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THE TRADE AND
ADMINISTRATION OF
THE CHINESE EMPIRE

HOSEA BALLOU MORSE

A.B., Harvard

Member of the Rfal Asiatic Stcirty, England $ Cmnrnisshmer if Customs
ami Statistical Secretary, Inspector-General tf Customs, China

triTH ILLUSTRATIONS, MAPS AND DIAGRAMS

LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.

39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON

NF.W YORK, BOMBAY, AND CALCUTTA

I908

[Right 0/ translation rt*tn*d\

nnmo »r

MACSIX, WATSON AMD VINZT, U>.,
LONDON AND AYLISBURT.

1 1 8474

DEDICATION

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.

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
headlong course, will depend upon the wisdom and self-
restraint of the leaders in the government, and in the last
resort 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 understand the China which
the student of the future will know, he must be able to study

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.

I have written also for the reader of to-day. I can add

CONTENTS

I SKETCH OF CHINESE HISTORY FROM ANCIENT
TIMES TO BEGINNING OF FOREIGN RELA-
TIONS I

II. SKETCH OF CHINESE HISTORY FROM THE BE-

GINNING OF FOREIGN RELATIONS 19

III. THE GOVERNMENT 46

TV. REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE 80

V. THE CURRENCY II9

VI. WEIGHTS AND MEASURES 170

VII. EXTRATERRITORIALITY I75

VIII. THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS . . 203

IX. FOREIGN TRADE 27O

X. INTERNAL TRADE 302

XI. OPIUM 323

XII. THE INSPECTORATE OF CUSTOMS . . . 352

XIII. THE POST OFFICE 377

APPENDICES 395

INDEX 443

ILLUSTRATIONS

Map or China ••«..... vacxmo tm»-rAqR.

Map showing Gradual Extension of Chinese Empire . . 8
Diagram illustrating Provincial Administration 67

Illustration, Sword Cash 119

„ Early Cash 120

„ Later Cash 122

„ Token Coins 127

„ Ming Government Note 141

„ Shanghai Shoe of Syceb 147

Diagram illustrating Foreign Trade, 1864- 1904 270

Illustration, The West River at Lungchow .... 304
Monumental Arch at Wusih on Grand Canal. 312
„ Pagoda at Wusih on Grand Canal -312

Bridge over Grand Canal at Wusih. . .313
Grand Canal passing through Wusih . .313
Types of Bridges on and near Grand Canal . 314
Shanghai Custom House, 1854-1893 . . 352

Shanghai Custom House, 1894 .... 363

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 (symbol Tls.) has been as follows :

In 1864 .

. 80 pence English currency

(6s.

Sd.)

» i874 •

• 7^ i» »» »

(6s.

id.)

„ 1884 .

• 07 „

(55.

yd.)

» 1894 .

• 38 „

(3«-

2d.)

„ i9<>4 •

• o4 >> '» »»

(2S.

lod.)

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

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

(iy cwt. English.

(ij cwt. American.
1 long ton.
1 short ton.
1 metric ton.

i£ lb. av. = 604*53 grammes,
ij oz. av. = 5833 grains.
37783 grammes.

16 '8 piculs =
150 „ =

1654 •• =
One catty =
One tael =

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

CHAPTER I *

OF CHINESE HISTORY FROM ANCIENT TIMES TO
BEGINNING OF FOREIGN RELATIONS

[fl this and the following chapter we shall attempt to take
a brief survey of the entire field of Chinese history, so as to
enable our readers to fix in their minds the salient points
of the long story. As in the case of the history of all ancient
nations the beginnings are shrouded in obscurity, and we
must be content to look upon the early records as made-up
matter that is largely legendary.

The Chinese are not the native race of China, but migrated
into the country from Western Asia somewhere about
B.c. 2500. They were originally a nomad people, and with
ir herds and flocks made a settlement in the valley of
low River, in a part of what is now the province of
They displaced the aborigines of the country
d drove them to the south and west. Many traces of
original inhabitants may still be found, for they were
OB the one hand completely conquered or exterminated,
on the other entirely absorbed. The modern Lolos,
and Miaotze ar< their descendants, and still live
apart by themselves in the islands of Formosa and Hainan,
and in the provinces of Kweichow, Szechwan, Yunnan,
Kwangtung, and KwangsL

The Chinese gradually spread themselves over a more

• Written by the Rev, F. L. Hawks Pott, D.D.

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

extended area, and in so doing followed the line of
resistance- Their first great advance was westward up
the River Wei into Szechwan, and later they passed by way
of the Kan River into Kiangsi, and by the Yuan and Hsiang
Rivers, through what is now Hunan, into the regions about
Canton, A glance at the historical map will show the extent
of the territory occupied in the successive periods.

It is convenient to divide Chinese history into the
following three periods :

I. The period of the gradual extension and consolidation
of the Empire (b.c. 2852-206).

II. The period of the struggles with the Nort
Tartars (b.c. 206-A.D. 1644).

III. The period of the reshaping of the old civilisation
through intercourse with Western nations (a.d. 1644 to tr
present time).

