hankow,  and  this  probably  would  not 
come  under  that.  I  give  that  as  an  example,  but  I  do  not 
decide  that.  This  is  a  point  which  I  shall  have  to  take  in 
Chambers,  or  must  be  considered  by  whoever  takes  the  account. 
I  mention  that  as  it  is  a  small  sum  and  it  does  not  matter  much 
whichever  way  it  goes.  If  the  Tls,25,ooo  is  not  sufl&cient,  then 
it  will  have  to  be  divided,  the  various  siuns  will  have  to  be 
paid,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  pro  rata,  and  if  after  that  there  are 
partnership  debts — debts  between  July  4th,  1904,  and  Jime  29th, 
1905 — ^then,  of  course,  these  will  have  to  be  liquidated  out  of 
the  Tls.5,200.  I  think  if  there  is  any  balance  on  the  Tls.25,000 
— I  do  not  think  there  is  the  least  likelihood  that  there  will 
be — then  the  matter  will  have  to  be  referred  to  me  again  as  to 
its  division.  It  is  not  quite  clear  now,  and  I  should  like  to  hear 
counsel  more  fully  as  to  what  ought  to  happen  to  any  balance 
of  the  Tls.25,000.  I  think,  as  it  was  to  cover  everything,  the 
plaintifi  is  entitled  to  a  certain  amount.  I  do  not  think  he  is 
entitled  to  a  quarter,  but  I  think  he  is  entitled  to  any  amount 
which  might  be  assessed  as  sufficient  and  proper.    I  think  that 


APPENDIX  B 


419 


direction  is  sufficient.  The  accounts  may  be  so  reduced  that 
they  might  come  before  me  in  Chambers,  and  I  might  be  able  to 
come  to  a  decision  at  less  expense  to  the  parties  and  in  a  very 
short  time,  because  I  know  about  it ;  and  if  it  is  referred  to  any- 
body else  there  will  be  some  question  of  nicety  as  to  some  of 
these  sums,  and  they  would  probably  have  to  be  sent  back  to  me 
for  direction.  I  would  like  to  hear  coimsel  further  especially 
in  the  case  of  Tsau's  debt.  I  shall  want  to  know  a  little  more 
about  that,  but  so  far  as  I  can  see  this  money  which  has  been 
expended  by  Mr.  Bennertz  in  purchasing  goods  for  the  trading 
of  his  company  will  have  to  be  paid  out  of  this  Tls.25,000.  If 
it  is  proved  that  this  amount  for  provisions  is  a  purely  personal 
debt  in  no  way  connected  with  the  company,  it  ought  not  to  be 
set  ofE  against  the  Tls.25,000 ;  but  at  the  same  time  from  what 
I  can  see,  and  in  looking  at  the  contents  of  the  agreement  and 
the  way  in  which  the  business  was  carried  on,  the  Tls.25,000 
was  meant  to  cover  Tsau's  debt.  Still,  at  the  same  time,  I  do 
not  think  I  have  anything  before  me  which  would  make  me  say 
definitely  whether  it  ought  to  be  paid.  I  have  given  my  direc« 
tion,  and  I  think  that  the  outstanding  points  may  be  so  reduced 
that  I  can  come  to  a  conclusion  very  shortly. 

Mr.  Sjmionds,  on  behalf  of  his  client,  said  he  would  be  pleased 
to  refer  the  matters  of  account  to  his  Lordship. 

His  Lordship — ^You  will  have  to  get  the  accounts  in  order 
first.  In  my  judgment,  I  really  say  what  is  wanted  is  that  Mr. 
Bennertz  should  show  how  the  Tls.25,000  has  been  spent,  and 
if  he  has  gone  beyond  that  to  pay  the  debts  of  the  firm,  he 
will  have  to  show  that  the  Tls.5,200  has  been  expended  on  the 
remaining  debts  of  the  partnership. 

Mr.  Jones  asked  his  Lordship  if  he  would  deal  with  the 
question  of  costs  at  this  time. 

His  Lordship — I  will  deal  with  that  when  I  deal  with  the 
accounts.  If  I  find  the  money  substantially  misapplied  by 
Mr.  Bennertz,  he  will  have  to  pay  costs ;  but  on  the  other  hand, 
if  the  inquiry  was  uselessly  raised,  it  will  be  the  other  way. 

His  Lordship  then  rose. 

Shanghai,  December  yd,  1906 
Before  Mr.  F.  S.  A.  Bourne,  Assistant  Judge 

DiEDERICHSEN   JeBSEN   &   Co.   V.   TUE   CHINESE   ENGINEERING 

AND  Mining  Co.,  Ltd. 

Mr.  J.  H.  Teesdale  appeared  for  the  plaintiffe  and  Mr.  A.  S.  P. 
White-Cooper  for  the  defendants.    Mr.  Loftus  E.  Jones  watched 


4aO  APPENDIX  B 

the  case  on  behalf  of  the  Holland  China  Trading  Co.,  interested 
parties, 

Mr.  Teesdale  said  that  his  Lordship  was  not  sitting  when 
counsel  made  his  application,  last  Saturday  week,  for  an  injunc- 
tion restraining  the  defendant  company  from  parting  with  the 
possession  of  certain  cargo  stored  at  their  wharf  and  of  the 
shipping  documents  relating  to  it.  The  injunction  was  granted, 
and  counsel  now  merely  made  application  for  pleadings.  The  case 
would  probably  be  rather  complicated,  and  several  legal  points 
were  likdy  to  be  involved.  It  was  possible  that  evidence  would 
have  to  be  given  on  questions  of  law — not  necessarily  British 
law — ^which  would  have  to  be  gone  into  thoroughly,  so  that  he 
applied  that  pleadings  should  be  delivered  in  the  usual  way,  and 
that  his  Lordship  should  fix  a  date  on  which  he  had  to  deliver  his 
statement  of  claim. 

Mr.  White-Cooper,  in  reply  to  his  Lordship,  said  he  had 
nothing  to  say.  The  defendants  simply  held  the  goods  as  ware- 
housemen, and  if  the  plaintiff  set  up  a  better  title  to  them 
than  the  Holland  China  Trading  Co.,  they  would  deliver  to  them. 
At  present  the  defendants  had  no  interest  in  the  subject-matter 
of  the  goods  except  as  warehousemen. 

His  Lordship— And  you,  Mr.  White-Cooper,  have  an  under- 
taking that  any  costs  you  may  be  put  to  will  be  paid  by  the 
plaintifb  ? 

Mr.  White-Cooper— Yes. 

His  Lordship — ^Won't  this  case  have  to  be  fought  out  in 
another  Court  ? 

Mr.  White-Cooper — ^As  far  as  one  can  see,  the  contract  would 
appear  to  be  governed  by  Dutch  Law. 

His  Lordship  granted  the  application  for  pleadings,  the 
statement  of  claim  to  be  filed  within  fifteen  days. 

llie  Court  then  rose. 

Shanghai,  September  20/A,  1906 
Before  Sir  Havilland  de  Sausmarez,  Judge,  and  Messrs.  T. 
Grayson  (foretnan),  F.  W.  Rawsthorne,  W.  E.  Blades, 
T.  H.  W.  Charnley,  G.  W.  Noel,  D.  C.  Kerr,  G.  C.  Dew, 
V.  H.  Lanning,  G.  H.  Rendall,  W.  Fleming  Inglis, 
James  Jones,  and  G.  R.  Barry  {Jurors) 

Rex  v.  Peter  Sydney  Hyndman 

Peter  Sydney  Hyndman,  bookkeeper,  was  charged  that  on 
September  ist  feloniously,  wilfully,  and  of  malice  aforethought, 
he  did  kill  and  murder  Harry  Smith. 


APPENDIX  B  421 

When  formally  charged,  prisoner,  in  a  low  voice,  pleaded 

"not  guilty." 

***** 

Addressing  the  prisoner  his  Lordship  said :  Peter  Sydney 
Hjmdman,  you  have  been  convicted  of  the  crime  of  manslaughter. 
The  jury  have  taken,  I  am  glad  to  say,  a  lenient  view  of  your 
conduct  on  this  occasion.  They  thought  that  the  provocation  to 
which  you  were  subjected  so  wrought  on  your  emotions  and  yom: 
feelings  that  for  the  moment  your  will  was  suspended,  and  that 
the  intent  which  would  be  presumed  from  your  acts  did  not  exist. 
At  the  same  time  I  cannot  help  feeling  that  you  were  more 
rash  in  this  matter  than  you  were  justified  in  being.  The  case 
of  a  husband  who  finds  his  wife  whom  he  believes  to  be  faithful 
to  him  in  a  position  of  that  kind  is  one  which  might  excuse  him 
almost  from  receiving  any  punishment  at  all  for  taking  such 
sudden  and  violent  vengeance  on  the  man.  I  cannot  fed  that 
you  are  in  that  position,  and,  though  I  do  not  consider  your 
crime  one  of  great  enormity,  I  must  pass  upon  you  a  sentence 
which  will  let  the  community  know  that  the  foolish  and  reckless 
carrying  of  firearms  is  not  to  be  encouraged,  and  that  when  a  man 
does  put  himself  in  the  position  in  which  you  put  yourself,  he 
must  take  the  consequences  of  his  own  acts.  I  sentence  you  to  be 
kept  in  prison  for  eighteen  calendar  months  with  hard  labour. 

BRITISH   POLICE   COURT 

Shanghai,  December  4th,  1906 
Before  Mr.  G.  W.  King,  Police  Magistrate 
Assault  by  a  Sikh  Constable 
How  TO  Evade  an  Agreement 

Dungah  Singh,  Indian  P.C.  199,  was  charged  with  assaulting 
and  beating  one  Chang  Ah-cum  at  No.  216,  Fearon  Road,  at  5.15 
p.m.  on  December  2nd. 

Inspector  Bourke  prosecuted,  and  intimated  to  the  Court 

that  the  accused  was  on  duty  at  the  time  the  assault  took  place. 
***** 

His  Worship  (addressing  accused)  said:  I  consider  the 
evidence  given  by  the  prosecution  to  be  true ;  that  you  did  do 
what  you  are  said  to  have  done.  In  an  ordinary  case,  perhaps, 
it  wotdd  be  meet  to  give  you  a  fine  only,  because  the  assault  is  not 
a  grave  one.  I  cannot  overlook  the  fact  that  at  the  time  you 
were  on  duty,  and  from  the  fact  that  you  were  on  duty  and  that 
you  did  what  you  are  accused  of  having  done,  I  believe  you 


422  APPENDIX  B 

had  ulterior  motives ;  that  your  desire  was  to  get  out  of  the 
Police  Force.  The  evidence  of  the  Jemadar  seems  to  point  to 
that  too,  and  you  yourself  have  made  no  e£Eort  to  contradict 
his  evidence.  I  have  taken  into  consideration  your  past  record, 
both  as  you  claim  to  have  been  in  the  Cavalry  and  also  in  the 
Police,  more  especidly  in  the  Police.  There  has  been  no  previous 
conviction  against  you,  but  in  spite  of  that  I  must  send  you  to 
prison.  You  were  a  policeman  on  duty  in  uniform,  and  you 
have  disgraced  your  uniform  ;  you  are  put  there  to  keep  order, 
and  you  go  and  make  disorder.  You  might  attain  your  object 
of  getting  out  of  the  Police— of  course  that  does  not  lie  with 
me — ^but  you  will  first  have  to  go  to  prison  for  one  month  with 
hard  labour. 

IN   THE   AMERICAN   CONSULAR   COURT   FOR    THE 
DISTRICT   OF   HANGCHOW 

Hangchow,  March  i$th,  1906 

Before  Frederick  D.  Cloud,  Esq.,  American  Vice-Consul-in' 
charge.  Acting  Judicially,  and  J.  H.  Judson,  Esq.,  and 
J.  Steinacher,  Esq.,  Associates, 

In  the  matter  of  Sun  Zai-ling,  Yee  Tsung-lien,  Sun  Yu-ling, 
and  Chow  Ding-ho,  Plaintiffs,  v.  The  Southern  Metho- 
dist Mission,  and  Thomas  A.  Hearn,  and  Edward  Pilley, 
Defendants. 

In  this  action  A.  S.  P.  White-Cooper,  Esq.,  appeared  for  the 
plaintiffs,  and  F.  M.  Brooks,  Esq.,  of  the  law  firm  of  Andrews  & 
Brooks,  represented  the  defendants. 

Judgment 

This  is  an  action  brought  by  certain  Chinese  citizens  against 
the  Southern  Methodist  Mission,  an  American  institution,  repre- 
sented by  Thomas  A.  Hearn  and  Edward  Pilley,  of  Huchow,  to 
recover  certain  alleged  temple  lands  which  have  been  purchased 
by,  and  are  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Southern  Methodist  Mis- 
sion, in  which  the  plaintiffs  allege  that  the  said  mission  is  in 
wrongful  possession  of  the  said  temple  lands  ;  that  as  a  result  of 
repeated  protests  against  such  possession  by  the  plaintiffe,  the  de- 
fendant mission,  or  certain  representatives  of  the  defendant  mis- 
sion, entered  into  an  agreement  of  compromise  with  the  plaintiffs 
whereby,  and  according  to  the  terms  of  which,  certain  lands 
were  to  be  restored  to  plaintiffe  on  condition  oif,  and  in  con- 
sideration of  the  said  plaintiffs  paying  to  the  defendants  the 


APPENDIX  B  423 

Stun  of  Tls.2,000 ;  that  the  plaintiffs  have  duly  paid  to  the 
defendants  the  said  consideration  of  Tls.2,000,  which  sum  of 
money  is  still  in  the  possession  of,  or  under  the  control  of  the 
defendants,  but  that  the  said  defendants  have  illegally,  wrong- 
fully, and  in  breach  of  the  terms  of  the  agreement,  refused  to 
abide  by  and  carry  out  its  terms  and  surrender  the  land  agreed 
therein  to  be  surrendered  to  the  plaintiffs ;  that  by  reason  of 
the  defendants'  wrongful  breach  of  this  agreement,  and  by 
reason  of  the  defendants'  wrongful  trespass  on  the  said  land, 
the  plaintiffs  have  suffered  damages  through  (i)  the  defendants' 
wrongful  actions  above  mentioned ;  (2)  the  deprivation  of  the 
said  temple  lands  and  trespass  thereon ;  (3)  and  the  loss  of 
Tls.2,000 ;  and  that  the  defendants  had  notice  and  weU  knew 
that  the  land  in  question  belonged  to  the  temple  and  could  not 
lawfully  be  purchased  by  defendants. 

Wherefore,  it  was  the  plaintiffs'  prayer  that  the  defendants  be 
required  to  carry  out  the  terms  of  the  said  compromise  agree- 
ment, or  that  the  defendants  be  ordered  to  forthwith  vacate 
and  give  immediate  possession  of  the  land  wrongfully  inclosed ; 
that  the  defendants  be  ordered  to  pull  down,  forthwith,  any 
buildings  erected  on  the  said  land  and  to  restore  the  land  to  its 
condition  prior  to  such  wrongful  trespass ;  that  the  defendants 
be  ordered  to  pay  the  sum  of  Tls.  1,000  as  damage  for  such 
trespass,  and  in  addition  to  return  the  sum  of  Tls.2,000  paid 
the  defendants  by  the  plaintiffs,  and  that  defendants  be  ordered 
to  pay  the  costs  of  this  action. 

In  answer  the  defendants  have  admitted  that  the  plaintiffs 
are  Chinese  subjects,  but  have  specifically  denied  each  and  every 
other  allegation  of  the  plaintiffs.  And  answering  further,  the 
defendants  allege  that  all  of  the  land  possessed  and  inclosed  by 
the  Southern  Methodist  Mission  at  Huchow  was  procured  legally, 
and  according  to  treaty  rights  between  America  and  China; 
that  the  plaintiffs  well  knew,  while  the  defendants  were  acquiring 
the  said  land,  of  the  facts,  and  purposes  for  which  it  was  sought ; 
that  the  plaintiffs  well  knew  of  the  purchase  of  said  land,  and 
of  the  improvements  in  progress  on  the  same  from  time  to  time, 
but  that  the  plaintiffs  did  not  make  any  protest  against  such 
improvements  while  they  were  in  progress ;  that  the  alleged 
agreement  referred  to  by  the  plaintiffs  was  never  signed  by  the 
defendants  but  by  parties  who  never  had  the  right,  nor  the 
authority,  directly  or  indirectly,  either  in  fact  or  in  law,  to  bind 
the  defendants,  and  that  when  said  agreement  was  presented 
to  the  defendants  herein  for  their  signatures,  said  defendants 
immediately  repudiated  the  same  and  refused  to  sign  it ;  that 


434  APPENDIX  B 

the  sum  of  Tls.1,000  or  Tls.2,000  or  any  other  sum  of  moaey 
had  never  been  paid  to  them  by  the  plaintiff,  or  by  any  one 
dse,  but  that  certain  Chinese  officials  hsui  paid  into  the  American 
Consulate  certain  moneys  which  were  still  subject  to  the  order 
of  the  said  officials ;  and  further,  that  the  plaintiffe  in  this  action 
well  knew  that  defendants  had  legally  acquired  this  land,  and 
stood  by,  well  knowing  that  defendants  were  improving  the 
said  land,  and  having  made  no  protest  during  that  time,  were 
now  bringing  this  action  for  the  purpose  of  haurassing  and  inter- 
fering with  the  work  carried  on  by  defendants  to  their  damage 
in  the  sum  of  Tls.5,000. 

Wherefore,  it  was  the  defendants'  prayer  that  this  action 
be  dismissed  with  costs,  and  that  defendants  may  recover 
damages  against  the  plaintifEs  in  the  sum  of  Tls.5,000. 