THE FIRST PERIOD (b.c. 2852-206)
The Age 0/ the Five Rulers

The first Period may be said to begin with what is knov
as the Age of the Five Rulers.

The Chinese regard Fu Hsi, a mythical ruler, as the
founder of their history (b.c. 2852). He is said to have
resided near the modern Kaifeng in Honan, and to have
taught the people to fish with nets, to rear domestic animals,
and to use the lute and lyre ; to have instituted laws of
marriage, and to have invented a system of writing by using
picture symbols.

He was succeeded by Shen Nung, another mythical
ruler (B.C. 2737), who instructed the people in the art of
agriculture, and in the use of herbs for medicine.

Later; Hwang Ti (b.c 2697) became ruler, and to him is
ascribed the formation of the Chinese calendar, and the
introduction of the rearing of the silkworm.

The great ruler, Yao (b.c. 2356), is regarded as the
fourth of the Five Rulers, and he with the two following rulers,
Shun and Yu, formed a trio immortalised in the writings

CHINESE HISTORY: FIRST PERIOD 3

of Confucius and Mencius. The time in which they lived is
regarded by the Chinese as the Golden Age of their history,
and they have been held up to succeeding generations as
models of wisdom and virtue.

During the reign of Yao occurred a serious national
calamity. This was the great flood caused by the over-
flow of the Yellow River. A large tract of country was
submerged, and the people were reduced to great misery.
Yao appointed Shun as his associate in the government,
and the latter recommended Yii as the one man capable
of devising some means for saving the country from the
disaster. Yii, by constructing a system of canals, finally
succeeded in draining off the waters and reclaiming the
r cultivation. For this achievement his memory
has always been held in the highest esteem.

Yao handed down the government to Shun (b,c, 2255-
205), and he, in turn, to Yii, who founded the first of the

ular Chinese dynasties, known as the Hsia.

These early rulers of China were chieftains of a tribe
ither than rulers of a kingdom. It was only as their

ritory became more extensive that their functions became

al in character, and the system of government more
organised. At first the succession to the throne
was not necessarily hereditary, but the sceptre was passed

U) the one deemed best fitted to wield it.

The Hsia Dynasty (b.c. 2205-1766)

The Hsia Dynasty is the first of the long line of dynasties
tuch have succeeded one after the other for nearly four
housand years.
In the West a change of dynasty is generally caused
a line becoming extinct, through the failure of direct
sdants to the throne. Not so is the case in China.
the change comes as the result of the overthrow of a
whose rulers have become effete and incapable of
Qg the country a firm and vigorous rule. In no other
jntry have rebellions been more frequent than in China.
A superficial view of its history might lead us to suppose

4 THE CHINESE EMPIRE

that it was a monotonous repetition of dynasties rising
the zenith of their power, then entering upon a period
decline, and finally succumbing to some successful conqueror.
There is more, however, in Chinese history than this, and we
shall be able to note certain steps of advance and develop-
ment as the years roll on.

The Hsia Dynasty was unfortunate in its later rulers,
and was finally overthrown by the first successful rebellion
in China, headed by Tang, the Prince of Shang, who estat
lished the Second Dynasty, known as

The Shang or Yin Dynasty (b.c. 1766-1122)

Tang was one of the most illustrious rulers of China,
and his virtues are commemorated in the ancient books,
The best known story in regard to him is that which describes
his offering himself as a sacrifice on behalf of his people.
During his reign a great drought occurred, and, as is the case
with all natural calamities in China, it was regarded as a
visitation of Heaven for the transgressions of the people.
The Emperor clad himself in the garb of a penitent, and pro-
ceeding to the place of sacrifice, confessed his shortcomings,
and besought Heaven to visit upon him, " the solitary man,"
the punishment due to those over whom he ruled. Accord-
ing to tradition his death was not required, for no sooner
had he offered his supplications than copious rain began
to fall, refreshing the parched land, and bringing joy to
the hearts of the people.

Owing to laxity of life on the part of his successors his
dynasty was overthrown by Wu Wang, the Duke of Chow,
who founded the

Chow Dynasty (b.c. 1122-255)

In the Chow Dynasty we come to the development of
the feudal system of government in China, The founder
of the dynasty rewarded those who assisted him in his
conquest by assigning to them portions of his territory to
rule over, and conferring upon them titles corresponding

CHINESE HISTORY: FIRST PERIOD

Marquis, Count, Earl, and Baron. Tn course of
These subordinate rulers became powerful feudatory
princes, and assumed the rank of Kings. Throughout the
whole of this period the vassal chieftains encroached upon
the rights and prerogatives of the chief ruler, and we have
a condition of affairs corresponding to that which existed
in Europe in the Middle Ages.

During the Chow Dynasty lived the three famous
teachers, Laotze, Confucius, and Mencius, their appearance
synchronising fairly closely with that of Socrates, Plato,
and Aristotle in the West.