The  facts  in  this  case,  as  established  in  Court,  are  quite  clear. 
In  the  spring  of  1902  the  Southern  Methodist  Mission,  through 
its  representatives,  the  defendants  in  this  action,  made  known 
to  the  proper  local  officials  of  Huchow  their  desire  to  purchase 
land  within  the  dty  of  Huchow  for  mission  purposes.  These 
representatives  desired  to  purchase  land  in  a  certain  portion  of 
the  city  and  made  their  desire  known  to  the  aforesaid  officials. 
These  officials,  the  Prefect  and  Magistrate,  expressed  the  wish 
that  the  defendants  select  another  tract  of  land,  stating  that  the 
tract  they  had  chosen  was  wanted  by  the  officials  and  gentry 
of  Huchow  on  which  to  build  native  schools.  The  said  officials 
then  pointed  out  a  section  of  the  dty  known  as  Hai  Tao,  as  being 
largely  unoccupied  land,  where  the  defendants  yrere  at  liberty 
to  acquire  as  much  land  as  might  be  needed  for  the  mission. 
The  Prefect  went  so  far  as  to  ddegate  certain  gentry  to  assist 
the  mission  in  obtaining  the  land  from  the  several  owners,  and 
in  perfecting  the  titles  thereto.  Prodamations  were  issued  by 
the  Magistrate  having  jurisdiction  over  the  land,  annotmdng  the 
fact  that  the  mission  wanted  to  purchase  the  land,  and  calling 
upon  the  owners  thereof  to  come  forward  and  negotiate  with 
the  defendants  for  the  sale  of  thdr  various  tracts.  Eventually 
a  considerable  tract  of  "  waste  land  "  was  found  which  had  no 
owners.  The  Magistrate  was  informed  of  the  fact,  who  issued  a 
prodamation  stating  that  the  mission  desired  to  acquire  this 
"  waste  land,''  and  if  there  were  any  owners  thereof  tii^y  should 
come  forward.  And  although  these  proclamations  were  posted 
for  a  period  of  two  months,  yet  no  one  came  forward  as  owners 
of  the  land,  nor  could  any  such  owners  be  found.  Thereupon 
the  defendants  purchased  the  land  from  the  Magistrate  himself. 
There  was  perfect  satisfaction  on  all  sides  relative  to  this 


APPENDIX  B  425 

tnmsaction,  nor  have  the  plaintifib  attempted  to  show  that  the 
Magistrate  exceeded  his  authority  in  thus  disposing  of  "  waste 
lands/'  or  that  any  one  objected  to  his  doing  so.  The  Magistrate 
gave  defendants  a  proper  receipt  for  the  consideration  of  the 
transaction,  and  published  the  facts  relating  to  the  sale  to  the 
people  of  Huchow  by  means  of  a  special  proclamation. 

The  defendants  having  obtained  all  the  land  desired  for 
mission  purposes,  sent  their  title-deeds  to  the  y&men  to  be 
registered  and  stamped.  The  deeds  remained  in  the  y&men, 
some  five  months,  when  they  were  returned  to  the  defendants, 
having  been  properly  registered  and  stamped.  These  various 
transactions  aJso  received  the  written  approval  of  the  various 
authorities  concerned,  including  the  Provincial  Governor. 

The  acquisition  of  all  this  land  by  the  defendants  was  not 
accomplished  without  long  delays — something  over  a  year's 
time  being  required  for  its  completion.  The  negotiations  were 
carried  on  openly,  and  the  people  of  Huchow  were  made  ac- 
quainted with  the  fact  that  the  defendants  were  buying  the 
land,  through  the  medium  of  the  Magistrate's  proclamation; 
this,  the  plaintiffs  have  not  disputed.  Nor  does  the  evidence 
show  that  the  people,  or  the  gentry  of  Huchow,  made  or  offered 
any  protest  against  the  acquisition  of  this  land  by  the  mission 
until  after  all  the  negotiations  had  been  completed  and  the 
land  so  purchased  had  been  inclosed  by  the  defendants  within 
a  wall.  Nor  is  there  any  evidence  to  show  that  in  the  acquisition 
of  this  land  the  defendants  deviated,  in  the  least,  either  from 
the  letter  or  the  spirit  of  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  between 
the  United  States  of  America  and  China  governing  such 
matters. 

As  to  the  allegation  of  the  plaintiffs  that  a  portion  or  portions 
of  the  aforesaid  land  is  Confucian  temple  land,  the  Court  must 
hold  that  it  is  incumbent  upon  the  said  plaintifis  to  show,  by  a 
preponderance  of  evidence,  that  such  is  the  case ;  but  this  the 
plaintiffs  have  failed  to  do. 

The  fact  that  the  ruins  of  what  the  plainti&  allege  to  be  those 
of  an  ancient  Confucian  Library  are  characterised  by  numerous 
carvings  of  the  Lotus  flower,  which  is  a  characteristic  emblem 
of  Buddhism  and  of  Buddhistic  ornamentation ;  that  the  said 
ruins,  or  foundation  stones,  are  situated  a  considerable  distance 
aMray,  and  in  another  ward,  or  division  of  the  city,  from  the 
group  of  buildings  recognised,  and  confirmed  by  the  ofiidaUy 
written  topographies  of  Huchow,  as  constituting  the  Confucian 
temple  property;  that  the  defendants  have  produced  docu- 
mentary and  other  evidence  showing  that  the  real  site  of  the 


426  APPENDIX  B 

Bndent  Confucian  Library  (the  Tsen  Ching-ko)  is  not  situated 
on  any  land  now  enclosed  by,  or  in  possession  of  the  mission, 
but  is  entirely  outside  of,  and  is  a  considerable  distance  away 
from  the  property  of  the  said  mission,  is  sufficient  evidence  to 
convince  the  Court  that  the  said  Confucian  Library  site  (Tsen 
Ching-ko)  is  not  situated  on  the  defendants'  premises,  and  that 
none  of  the  land  now  held  by  the  defendants  is  Confucian  temple 
land. 

The  plaintifiEs  have  endeavoured  to  force  upon  the  defendants 
the  terms  of  an  agreement  of  compromise,  wluch  agreement  had 
been  signed  by  certain  representatives  of  the  Southern  Methodist 
Mission,  whereby  a  portion  of  the  mission's  land  was  to  be 
turned  out  of  the  defendants'  enclosure.  The  facts  are  that  one 
member  of  a  committee  of  three  members,  appointed  by  the 
mission  to  deal  with  this  matter,  two  of  whom  are  the  defendants 
in  this  action,  signed  this  said  agreement  as  indicating  to  the 
other  two  members  his  opinion  of  the  case,  and  not  in  any  manner 
as  trjdng  to  bind  the  other  two  members  to  the  agreement. 
However,  when  this  agreement  was  presented  to  the  defendants 
who  were  named  therein  as  parties  to  the  agreement,  they 
refused  to  sign  it,  or  to  carry  out  its  terms ;  and  it  has  been 
shown  by  evidence  that  to  do  so  would  be  grievously  injurious 
to  the  plans  and  future  work  of  the  mission.  And  since  the 
provincial  officials  have  offered,  upon  their  own  motion,  written 
testimony  to  the  fact  that  the  Tls.i,ooo  named  as  the  considera- 
tion of  this  agreement,  and  that  the  Tls.i,ooo  presents  to  the 
mission  for  charitable  purposes  had  been  provided  for  by  them- 
selves, and  does  not,  nor  ever  did  in  any  manner  belong  to  the 
plaintiffs,  and  the  further  fact  that  the  defendants  have  never 
accepted  or  been  in  possession  of  this  money,  it  is  evident  that 
plaintifEs  are  not  entitled  to  bring  action  against  the  defendants 
for  its  recovery. 

According  to  solemn  compacts  between  China  and  the  United 
States  of  America,  the  Southern  Methodist  Mission,  as  well  as 
all  other  American  missionary  societies,  have  the  right  to  pur- 
chase, or  lease  land  in  perpetuity,  at  Huchow,  as  well  as  at  all 
other  places  within  the  Chinese  Empire.  And  when  they  have 
obtained  their  land,  and  secured  properly  executed  title^eeds, 
they  are  entitled  to  enjoy  full  and  complete  possession  of  all 
such  land  without  annoyance  or  molestation  of  any  nature. 

The  petition  of  the  plaintiffs  is  hereby  dismissed  at  plaintifis' 
costs. 

The  defendants'  prayer  for  damages  is  disallowed,  as  this 
Court  has  no  jurisdiction  to  award  damages  against  Chinese 


APPENDIX  B  427 

subjects,  and  leaves  defendants  to  follow  plaintifib  into  a  regularly 
constituted  Chinese  tribunal. 

(Signed)   Frederick  D.  Cloud, 

American  Vice-Consul-in-Charge, 
Acting  Judicially. 

INQUEST 

Shanghai,  December  yth,  1906 

Before  Mr.  W.  P.  Boyd,  American  Vice-Consul'General'in'Charge, 
Acting  as  Cuban  Coroner 

A  Sad  Ending 

An  inquest  was  opened  at  2.30  p.m.  yesterday  at  No.  2, 

North  Honan  Road,  to  inquire  into  the  circumstances  attending 

the  death  of  Miss  Loura  Leslig,  alias  Cossette  Denvers,  a  Cuban 

subject,  aged  thirty-two  years,  who  died  in  bed  at  her  residence, 

between  the  hours  of  10.30  and  11.30  p.m.,  the  5th  inst.,  from 

laudanum  poisoning. 

«  «  «  «  « 

The  Coroner  brought  in  a  verdict  that  deceased  came  to  her 
death  on  December  5th,  1906,  between  the  hours  of  10.30  and 
11.30  p.m.,  by  taking  an  overdose  of  laudaniun,  self-administered, 
with  suicidal  intent. 

GERMAN    CONSULAR    COURT 
Shanghai,  Deumber  yth,  1906 
Before  Mr.  L.  Heintze,  Vice-Consul 
The  Muzzling  Order 
V.  Blinkman,  No.  72,  Range  Road,  was  charged  with  allowing 
his  dog  to  be  at  large  unmuzzled  on  the  Range  Road  on  the  30th 
ultimo,  contrary  to  Municipal  Regulations. 

Inspector  Bourke  stated  the  nature  of  the  charge. 
Defendant  was  fined  $3  or  in  default  one  day's  detention. 

JAPANESE    CONSULAR    COURT 
Shanghai,  December  yth,  1906 
Before  Mr.  D.  Yamamoto,  Police  Magistrate 
Breaking  the  Rules 
One  Nejita  was  charged  with  keeping  a  house  of  entertain- 
ment, to  wit,  a  shooting  gallery,  at  No.  5x3,  Miller  Road,  without 
a  license  and  contrary  to  Municipal  Regulations. 


4a8  APPENDIX  B 

Inspector  Bourke  stated  the  nature  of  the  offence. 
Accused  was  severely  cautioned  and  ordered  to  close  the 
place  at  once. 

Shanghai,  December  ith,  1906 
Before  Mr.  D.  Yamamoto,  Police  MagisiraU 
Jack  ^Ashore 

A  festive  sailor  from  the  N.Y.K.  steamer  Chiyoda  Maru, 
named  M.  Yasuda,  was  charged  with  having  been  drunk  and 
disorderly  on  the  Broadway,  and  damaging  property  to  the 
extent  of  50  cents,  about  10  p.m.,  the  3rd  inst. 

Inspector  Bourke  related  the  nature  of  the  charge. 

Tsang  2Jen-fah,  the  complainant,  gave  evidence  of  the  accused 
having  been  drunk  and  doing  damage  to  witness's  goods. 

Accused  was  fined  $3  and  ordei^  to  pay  the  amount  of 
damage  done. 

RUSSIAN   CONSULAR   COURT 

Shanghai,  December  yd,  1906 

Before  Mr.  C.  Kleimenow,  ConstdrGen^ral 

Alleged  Arson 

A.  M.  Silkiss  was  charged  on  a  Russian  Consular  warrant 
with  having  fdoniously  and  wilfully  set  fire  to  his  premises  and 
dwelling-bouse  Imown  as  the  Tivoli  Hotel  at  Nos.  9  &  10,  Boone 
Road,  about  iz.30  p.m.,  December  ist,  1906,  with  intent  to 
secure  insurance  money  thereon,  and  thereby  endangering  life 
and  property. 

Inspector  Bourke  appeared  to  prosecute. 

Extensive  evidence  was  taken,  but,  the  press  not  being 
admitted,  we  are  not  able  to  give  a  report  of  the  proceedings. 

Shanghai,  December  yih,  1906 

Before  Mr.  C.  Kleimenow,  Consul-General 

Alleged  Arson 

A.  M.  Silkiss  was  brought  up  on  remand  charged  on  a  Russian 
Consular  warrant  with  having  feloniously  and  wilfully  set  fire 
to  his  premises  and  dwelling-house  known  as  the  Tivoli  Hotels 
at  Nos.  9  &  10,  Boone  Road,  about  11.30  p.m.,  December  ist, 
1906,  with  intent  to  secure  insurance  money  thereon,  and  thereby 
endangering  life  and  property. 


APPENDIX  B  429 

Del.  Insp.  McDowell  prosecuted  on  behalf  of  the  police. 

On  the  Court  resuming  this  morning,  the  evidence  was  con- 
cluded, and  his  Honour  disposed  of  the  case  as  follows :  Thh 
Court  having  no  power  to  desd  with  a  case  of  this  nature,  the  Court 
has  decided  to  submit  the  whole  of  the  evidence,  together  with 
the  plans  of  the  premises  in  question,  to  the  Supreme  Court  at 
Vla(Uvostock.  In  the  meantime  the  prisoner  would  be  released 
on  depositing  the  sum  of  Tls.8,000,  including  diamonds,  jewel- 
lery, etc.,  as  well  as  being  bound  over  in  the  sum  of  $4,000  in 
two  sureties  of  $2,000  each. 

Shanghai,  December  12th,  1906 
Before  Mr.  L.  Brodiansky,  Vice-Consul 
Who's  Who? 

Alec  Alexander,  No.  56,  Broadway,  arrested  on  a  Russian 
Consular  warrant,  was  charged  with  being  a  pimp,  and  living 
and  trafficking  on  the  proceeds  of  prostitution. 

Inspector  McDowell  appeared  to  prosecute  on  behalf  of 
the  police. 

Accused  was  examined  at  some  length,  and  not  being  able 
to  produce  any  papers  or  satisfactory  evidence  that  he  was 
a  Russian  subject,  the  Court  refused  to  recognise  him  or  assume 
any  responsibility  over  him. 

The  accused  was  next  taken  to  H.B.M.'s  PoUce  Court,  where 
he  was  also  refused  recognition. 

Accused  was  therefore  taken  back  to  the  Station,  where  he 
was  locked  up,  pending  a  decision  as  to  what  should  be  done  with 
him.  Later  in  the  day  accused  was  taken  to  the  Mixed  Court, 
where  he  was  remanded  till  Friday,  the  14th  inst. 

Alec  Alexander,  No.  56,  Broadway,  who  was  arrested  on  a 
Russian  Consular  warrant  a  few  days  ago,  was  charged  at  the 
Mixed  Court  to-day,  the  court  room  being  cleared  and  the  case 
tried  in  camera,  with  being  a  pimp  and  living  and  trafficking 
on  the  proceeds  of  prostitution.  Inspector  McDowell  appeared 
to  prosecute  on  behalf  of  the  police.  The  Inspector  made  a 
statement  as  to  how  the  case  was  first  brought  to  his  notice. 
An  Englishwoman,  who  had  been  decoyed  out  to  the  Far  East 
by  the  accused  by  false  promises,  gave  evidence  as  to  how  she 
came  out  and  became  an  inmate  of  a  house  of  ill  fame.  Accused 
was  eventually  sentenced  to  fourteen  days'  imprisonment  and 
to  be  afterwards  deported  from  Shanghai. 


APPENDIX  C 

The  following  letter  gives  the  attitude  of  the  British  government 
in  respect  to  intervention  by  missionaries  in  the  interior  on 
behalf  of  their  Chinese  converts. 

MISSIONARIES   AND    CHINESE   OFFICIALS 

To  the  Editor  of  ike  "  North  China  Daily  News  " 

Sir, — ^Under  instructions  from  H.M.  Minister  at  Peking 
I  beg  to  hand  you  herewith  for  publication  copy  of  a  circular 
dated  August  31st,  1903,  addressed  by  Sir  £.  Satow  to  H.M. 
Consular  Officers  in  China. 

I  am,  etc., 

Pelham  Warren, 

Consul-General. 
October  ^ist,  1906. 

Circular 

H.B.M.  Legation, 
Peking,  August  ^ist,  1903. 

Sir, — Cases  have  come  to  my  notice  in  which  missionaries 
have  addressed  themselves  directly  to  Chinese  officials,  either 
verbally  or  in  writing,  on  behalf  of  their  Chinese  converts, 
instead  of  acting  through  the  proper  channel,  which  is  one  of 
H.M.  Consuls  or  the  head  of  H.M.  Legation. 

Such  intervention  I  presume  would  be  defended  on  the 
ground  that  some  action  has  been  taken  in  regard  to  the  convert 
which  is  in  violation  of  Article  VIIL  of  the  Treaty  of  Tientsin. 

It  is  necessary,  however,  to  point  out  that  missionaries  are 
not  accredited  agents  of  the  British  government  for  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  Treaty,  and  Article  VIIL  was  not  intended  to 
confer  upon  missionaries  any  right  of  intervention  on  behalf  of 
native  Christians. 

I  do  not  see  any  objection  to  a  missionary  addressing  the 
local  Chinese  authorities  directly  on  any  matter  affecting  himself 

430 


APPENDIX  C  431 

personally^  such  as  for  instance  a  robbery  that  has  been  com- 
mitted at  his  house,  or  any  similar  private  affair. 

If,  however,  a  missionaiy  has  to  complain  on  behalf  of 
himself  that  his  teaching  is  interfered  with,  or  that  a  Chinese 
preacher  or  convert  has  been  interfered  with  or  persecuted,  his 
proper  course  is  to  lay  the  facts  before  the  Consul  of  the  district 
in  which  he  resides,  who  after  due  examination  will  make  such 
representations  to  the  Chinese  authorities  as  the  case  may  require. 
His  Majesty's  Consuls  are  not  authorised  to  delegate  their 
duties  in  this  respect  to  missionaries. 

I  have  reason  to  know  that  this  view  is  shared  by  the  managing 
bodies  of  British  Protestant  Missionary  Societies  who  carry  on 
Mission  work  in  China,  and  I  understand  that  it  is  accepted  and 
acted  on  by  most  of  the  missionary  bodies  in  China. 

The  fact  that  a  missionary  or  the  convert  on  whose  behalf  a 
complaint  is  made  resides  at  a  distance  from  one  of  H.M.  Consuls 
is  not  sufficient  reason  for  the  missionary  taking  upon  himself 
the  duty  of  the  Consul,  and  his  intervention  could  only  be  justified 
when  there  was  imminent  danger  of  an  extreme  character  threat- 
ening the  safety  of  converts. 

I  have  accordingly  to  request  you  to  act  upon  what  is  laid 
down  in  this  Circular,  and  to  acquaint  missionaries  with  its 
contents  whenever  it  seems  hkely  to  be  departed  from. 

I  am  persuaded  that  if  missionaries  uniformly  refrain  from 
direct  intervention  on  behalf  of  native  Christians,  and  confine 
their  action  to  representing  to  H.M.  Consuls  cases  of  actual  per- 
secution, such  a  course  wiU  redound  to  the  preservation  of  peace 
between  converts  and  non-converts,  and  to  the  spread  of  a  genuine 
Christianity  among  the  people  of  China. 

I  am,  etc., 
(Signed)   Ernest  Satow. 


APPENDIX    D 

Clan  fights  between  Catholic  and  Protestant  converts  are 
common  in  Chekiang,  not  unconmion  in  Kwangtung,  and  not 
unknown  in  other  provinces.  One  such  fight  broke  out  in 
November  1906  at  Haimen,  in  Chekiang,  regarding  which 
an  imbiassed  Chinese  informed  me  that  the  people  of  Haimen 
are  notorious  for  piracy  and  turbulence,  that  generally  in  these 
disputes  both  Protestants  and  Catholics  are  equally  to  blame, 
and  that  on  this  occasion  the  Catholics  were  the  aggressors. 
The  two  partisan  versions  of  the  occurrence  are  given  below. 

THE   PROTESTANT    VERSION 
Rescue  of  Protestants 
Tai-chow  Fu,  Chbh,  NovsmbfiT  13/ A,  1906. 

For  the  past  few  da)^  we  have  been  hving  in  great  suspense. 
The  little  Protestant  community  at  Haimen,  surrounded  by 
hundreds  of  Roman  CathoUc  robbers  who  were  under  the 
command  of  the  native  priest  Hyun,  was  in  imminent  danger 
of  being  massacred.  The  foreign  priests  resident  at  Haimen 
seemed  to  be  in  entire  sympathy  with  the  native  priest,  and 
the  Mandarins  felt  themselves  unable  to  protect  the  Protestants. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  attack  on  Friday  the  Protestant  preacher 
appUed  to  the  Military  Mandarin  for  an  escort  to  take  the  Pro- 
testants to  Tai-chow  Fu,  but  the  Chen-tai  replied  that  it  was 
not  necessary  for  them  to  go,  as  he  was  quite  able  to  protect 
them  there.  The  request  was  then  made  for  a  few  soldiers 
to  come  inside  the  Protestant  compoimd,  but  this  also  was 
refused. 

Soon  the  town  was  at  the  mercy  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
army,  variously  estimated  at  800  to  2,000  strong,  and  the  Man- 
darins became  powerless  to  deal  with  them.  The  Tong-ling 
was  unhorsed,  made  a  prisoner,  and  kept  in  the  Roman  Catholic 
compoimd.  Another  military  officer  was  beaten  by  one  of  the 
priests,  and  the  Major-General  had  to  go  in  person  to  obtain 

432 


APPENDIX  D  433 

their  liberation.  He  did  this  by  promising  to  behead  one  of 
the  miUtary  officers  who  had  been  active  against  the  robbers, 
and  to  pay  $3,000  to  the  Roman  CathoUcs  for  rifles  taken  from 
the  robbers  by  order  of  the  Tong-Ung.  Houses  and  shops 
belonging  to  Protestants  were  pillaged,  and  passengers  to 
and  from  the  boats  were  robbed.  A  Protestant  inquirer  was 
caught  and  held  for  ransom.  He  was  told  that  if  he  did  not 
furnish  100  jars  of  Chinese  wine  he  would  be  killed.  He 
gave  them  90  jars  and  was  allowed  to  escape.  Some  of  the 
members  and  inquirers  had  narrow  escapes  from  being  shot. 
The  son  of  an  inquirer  was  shot  through  the  thigh,  and  one 
of  the  robbers  was  accidentally  shot  dead  by  another  Roman 
Catholic. 

On  Saturday  evening  the  Mandarins  sent  word  to  the  Pro- 
testants that  they  could  not  protect  them,  but  would  send  an 
armed  escort  to  take  them  to  Tai-chow  city.  A  fleet  of  Ave 
gunboats  sailed  with  them  from  Haimen.  At  a  point,  40  U 
from  Haimen,  two  of  the  gunboats  retiuned,  leaving  three  boats 
to  carry  the  refugees  the  remaining  80  li  to  Tai-chow  city. 

In  company  with  two  foreign  missionaries  and  the  Mandarin 
under  whose  escort  they  had  travelled,  they  went  to  visit  the 
Prefect,  who  said  that  the  Protestants  had  shown  themselves 
superior  to  the  Roman  Catholics,  and  had  acted  splendidly  in 
the  great  trouble  caused  by  the  Roman  Catholics.  He  also  said 
they  .must  not  return  to  Haimen  until  the  trouble  was  over. 

Testimony  of  the  Protestant  member  whose  shop  was  pillaged 
by  an  armed  Roman  Catholic  band  : 

"  I  was  upstairs  above  the  shop  when  the  armed  band  entered 
my  shop.  My  assistant  told  them  I  was  upstairs.  They  called 
me,  and  I  asked  who  they  were.  They  said, '  Come  down  and  see.' 
I  looked  out  and  saw  the  men  armed  with  long  pistols  and  big 
knives,  and  became  alarmed.  I  shouted,  '  I  will  come  down  at 
once,'  and  then  ran  out  at  the  back  door  and  hid  in  a  neighbour's 
house.  Here  I  remained  for  an  hour  or  so,  until  after  they  had 
pillaged  my  shop ;  then  the  Chen-tai  passed,  and  I  went  out 
and  asked  him  for  protection.  He  sent  seven  or  eight  soldiers 
to  escort  me  to  the  Protestant  compoimd.  Here  I  remained 
from  Friday  till  Sunday  morning.  The  Protestant  compound 
was  surrounded  by  a  band  led  by  Li  Ti-song.  This  man  struck 
the  Tong-ling  when  he  rode  up  to  disperse  the  mob,  upon  which 
the  Tong-Ung  proceeded  to  the  R.C.  compoimd,  where  he  was 
detained  to  make  him  promise  $3,000  to  pay  for  rifles  which 
had  been  taken  from  some  of  the  Roman  Cathohc  robbers  by 
his  order.    The  Roman  CathoUcs  also  demanded  execution  of 

28 


434  APPENDIX  D 

an  officer  who  had  acted  under  the  Tong-ling's  orders.  The 
Tong-Iing  was  eventually  rescued  by  the  Chen-tai. 

"  On  Saturday,  at  5  p.m.,  the  Chen-tai  said  we  must  leave 
Haimen,  as  he  could  not  protect  us  here,  and  he  would  provide 
an  escort  to  take  us  to  Tai-chow  city.  About  an  hour  later  we 
all  were  escorted  to  gunboats,  but  the  head-wind  was  so  strong 
that  the  boats  could  not  start,  and  most  of  us  returned  to 
the  Protestant  compound.  My  wife  and  little  children  went  to 
hide  in  a  neighbour's  house. 

"  On  Simday  morning,  at  10  o'clock,  those  of  us  in  the  Pro- 
testant compound  were  again  escorted  by  the  Chen-tai  and  his 
soldiers  to  three  gimboats.  We  then  sailed  for  the  city,  and  were 
escorted  by  two  other  gimboats  for  40  li,  as  it  was  feared  that  the 
Roman  Catholics  might  follow  and  attack  us.  We  all  arrived 
safely  at  Tai-chow  city  on  the  following  day — ^Monday." 

Testimony  of  a  Mandarin  who  escorted  a  party  of  the  refugee 
Protestants  from  Haimen  to  this  city : 

In  reply  to  my  questions  he  said  he  lives  in  Haimen.  He 
estimates  the  number  of  the  attacking  party  of  Roman  Catholics 
at  about  1,000,  but  says  it  is  very  difficult  to  form  an  exact 
estimate.  They  came  in  squads,  and  mostly  belong  to  the 
south  of  Haimen.  Each  squad  is  under  a  leader.  The  larger 
half  of  them  have  not  rifles  but  carry  clubs.  The  others  have 
breech-  and  muzzle-loading  rifles  and  pistols  and  swords.  They 
were  called  up  by  the  R.C.  priest  Nyun.  Each  squad  has  its 
own  commissariat. 

"The  first  I  heard  of  them  was  on  Friday  morning,  No- 
vember 9th,  when  they  commenced  looting  Protestant  houses 
and  shops.  The  town  of  Haimen  was  soon  in  terror  and  all  the 
shops  were  closed.  The  following  morning  the  Protestant 
church  premises  were  surrounded  by  the  Roman  CathoHcs. 
The  Tong-ling  came  along  on  horseback,  and  one  of  the  Roman- 
ists pointed  his  rifle  at  him.  This  enraged  the  Tong-ling,  who 
ordered  his  men  to  seize  the  rifles.  Twenty  or  tUrty  rifles 
were  seized  and  two  Romanists  were  taken  prisoners.  The 
Tong-ling  then  rode  towards  the  west  gate,  and  in  passing  the 
premises  of  the  R.C.  church  he  was  stopped  and  invited  to 
enter.  He  did  so,  and  the  gates  were  at  once  shut  and  he  was 
made  a  prisoner.  Two  of  his  men  were  also  made  prisoners. 
Word  was  at  once  carried  to  the  Chen-tai,  who  came  and  had 
him  liberated.  The  Roman  Catholics  demanded  the  liberation 
of  their  two  men  who  were  apprehended,  and  they  were  set  free. 
The  government  troops  stationed  at  Haimen  number  120 
regulars  under  the  Chen-tai,  and  about  three  hundred  Militia 


APPENDIX  D  435 

under  the  Tong-Iing,  but  these  Mandarins  are  afraid  to  harm  the 
Roman  Catholics  because  the  R.  C.  bishop  would  accuse  them 
to  the  Provincial  Governor  (Fu-tai)  and  they  would  lose  their 
rank, '  kong-ming.'  " 

The  Provincial  Governor  (Fu-tai)  having  wired  to  settle 
the  combatants  without  violence,  the  military  stored  their 
rifles  and  went  about  unarmed.  All  the  shooting  was  done  by 
Romanists,  who  accidentally  shot  one  of  their  own  men.  Many 
of  the  Roman  Catholics  assembled  under  arms  are  well-known 
robbers. 

The  following  is  a  diary  showing  the  principal  events  that 
occurred  in  connection  with  the  Roman  Catholic  attack  at 
Haimen. 

Friday,  November  qih 

Hundreds  of  armed  men,  under  the  command  of  the  native 
Roman  CathoUc  priest  Nyun,  suddenly  appeared  in  the  streets 
of  Haimen.  They  looted  the  houses  and  shops  of  Protestants. 
The  owners  fled  to  the  Protestant  compound.  The  Protestants 
asked  for  an  escort  to  Tai-chow  city,  but  the  Military  Mandarin 
said  they  would  protect  them  in  Haimen.  The  son  of  a  Protestant 
inquirer  was  shot  through  the  thigh.  The  Protestant  preacher 
sent  an  open  note  by  a  messenger  to  the  foreign  missionaries 
here.  It  is  as  follows  :  "  Eight  hundred  Roman  Catholic  soldiers 
armed  with  rifles  and  swords  have  just  pillaged  the  houses  and 
shops  of  Christians  (names  given)  and  are  building  the  wall. 
The  Military  Mandarin  is  powerless  to  restrain  them.  I  do 
not  know  about  killed  and  wounded.  We  hope  you  will  rescue 
us  quickly. " 

Upon  the  arrival  of  this  messenger,  at  5  p.m.  on  Friday,  a 
telegram  was  sent  to  C.I.M.,  Shanghai,  and  to  British  Consul, 
Ningpoi  as  follows :  **  Hundreds  armed  Romanists  attacked 
Haimen  Protestants.  Killed,  wounded,  unknown.  Houses  pil- 
laged. Tidal  wall  occupied."  Foreign  missionaries  visited 
Prefect,  and  found  that  he  already  knew  the  situation,  and  that 
the  District  Magistrate  and  two  Deputies  from  the  Prefect 
were  preparing  to  start  for  Haimen.  It  was  learned  that  the 
Major-General  (Chen-tai)  at  Haimen  had  previously  warned 
the  city  Magistrate  of  a  Roman  Catholic  plot  to  attack  the 
Ptotestants  on  the  following  day — Satiirday.  Evidently,  there- 
fore, the  attack  began  a  day  sooner  than  the  Major-General 
expected.  The  Protestant  city  pastor  left  for  Haimen  in 
company  with  the  returning  messenger. 


436  APPENDIX  D 

Saturday,  lott 

'^'^  I.  The'' Protestant  pastor  arrived  at  Ko-ts,  three  nules  from 
Haimen,  and  was  furnished  with  an  escort  of  eight  soldiers  to 
guard  (him  to  Haimen.  The  escort  deserted  Um  before  he 
reached  Haimen>  but  the  chair-bearers  carried  him  safely  into 
the  Protestant  compound. 

He  learned  that  the  Governor  (Fu-tai)  had  ordered  the 
military  to  disperse  the  Romanists  without  violence.  The 
soldiers  were  therefore  without  arms.  At  4.15  in  the  afternoon 
he  succeeded  with  considerable  risk  in  sending  o£E  a  telegram, 
which  we  received  in  this  city  about  5  o'clock.  It  is  as  follows  : 
''  This  morning  the  robbers  surrounded  the  Protestant  compoimd 
twice.  Chen-tai  is  unable  to  restrain  them."  At  5.30  a  tele- 
gram was  sent  to  the  British  Consul,  Ningpo,  as  follows  : — "  Hai- 
men telegram  says  premises  still  surrounded.  Mandarins  power- 
less." At  8  p.m.  received  a  telegram  from  British  Consul,  Ningpo 
— "  You  are  on  no  account  to  taJce  part  in  lawless  violence.  Do 
your  best  to  restrain  your  converts.  Similar  message  is  being 
sent  to  priest  by  bishop."  Meantime  events  were  thickening 
at  Haimen. 

Immediately  after  the  telegram  was  dispatched  at  4.15  the 
Romanists  started  a  desultory  fire,  and  the  General  commanding 
the  Militia  (Tong-ling)  rode  along  to  stop  them.  A  robber 
pointed  his  rifle  at  the  Tong-ling,  who  with  his  men  were  unarmed. 
The  Tong-ling  ordered  one  of  liis  officers  to  seize  the  rifles  and 
swords  of  this  squad.  Twenty-seven  rifles  and  swords  were  seized. 
The  robber  chief,  Li  Ti-song,  retaliated  by  bringing  up  more  men 
and  seizing  five  of  the  Tong-ling's  men.  The  Tong-Ung  rode  off 
in  the  direction  of  the  Roman  CathoHc  compoimd  to  complain  to 
Priest  Nyun,  the  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
forces.  N}nm  got]  him  inside  the  Roman  Catholic  premises, 
made  him  prisoner,  demanded  $3,000  for  the  rifles  and  swords  his 
men  had  captured,  and  the  execution  of  the  miUtary  officer  who 
had  captured  them.  The  Romanists  accidentally  shot  one  of 
their  own  men  dead. 

About  5  p.m.  the  Chen-tai  went  to  the  Protestant  compound 
and  said  he  could  not  guarantee  protection  any  longer,  but 
would  furnish  an  escort  to  take  all  the  Protestants  to  Tai-chow 
city.  He  then  went  to  the  R.C.  compound  and  secured  the 
liberation  of  the  Tong-ling. 

About  6.30  p.m.,  under  a  miUtary  escort,  the  Protestants  were 
taken  to  gunboats,  but  a  tempest  was  blowing  and  the  boats 
could  not  start.    Some  of  the  refugees  remained  on  the  boats, 


APPENDIX  D  437 

women  and  little  children  hid  in  neighbours'  houses,  and  most 
of  the  men  returned  to  the  Protestant  compound  for  the  night, 

Sunday,  iiih 

At  10  a.m.  the  Protestant  refugees  were  escorted  by  the 
Chen-tai  and  soldiers  to  the  three  gunboats,  which  sailed  for 
Tai-chow  city,  40  miles  distant.  Other  two  gunboats  were 
sent  as  an  additional  escort  for  10  miles,  as  it  was  feared  that  the 
robbers  might  follow  in  boats.  When  half-way  to  Tai-chow  dty, 
a  party  of  Roman  Catholics  were  sighted,  but  no  attack  was 
made. 

5  p.m.  People  arriving  at  the  city  by  steam  launch  from 
Haimen  reported  passing  ^^otestant  refugees  in  three  gunboats 
about  fifteen  miles  below  the  city. 

Monday,  12th 

9  a.m.  First  party  of  refugees  arrived  safely.  Praise  God. 
They  report  that  others  are  on  the  way  and  that  the  Protestant 
community  of  Haimen  will  probably  all  be  here  about  noon 
to-day,  as  they  all  sailed  together  on  Sunday  morning  from 
Haimen. 

Telegram  from  British  Consul, dated  Ningpo,  Monday,  10  a.m. : 
"  CathoUcs  state  that  they  have  dispersed  out  Protestants  stiU 
assembled  together  with  aggressive  mtentions.  Is  this  true  ?  " 
A  reply  was  sent  to  the  British  Consul  from  Tai-chow  Fu  at 
II  o'clock  as  follows :  "  Protestant  conununity  officially  sent 
here  under  escort.  Left  Haimen  Sunday  morning.  Unable  to 
protect  there.    Premises  in  charge  of  Chen-tai." 

Last  of  the  three  gunboat  parties  arrived  about  noon.  We 
are  informed  that  a  body  of  Romanists  left  this  city  in  answer 
to  a  telgram  from  Haimen  on  Saturday  night  to  attack  refugees 
en  route.  They  had  lacked  courage  at  sight  of  the  gunboats. 
The  Romanists  say  they  must  have  the  life  of  the  Protestant 
preacher. 