Laotze was the first in point of time, being born about
b.c. 604 in the eastern part of the modem province of Honan.
lis name literally means " the old teacher," and is derived
from the fact that, according to tradition, he had the appear-
ance of an old man at his birth. His system of philosophy is
l1 in nature, his aim being to lead men to live in har-
mony with M Tao," the great absolute, impersonal principle
ich is the source of all things and immanent in all things.

^The authorship of the philosophical treatise known as the
"Tao-te-king " is generally ascribed to him, and one of the
is cults in China, Taoism, claims him as its founder.
facias* the greatest of the three, was born b.c. 551,
m the feudal state of Lu, situated in the toother;
the modem province of Shantung. He was employed in
various capacities in the government by the Duke of Lu,
•nt a large part of his time in collecting and editing
the writings of the ancients, and in imparting a knowledge
them to his pupils. We really owe to his labors all we
about the ancient history of China.
use the Duke of Lu would not put his precepts into
practice, he left his native state and wandered about for a
long period, visiting the courts of the various feudal rulers,
seeking some one who would follow his teaching, which he
believed could alone lead a kingdom to prosperity. He
died BX. 47Q,». and about two centuries afterwards became
recognised a sage of China. The books edited

by him became the text-books used in all the schools, and

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

*rts

his influence in moulding the present civilisation of China
has been enormous. For over two thousand years he has
exercised the supreme control over the minds and heai
of his countrymen.

Mencius was also a native of the state of Lu, being born
B.C. 372. He did much to raise the teachings of Confucius
to a position of honor. In some ways he was a more
daring and original thinker than the one he delighted to
call his master, for Confucius only claimed to be a trans-
mitter and not an originator. Nevertheless Mencius has
never superseded the great sage in the estimation of his
countrymen, but has always been relegated to the second
place of honor.

To return to the political history : in the latter part of
the Chow Dynasty, the state of Tsin became powerful enough
to obtain complete control over the other feudatory states,
and then one of its dukes seized the throne and established
the dynasty known as

The Tsin (b.c. 221)

The word China is probably derived from the name of
this dynasty. The first Westerners to become acquainted
with the Chinese spoke of them as the people of the land of
Tsin, and this was later corrupted into u China." The
Chinese themselves generally refer to their country as " the
Middle Kingdom/'

The great ruler of the Tsin Dynasty was Shih Hwang-
ti (b.c. 221-209), often called Tsin Shih-hwang. He was
the first sovereign in China to assume the title Hwang-ti,
or Emperor, which has always been used since his time to
Jesignate the chief ruler.

The important task accomplished by him was the con-
solidation of China, the centralisation of its government,
and the reform of the currency and measures, y He abolished
the feudal system, and brought all parts of the country
under his own rule. After effecting this change he divided
the Empire into thirty-six provinces, setting over each three

CHINESE HISTORY: FIRST PERIOD 7

officers who were directly responsible to himself for the way
in which they conducted their government. The extent
of his Empire was from Chihli in the north to the Yangtze
River in the south, and from the Yellow Sea on the east to
Ssechwan on the west. In broad outlines the government
of China at the present day is similar to that instituted by
Tsin Shih-hwang.

During his reign an attempt was made to destroy the
classical literature, all the booksjha* could be found being

liered together and burnt. On account of this high-
handed measure, his name has ever since been execrated
by the Chinese scholars. The motive prompting him £0

b a course was his desire that a new regime should begin
with himself. He wished to obliterate the feudal system

•B the memory of his people, and to counteract the
conservative tendencies fostered by the teachings of the
classics. The attempt was only partially successful, and
after a short lapse of time the ancient literature was
restored to the place of honor it has held ever since.

It was also during his reign that the enormous wall on
the northern frontiers of the Empire was greatly extended.
It stretches now from 1200 to ioo° E. longitude, for
a distance of over 1,500 miles, and is one of the most
astonishing engineering feats accomplished by human
labor during antiquity. Much of the wall still remains
in good condition, and all who visit it are surprised by its
massiveness, and marvel at the difficulties surmounted in

1 onstruction. It was erected to serve as a barrier against
the marauding raids of the wild Tartar tribes on the north,

1w becoming a constant menace to the Empire.
THE SECOND PERIOD (B.C. 206-A.D. 1644)

The Tsin Dynasty passed away after a short existence
of some fifteen years, owing to a civil rebellion that resulted
in giving the throne to Liu Pang, the Prince of Han, who
established the fifth of the Chinese dynasties.

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

The Han (bx. 206-A.D. 25)

This, in a sense, may be considered as the first national
dynasty, for even to the present day the Chinese, with the
exception of the Cantonese, frequently refer to themselves
as " the sons of Han."

It was at this period that the wild tribes in the north
began to make more frequent incursions into the Empire,
and the long conflict between them and the Chinese began.
The struggle, as we shall see, was carried on with various
intervals of peace, and with alternate success and disaster
to the Chinese, for eighteen centuries, until finally China was
conquered by the Manchus in a.d. 1644.

The first tribe to disturb the peace of the Empire was the
Hiung-nu, whose home was in Mongolia. They were of the
same stock as the Huns, who later, under the leadership of
Attila in A.D. 445. became the scourge of Europe. The
Chinese Emperors were obliged to purchase immunity from
their attack by agreeing to pay an annual subsidy of silks,
rice, and wine.

During the Han Dynasty the boundaries of the Empire
were further enlarged (see Map), On the west was added
the territory now comprised in the province of Kansu, and
on the south that comprised in Hunan, Kiangsi, Kweichow,
Kwangsi, and Kwangtung.

The northern part of Korea was subjugated, the expedi-
tion into that country being undertaken for the purpose of
erecting a buffer state on the north-east, to prevent the
Hiung-nu from finding an entrance into China from that
quarter.

This extension of territory brought China into com-
munication with Western countries, and at that time some
intercourse was held between China and Parthia, Meso-
potamia, Bactria, Afghanistan, and India. The Roman
Empire seems to have been known to the Chinese, being
referred to by the name of Tsin,

During the latter part of the Han Dynasty the country
was plunged into civil war. This was due to the weakness

A MAP

TO SHOW THE

•< .ti F^^GRADUAL EXTENSION

1 "•*#». OF THt JO

.HINESE EMPIRE

Park

er.

CHINESE HISTORY: SECOND PERIOD

of the last Emperors, and to the consequent seizing of the
Imperial power successively by the. three great traitors of
Chinese history, Wang Mang, Tung Cho, and Tsao Tsao.
It resulted in the disintegration of the Empire, and the
period is known in history as that ol

The Three Kingdoms (a.d. 221-265)

The Three Kingdoms were Wei, comprising the central
id northern provinces ; the Kingdom of Wu, consisting of
le provinces south of the Yangtze River (modern Hunan,
Hupeh, Kiangsi, Kiangsu, andChekiang) ; and the Kingdom
of Shu, including the western part of the Empire, the modern
province of Szeehwan. These kingdoms waged incessant
war with one another, the ruler of each claiming to be the
rightful heir to the throne.

Finally, the Kingdom of Wei proved victorious, and one
of the successful generals established a new dynasty known
as the Western Tsin (a.d. 265-317). This dynasty was,
however, but of short duration, owing to the fact that the
Tartars, taking advantage of the disturbed condition of the
country, made themselves masters of all the northern part
of China, carrying the Emperor away into captivity. An
attempt was made to carry on the dynasty in the south,
where it assumed the title of the Eastern Tsin (a.d. 317-420) ;
but at last the Tsin Emperor was deposed by Liu Yu, one
of the generals of the Imperial army, who founded a new
dynasty called the Sung (a.d. 420-479).

This brings us to the first division of the Empire between
the Chinese and the Tartars, and is known as

The Epoch of the Division between the North and
the South (a.d. 420-589)

The Yangtze River formed the dividing line, all to the

r h being in the possession of the Tartar chieftains. The

Chinese were obliged to make their capital at Nanking, and

a constant struggle was carried on between them and the

Tartars.

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

The history of the Sung, and the succeeding short-lh
dynasties— the Tsi (a.d. 470-502), the Liang (a.d. 502-55;
the Chen (a.d. 557-589) , and the Sui (a.d. 589-619)-
chiefly occupied with this conflict, and the whole Empi
was not again under the rule of a Chinese Emperor until
establishment of the

Tang Dynasty (a.d. 618-907)

This was one of the most illustrious periods in Chine
history. Its great Emperor, Tai-tsung, did much
enhance the prestige of the Empire. He remodelled
^army, so that he had a force at his command powerful enov,
to defeat and hold in check the northern barbarians,
encouraged literature and learning, and built an enormot
library at his capital in Changan in Shensi, consisting
200,000 volumes. He was devoted to the Confucian classics,
and to him is ascribed the saying, " that Confucius is to the
Chinese what the water is to the fish."

The boundaries of the Empire were further extended to
the south, and it was divided up anew into ten provinces.

In the year 630 embassies from a large number of vassal
states presented themselves at the capital to offer tribute*
and the variety of languages spoken by these envoys, and
the diversity of their costumes, attested to the growing
power of the Chinese Empire.

During the Tang Dynasty, for a time, a woman of
exceptional ability and force of character exercised the
imperial prerogatives. This was the Empress WlLH§u» one
of the wives of the Emperor Kao-tsung. She ruled con-
jointly with him, and after his death, as Empress Dowager
during the reign of his son Chung-tsung, completely domi-
nated the Empire (a.d. 684-705). She invested herself in the
Imperial robes, and offered the sacrifices that of right could
only be offered by the Emperor. Even after she was forced
to retire on account of old age, she was still regarded with
awe, and retained the title of M the great and sacred Em-
press." The Chinese have strict ideas in regard to the
impropriety of a woman ruling the Empire, and future

CHINESE HISTORY: SECOND PERIOD u

generations have vied with one another in heaping obloquy
on the name of the Empress Wu Hou.

During her reign occurred an invasion of a Tartar tribe,
the Khitan, who lived in the north of Shensi. This was a
precursor of expeditions that were to become more and
more frequent as time passed on.