2  p.m.  All  the  refugees  except  the  women  and  children 
visited  the  Prefect,  who  said  they  had  shown  themselves  superior 
to  the  Roman  Catholics,  and  that  they  must  stay  here  tiU  he  saw 
it  safe  for  them  to  return  to  their  homes. 

8  p.m.  An  inquirer  arrived  from  Haimen  said  the  R.C.'s  had 
caught  him,  and  demanded  100  jars  of  wine  as  ransom  for  his 
tife.  He  managed  to  get  90  jars  of  wine  for  them,  and  they 
allowed  him  to  escape.  He  says  a  large  force  of  armed  men 
from  the  north  bank  of  the  river  was  crossing  to  join  the  Roman 
Catholic  army  to-day. 


438  APPENDIX  D 

Thursday,  13A 

8.30  ajn.  A  Thanksgiving  Service  to  God  for  the  escape  of 
the  refugees  was  held  in  the  Chma  Inland  Mission  Chapel.  Psalms 
37  and  124  were  read,  and  prayer  was  offered  for  the  persecuting 
Roman  CathoHcs. 

At  Haimen  the  Roman  Catholics  are  searching  for  those 
who  have  shown  sympathy  with  the  Protestants.  Many  have 
fled  from  the  town,  others  are  in  hiding,  and  business  is  paral3rsed. 
Out  man  was  caught  and  taken  to  the  R.C.  premises  to  be 
tortured.  The  Mandarin  succeeded  in  getting  him  liberated. 
Attempts  were  then  made  to  catch  his  son,  who  escaped,  and 
fled  to  this  city,  arriving  here  by  steam  launch  with  District 
Magistrate  and  Tong-ling  at  six  o'clock.  He  says  some  of  the 
armed  bands  have  dispersed,  others  have  come,  and  they  reside 
principally  in  the  R.C.  compound. 

The  Roman  Catholic  army  is  composed  of  bands  of  men, 
each  under  a  leader,  and  each  band  has  a  distinctive  badge. 
The  Commander-in-Chief  is  the  native  Roman  CathoHc  priest, 
Nyun,  and  the  principal  leaders  are :  (Eleven  names  given). 

Several  of  these  are  well-known  robber  chiefs ;  at  least  two 
of  them  are  only  recently  liberated  from  prison. 

THE   CATHOLIC    VERSION 

After  the  disturbance  over  the  chestnuts,  in  which  the  Pro- 
testants summoned  the  brigands  in  order  to  pillage  a  Catholic's 
house  and  deUver  from  jail  by  force  of  arms  a  criminal  arrested 
by  the  Magistrate,  the  parties  interested  were  extremely  excited. 
It  had  only  need  of  another  incident  to  cause  an  explosion,  and 
the  Protestants  were  soon  to  furnish  it. 

At  Haimen  the  Catholic  Mission  owns  a  piece  of  land  on 
the  river  front  which  surrounds  the  Protestant  church.  Houses 
are  being  built  there  for  the  support  of  our  charitable  institutes. 
One  of  tihese  houses  being  built  behind  the  Protestant  church,  it 
was  now  necessary  to  bmld  a  wall  around  it  as  it  was  to  serve 
as  a  warehouse.  In  order  to  avoid  all  occasion  of  fresh  discord 
the  wall  was  to  be  built  four  feet  from  the  church,  but  when  the 
masons  came  to  commence  the  work  they  were  stopped  by  the 
Protestant  church  master,  Ko  Siao-tsen,  and  his  band,  who,  ready 
to  fight,  claimed  the  property  as  theirs. 

Instead  of  resisting  violence  by  violence  we  preferred  to  bring 
the  case  before  the  local  authorities.  Civil  and  IkClitaiy  Mandarins 
were  immediately  appointed  by  the  Prefect  of  Tai-tcheou-fou, 


APPENDIX  D  439 

Mr.  Tchang,  to  examine  the  case.  Their  first  act  was  to  demand 
the  titles  of  ownership  from  the  Protestants.  Now,  the  latter 
have  none  to  give,  no,  not  even  for  their  church,  which  stands 
on  a  site  formerly  used  as  a  place  of  capital  ptmishment,  and  was 
partly  occupied  by  them,  partly  given  to  them  by  a  famous 
brigand  named  Tchang.  They  answered,  however,  first  sajdng 
that  the  deeds  were  at  Ningpo ;  the  second  time  they  said  they 
were  at  Shanghai ;  and  the  third  time  they  showed  a  false  paper 
which  they  had  manufactured  after  taking  the  measurement  of 
their  church's  land. 

The  Mandarins  afterwards  examined  the  titles  of  ownership 
in  the  possession  of  the  CathoUc  Mission,  which  are  incontestable, 
and  all  were  unanimous  in  acknowledging  our  rights,  adding  that 
we  could  build  the  wall.  This  decision  being  given,  the  workmen 
returned  on  November  9th  to  continue  work  on  the  wall ;  but 
Ko  Siao-tsen,  the  Protestant  master,  the  evening  before,  had 
already  assembled  eighty  armed  men  in  the  church  for  the  purpose 
of  opposing  the  work.  They  rushed  at  the  workmen  and 
threatened  to  shoot  them  if  they  would  not  quit.  The  workmen 
retired. 

It  was  market  day ;  the  news  soon  spread  to  the  outskirts 
of  Haimen,  and  a  great  number  of  CathoUcs  assembled,  being 
exasperated  by  the  incessant  provocations  of  Protestants  and  by 
former  insult  and  injustice. 

The  next  day,  Saturday,  November  loth,  the  workmen 
returned  to  their  labour  with  a  guard  of  Christians  to  defend 
them.  Two  hours  after  the  Mandarins  asked  that  the  work  be 
stopped,  pronoising  to  settle  the  question  immediately.  About 
four  o'clock  that  evening  a  delegate  paid  our  missionaries  a  visit 
and  offered  the  following  conditions  of  peace  : 

1.  That  the  Protestant  master  Ko  would  be  sent  away  from 
Haimen  and  forbidden  to  return. 

2.  The  wall  would  be  built  the  next  day  and  the  lines  drawn 
without  any  change. 

3.  If  Rrotestants  thereafter  wished  to  take  revenge,  the 
delegate  and  Colonel  Tsao  would  take  upon  themselves  the 
responsibility  and  would  answer  for  all. 

The  missionaries  accepted  these  conditions  and  immediately 
ordered  the  Christians  to  disperse.  The  latter  were  still  in  the 
port  in  the  act  of  eating  when  they  perceived  two  vessels  coming 
towards  them  from  the  other  side  of  the  river.    They  were  full  of 

g'  rates  and  armed  Protestants,  who  as  soon  as  they  landed  opened 
e  on  the  Christians.    The  latter  were  obUged  to  defend  them- 
selves, and  put  to  flight  their  assailants.    Then  there  took  place 


440  APPENDIX  D 

a  deplorable  encounter  between  the  Christians  and  Colonel  Tsao's 
soldiers,  caused  by  the  bad-will  of  an  under-leader  conunonly 
called  Siao  Lao-yi.  He  was  formerly  a  pirate,  who,  having 
made  his  submission,  is  now  in  command  of  some  soldiers  who 
themselves  are  more  or  less  second-hand  pirates.  He  had  been 
sent  to  the  port  with  fifty  soldiers  to  separate  the  combatants. 
When  he  saw  his  former  companions  of  brigandage  fleeing,  he 
ordered  his  men  to  charge  the  Christians  and  disarm  them,  and  he 
himself  fired.    Ten  were  wounded,  of  whom  one  died. 

Shortly  after  this  bloody  fight  Colonel  Tsao  paid  the  mission- 
aries a  visit,  saying  that  if  any  had  been  killed,  the  guilty  parties 
would  be  executed  ;  if  depredation  had  taken  place,  the  d^ages 
would  be  compensated.  General  Ou  was  present  and  put  the 
blame  on  the  soldiers.  Sub-prefect  Siao  did  so  hkewise,  as  also 
all  the  witnesses  of  this  bloody  brutality  committed  against 
men  who  were  justly  defending  their  lives  and  who,  faitihiul  to 
instructions  given  tiiem,  ofiex^  no  resistance  to  the  soldiers. 
Siao  Lao-yi  is  greatly  to  blame,  and  merits  punishment. 

As  for  reproaching  the  Christians  with  having  firearms,  that 
b  ridiculous  in  a  coimtry  in  which,  to  the  knowledge  and  before 
the  very  eyes  of  the  Mandarins,  all  the  inhabitants  cany  arms 
to  defend  themselves  against  tbt  pirates,  who,  thanks  to  the 
inactivity  of  those  in  power,  abound  there — ^brigandage  and 
assassination  are  continual. 

Peace  reigns  there  now,  since  the  Mandarins  expelled  the 
pirates  of  Pejren  and  sent  away  under  good  escort  the  Protestant 
master  Ko  Siao-tsen.  But  I  received  a  telegram  this  morning, 
November  i6th,  stating  that  he  returns  this  very  day  at  the  head 
of  a  large  number  of  robbers.  What  will  happen,  and  what 
can  we  do  ? 

The  other  side  of  the  relations  between  Roman  Catholic  and 
Protestant  missionaries  is  seen  in  the  following  communication 
sent  to  the  Shanghai  Mercury  by  a  Protestant  missionary  in 
Szechwan. 

Sui-Fu,  VIA  Chungking,  Szechwan 
{From  our  Correspondent) 

November  zBth,  1906. 

Death 

It  is  with  sorrow  that  I  have  to  record  the  passing  away  of  one 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Fathers  who  has  laboured  in  this  land 
for  over  thirty  years,  twenty  of  which  he  has  spent  in  this  dty. 


APPENDIX  D  441 

Pire  Beraud  has  had  a  very  busy  time  of  it  here,  for  besides 
looking  after  the  members'  spiritual  welfare,  he  has  built  two 
large  churches,  one  within  and  one  without  the  city,  both  of 
which  will  remain  as  his  monument  for  years  to  come.  He 
passed  away  on  November  nth,  from  an  apoplectic  stroke,  and 
was  buried  in  the  Priests'  Cemetery  at  Ho-ti-k'eo,  some  twenty 
miles  from  here.  Pdre  Beraud  is  especially  remembered  for  his 
great  kindness  to  your  correspondent  during  the  terrible  time 
of  the  1895  riots,  when  night  after  night  he  crept  round  about 
midnight  to  see  how  we  were  faring,  and  to  sympathise  with  us 
in  the  difficulties  of  our  situation.  Such  acts  speak  louder  than 
words,  and  can  never  be  forgotten. 


APPENDIX  E 

On  December  nth,  1905,  a  serious  organised  riot  occurred  at 
Shanghai,  the  provoking  cause  of  which  is  described  in  the 
following  narrative, 

THE  OUTBREAK  AT    THE   MIXED   COURT 
Fight  between   Police  and  Runners 

Extraordinary   Incidents 

The  tension  between  the  Municipal  authorities  and  those 
of  the  Mixed  Court  reached  a  dimax  on  Friday  morning,  when 
an  attempt  to  carry  out  contradictory  orders  from  the  Bench 
led  unfortunately  to  an  exchange  of  blows  between  the  municipal 
police  and  the  native  runners. 

There  was  a  preliminary  to  Friday's  occurrence  on  the  pre- 
ceding day,  when  the  Magistrate  (Mr.  Kuan),  after  making 
another  futile  protest  against  the  presence  of  the  police  cadet 
in  Court,  and  his  supervision  of  the  proper  execution  of  the 
sentences  of  the  Court,  retaliated  by  sending  a  runner  to  the 
Central  Pohce  Station  to  see  that  they  did  their  duty  there 
properly.  The  selected  runner  spent  a  long  and  presumably 
rather  tedious  day  in  the  courtyard  of  the  Central  Police  Station, 
where  he  was  allowed  to  remain  unmolested.  We  understand, 
indeed,  that  a  letter  was  sent  from  the  Council  to  Mr.  Kuan 
congratulating  him  on  the  interest  he  had  suddenly  taken  in 
police  administration,  and  offering  his  representative  every 
facility  for  gaining  useful  information. 

Circumvented  in  this  attempt  in  his  policy  of  annoyance,  a 
policy  which  Mr.  Kuan  has  himself  declared  he  has  orders  from 
the  Taotai  to  pursue,  it  would  seem  that  only  the  opportunity  was 
wanted  to  force  matters  to  a  more  serious  issue.  There  are 
indications,  in  fact,  that  Friday's  disorder  was  premeditated. 
Early  in  the  session  the  Magistrate  had  a  difference  with  the 
British  Assessor  (Mr.  Tw}anan)  over  a  case  which  had,  he  said, 

443 


APPENDIX  E  443 

been  ordered  for  hearing  on  another  date,  and  which  he  now 
refused  to  hear.  The  real  trouble  came,  however,  when  two 
women  and  three  men  were  put  before  the  Court  on  chafes  of 
kidnapping  girls  from  their  homes  in  Szechwan.  Fifteen  young 
girls,  who  were  to  be  the  witnesses  in  the  case,  had  been  cared 
for  by  the  mimicipal  police,  and  were  brought  to  the  court  in 
their  charge.  When  the  case  came  to  be  remanded,  the  Assessor 
marked  the  charge  sheet  "  Children  to  go  to  the  Door  of  Hope 
pro  tem."  and  instructed  the  police  to  take  them  there.  Mr. 
Kuan,  however,  wished  to  keep  the  children  in  the  Mixed  Court 
cells,  and  gave  his  orders  to  the  runners  to  take  them  away. 
The  runners  went  to  remove  the  children,  but  the  police,  under 
instructions  from  their  cadet  officer,  Mr.  Fenton,  refused  to  give 
them  up.  There  was  some  hustling,  and  one  of  the  runners 
struck  Inspector  Gibson  in  the  eye.  This  started  a  general  fight, 
in  which  the  poUce  were  victorious  and  carried  off  the  chilchren 
and  prisoners  to  their  vans  in  the  yard. 

During  the  fight  Mr.  Ching,  the  Assistant  Magistrate,  was 
heard  shouting  from  the  Bench  to  the  native  municipal  constables 
and  detectives,  in  Chinese,  that  they  ware  Chinese  subjects,  and 
if  they  resisted  the  Magistrate's  orders  they  would  be  severely 
punished.  The  native  constables,  however,  appear  to  have 
considered  their  first  duty  lay  to  their  employers. 

The  riot  was  sufficiently  serious  to  induce  Mr.  Fenton  to  go 
to  the  telephone  to  send  a  message  for  reinforcements.  He  had 
used  the  instrument  an  hour  before,  and  it  was  then  all  right, 
but  now  the  mouthpiece  was  nowhere  to  be  found.  This  may 
have  been  a  coincidence  merely.  At  all  events  it  did  not  render 
the  telephone  unusable.  The  gates  of  the  compound  leading 
into  the  road  were,  however,  shut  and  locked.  The  Magistrate, 
Assistant  Magistrate,  and  Assessor  were  then  standing  in  the 
middle  of  the  court.  Mr.  Fenton  went  to  ask  that  the  gates 
be  opened  to  allow  the  vans  to  go  out,  whereupon  the  Magistrate 
turned  on  him  in  a  perfect  fury,  and  told  him  that  he  might 
break  the  gates  open,  and  destroy  the  court  itself.  "  You  may 
trample  on  my  body,"  he  added,  and  then  strode  away.  The 
gates  were  subsequently  opened,  and  the  children  removed. 
The  sitting  of  the  Court  had,  of  course,  been  abruptly  suspended. 

So  far  as  is  known  the  only  casualties  in  the  fight  were  sus* 
tained  by  Inspector  Gibson  and  a  runner,  both  of  whom  were 
slightly  damaged. 

A  wild  statement  is  being  mdustriously  circulated  that  Mr. 
Ching  was  hit  over  the  head  by  one  of  the  police. 


444  APPENDIX  E 

The  Chinese  Version 

Tlie  Chinese  view  of  the  disturbance  on  Friday  in  the  Mixed 
Court  is  represented  in  the  following  letter  from  "  One  who  was 
present."    The  original  letter  is  in  Chinese. 

"  It  has  always  been  a  part  of  the  Regtdation  of  the  Inter- 
national Mixed  Court  for  female  criminals  to  be  confined  in 
the  Mixed  Court  prison.  Mr.  Twyman,  the  British  Vice-Consul, 
has,  however,  repeatedly  wanted  to  send  these  females  to  the 
foreign  gaol,  and  on  this  account  it  has  been  a  subject  of  repeated 
opposition  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Kuan,  the  Magistrate  of  the  Mixed 
Court.  Hie  latter  has  also  petitioned  the  Shanghai  Taotai  to 
back  up  this  opposition.    This  is  on  record. 

"  On  the  morning  of  the  8th  instant,  Mr.  Kuan,  Magistrate, 
Mr.  Ching,  Assistant  Magistrate,  and  Mr.  Twyman,  the  British 
Assessor,  were  trying  cases  brought  by  the  poUce,  among  which 
vras  one  in  which  a  certain  Mrs.  Li  Wang-shih  was  charged  with 
kidnapping  children.  According  to  the  evidence,  this  woman 
claimed  to  be  the  wife  of  an  official,  and  that  she,  accompanied 
by  four  others,  had  arrived  in  Shanghai  from  Szechwan ;  that 
she  had  with  her  five  little  girls  which  she  had  purchased  in 
Szechwan  as  personal  attendants,  but  which  the  police  had 
wrongly  charged  her  with  having  kidnapped.  In  view  of  the 
wrongful  accusation  Mrs.  Li  Wang-shih  asked  that  her  accusers 
be  punished.  It  was  found,  in  the  course  of  the  trial,  that  the 
defendant  had  arrived  in  Shanghai  in  the  steamer  Poyang,  en 
route  to  her  home  in  Kwantung,  and  that  the  luggage  brought 
by  her  amounted  to  over  one  hundred  pieces.  As  for  the  children, 
the  defendant  declared  that  she  had  docmnents  proving  bona 
fide  sales  to  her  of  them,  etc.  As  this  evidence  appeared  to 
refute  the  charge  of  the  children  having  been  kidnapped,  the 
Magistrate  consulted  with  the  Assessor  as  to  the  advisability  of 
remanding  the  case,  sending  the  children  to  the  *  Door  of  Hope,* 
and  keeping  the  defendants  under  the  custody  of  the  Mixed 
Court  ad  interim.  The  British  Assessor,  however,  determined 
to  have  the  defendants  confined  under  remand  in  the  foreign 
(municipal)  gaol.  The  Magistrate  replied  that  as  he  had 
not  received  any  instructions  from  the  Taotai  to  change  the 
regulations,  he  could  not  consent  to  this.  An  argument  ensued, 
and,  neither  side  being  willing  to  give  way,  the  Magistrate 
accordingly  ordered  his  runners  to  follow  the  regulations  and 
hand  the  female  defendants  to  the  charge  of  the  Court  female 
gaoler.  Upon  this  the  Vice-Consul  ordered  the  police  inspectors 
and  all  the  constables  present  to  use  force  in  getting  away  the 


APPENDIX  E  445 

defendants.  In  the  mUie  that  ensued  two  runners  of  the  Court, 
Chang  Ta'i  and  Chou  Yu-ch'mg,  and  severe  onlookers  were 
hurt,  and  when  the  Magistrate  called  out  to  the  police  to  stop 
strildng,  one  of  the  inspectors  went,  so  far  as  even  to  threaten 
him  with  a  dub. 