After the retirement of the Empress Wu Hou, the Tang
Dynasty began to decline, the succeeding Emperors being,
for the most part, weak in character, and the peace of the
Empire being, in consequence, frequently disturbed by

mal rebellions.

The Tang Dynasty lasted altogether for 289 years, and, as

m»nyr*»fehrai*dJiktr.Han<i anHpr>f tfilivi^ during that period,

may be regarded as the Augustan Age of Chinese literature.

Among the noteworthy events that took place while it
held sway over China, may be mentioned the further con-
quest of Korea in a.d. 667,

Tlit* King of Korea was forced to become a vassal of
China, and his territory was divided up into five provinces,
Chinese and native officials being appointed to rule over
them conjointly. Korea remained a vassal state of China
until the recent China- Japan war in 1894.

The Nestorian missionaries from Persia carried on their
propaganda in China during this period. They seem to
have met at first with success, and to have been regarded
with considerable favor. By imperial sanction a tablet
recording the tenets of their Church was erected near the
city of Sianfu.

As an evidence that the Chinese have always regarded
the Tang Dynasty with feelings of pride is the fact that one
of the names by which they call themselves, especially in
the South, is " the men of Tang."

After the Tang Dynasty, we come to what in Chinese
history is called

The Epoch of the Five Dynasties (a.d. 907-960)

Five brief dynasties, the Later Liang, the Later Tang,
the Later Tsin, the Later Han, and the Later Chow, followed

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

one another in rapid succession. It was really a period
military despotism. The generals prominent in the struggl
with the northern tribes became the most powerful men
the Empire, and, like the Roman generals during the lat
period of the Roman Empire, used their power to usurp
throne and to invest themselves in the Imperial robes.
With the establishment of

The Sung Dynasty (a.d. 960-1280)

the period of disunion was temporarily brought to a ck
but before long a more formidable danger threatened tr
Empire. This was the growing power of the Kin or Ni
Chen Tartars. From the meaning of the word Kin, th
are sometimes referred to as " the Golden Horde." They
began their attacks upon the Empire in a.d. 1125, and
succeeded in gaining possession of the capital, at that time
situated at Kaifeng in Honan, and in forcing the Emperor
to pay tribute. Before long the whole of the northern part
of the Empire had passed into their hands, and just as before
in A.D. 424 there had been a division of the Imperial territory
between the Chinese and the Tartars, so now the Empire
was broken up into two parts, the Sung Dynasty only re-
taining the south. The capital was removed to Nanking
and afterwards to Hangchow, and incessant war was waged
between the North and South. The Kin were never able
to effect a complete conquest of the Empire, but they re-
duced the Southern Empire to the direst extremities.

In the year 1135, the Mongols, destined to accomplish
that which the Kin attempted but failed to do, made their
appearance on the northern frontiers. Their original home
was a strip of territory between the Onon and Kerulon
Rivers in the district south-east of Lake Baikal.

Under Genghis Khan (a.d. 1 162) they began their
marvellous career of conquest. This remarkable man first
consolidated the Mongol Confederacy, and then proceeded
to overrun the north of China, completely defeating the
Kin and the other Tartar tribes who opposed his progress.

In 1213 three expeditions were dispatched for the purpose

CHINESE HISTORY; SECOND PERIOD 13

conquering Eastern Asia, the first being under the com-
mand of Gengbifr himself. All three were successful, and
the territory as far as the Shantung peninsula was entirely
subjugated,

lextTexpeditions were sent out for the conquest of
/estern Asia. They overran the territory to the south-east
of China, pierced the mountain passes of the Himalayas, won
a great victory on the banks of the Indus, and penetrated
into Eastern Europe, destroying many of the cities of
Russia. All the places conquered by the armies of Genghis
Khan were razed to the ground and the inhabitants put to
the sword.

Genghis Khan was succeeded in 1229 by his son OgotaiJ
who continued his father's glorious career of conquest. He
conducted an expedition into the heart of Europe, over-
running Russia, Hungary, and Poland.

Upon the rise of the Mongols, the Emperor of the

Mltbeni Sung Dynasty, Li-tsung (a.d. 1225-1265), entered

an alliance with their chief, offering his assistance

against the much hated Kin. The offer was accepted, and

when the Kin had been subdued, the Chinese naturally

considered they were entitled to a part of the spoils, and

proposed to reoccupy their old capital at Kaifeng. The

..gols. who had only made use of the Chinese as long as it

suited their own convenience, objected to this course, and

ordered them to evacuate Honan. Upon the Chinese

refusing to comply with this command, war was declared,

I the conquest of China was begun.

The chief part in the conquest of China was played by
Kublai-Khan, the grandson of Genghis. His armies overran
all the territory in the south occupied by the Sungs, and
the last Emperor was obliged to flee to the Island of Yaishan,
b of Canton. The harbor of the town to which he had
retreated was blockaded by the Mongol fleet, and finally,
iid falling into the hands of his enemies, the Emperor
id the Imperial family committed suicide by throwing
then nto the sea.

Thus, for the first time in Chinese history, China was

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

wholly conquered by the Northerners, and brought under
a Tartar Emperor.

The Yuan Dynasty (a.d. i 260-1368)

When Kublai Khan (a.d, 1 260-1295) became ruler of
the whole of China, he established the Yuan Dynasty. The
word Yuan means ,f original," and was chosen by him as
the designation of his dynasty to indicate that he instituted
a fresh beginning.

The Mongols were politic in their treatment of the con-
quered, and conformed to their civilisation. This has always
been characteristic in regard to the Tartar conquests of
China. As has been said, China is " a sea that salts all
waters that flow into it." The Tartars have never imposed
their inferior civilisation on the Chinese, but have assimi-
lated themselves to those they conquered until it became
difficult to distinguish between the two peoples.

Kublai Khan's thirst for conquest was not sated by nis
annexation of China. An attempt was made against Japan,
which failed ignominiously, the Mongols being no match
for the seafaring people of the Island Empire.

In the south, Annam was forced to become a tributary
state, and remained nominally a vassal of China until, in
our own day, it became a dependency of France (Annam m
1864, Tonkin in 1885).

A campaign against Burma proved successful, and the
Burmese were forced to pay tribute.

It was during the reign of Kublai Khan that the cele-
brated Venetian traveUer, Marco Polo, visited China (1271).
By his long sojourn in the country he learnt much about
Chinese civilisation, and upon his return to Europe he
enlightened the people of the West in regard to what ha
been to them, up to that time, a sealed country.

One of the great public works carried out under tl
instructions of Kublai was the improvement of the Gi
Canal between Hangehow and Tientsin. It is about a
thousand miles long, and still forms one of the chief water-
ways of the Empire. It was begun as long ago as B.C.

CHINESE HISTORY: SECOND PERIOD 15

The extent of the Empire at this time was greater than
ever before. The Mongol Emperors ruled over the vast
population occupying the territory between the shores of
the Black Sea and the Yellow Sea, and between Northern
Mongolia and the frontiers of Annam.

During the latter part of the Yuan Dynasty rebellions
became frequent, and numerous secret societies sprang into
existence, having as their chief object the overthrow of the
Mongol government.

Chu Yuan-chang (born a.d. 1355), who had spent his
early life in a Buddhist monastery, inspired by the spirit of
patriotism, put off his priest's robes and became the leader
of a successful band of insurgents. He finally managed to
overthrow the Yuan Dynasty and establish himself upon
the throne. He inaugurated the Ming Dynasty, and thus
China once again came under the ruleof a native sovereign.

We can only account for the decline of the power of the
Mongols on the ground that, as they adopted Chinese
civilisation, they lost much of their martial spirit, and
became more or less enervated and demoralised.

The Ming Dynasty (a.d. 1368-1644)

The first part of this period was occupied with struggles
with the Mongols, who naturally made desperate attempts
to regain what they had lost. The Mings, however, were
able to make their possession sure, and gained control over
the whole of the count ry.

In 1 511 the first European traders made their appearance
in China. A Portuguese trader, Raphael Perestrello, with

nail fleet of ships, arrived off the coast of Canton, and
six years later Fernando Peres de Andrade entered the
Canton River with his vessels, and asked for the privilege
of opening commercial intercourse. He was favorably
received by the Chinese officials, and was allowed to proceed
to Peking and reside at the Court. This auspicious be-
ginning was doomed to a speedy eclipse, for a short time
afterwards a second Portuguese fleet, under the command
of de Andrade's brother Simon, arrived in Chinese wat<

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

and when he did not obtain the freedom of commercia
intercourse that he expected, his followers committed man)
acts of depredation along the coast from Foochow to Ningpc
This roused the animosity of the Chinese, and led to acts
retaliation on their part, many of the Portuguese beii
massacred, and Fernando de Andrade being put to death.

These Portuguese adventurers did but little to promot
amicable relations between the Chinese and the Wester
world. The Chinese regarded them with suspicion anc
fear, and they, in turn, resorted to force to obtain what the
wanted (see Chapter IX. " Foreign Trade "). These fir
impressions of foreign merchants were not calculated tc
make the Chinese desirous of entering into closer commerci?
relations with the West.

During the reign of Wanli (a.d. 1573-1620) the Spaniard
made their appearance in the East. They made a settlement
in the Philippine Islands, which they held until the recent
Sjximsh-American War. The Chinese emigrated in larg
numbers to Manila, the capital of the islands.
Spaniards became fearful lest these colonists should become
too numerous, and instituted a massacre of them in which
some 20,000 were slain. This barbarous action doubtless
had the effect of lowering the prestige of the Westerne
many degrees in the estimation of the Chinese.

In 1622 the Dutch made an unsuccessful attempt
gain a footing on the Pescadores Islands. They were drive
out by the Chinese and retired to Formosa, where the
erected two trading forts, one at the north and one at tt
south end of the island. Here they carried on trade with
China until they were expelled by the famous pirate chie
Koshinga.