"  About  this  time  there  was  a  large  crowd  of  people  outside 
the  gates,  who,  hearing  of  the  disturbance,  tried  to  rush  in. 
Fearing  a  riot  against  the  poUce  on  the  part  of  the  mob,  the 
Magistrate  ordered  the  gates  to  be  temporarily  closed  in  order 
to  prevent  outsiders  from  coming  in.  Following  on  this  the 
police  forcibly  took  away  the  defendants,  male  and  female. 
Nothing  can  render  a  worse  insult  to  the  dignity  of  an  inde- 
pendent coimtry  than  such  treatment  of  its  officials. 

"  Finally  the  two  runners  who  were  hurt  by  the  police  have 
been  examined  by  a  special  officer  sent  by  the  Shanghai  Taotai 
and  also  by  Dr.  Ransom,  the  latter  granting  a  certificate  as  to 
the  condition  and  nature  of  injuries  received  by  the  runners  in 
question." 

The  London  Times  of  November  ist,  1906,  contains  a  letter 
on  this  subject  from  the  Rev.  W.  Arthur  Comaby,  Corresponding 
Secretary  of  the  Christian  Literature  Society  for  China,  who  has 
peculiar  opportunities  for  knowing  what  the  Chinese  think  on 
pubUc  questions. 

Chinese  Girl  Slavery  and  the  Shanghai  Municipality 

To  the  Editor  of  "  The  Times  " 

Sir, — I  have  been  asked  to  send  you  some  particulars, 
hitherto  unpublished  in  England,  concerning  the  Shanghai  riot 
of  last  December  and  its  sequel.  I  am  in  touch  with  Chinese 
pubUc  opinion  from  long  residence,  and  latterly  the  editorship 
of  a  weekly  newspaper  in  Chinese. 

Until  toward  the  end  of  last  year  all  the  Chinese  complaints 
which  reached  me  were  concerning  the  Chinese  side  of  the  Mixed 
Court,  and  especially  the  notorious  "  runners  "  of  that  Court. 
The  Chinese  of  Shanghai  felt  they  were  not  sufficiently  protected 
by  the  fact  of  a  Western  assessor  sitting  to  watch  the  cases, 
lliey  deemed  the  French  settlement  system  to  suit  them  better^ 
where  the  Western  was  the  judge  and  the  Chinese  Mandarin 
the  assessor.  And  not  until  the  case  of  a  woman  from  Szechwan, 
with  eighteen  young  girls,  being  arrested  by  the  Western  police 
on  suspicion  of  kidnapping,  did  the  native  papers  and  talkers 
and  merchant  guilds  take  sides  (before  the  case  had  been  tried) 


446  APPENDIX  E 

with  the  Chinese  Mandarin  against  the  police  and  mtinicipal 
council.    This  is  to  be  explained  by  the  following  facts. 

A  riot  in  Shanghai  was  threatened  as  early  as  July  9th  last 
year  (1905)  in  a  Chinese  document,  handed  to  certain  members 
of  the  Mimicipal  Council  and  others,  by  a  league  of  Chinese 
owners  of  certain  unmentionable  property,  who  appended  their 
names,  fourteen  in  all,  to  that  docmnent.  They  deprecated 
anything  being  done  to  check  their  trade,  or  even  to  regulate 
it,  as  their  Chinese  patrons  "would  express  their  feelings  in 
such  an  uncontrolled  fashion  as  to  cause  great  inconvenience 
to  the  foreign  residents  of  the  settlement "  if  any  measures 
were  attempted. 

The  number  of  inmates  of  the  houses  referred  to,  as  estimated 
by  the  property-owners  themselves,  is  '*  not  less  than  four  or 
five  thousand."  And  as  many  of  these  girls  break  down  in 
health,  the  numbers  are  recruited  by  the  agency  of  kidnappers 
and  slave-dealers  in  many  centres,  notably  along  the  Yangtze, 
from  Hankow  westward.  Daughters  of  prominent  native 
Christians  have  been  among  those  kidnapped  for  this  trade, 
and  the  Chinese  have  repeatedly  affirmed  that  hardly  one  foreign 
steamer  leaves  Hankow  for  Shanghai  without  some  *'  slaves  " 
from  Szechwan.  The  women  who  escort  them  pose  as  "  ladies 
with  personal  slaves,"  and  are  protected  by  the  league  of  Shanghai 
property-owners,  backed  by  the  merchant  guilds  (which  latter 
were  so  much  in  evidence  before  last  December  riot) — so  the 
Chinese  of  Central  China  have  affirmed  for  over  a  decade  now. 

Then,  as  there  has  been  no  tracing  the  missing  daughters 
after  they  have  been  transferr^  from  native  boats  to  the  foreign 
steamers,  rumours  have  been  dangerously  current  in  past  years 
that  foreigners  are  connected  with  the  trade,  and  paid  to  protect 
the  "  ladies  "  from  Mixed  Court  investigations.  Indeed,  seven 
years  ago  I  was  myself  mobbed,  at  a  spot  one  hundred  miles  up 
the  Han  river,  as  being  a  "  foreign  kidnapper,"  which  made  it 
all  the  more  interesting  to  be  among  those  mobbed  in  Shanghai 
last  December  in  the  anti-rescue  riot.  Only  the  local  Chinese 
feeling  seems  to  have  been  reported  in  England,  but  so  many 
Chinese  f  amiUes  along  the  Yangtze  Valley  have  lost  their  brightest 
girls  that  very  much  of  the  respectable  pubUc  opinion  out  of 
Shanghai  has  been  with  the  municipal  police  rather  than  on 
the  side  of  "the  patriots  of  Shanghai."  And,  happily,  his 
Excellency,  Chow  Fu,  Viceroy  of  these  Liang  Kiang  provinces, 
saw  the  true  national  bearings  of  the  case  at  the  time,  as  opposed 
to  local  vested  interests.  He  was  forced  to  "  save  the  Chinese 
face  "  by  taking  the  "  patriotic  "  side,  but  proceeded  to  draw 


APPENDIX  E  447 

Up  a  memorial  to  the  Throne  for  the  total  abolition  of  girl- 
slavery  throughout  China.  This  was  twice  reported  to  have 
been  approved,  but  ^^  no  Imperial  edict  has  been  forthcoming, 
he  has  now  (September  24th)  memorialised  the  Throne  once  again 
with  intent  to  get  the  measure  put  through.  This  will  affect 
millions  of  young  girls  physically  and  tens  of  thousands  morally. 
And  when  his  memorial  becomes  definite  law,  we  may  even 
see  the  local  property-owners  appealing  to  the  Municipal  Council 
to  protect  them  from  the  local  Chinese  authorities,  which  will 
be  a  new  departure  in  the  tangled  history  of  the  Mixed  Court  of 
Shanghai. 

I  am.  Sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

W.  Arthur  Cornaby. 

Christian  Literature  Society  for  China,  Shanghai, 
September  2gih, 


APPENDIX  F 

REGULATIONS  PROHIBITING  OPIUM  SMOKING 
(Issued  November  21st,  1906) 

Article  I.  To  limit  the  cultivation  of  the  poppy  is  the  way 
to  eradicate  the  evU.  The  poppy  ol^tructs  agriculture/ and  its 
effect  is  very  bad.  In  China,  in  the  provinces  of  Szechwan, 
Shensi,  Kansu,  Yunnan,  Kweichow,  Shansi,  and  Kianghuai, 
the  poppy  is  widely  cultivated,  and  even  in  other  provinces 
there  are  places  where  poppy  cultivation  is  largely  pursued. 
Now  it  is  decided  to  prohibit  and  root  out  the  habit  of  smoking 
opium  within  ten  years.  It  is  therefore  necessary  to  limit  the 
cultivation  of  the  poppy  so  as  to  effect  the  prohibition.  Viceroys 
and  Governors  of  provinces  have  to  instruct  tlie  Magistrates  of 
departments  and  districts  to  report  upon,  after  registering,  the 
actual  area  of  land  used  for  cultivation  of  poppy.  Unless  land 
has  been  hitherto  used  in  the  cultivation  of  the  poppy  it  is  not 
to  be  used  for  that  purpose  in  future.  For  the  land  already 
being  cultivated  with  the  poppy  special  title-deeds  must  be 
obtained.  Of  the  land  at  present  in  use  for  the  cultivation  of 
the  poppy  one-ninth  must  be  annually  withdrawn  from  culti- 
vation, and  if  such  land  is  suitable,  other  crops  are  to  be  cultivated 
thereon.  Magistrates  of  departments  and  districts  are  to  pay 
surprise  visits  in  order  to  ascertain  whether  there  is  any  violation 
of  this  regulation. 

By  this  means  the  cultivation  of  the  poppy  will  be  exter- 
minated in  nine  years. 

Any  person  violating  the  rule  will  forfeit  his  land,  and  any 
person  ceasing  to  grow  the  poppy  and  adopting  some  other  crop 
before  the  time  required  in  the  decree  shall  be  considered  as 
meriting  special  reward. 

Article  II.  The  issuing  of  certificates  wiU  prevent  the 
possibility  of  new  smokers.  The  bad  habit  of  opium  smoking 
has  now  been  indulged  in  for  such  a  long  time.  About  three  or 
four  tenths  of  the  natives  smoke  opimn.    Therefore  we  must 

448 


APPENDIX  P  449 

be  lenient  to  those  who  have  akeady  acquired  the  habit,  but 
must  be  strict  for  the  future.  First  of  all,  all  the  officials  and 
gentry  and  licentiates  shaU  be  prohibited  to  smoke  opium,  so  as 
to  show  examples  to  the  common  people.  Those  who  smoke 
opium,  without  distinction,  whether  he  be  an  official,  one  of  the 
gentry,  or  a  servant,  shall  report  the  fact  at  the  local  y&men. 
If  the  place  of  their  living  is  remote  from  the  local  y&men,  they 
may  report  themselves  to  the  police  bureau  or  to  the  gentry 
of  that  place,  who  will  collect  such  applications  and  send  the 
same  to  the  local  y&men.  The  local  officials  then  will  issue  a 
proclamation  ordering  them  to  fill  up  a  form  with  their  names, 
age,  residence,  profession,  and  the  amount  of  opimn  each  smokes 
per  day ;  such  forms  will  be  ordered  to  be  sent  in  at  a  fixed  date 
according  to  the  distance  of  the  residence  from  the  y&men. 
After  the  forms  have  been  collected  at  the  yimen  a  list  will  be 
compiled,  and  one  copy  of  the  same  will  be  handed  over  to  the 
higher  y&men,  and  certificates  will  be  issued  under  the  official 
seal.  Such  certificates  will  be  of  two  kinds :  one  for  those  who 
are  over  sixty  years  of  age  and  another  for  those  who  are  under 
sixty  years  of  age.  Those  who  receive  the  second  kind  of  certi- 
ficate are  not  allowed  to  receive  the  certificate  of  the  first  kind 
when  they  reach  sixty.  In  the  certificate  the  name,  age,  native 
address,  amount  of  daily  consumption  of  opium,  as  well  as  the 
date  of  the  issue  of  the  certificate,  are  mentioned  to  certify  that 
they  are  allowed  to  buy  opium.  If  there  are  any  who,  having 
no  certificate,  buy  opium  secretly,  such  persons  wiU  be  duly 
punished.  Once  a  registration  has  been  made  and  certificate 
been  issued  no  future  application  will  be  allowed. 

Article  III,  By  ordering  gradual  reduction  of  the  amount 
of  smoking  opium,  a  cure  of  such  habit  may  be  effected.  Those 
who  are  over  sixty  years  old  are  treated  leniently  because  of 
their  age,  but  those  who  are  below  sixty  and  have  received  a 
certificate  of  second  kind  are  ordered  to  reduce  the  amount  of 
smoking  annually  either  by  two-tenths  or  three-tenths,  and  to 
determine  the  date  of  ceasing  to  smoke  opium.  Those  who 
oease  to  smoke  and  obtain  the  guarantee  of  their  neighbours 
will  be  presents  to  the  local  officials,  who  will  also  inquire  into 
the  case,  and  then  the  name  will  be  erased  from  the  book  of 
registration  and  the  certificate  will  be  returned  to  the  officials. 
A  list  of  such  withdrawals  will  be  sent  to  the  higher  y&men  for 
record.  Tlie  date  of  prohibition  of  opium  is  quite  lenient,  and 
therefore  if  there  is  any  one  who  does  not  give  up  the  practice 
within  term,  such  person  shall  be  severely  punished.  If  there 
is  any  one  who  has  a  certificate  of  the  second  class  and  does  not 

29 


45o  APPEtfbix  P 

stop  smoking,  if  he  be  an  official,  he  will  be  cashiered ;  if  he  be 
a  Ucentiate,  his  title  will  be  taken  away ;  and  if  he  be  an  unofficial 
person,  his  name  will  be  registered.  These  names  will  be  sent  up 
to  the  higher  y&men  to  be  placed  on  record,  their  names  and 
age  will  be  put  up  in  the  street,  and  their  residence  will  be 
made  pubUc,  and  no  honorary  positions  will  be  given  to  them. 
They  are  not  allowed  to  be  reckoned  as  equals  of  the  general 
pubUc. 

Article  IV.  By  closing  the  opium  shops  the  source  of  the 
evil  can  be  cleared  away.  Until  the  terms  for  the  date  of  pro- 
hibition come  it  is  impossible  to  close  the  shops  where  opium 
is  sold.  However,  there  are  opium  shops  where  are  many  lamps 
for  smoking  opium,  and  many  youngsters  are  induced  to  come 
there  and  gather  together  with  many  bad  characters.  Therefore 
such  shops  shall  be  closed  by  local  authorities  within  six  months, 
and  the  owners  shall  be  ordered  to  change  their  occupations. 
If  they  do  not  close  their  shops  in  time,  these  shops  shall  be 
officiary  closed  by  sealing  the  door.  The  restaurants  and  bars 
shall  not  keep  opium  for  the  use  of  their  customers,  and  the 
guests  shall  not  be  allowed  to  bring  in  any  opiimi  pipe  in  order 
to  smoke  opium  in  these  places.  If  there  are  any  who  violate 
the  rule,  they  shall  be  severely  punished.  Those  who  seU  opium 
pipes,  opium  lamps,  or  other  utensils  for  opium  smokers,  shaU  be 
prohibited  from  selling  these  goods  after  six  months,  or  they  shall 
be  severely  punished.  The  taxes  on  opimn  lamps  shall  not  be 
collected  three  months  after  date. 

Article  V,  By  registering  each  shop  where  opium  is  sold, 
the  exact  number  of  them  can  be  known.  Though  the  shops 
where  opium  is  sold  cannot  be  closed  at  once,  yet  they  can  be 
gradually  closed  and  no  new  shops  be  allowed  to  be  opened 
henceforth.  In  every  city,  town,  or  village,  the  shops  where 
opium  or  opium  dross  is  sold  are  to  be  investigated  by  the  local 
officials,  and  their  numbers  shall  be  duly  registered  and  kept 
on  record.  Certificates  shall  be  issued,  whidi  certificates  will 
be  reckoned  as  permits  to  follow  that  business,  and  no  more 
new  shops  shall  be  allowed  to  be  opened.  These  shops  shall 
show  the  certificates  whenever  they  buy  their  merchandise,  or 
they  are  not  allowed  to  sell  the  same.  These  shops  shall  report 
upon  the  quantity  of  opium  and  opium  dross  they  sell  at  the  &id 
of  each  year,  and  report  the  same  to  the  local  officials,  who  will 
keep  the  same  on  record.  After  calculating  the  total  amount 
of  opium  and  opium  dross  consumed  in  a  district,  annually,  the 
proportion  of  annual  reduction  necessary  for  the  abdition  of 
opium  smoking  in  ten  years  shaU  be  calctdatedu    Any  surplus 


APPENDIX  P  451 

at  the  end  of  that  time  shall  be  destroyed,  and  double  its  value 
forfeited  as  a  fine. 

ArHck  VI.  The  goveniment  shall  manufacture  medicine 
to  cure  the  bad  habit.  There  are  many  prescriptions  for  curing 
the  habit  of  smoking  opium,  and  each  province  shall  select  the 
best  medical  students  to  undertake  research  for  the  best  cure 
suited  to  the  circumstances  of  each  province.  Such  cures 
shall  be  made  in  pills,  and  shall  in  no  case  contain  opium  or 
morphia.  After  being  manufactured  such  pills  will  be  distributed 
to  each  prefecture,  sub-prefecture,  department,  and  district, 
at  reasonable  prices,  and  then  these  will  be  handed  over  to  the 
charitable  societies  or  medicine  shops,  where  the  cure  will  be 
sold  at  cost  price.  Whenever  there  are  any  poor  people  who 
cannot  afford  to  buy  the  medicine,  the  cure  may  be  given  to  them 
gratis.  It  is  also  granted  to  local  gentry  to  manufacture  the  cure 
fai  accordance  witii  the  ofBicial  prescription,  so  as  to  have  the 
cure  distributed  as  widely  as  possible.  If  there  is  any  one  who 
will  distribute  the  cure  for  charity's  sake,  and  if  such  cure  has 
the  proper  effect,  the  local  oflSicials  shall  give  them  reward. 