During the Ming Dynasty, the great Jesuit missionar
St, Francis Xavier, attempted to gain an entrance for tt
preaching of Christianity into China. He himself was neve
permitted to take up his residence on the mainland, but
successors, Michael Roger and Matteo Ricci, were alluwi
to settle in the Kwangtung province. Later on, the
Jesuits, through their knowledge of Mathematics, Astronomj

CHINESE HISTORY: SECOND PERIOD 17

and Mechanics, gained considerable influence at the Court of
Peking.

Altogether the Ming Dynasty lasted nearly three hundred
years, and then fell before the inroads of the Manchus. The
latter were a clan of Tartars, living to the east of the city of

:kden. They were incited to attack the Chinese because
the Emperor, Wanli, espoused the cause of a certain chief-
tain, named Nikan, the principal adversary of the Manchu
ruler, Nurhachu, In 1618 Nurhachu invaded the Liaotung
Peninsula with a large force, and put to rout the Chinese

iy sent to oppose his progress. When the Manchus took
city of Liaoyang they forced the Chinese inhabitants

shave the front part of their heads and to adopt the
queue. This is the first instance of the adoption of this
style of head-dress in China.

The Manchus were unable to take the city of Ningyuan,
vhich they attacked on their march towards the Great
fall. It was ably defended by the Chinese, who made
use of cannon brought from Macao.

While this dreaded foe was attacking China from the
north, the country was, unfortunately, rent by civil dis-
sension. Two rebels, Li Tze-ching and Chang Hsien-
chung, starting from Shansi and Shensi, overran a large
part of the Empire, and the former, elated by his success,
assumed the fitle of Emperor and advanced on Peking.
The last Emperor of the Mings, Chwang Lieh-ti, in despair,
committed suicide, and the city fell into the hands of the
rebels.

Li Tze-ching's triumph was, however, but of short

.ition, for a Chinese General, Wu San-kwei, determined
to avenge the death of his Sovereign and to prevent the
country's coming under the rule of the rebels. To effect
this object he entered into an alliance with the Manchus,
who were only too glad to obtain an opportunity of inter-
fering in the affairs of China. Wu San-kwei, with the

1 stance of the Manchus, gained a decisive victory over
the forces of the rebels. While he was absent from Peking
on the pursuit of the rebel army, the Manchu Regent,

1-S

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

Durgan, entered Peking in triumph, and in accordance witk
the agreement entered into with Wu San-kwei, placed his
nephew on the Imperial throne of China, thus inaugurating
the present dynasty, the Tsing, in 1644.

Although the Chinese in the north submitted to tt
Manchus, those of the south for fifteen years maintains
a desperate struggle to continue the Ming Dynasty. At
last, however, they were compelled to bow to the inevitable,
and the whole Empire for a second time passed under tr.
rule of the Northerners, in whose hands it has remained u{
to the present time.

The Manchus made but few changes in the government
of the country, and soon adapted themselves to the civilisa-
tion of China. They compelled the Chinese all over the
Empire to adopt the queue as a badge of subjection, and
they were careful to station garrisons of Manchu troops
at various important centres to guard against any sudden
uprising. In Peking they kept up the organisation of the
eight great Banner corps of Manchu troops.

In a few decades the new regime was thoroughly estab-
lished, and the Chinese seemed to forget they were under
foreign rule.

OF CHINESE HISTORY FROM THE BEGINNING OF
FOREIGN RELATIONS

Ix the last chapter we gave a brief review of the first two
periods oi Chinese history. The Tsing Dynasty introduces
tftew element and brings us to the

THIRD PERIOD (a.d. 1644 to the present time)

The reshaping of the old civilisation through intercourse
with Western nations

It has been customary to refer to China as the H fixed
type," and to prophesy that change in her government or
form of civilisation was an impossibility. Recent events
have once more proved how unsafe it is to indulge in political
forecasts respecting the future of nations. Radical changes
have already been effected in China, as the result of the
pressure brought to bear upon her by outside influences.
In order to preserve her national integrity, she has been

>rd to adopt important reforms, and to introduce many
n elements into her civilisation.

This, however, has only been accomplished slowly, and
has come about through a long series of frictions and con-
tests with Western nations.

The Reign of Kanghi (1662-1723)

As early as the reign of Kanghi, the second of the
Manchu Emperors, two European embassies an
Peking for the purpose of opening up commercial

* Written by the Rev. F. L. Hawks Pott, D.D.

arrived at

ial relations

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

Durgan, entered Peking in triumph, and in accordance wit
the agreement entered into with Wu San-kwei, placed
nephew on the Imperial throne of China, thus inaugurate
the present dynasty, the Tsing, in 1644.

Although the Chinese in the north submitted to tt
Manchus, those of the south for fifteen years maintaine
a desperate struggle to continue the Ming Dynasty,
last, however, they were compelled to bow to the inevitable
and the whole Empire for a second time passed under
rule of the Northerners, in whose hands it has remained
to the present time,

The Manchus made but few changes in the governmc
of the country, and soon adapted themselves to the ch
tion of China. They compelled the Chinese all over 1
Empire to adopt the queue as a badge of subjection,
they were careful to station garrisons of Manchu trc
at various important centres to guard against any sudden
uprising. In Peking they kept up the organisation of the
eight great Banner corps of Manchu troops.