Article  VII.  The  establishment  of  anti-opium  societies  is 
a  worthy  {x-oceeding.  Lately,  many  persons  cured  have  volun- 
tarily organised  an  anti-opium  society,  and  have  endeavoured 
to  eradicate  bad  habits.  This  is  really  praiseworthy.  Therefore 
the  Viceroys  and  the  Governors  of  provinces  shall  instruct  the 
local  officials,  with  the  local  gentry,  to  organise  anti-opium 
societies,  and  to  endeavour  to  stop  the  opium-smoking  habit  in 
the  locality.  Then  prohibitions  will  surely  have  better  effect. 
Such  society  shall  be  purely  for  the  anti-opium  smoking,  and 
the  society  shall  not  discuss  any  other  matters,  such  as  political 
questions  bearing  on  topical  affairs  or  local  administration,  or 
any  sunilar  matter. 

Article  VIII.  The  local  officials  are  reUed  upon  to  use  their 
utmost  endeavour  to  carry  into  effect  these  regulations,  and 
unth  the  effective  support  of  the  local  gentry  there  should  be 
no  difficulty  in  caning  out  the  prohibition.  The  Tartar 
Generals,  the  Viceroys,  and  the  Governors  of  provinces  shall 
make  up  a  list  of  people  who  smoke  opium,  and  those  who  cease 
to  smoke  annually,  and  the  number  of  pills  which  are  used  as 
cure,  together  with  the  number  of  anti-opium  societies.  These 
lists,  when  compared,  will  easily  give  the  comparative  results  of 
each  province,  by  wUch  the  responsible  officials  will  be  either 
rewanied  or  reproved  accordingly.  The  annual  statistics  shall 
be  sent  to  the  Govenunent  Council,  where  their  merits  will  be 
didy  dealt  with.    In  the  dty  of  Peldng  the  police  authorities, 


45S  APPENDIX  P 

officers  of  gendarmerie,  and  the  officials  of  the  dty  are  held 
responsible.  If  in  any  district  opium  smoking  is  stamped  out 
before  the  expiry  of  the  ten  years'  limit,  the  officials  of  that 
district  should  be  duly  rewarded.  The  petty  officials  are  to  be 
warned  to  have  no  irregularities  in  reducing  the  area  in  which 
the  poppy  is  cultivated,  in  issuing  certificates  for  opium  shops 
and  shops  where  opium  and  opium  dross  are  sold,  or  in  dealing 
with  those  who  smoke  opium.  Any  such  irregularity  will  be 
followed  by  severe  punishment,  and  any  who  receive  bribes 
will  be  punished  on  a  charge  of  the  crime  of  fraud. 

ArHck  IX,  The  officials  are  strictly  prohibited  from  smoking 
opium  so  as  to  set  examples  to  others.  The  prohibition  within 
ten  years  is  for  the  general  public.  The  officials  shall  be  examples 
to  common  people,  and  therefore  they  shall  stop  such  bad  habits 
before  the  genial  public,  and  such  prohibitions  shall  be  strictly 
enforced  upon  the  officials  and  the  punishments  upon  them 
shall  be  more  severe.  From  now  all  the  officials  without  distinc- 
tion of  rank,  metropoUtan  or  provincial,  military  or  civil,  who 
are  over  sixty  and  suffering  from  opium-smoking  habits,  are 
exempted  from  the  prohibition  just  as  are  the  common  people, 
for  they  are  too  far  gone  for  cure.  However,  those  who  have  not 
reached  sixty  years  of  age,  princes,  dukes,  men  of  title,  high 
Metropohtan  officials,  Tartar  Generals,  Viceroys,  Governors, 
Deputy  Lieutenant  Military  Governors,  the  Provincial  Com- 
manders-in-Chief, as  well  as  Brigadier  Generals,  being  all  officials 
who  are  well  treated  by  the  Throne  and  h^h  in  rank  and  position, 
are  not  allowed  to  conceal  their  affairs,  and  if  they  smoke  opiimi, 
they  shall  report  themselves  and  the  dates  when  they  should 
stop  the  same.  During  the  cure  of  the  habit  these  officials  shall 
not  retire  from  their  official  duties,  but  shall  appoint  acting 
officials  ;  and  when  they  have  proved  themselves  cured  of  opium 
smoking,  they  may  return  to  official  duties.  Moreover,  they 
shall  not  be  allowed  to  take  opium  under  the  pretence  of  illness 
longer  than  the  terms  promised.  The  rest  of  the  officials  in 
metropolitan  or  provincial  service,  either  military  or  civil,  sub- 
stantive or  expectant,  shall  report  themselves  to  their  principal 
officials  in  regard  to  these  matters,  and  they  shall  cease  to  smoke 
within  six  months,  at  the  end  of  wUch  time  they  will  be  examined. 
If  there  are  any  who  cannot  be  cured  in  time,  they  shall  give 
reasons,  and  if  they  are  hereditary,  they  shall  retire  and,  if  they 
be  ordinary  officials,  they  will  retire  with  original  titles  retained. 
If  any  conceal  their  actual  conditions,  sudi  officials  shall  be 
impeached  and  be  smnmarily  cashiered  as  a  warning  to  otha:s. 
If  there  are  any  who  are  misreported  by  higher  officials,  they  may 


APPENDIX  F  453 

memorialise  and  the  case  will  be  tried  accordingly.  Those 
who  are  the  professors  and  students  of  ordinary  schools  and 
colleges  or  of  miUtary  or  naval  schools  and  colleges  are  also 
hereby  ordered  to  cease  smoking  within  six  months  from  date. 

Article  X.  The  prohibition  of  the  import  of  foreign  opium 
is  one  of  the  ways  to  root  out  the  source  of  opimn  smokmg.  The 
prohibition  of  cultivation  of  the  poppy  and  of  the  opium-smoking 
habits  are  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  internal  administrations. 
Foreign  opium,  however,  concerns  foreign  Powers.  The  Waiwupu 
is  hereby  instructed  to  negotiate  with  the  British  Minister  to 
Peking  to  enter  into  a  convention  to  prohibit  the  importation  of 
opium  gradually  within  a  certain  term  of  years,  so  as  to  stop 
such  importations  before  the  term  for  the  prohibition  of  opium 
smoking.  Opium  is  imported  from  Persia,  Aimam,  Dutch  colonies, 
and  other  places  besides  India,  and  the  Waiwupu  shall  also  open 
negotiation  with  the  Ministers  of  these  treaty  Powers.  In  case 
of  a  Power  where  there  is  no  treaty  China  can  prohibit  the 
importation  by  her  own  laws.  The  Tartar  Generals,  Lieutenant 
G^erals,  Viceroys,  and  Governors  shall  order  the  Con:miissioners 
of  Customs  to  find  a  way  to  stop  such  importation  from  the 
frontiers  either  by  water  or  by  land.  It  is  also  known  that 
morphia  is  injected,  and  the  habit  is  worse  than  opium  smoking. 
It  is  mentioned  in  Article  ii  in  the  Anglo-Chinese  Commercial 
Treaty,  and  in  Article  i6  of  the  American-Chinese  Conmiercial 
Treaty,  that  except  for  medical  purposes  no  morphia  shall  be 
imported  to  China,  and  it  is  also  strictly  prohibited  to  sell  or 
manufacture  morphia  or  S3ainges  for  injecting  the  same  by 
Chinese  or  foreign  shops,  so  as  to  stop  the  bad  habit. 

These  regulations  shall  be  promulgated  by  the  local  civil 
and  military  officials  in  cities,  towns,  and  villages,  for  the  informa- 
tions of  the  general  public. 


INDEX 


Aglen,  F.  A  .  391 
Alcock,  Sir  Rutbdrford,  367 
Alfred,  contemporary  coins,  120 
American    Consular    Court,    case 
before,  423 

—  Government,  compared  with  Chi- 
nese, 33,  34,46,  48.  55.  73.  78,  82, 
185 

—  relations,  16, 17,  20,  22, 180, 184, 
I93»  281.  345.  347»  35i.  352.  364 

Amherst,  Lord,  280 

Amoy,  port,  11,  19,  20,  253,  255, 

261,  278,  280,  327,  335,  337 
Amur,  river,  209 
Ancestral  worship,  35,  36,  198 
An-cha  Shih-sse,  51 
Andrade,  Fernando  de,  277,  278 

—  Simon  de,  277 

Anhwei,  province,  5,  47,  50,  6^,  89, 
92.  93.  97.  148.  154.  238,  326, 
340.  351.  357 

Aniline  dyes,  297 

Animals  for  food,  306 

Aniseed,  270,  271 

Anking,  city,  239 

Annam,  8,  22,  272 

Antimony,  231,  270,  306 

Antung,  port,  212 

Arab  traders.  277.  310,  333,  334, 

335 
Archives,  Court  of,  42 
Area,  measure  of,  175 

—  of  China  and  provinces,  206,  213, 
219,  226,  227,  230.  233,  236,  238, 
240,  250,  253,  257,  269,  272 

Aristotle,  3 

Army,  the,  61,  75, 112, 114. 230. 239 

Arrow,  lorcha,  21 

Arsenic,  336 

Asbestos,  270 

Audience,  Imperial,  25,  96,  390 

Austrian  relations,  216,  217 


Baikal,  Lake,  7,  209 
Balance  of  trade,  307 
Bamboos,  253 
Bank,  Customs,  382 
Bankruptcy  laws,  179 
Banners,  Manchu  military,  61,  iii 
Beans,  bean-cake,  and  bean-oil,  209, 
211,  221,  223,  225,  236,  240,  243, 

251.  255.  257.  259.  304.  326 
Belgian  relations,  216,  217 
Betel-nuts,  265 
Bicho  demar,  257 
Bimetallic  ratio,  122,  143,  167 
Bisbee.  Capt.  A.  M.,  383 
Bismuth,  270 
Boards.     See  Ministries 
Bogue   Forts    (Hoomunchai),    183, 

280,  283,  285,  289 
Bowra,  E.  C,  375 
Boxer  outbreak,  28,  68,  215,  307 
Boycott,  60,  259 
Bredon,  Sir  Robert  £.,  374 
Bridgeman,  Elijah  Coleman,  18 
Brigandage  and  piracy,  59, 257, 269, 

311 
Brine  weUs,  228 
Bristles,  218,  230,  305 
British  Police  Court,  case,  421 

—  relations,  10,  19,  20,  22,  37,  40, 
179,  180,  182.  183,  193.  195.  I97t 
216,  235,  244.  260.  267,  279,  337, 

343.  345.  347.  363,  3^4 

—  Supreme  Court,  cases,  412 
Bubonic  plague,  272 
Buddhism,  35,  425 

Budget  for  191 1,  113 
Burgevine,  General,  24 
Burlingame  (Anson  W.),  25 
Burma,  8,  16,  272 

Cakutta,  Black  Hole  of,  178 
Cambodia,  272 


455 


456 


INDEX 


Camphor,  253 

Canton,  port,  10,  16,  17,  19,  20,  33. 
40.  42.  63.  95.  103.  157.  173.  174, 
207,  208,  259.  278.  279,  380.  282, 

292»  3".  327.  338.  34i»  342.  343. 

355.  360 
Cantonese,  the,  5 
Capacity,  measures  oi,  173 
Caravan  trade,  281,  310,  320,  324 
Carr,  L..  367 
Cartwright,  W.,  374.  375 
Cash  (copper  coin),  double  value, 

131 

variability  of  tiao,  128 

Cassia,  258,  263,  304 

Catty,  weij^t.  149,  151.  1 7* 

Censors,  Court  of,  4s 

Cessions  and  lessees  of  territory.  27, 

366 
Chang  Chih-tung,  39 

—  Hsien-Chung,  13 

—  Yung.  133 
Changan.  city,  5 
Chang-hi,  salt  area,  97 
Changsha,  city,  31,  331,  333 
Changteh,  232,  3x9 
Chaochowfu,  257,  258 
Chapdelaine.    Pdre    Augnste,    33, 

194 
Chapu,  port,  19,  63 
Charlemagne,  contemporary  coins, 

120 
Chefoo  Agreement,  35,  339,  362. 

350.  396 

—  port,  148,  154.  231,  336,  337 
Chekiang,  province,  5,  49.  5o»  ^3. 

89.  91-93.  97.  134.  154.  199.  250, 

320,351,354.356.401 
Cheling  Pass,  313 
Chemulpo,  26 
Chen  Dynasty,  5 
Chengtsung,  Emperor,  133 
Chengtu,  city,  63. 134. 228.  359 
Chih-Chow,  53 
Chih-Fu,  53 
Chih-Hsien,   53,   56,  83.    Sm  also 

Hsien,  office  of 
Chihli,  province,  50,  63.  B^,  89,  91 » 

93.  97.  131.  209.  213.  320.  333, 

351.356 
Chihli-chow.    Se4  Prefect 
Chihli-ting.     See  Prefect 
Chihtai.    See  Viceroy 
China,  government  of  Imperial,  33 ; 

ot    Republic,    31,    67;     under 


feudal  system,  3,  4,  76 ;  central 

administration,  43  ;  the  eighteen 

provinces   (China  proper),   206; 

the  name,  314 
Chinchew,  port,  379 
Chinese,     a     law-abiding    people, 

59  ;   calendar,  3  ;   convert,  pod* 

tion    of,     197-300 ;     dynasties. 

3-13;     fleet   destroyed   by   the 

French,   25  ;    Government,   33  ; 

history,  i  ;   race,  i 
Chinldang,  port,  19,  63,  103,  336, 

242,  260,  320.  322,  326.  327,  328 
Chinwangtao,  port,  214,  218,  337 
Chow  Dynasty,  3.  3.  6,  118,  119. 

123,  259,  393 
Chow-pan,  53 
Chow-tung,  53 
Christianity  in  China.  193 
Chu  Tsun.  354 
Chu  Yuan-chang,  founder  of  Bting 

Dynasty,  10 
Chungking,  port,  145.  I55.  239,  319. 

327.  328 
Chun-tsung,  Emperor,  6 
Chwangliang,  city,  63 
ChwangUeh-ti,  Emperor,  13 
Cigarettes,  an.  318,  333.  396,  339 
Cigars,  339 
Cinnabsu:,  338,  373 
Clansmen,  Imperial,  39 
Coal,  3IO,  313,  218.  319,  231,  333, 

228,  231,  270,  273,  296.  306,  316, 

327 
Coast  Inspector,  383,  384 
Co-Hong.    See  Hong 
Coins,  119-24;    dimensions,   135; 

weight  and  value,  123 
Commissioners  of  Customs,  371. 375, 

376,  381-89 
"  Concessions."    See  Treaty  Ports 
Confucius,  2,  3,  30,  219,  331 
Consul,  office  of.  185 
Consular  Courts,  188,  189 
Consuls,  foreign,  183.  185-89,  191, 

30I,  304,  216,  367.  379.  3«2 
Coolie  emigration,  353.  359 
Copper,  91.  94.  209,  318.  228.  370. 

273.  296,  306 

—  coins,  3,  118,  131.  166,  167 

—  token  coins.  118.  135.  168.  396 
Cotton  cloth.  135.  311.  318.   333, 

230.  339.  340.  343.  349,  351. 
353.  355.  357,  259,  366.  375,  389, 
293.  327 


INDEX 


457 


Cotton,  raw,  136. 233.  236,  238, 240, 
249.  251,  252.  275.  298,  304,  305 

—  yam,  211,  218,  223,  230,  236. 
338.  239,  242,  250,  252,  255,  257, 
259.  263,  275,  295 

Cotton-seed,  306,  328 
Courier  service,  58,  392 
Court,  the,  35 

Cowries  as  currency,  9,  117,  135 
Currency,  convention,  152 

—  copper,  2,  4,  118,  167 

—  iron.  125 

—  the,  117 

Customs,  maritime,  94,  102,  112, 
113,  150.  224,  366 

—  native,  94,  103,  110,  iii,  112, 
"3»  381 

—  tariflf,  190,  208,  348,  370 

Daac,  I.  M.,  374 
Dairen.     See  Xahen 
Dahiy.     See  Talien 
Danish  relations,  282 
Decimal  system,  172 
Delegated  functions,  55»  57 
I>«tring,  G.,  375.  385.  398,  399 
Dick,  Thos.,  375 
Distance,  measure  of,  174 
Dollar,  American,  166 

—  British,  166 

—  Carolus,  164,  290,  340 

—  Chinese,  166 

—  chopped,  164 

—  French,  166 

—  Japanese  (Yen),  166 

—  Mexican,  126,  165,  166 
Dragon  emblem,  35-38 
Drew,  E.  B..  375 
Durra,  209,  214 

Dutch  in  Japan,  179 

—  relations.  10,  13,  279,282,290, 
337.  346.  364 

Dynasties,  2-13 

East  India  Company,  17.  18,  280, 
281,  287,  290.  337.  338,  340,  343. 

347 
Eastern  Provinces,  the  three,  206 
Edan,  B..  367 
Edicts,  opium,  362,  363 

—  reformi  28 

—  sacred,  15 

—  secret,  29 

Educational  Department,  68,  377, 
384 


Eggs,  263 

Eighteen  Provinces,  the,  206,  207 
Elgin,  Earl  of,  22,  23,  348 
EUiot.  Captain  Charles,  343 
Emigration,  253,  267,  309 
Emperor,  the,  35,  37,  no 
Empress  Consort,  35,  38 

—  Dowager,  28,  31,  38,  71 
Empresses.  Secondary,  35,  38 
Engineer-in-Chief,  383 
English.     See  British 
Esmok.    See  Szemao 
Eunuchs,  37 

"  Ever  Victorious  Army,"  the,  24 
Exchange  between  currencies,  79, 

80,  84.  105,  108,  117,  129,  154. 

161,  166 

—  bills  of,  1 32 

—  metallic  equivalents,  122,  126 
Expectant  officials,  55*  57 
Expenditure,  state,  107,  112,  114, 

116 
Extraterritoriality,  20,  26, 176, 209, 
366,  379.  387.  412 

—  abuse  of,  191 

Fa  Pu,  Ministry  of  Justice,  73 
Factories  at  Canton,  19,  179,  180, 

190,  207.  260.  280,  281,  282,  341, 

344.366 
Famine,  58,  323 

Fans,  251,  263,  264  «... 

Fantai.    See  Treasurer,  Provmcial 
Fees  exacted,  284-286 
Fengtien.    See  Moukden 
Fen-sun  Tao,  52 
Feudal  system  of  government,  3, 4. 

Fibres,  305 

Fire-crackers,  305 

Fish  and  fishery  products,  252,  296 

Fitz-Roy,  G.  H.,.371,  374 

Five  Dynasties,  epoch  of  the,  6 

—  Rulers,  the  Age  of  the,  2 
Floods,  2,  220,  233,  236 

Flour,  211,  223,  257,  259,  263,  297 

—  miUs,  209 

Fluids  sold  by  weight,  173 
Foochow,  port,  20,  63,  207,  254, 

261,278.279.315 
Foreign  Legations  at  Peking,  196, 

395 

—  loans,  112,  411 

—  merchants,  20, 189, 204, 286, 366, 

379 


4S8 


INDEX 


Foreign  Ministers  at  Peking,  t%,  247 

—  poet  offices.  397,  407 

—  relations  with  China,  xi,  13,15. 
16.  17,  19.  30,  32,  23,  35,  36.  39, 
40,  181,  360,  366,  288 

—  trade,  377,  389,  391,  399,  336, 

379 

—  wars.     Se$  Wars 

Formosa.  11,  13,  15,  36,  37,  379. 

280,  336.  337,  340,  351.  393,  394 

—  channel,  353 

French  relations,  30,  33,  36,  37,  41, 
181,  184,  194,  3i6,  33s,  345.  360. 

281,  364 

Frontier  ports,  characteristics.  373 
Fu.    Sbs  Prefect 
Fu-hsi,  3 
Fukienmint,  135 

—  province,    50.  63.  89,  98,  353, 

351.  354.  355 
Furs,  390 
Futai.    S&$  Governor 

Garrisons,  Manchu   (and  Mongol), 

33,  63,  314 
Generation,  length  of,  231 
Genghis  Khan,  7 
German  Consular  Court,  case  before. 

427 

—  Government  compared  with  Chi- 
nese. 8z 

—  relations,  37,  197,  317,  335,  364 
Gilds,  Trade,  171.  303,  359 
Ginger,  358 

Ginseng,  325 

Girl   slavery   and    the    Shanghai 

Municipality,  445 
Glass  and  glassware,  397 
Glover,  George  B.,  371 
God,  translation  of  term  for,  1 5 
Gold  as  currency,  117 

—  309,  219,  321,  338,  370,  373 

Golden  Age  of  Chinese  history,  4 

—  Dynasty  of  the  Tartars,  7.  i3o, 

133 
"  Golden  Horde,"  the,  6 
Golden  Sand,  River  of,  339 
Gordon,  Capt.  Charles  £.,  34 
Gorges  of  the  Yangtze,  316 
Government  of  Imperial  China,  4, 

3* 

—  Metropohtan  administration,  39 

—  Provincial  administration,  45, 49 

—  the  Court,  35 

Government,  Republican  China,  67 


Government,   Republican  China — 

cont, 
— Metropolitan  administration,  72 

—  Provincial  adxninistration,  73 

—  the  Army,  75 

Governor,  office  of,  49,  50,  51,  64, 

109 
Grain  Intendant,  51 

—  tribute,  14,  51,  58, 63. 91, 333,  326 
Grand  Canal,  8,  93,  103,  154,  315, 

334,  342,  351,  330 

—  Council,  41 
Grass-cloth,  359 
Gratuities  to  officials,  95 

Great  Wall,  4,  5,  12,  88,  206,  213, 

325 
Gros,  Baron,  22,  23 
Ground-nuts,  265,  327 
Guilds,  Trade.     See  Gild 
Gunny  bags,  239.     See  also  Hemp 
Gurkas,  16 

Hai-chun  Pu,  73 

Haimen,  city,  432 

Hainan,  island,  x,  257,  258,  264 

Hakka,  257 

Han  Dynasty,  2, 4,  5,  6, 10,  55,  123 

—  river,  3x9 

Hangchow,  city.  7,  63,  91,  103,  154, 
173,  243,  250,  321 

—  bore,  250 

Hankow,  port,  24,  42,  71,  99,  147, 
157,  201,  226,  234,  260.  313,  315. 
319.  326,  327.  328,  329.  331,  354, 
357.  358.  359 

Han-lin  Yuan,  45,  7^ 

Hannen,  Chas.,  375 

Hanyang,  city,  21,  71,  234 

Harbin,  city,  209,  212,  325 

Harbour-master,  377,  383 

Harding,  J.  Reginald,  383 

Hart,  James  H.,  398 

—  Sir  Robert,  43,  90,  371,  373,  385, 

389.  395.  397.  404 
Height  of  mountain,  175 
Heilungkiang,  province,  209 
Hemp  and  gunny  bags,  211,  228, 

237.  238.  305.  327 
Henderson,  David  Marr,  383 
Hereditary  nobility,  39 
Hiao-tsung,  Emperor,  134,  143 
Hides  (see  o/^o  Skins),  230, 236,  305 
Hideyoshi,  26 
Hienfeng,  Emperor,  21,  38, 1x8, 12  5^ 

142 


INDEX 


459 


Hienfeng,  notes,  143 
Hientsu  Dynasty,  39 
Hientsung,  Emperor,  133 
Hing  Pu,  44,  57 

HiohPu,  44.  73 

Hlung-nu  tribe,  5 

Hofei  (hsien),  district,  56 

Hoihow,  95,  264 

Hokow,  274 

Holland,  Captain,  24 

Honan,  province,  49,  50,  62,  79,  84, 

«6,  87,  88,  89, 90, 91, 93.  loi.  III. 

226,  320,  358 
Hong  at  Canton,  40,  282,  343,  344 
Hongkong,  British  colony,  19,  258, 

260,  261,  262,  267,  327,  328,  329, 

344.  350 
Hoppo  of  Canton,  40,  95,  121,  284, 

385,  288.  338,  341,  343 
Ho-tung,  salt  area,  97 
Howapa,  Hong  merchant,  288 
Hsia  Dynasty,  2 
Hsien,  district,  52,  56,  82 

—  office  of,  S3,  54.  55.  56,  57-60, 
82,  83,  104,  108,  202,  392 

Hsuan-tung,  Emperor,  31,  36,  71 
Ha  Nai-tsi.  354 

—  Po,  43,  122 
Hnber,  A.,  375 
Hughes,  Geo.,  371 
Hukwang,  viceroyalty,  91,  233 
Hunan,  province,  2,  4,  s>  21,  46, 49, 

so.  63.  89,  91.  92,  93,  97,  103. 
230.326,351,354.357 
Hung  Sin-tsuen,  Taiping  leader,  21, 

24 
Hungwu,  Emperor,   10,   121,   140, 

241 
Hupeh,  province,  5,  47,  50,  62,  88, 

89.  91.  92.  93,  97,  233,  351,  357 

—  mint,  127 
Hwai,  salt  area,  97 

—  administration,  98,  240 
Hwa-ma-chih,  salt  area,  97 
Hwang-ho.    Se$  YeUow  River. 
Hwangpu,  River,  244 
Hwang-ti,  ruler,  2 
Hweidhow,  city,  134 
Hwei-tze  (paper  money),  134 

I-chan,  postal  couriers,  392 
Ichang,  port,  233,  316,  359 
Imperial  clansmen,  39 
Income,  state,  113 
Indemnities^  288,  307,  38jt 


India,  339,  363 

Indigo,  172,  265 

Indo-China,  327 

Inland  places,  192,  195,  208,  380 

Inspectorate  of  Customs.    Su 

Customs,  Maritime 
Intendant,  grain,  51 

—  of  Circuit,  52 

—  salt,  51 
Internal  trade,  310 

**  International  Settlements,"  208 
Irkutsk,  city,  209 

Iron,  209,  219,  221,  228,  236,  270, 
273.  290,  296,  306 

—  currency,  117,  125,  132 
Italian  relations,  27,  216,  364 
Ito,  Count,  26 

Japan,  wars  with,  8.  26,  65 
Japanese    Consular     Court,    case 
before,  427 

—  relations,  26,  216,  217,  222,  364 
Java,  336 

Jehol,  city,  71 

Judge,  provincial,  51, 109,  392 

Junk  traffic,  211,  218,  223, 255,  3ii» 

315,318 
Jurisdiction  over  Chinese,  183,  184, 

197,  201 
foreigners.     See     Extrateni- 

tonality 
Jute,  236,  305,  327 

Kaifeng,  city,  5,  6,  8,  62,  324 
Kaiping  mines,  218,  327 
Kalgan,  mart,  324 
Kan  river,  314 

Kang  Yu-wei,  reformer,  28,  68 
Kanghi,  Emperor,   12-14,  35»  63, 
122,  124,  195,  238,  337 

—  dictionary,  14 

—  porcelain,  14 

Kansu,  province,  4.  50,  63,  89,  93, 

227,  320,  325,  358 
Kao-tsnng,  Emperor,  6 
Kerosene  oil,  211,  218,  323 
Kettler,  Baron  von,  30 
Kia  Sse-tau,  134 
Kiakhta  mart,  324 

—  treaty  of,  182 
Kiakin^,  Emperor,  67,  124 
Kiangmng.    See  Nanking 
Kiangsi,  province,  i,  4,  5,  50,  63, 

89.    91.  92,  93.   154,  236,   351 
357 


460 


INDEX 


Kiangmi,  province,  5,  50,  63,  80.  91, 
92.  93.  104,  154,  240,  351.  356 

Kiaochow,  German  colony,  8,  27, 
221,  268,  327,  328,  331 

Kiao-t8M  (paper  money),  133 

Kichow,  city,  134 

Kienfeng,  Emperor,  121 

Kienlnng,  Emperor,  16,  35,  124 

Kin  Dynasty,  7,  120,  133 

Kingchow,  city,  63 

King-shih.    5m  Peking 

Kingtehchen,  porcelain  centre,  91, 
237.  3H 

Kin-ta-chen,  Board  of  Astronomy, 

73 
Kiotsung,  Emperor,  133 
Kirin,  province,  11,  209 
Kiuldang,  port,  237,  260^  328,  329 
Kiungchow.  p<Mrt,  258.  264 
Kiying,  High  Commissioner,  20 
Klecskowsky,  C,  371 
Kleinw&chter,  F.,  375 
Knife  coins,  118 
Kochin,  dty,  273 
Kolowan,  island,  267 
Kongmoon,  port,  258,  263 
Kopsch.  H.,  399 
Korea,  6,  26,  27,  325 
Kotow,  ceremonial  of,  181,  279 
Kowloon  Customs,  258,  261,  262, 

350.  351 
— •  territory,  267,  268 
Koxinga,  pirate  chief,  13,  279 
Kuang  Hsu,  Emperor,  28,  31 
Kublai  Khan,  8,  9,  136,  214,  272, 

330,  322 
Knlangsn,  island,  255 
Kuling,  mountain  resort,  237 
Kung,  Prince,  38,  41,  71,  371 
—  Pu,  44,  122 
Kungfntie.    Su  Confucius 
Kung-pao,     "Guardian     of     the 

Palace,"  43 
KAn-ki-chu,  43 
Kwangchow  (Canton),  259 
Kwangchowwan,  port,  27,  258,  268, 

351 
KwanghsQ,  Emperor,   36,   37,   38, 

125 
Kwangsi,  province,  i,  4,  21,  50,  63, 

89.93.9«,  269.  313.  351.360 
Kwangtung,  province,  i,  50,  63,  88, 

89,  98.  103,  257,  266,  326.  351, 

352,  355 
Kwan-tie  (paper  money),  133 


Kwei  Liang,  Grand  Secretary,  41 
Kweichow,  province,  i,  4,  46,  50, 

63,  89,  227,  274,  313,  319.  355, 

360 
Kweihwa,  city,  62 
Kwo    Show-king,    mathematician. 

320 

Lake  Baikal,  7,  209 

Land  registration,  58,  60,  82,  10 1 

—  regulations,  246 

—  tax,  14,  81,  III,  113 
Lantao,  island,  267 
Laotse,  3 

Lappa,  Customs.  258,  261,  262,  267. 

350.  351 
Lay,  Horatio  Nelson,  367,  370,  371, 

374 
Lead,  209,  273,  290,  296 
Leather,  263 
LeePu,  44 

Legations,  foreign,  besieged,  28 
Leichow,  dty,  258 
Length,  measure  of,  174 
Leonard,  J.  K.,  371 
Lex  loci,  application  of,  177-79, 186 
Li,  aborigmal  tribe,  i 

—  Han-chang,  48 

—  Hung-chang,  26.  29,  46,  47.  48, 
56.  71,  362.  396 

—  measure  of  distance,  174 

—  Pu,  Board  of  Civil  Office,  43 

—  Tze-ching,  rebel,  12 
Liang  D3masty,  5,  6 

—  Tao,  51 
Liangchow.  city,  63 
Liao,  209 

Liaotung  peninsula,  xi,  27 

Liaoyang,  dty,  1 1 

Li-fan  Pu,  Ministry  of  Dependen- 
ces, 73 

Light,  buoys,  and  beacons,  377,  384 

Likin,  inland  taxation,  103, 106, 1 1 1, 
113,  229,  270,  271,  311,  350,  366 

Lin  Tse-sfl,  Imperial  Coiomissioner. 
19.  343.  344.  347.  362 

Linan-fu.  dty,  134 

Lin-chow,  city,  243 

Lintin  Island,  opium  depot,  341, 
342.  345 

Literature,  Chinese,  3,  4,  6.  14,  45 

Li-tsung,  Emperor,  7 

Little.  Archibald  J.,  229 

Liu  Kun-3ri,  29 

—  Ming-chuan,  393 


INDEX 


461 


Liu-pang,  Prince  of  Han«  4 

Lolos,  I 

Lo-ti-shui,  tax,  100 

Ln,  Duke  of,  3 

Lu-chun  Pu,  Ministry  of  War  (the 

Army),  73 
Lungchow,  city,  271 

Macao,  Portuguese  colony,  179, 207, 

258,  261,    262,    266,    278-80, 
283-84,  341,  344.  350 

Macartney,  Lord,  280,  337 
McLane,  Honourable  Mr.,  368 
Macpherson,  A.,  375 
Ma^^strate.    See  Hsien 
Malaria,  336 
Manchuria,   12,   13,  97,   131,  206, 

209.  325,  327>  351,  356 
Manchus,  9,  11,  12,  13,  32,  61,  91, 

121,  122,  209,  325,  336 
Manhao,  274 

Manila.    Ses  Philippine  Islands 
Marco  Polo,  9.  135,  137,  277 
Margary,  A.  R.,  25 
Martin.  Dr.  W.  A.  P.,  384 
Matches,  211,  223,  242,  251,  257, 

259,  297 

Mats  and  matting,  258,  304,  306 

Matteo Ricd,  1 1, 193 

Measures  of  capacity,  173 

Medicines.  328 

Meiling  Pass,  314 

Mencius,  2,  3 

Mengtsx,  dty,  272,  273,  313,  319, 

360 
Merchant,  position  of,  189 
Merchants.    See  Foreign  merchants 
M6ritens,  Baron  de,  375 
Metals.    See  Minerals 
Miaotze,  i 
Michael  Roger.  1 1 
Middle  Kingdom,  214 
Military  organisation.  63 
Millet.  214,  221 

MinRiver.  253,  254.  315 
Min-cheng    Pu,    Ministry    of    the 

Interior,  73 
Minerals,  306 
Ming  Dynasty.  10,  11,  32,  121, 140, 

214,  336 

—  notes,  140 
Mining  royalties,  100 
Ministries,  Imperial,  30,  41,  42,  43, 

392,409 

—  Republican,  73 


Mint  statistics,  127,  128 
Missionaries,  15, 18, 22, 30, 192-200, 

223, 422,  430.  432-441 
Mixed  Courts,  200,  442 
Mohammedans,  177,  335,  358 
Mokanshan,  mountain  resort,  251 
Mongolia,  206,  325 
Mongols,  7-10,  32,  91,  121,  214 

—  notes,  135,  136 
Monopoly  of  trade,  189,  282-84 
Monsoon,  277,  284,  311 
Morphia,  361 

Morrison,  Robert,  18,  193 

"Most  favoured  nation"   clause, 

181.  187 
Moukden,  dty,  209,  211,  356 
Mow,  measure  of  area,  175 
Munidpal  government,  Chinese,  34, 

57 
foreign,    103,    188,  190,  202, 

208,  216,  222,  231,  245,  260 
Murphy,  R.  C,  367 
Musk,  230,  328,  338 

Namoa,  island,  near  Swatow,  342, 

343 
Nanking,  port,  5.  7,  10,  21,  40,  42, 
52,63,91,  174,214,240 

—  treaty  of,  20,  41,  152,  182,  207, 
241.  261.  267,  344.  347 

Nanning,  271 

Napier.  Lord,  17,  40,  280,  288,  343 

National  Assembly,  70,  71 

Navy,  expenditure,  1 14 

Nerddnsk,  182 

Nestorian  tablet  at  Siangfu,  6 

Newchwang,  port,  209,  210,  218, 

260,  326,  327.  328 
Niehtai.    See  Judge,  provincial 
Ninghia,  city,  63 
Ningpo,  port,  19,  20,  207,  251,  261, 

278 
Ningyuan.  dty,  12,  325 
Nipal,  16 

Nobility,  ranks  of.  39,  221,  390 
Notes.    See  Paper  money 
Nu-chen  Tartars,  6, 120 
Nui-ko.  42 

Nui-wu  Fu,  Imperial  household.  73 
Nung-kung-shang  Pu,  Ministry  of 

Agriculture,  7$ 
Nurhachu,  11,  12 

Official  appointments,  46 

—  interoonise,  283,  289 


4&i 


tNDEX 


Ogotai  Khan,  7 

Ou,  bean.  wood.  nut.  sesamum.  and 
tea,  209,  211.  22s.  236,  237,  242, 

351.  255,  328 

—  kerosene,  211,  218, 22$,  238.  239. 
242.  251.  252.  253,  25s,  257,  259, 
263,  271,  297 

Oil-seeds.  306,  328 
Oliphant,  Laurence,  348 
Opium.  180.  332 

—  called  tea.  342 

—  edicts,  362,  363 

—  foreign,  7,  19.  23,  25.  107,  289, 

293.  334,  337.  340,  356.  3S7.  381 

—  medicinal  use,  333,  346,  352 

—  native.  107,  209,  211,  221,  227, 
228,  230,  238,  240.  2S3.  273.  275. 

352,  381 

—  smoking,  16,  335,  34s.  3S3,  3S8. 
448 

—  trade.  262,  289,  337,  340-52 
Orpiment.  273 

Osborne.  Captain  Sherard,  370 

Pakhoi.  port.  95.  258,  265 

Paper,  211.  218,  237,  238.  257,  259. 

263 
Paper  money,  32,  117.  121,  131 
Parker,  Admiral  Sir  William,  20 

—  Peter,  368 

Parsee  merchants.  345.  347 

Passports,  350 

Pawnbroker's  license,  100 

Pearl  River,  257 

Pechihli.  Gulf  of.  8.  213.  2x5,  219 

Peiho,  river,  22,  215 

Peitaiho,  seaside  resort,  219 

Peking,  city.  10,  13,  14,  23.  29.  33, 
42.  46.  57,  62,  79.  91,  95.  96.  121, 
155,  196,  214,  280.  315,  325,  373 

—  Convention  of,  23  * 
Penalty  for  homicide,  180,  201,  281 
People  of  China,  i.  32,  257 
Perestrello,  Raphael,  277 
Persecution  of  Christians.  192-94 
Persia.  363.  364 

Pescadore  Islands.  27.  279 

Petroleum,  228 

Philippine  Islands,  278,  279.  335 

Phoenix  emblem,  38 

Picul.  weight.  151.  172 

Ping  Pu,  44 

Piracy.     See  Brigandage 

Piry,  T.,  395,  399 

Plague,  bubonic,  272 


Plato,  3 

Poto,  Marco,  9.  I35.  i37.  ^77 

Pope,  the,  decision  of,  195 

Poppy,  332,  346. 448 

Population,  206,  210,  217,  219,  222, 
226,  227,  229.  230,  232.  233,  234 
-38, 240-43, 245, 246. 250-60.  263 
-65.  267-69,  271,  273.  275.  358 

Porcelain.  10,  14,  91,  237,  238.  314 

—  pagoda.  10,  241 

Port  Arthur,  27.  209,  210,  268 

—  Hamilton,  26 

Portuguese  relations,  xo,  179,  277, 

337.  347.  364 
Poseh,  mart,  269,  312 
Postal  Department.  377,  385,  392 

—  hongs,  394.  398, 408 

—  money  orders,  400 
Pottinger,  Sir  Henry,  20,  183 
Poyang  Lake,  x.  4,  236,  314 
Prefect,  office  of,  53,  54,  57,  109 
Prefecture,  52 

Provinces  of  China.  205 
Provincial    Assemblies.    See     Na- 
tional Assembly 

—  government,  33.  45.  50 
Provisions  (poultry,  etc.),  264,  265, 

306 
Pu-cheng  Shih-sze,  51,  54 
Puchun,  Prince,  36 
Pulun,  Prince,  36 
Punti,  257 
Putiatln,  Count,  22 

Queue,  head-dress,  1 1 
Quicksilver,  290 

Railways,  209-11,  224,   273,   3x3, 

329.  330 
Ramie,  305,  327 
Rape-seed.  306,  328 
Rebellions.     See  also  Mohammedan 

and  Taiping.  2.  6,  10,  12,  17,  21, 

31,  68,  278,  272,  273 
Reclamation  of  land,  213 
Red  girdle,  39 

—  River  (Tonkin).  273 
Reed.  Hon.  Wm.  B.,  22,  348 
Reed  tax,  100 

Reform,  demand  for.  68,  89 
Remittance  of  money,  79 
Residence  in  interior,  195 
Revenue,  81,  iii,  1x5 
Rhubarb,  338 
Ricci,  Matteo,  11,  193 


MDSX 


463 


Rice,  9, 13s.  172,  211,  218.  223,  231, 
236.  238,  239,  240,  250.  2S7,  258- 
59.  263,  297,  316,  326 

Riots,  188,  198.  381,  432,  443 

Roman  dominion,  1 76 

Rush  mats,  252 

Russian  Consular  Court,  cases  be- 
fore, 428 

—  relations,  22,  27,  42,  181,  182, 
193,217,235,281,  364 

—  statistics,  overland  trade,  96 

Sacred  edict.  1 5 

St.  Francis  Xavier,  1 1 

—  John's  Island,  11,  193 
Salaries  of  officials,  56,  77,  96,  109 
Salt,  96-100, 104, 1 10, 113,  228, 240, 

273.  3">.  316 

—  areas,  97 

—  gabeUe.  14,  51.97.  m.  "3 
Samshni,  port,  258,  263,  269 
Sandal- wood,  242,  291 
Sanmen  Bay,  27 

Santuao,  port,  253 

Schaal,  Adam,  Jesuit  missionary, 

II 
Seoul,  26 

Sesamum  seed,  236,  263,  306,  328 
Seymour,  Admiral,  28 
Shameen,  the,  260 
Shang  Dynasty,  2 
Shang  Pu,  Board  of  Commerce,  44 
Shanghai,  port,  19,  20,  24,  92,  103, 

104,  148,  154.  159.  173.  174,  175. 

201,  243,  261,  315.  326,  327,  328, 

358,  366,  397. 407 
Shanhaikwan,  12,  206,  325 
Shan-how  Ku,  51 
Shansi,  province,  50,  62,  88,  89,  97, 

226,  323,  325,  356,  358 
Shantung,  peninsula,  8 

—  province,  7,  50,  62,  89,  92,  93, 
97. 131.  209,  219,  320,  351,  356 

Shasi,  port,  234,  314,  316 

Shenldng,  province,  97,  209,  210 

Shen-nung,  ruler,  2 

Shensi,  province,  i,  50,  62,  89,  97, 
226,  320,  325,  358 

Shih  Hwangti,  Emperor,  123 

Shipping  statistics,  248,  292 

Shiuhing,  city.  174 

Shu  Hsin  Kuan.  See  Postal  De- 
partment, 399 

Shui-wu  Chu,  73 

Shun,  ruler,  2 


Shunchih,  Emperor,  13,  15,  35,  121, 

122 
Siamese  relations,  364 
Sianfu,  city,  29,  62,  226,  320 
Siang  River,  i,  231 
Siangtan,  city.  232 
Siberian  route,  324 
Silk,  raw,  135,  209,  211,  218,  221, 

223,  225,  228,  230,  240,  243,  249, 

251,  258.  261,  263,  275,  298,  301, 

328,  338 

—  rolls    as    currency,  9,  91,   117, 

135 

—  woven,   240,  241,  242-43,  249, 
251,  263,  298 

Silver,  146-49.  209,  228,  270,  273 

—  coins,  143, 158,  163-67 

—  currency,  143,  163,  164 
subsidiary,  158,  167 

—  fineness,  145-49 

—  ingots,  146,  1 58 

—  Kungku,  157 

Skins  and  furs  {see  also  Hides),  218, 

230.  236,  306,  325 
Smith,  Arthur,  367 
Soochow,  city,  24,  56,  104.  173, 174, 

241,242,  321 
Spade  coins,  118 
Spanish  relations,  10,  278,  282,  335, 

346 
Spirits,  218 
Statistics  of  trade,  211,  218,  222, 

225.  230,  234,  236,  238,  239,  241, 

242,  248,  249,  251,  252,  25s,  256. 

259,  261,  263,  264,  266,  270,  274, 

292-94,  299,  300,  302,  304,  313, 

316,361,389 
Straw  braid,  218,  223,  225,  307 

—  mats  and  matting,  263,  264 
Sugar,  172,  211,  218,  223,  238,  239, 

251-53.  255,  257-59,  263,  265, 

297.  304.  329.  381 
Sui  Dynasty,  5 
Suiyuan,  city,  62 
Sun  Yat-sen,  31,  71 
Sun-fu  (Futai),  51 
Sung  Dynasty,  5,  6,  7, 91,  120,  132, 

277 
— .  Southern  Dynasty,  133, 143, 241, 

320 
Sungari  River,  209 
Sungpan,  mart,  310 
Swatow,  port,  95,  257,  258,  261 
Swedish  relations,  282 
Sycee,  shoe  of,  146-49,  160 


464  INDEX 

Scechwan,  province,  i,  4,  50,  63,  88, 
89.  91.  93.  97.  132.  196,  227,  328, 
354-55.  358.  359 

Ssemao,  city,  275 

Sze-Tao,  51 

Tael,  Canton,  i  S7  ;  Haikwan,  1 50, 
152,  156,  161;  Hankow,  157; 
Hangping,  149, 156;  Kuping.  150, 
152,  155,  160,  161  ;  Newchwang, 
162,  163;  Peking,  155;  Shang- 
hai, 151,  152.  154,  159,  162.  163  ; 
Sze-ma,  157  ;  Tientsin,  149,  156  ; 
Tsaoping,  150, 152, 154, 159, 161  ; 
of  currency,  1 50,  1 54  ;  of  silver, 
143.  149 ;  of  weight,  122.  144, 
149.  155.  172;  variability  of 
standards,  145,  158 

T'ai  Tsu,  Emperor,  140 

Taintor,  E.  C,  375 

Taipa,  island,  267 

Taiping  Rebellion,  21,  24,  64,  68, 
91,  103.  203.  230.  232,  237,  240, 
321,  345,  366 

Taiwanfn,  279 

Tai3ruanfu,  city,  62,  226 

Taku  forts,  22,  23,  28,  30 

Ta-li  Sze,  Court  of  Revision,  45 

Talien  port,  209,  210,  268,  325 

Tallow,  vegetable,  236,  329 

Tamsui,  279 

Tang,  Prince  of  Shang,  2 

—  D3aiasty,  5,  6,  10,  120, 122, 123, 
132.277,332 

Tang  Shao-yi,  72 

Tanyang,  city,  321 

Taoism,  3,  35 

Taokwang,  Emperor,  17,  91,  124, 

Taotai,  52,  54,  74.  109 

Tartar  General  (Tsiang  Kun),   49, 

52,  63,  121,  212 
Tashihkiai,  junction,  210 
Tatnall,  Commodore,  23 
Tatsienlu,  mart,  310 
Tatung,  city,  239 
Tatungkow,  port.  212 
Tax  collection,  34,  59,  60,  77,  79, 

82-92,  97-100,  190 
Taxes,  municipal,  190,  191 
Tea.  218,  231.  232,  236,  237,  238, 

251.  253.  254.  255,  256,  258,  263, 

286,  298,  306,  316,  320,  325,  338 
Tea  license,  100 
Tehchow,  city,  62 


Telegiaphs,  42 

Teng3meh,  city,  275,  319 

"  Three  Kingdoms,"  the,  5 

Tiao   (1,000   cash),  variability  of, 

128 
Tibet,  16,  206,  276,  328 
Tien  Wang.    See  Hung  Sin-tsuen 
Tien-li  Yuan,  Board  of  Ceremonies, 

Tientsin,  massacre,  25 

—  port,  22,  23.  29,  46,  52,  103,  147. 
154.  156,  201,  214.  215,  218,  260. 
323.  324.  325.  326,  327,  328,  329, 
331 

—  treaties  of,  22,  41,  181,  193.  241, 

347 
Ti-hioh  Sze,  52 
Timber,  218,  231.  253.  255,  270. 

27X.  297.  313.  315 

Tin  and  tinned  plates,  251, 252,  255, 
259.  273.  275,  296.  306,  360 

Ting  Ju-chang,  Admiral,  27,  180 

Tipao,  village  elder,  34,  60 

Titai,  Provincial  Commander-in- 
Chief.  64 

To,  aboriginal  tribe,  i 

Tobacco,  17,  218,  236,  237,  238, 
242-43.  251-52,   257.^259,  263, 

_  329.  336,  346 

Tongshan,  213 

Tonkin,  French  protectorate,  25, 
26,  360 

Tonnage  dues,  285,  370.  374,  381 

Tow,  measure  of  capacity,  173 

Tracking  boats,  317 

Transfer  money,  162 

Transit  dues,  190,  274,  350,  374, 
380 

—  pass,   191.  242,  271,  274,  275, 

323.  325.  380 
Treasure,  286,  291,  308,  339 

—  provincial,  51,  54,  58,  109 
Treaties,  "  most  favoured  nation  " 

clause,  20,  22 

—  with  China,  20,  23,  26,  27, 40,  41, 
180-85,  190,  193-97.  261,  267, 
281,  289.  347.  350 

Treaty  Ports,  20,  27,  104,  201,  207, 
208,  210,  212,  215,  216,  221,  229, 
230,  231.  232,  233-35,  237.  239, 
265,  270.  271,  273-75 

—  privil^es,  184,  187,  188,  196, 
207,  224.  229,  379,  380 

Triad  Society,  z66 

Tribute,  5, 8, 9.  I4. 33.  5 «.  58, 60, 62, 


INDEX 


465 


91.  96,  III.  113.  117,  135.  173. 

323*  325.  326 
Trimetallic  ratio,  143 
Tsao-tsao,  5 
Tsen  Chun-suan,  47 
Tseng  Kwo-fan,  48,  71,  230,  a3« 
Tsi  Dynasty,  $,  123 
Tsiang  Kun.     See  Tartar  General 
Tsientang,  river,  250 
Tsin  Dynasty,  2,  5,  6.  55,  121,  124 
Tsinan,  city,  225,  331 
Tsing  Dynasty.     See  Manchns 
Tsingchow,  city,  62 
Tsingkiangpn,  city,  322 
Tsingtau.     See  Kiachow 
Tso  Tsong-tang,  48 
Tsung-jen  Fu,  Imperial  Clan  Court, 

73 
Tsnngli  Yamen,  41,  42,  43,  376 
Tsung-tu,  49 
Tn-cha  Yuan,  Court  of  Investiga- 

tion,  45,  73 
Tu-chih  Pu,  Ministry  of  Finance,  73 
Tung-cheng  Sze,  Office  of  Trans- 

miwion,  45 
Tungchih,  Emperor,  25,  35,  36,  38, 

142 

—  the  Joint  Knower,  53 
Tung-clio,  s 
Tnngchow,  23,  323 
Tung-ling,  65 
Tung-pan,  53 

Tung&ig  Lake,  i,  4,  230,  236,  313, 

319 
Turkestan,  16,  206,  325 
Turkish  Empire,  177 

Van  Aalst,  J.  A.,  399 

Verbeest,  Jesuit  missionary,  1 1 

Vermicelli,  223 

Viceroy,  office  of,  46,  49.  5 1.  54.  64. 

109,  375 
Village  government,  34,  60 
Vladivostock,  port,  209,  325 

Wade,  Sir  Thomas,  348,  367,  396 
Wai-wu  Pu,  44.  73.  37^ 
Waldersee,  Graf  von,  29 
Wanghia,  Treaty  of,  184 
Wang-mang,  5 
Wanhsien,  230 
Wanli,  Emperor,  11,  144 
Ward,  General  Frederick  T.,  24 

—  W.W..  371 

Wars :  Chioa-Japaa,  26,  a^«.307  ; 

30 


with  Great  Britain,  19,  22,  180, 
x8i  ;  with  France,  22,  25  ;  with 
Burma,  16  ;  between  Russia  and 
Japan,  26,  268,  307 

Wax,  91,  228,  230 

Weddell,  Captain,  279,  280 

Wei,  kingdom,  5 

—  river,  I,  322 

Weights  and  measures,  4,  171 
Weihaiwei,  British  Cokmy,  27,  221, 

223,  268 
Weising  lottery,  10 1 
Wen  Siang,  Vice-President  of  the 

Board  of  War,  41 
Wenchow,  port,  252 
Wenpao  Chu,  393 
West  River,  103,  207,  257,  269,  273, 

312 
Whampoa,  anchorage  for  Canton, 

284,  341 

—  Treaty  of,  184 
Wharfage  dues,  103 

Wheat,  209,  211,  214,  221,  240,  259 
Wilrer,  F..  371 

Window  glass  and  glassware,  297 
Women  prohibited  in  the  factories, 

283 
Woodruff,  F.  E.,  375 
Wool,  218,  227,  230,  307,  325 
Woollens,  290,  295 
Wu  Kien-chang,  367 

—  kingdom,  2,  5 

—  San-kwei,  General,  12,  46 

—  Wang,  Duke  of  Chow,  2 
Wuchang,  city,  7,  21,  235 
Wuchow,  port,  103,  133,  269,  270, 

274 
Wu-how,  Empress,  6 
Wuhu,  port,  154.  239,  326,  327 
Wusih,  city,  321 
Wusung,  port,  244 

Xavier,  St.  Francis,  193 

Yaishan,  island,  8 
Yalu  river,  27 

battle  of  the,  27 

Yangtze  gorges,  228,  316 

—  River,  i,  2,  4,  7,  207.228,273, 

313.  3U.  315.  316 
Yao,  ruler,  2 
Yatung,  mart,  276 
Yeh  Ming-chin,  Viceroy,  21 
Yellow  girdle,  39 


466 


INDEX 


YcUow  River,  i,  49,  79,  ill,  207, 
3i3t2i9.  331.  3M 

—  Sea,  4,  220 
Yentai.     See  Cheloo 
Yen-3riln  Shih-sze,  51 
Yi-ho  society,  28 
Yin  Djmasty,  2 

Yingkow.    Yingtie.     See   New- 

chwang 
Yochow,  port,  21,  222,  231 
Yoimg  China  party,  27 
Yu,  ruler,  2 
Yuan  Dynasty.     See  Mongols 

—  River,  319 


Yuan  Shih-kai,  Viceroy,  ^ 
Yu-chuan  Pu,  Ministry  of 

Communications,  73 
Yuenmingyuen,  23 
Yungcheng,  Emperor,  15,! 

124,  193,  195,  213,  337 
Yunglo,  Emperor,  10,  121,  ; 

241 
Yunnan,  province,  i,  8,  46,  | 

«9,  91.  93.  97.  118,272,31 

354.  355.  359 
Yiisien,  Governor  of  Shansi, 

Zinc,  273 


PrimUi  6y  HmuU,  Watttm  »  Vimty,  U^  Lmkim  ami  Ayktbttry. 


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