In a few decades the new regime was thoroughly estab-
lished, and the Chinese seemed to forget they were under
foreign rule.

SKETCH OF CHINESE HISTORY FROM THE BEGINNING OF
FOREIGN RELATIONS

<-. last chapter we gave a brief review of the first two
periods oi Chinese history. The Tsing Dynasty introduces
a new element and brings us to the

THIRD PERIOD (a.d. 1644 to the present time)

The re-shaping of the old civilisation through intercourse
with Western nations

It has been customary to refer to China as the w fixed
type," and to prophesy that change in her government or
term of civilisation was an impossibility. Recent events
have once more proved how unsafe it is to indulge in political
forecasts respecting the future of nations. Radical changes
have already been effected in China, as the result of the
pressure brought to bear upon her by outside influences.
In order to preserve her national integrity, she has been
forced to adopt important reforms, and to introduce many
foreign elements into her civilisation.

This, however, has only been accomplished slowly, and
has come about through a long series of frictions and con-
tests with Western nations.

The Reign of Kanghi (1662-1723)

As early as the reign of Kanghi, the second of the
Maiichu Emperors, two European embassies arrived at
Peking for the purpose of opening up commercial relations

* Wntten by the Rev. F. L. Hawks Pott, D-D.
19

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

Although the Chinese in the north submitted to the
Manchus, those of the south for fifteen years maintained
a desperate struggle to continue the Ming Dynasty. At
last, however, they were compelled to bow to the inevitable,
and the whole Empire for a second time passed under the
rule of the Northerners, in whose hands it has remained up
to the present time.

In a few decades the new regime was thoroughly estab-
lished, and the Chinese seemed to forget they were under a
foreign rule.

iSETCtt OF CHINESE HISTORY FROM THE BEGINNING OF
FOREIGN RELATIONS

to the last cViapter we gave a brief review of the first two
periods of Chinese history. The Tsing Dynasty introduces
element and brings us to the

THIRD PERIOD (a.d. 1644 to the present time)

The reshaping of the old civilisation through intercourse
with Western nations

It has been customary to refer to China as the " fixed
type." and to prophesy that change in her government or
form of civilisation was an impossibility. Recent events
bwz once more proved how unsafe it is to indulge in political
forecasts respecting the future of nations. Radical changes
fiave already been effected in China, as the result of the
pressure brought to bear upon her by outside influences.
In order to preserve her national integrity, she has been
forced to adopt important reforms, and to introduce many
foreign elements into her civilisation.

This, however, has only been accomplished slowly, and
las come about through a long series of frictions and con-
t**ts with Western nations.

The Reign of Kanghi (1662-1723)

early as the reign of Kanghi, the second of the
Manchu Emperors, two European embassies arrived at
Peking for the purpose of opening up commercial relations

« Written by the Rev. F. L. Hawks Pott, D-D.
19

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

Durgan, entered Peking in triumph, and in accordance wit
the agreement entered into with Wu San-kwei, placed
nephew on the Imperial throne of China, thus inaugurati
the present dynasty, the Tsing, in 1644.

In a few decades the new regime was thoroughly estab-
lished, and the Chinese seemed to forget they were under a
foreign rule.

I OF CHINESE HISTORY FROM THE BEGINNING OF
FOREIGN RELATIONS

I* the last chapter we gave a brief review of the first two
periods ot Chinese history. The Tsing Dynasty introduces
a new element and brings us to the

THIRD PERIOD (a.d. 1644 to the present time)

The reshaping of the old civilisation through intercourse
with Western nations

It has been customary to refer to China as the " fixed
type," and to prophesy that change in her government or
form of civilisation was an impossibility. Recent events
have once more proved how unsafe it is to indulge in political
forecasts respecting the future of nations. Radical changes
have already been effected in China, as the result of the
pressure brought to bear upon her by outside influences,
rder to preserve her national integrity, she has been
forced to adopt important reforms, and to introduce many
foreign elements into her civilisation.

This, however, has only been accomplished slowly, and
has come about through a long series of frictions and con-
tests with Western nations.

The Reign of Kanghi (1662-1723)

As early as the reign of Kanghi, the second of the
Hinchu Emperors, two European embassies arrived at
ng for the purpose of opening up commercial relati

• Written by the Rev. F. L. Hawks Pott, D.D-
*9

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

Although the Chinese in the north submitted to tr
Manchus, those of the south for fifteen years maintains
a desperate struggle to continue the Ming Dynasty.
last, however, they were compelled to bow to the inevitabl
and the whole Empire for a second time passed under
rule of the Northerners, in whose hands it has remained
to the present time.

The Manchus made but few changes in the governme
of the country, and soon adapted themselves to the ci\
tion of China. They compelled the Chinese all over the
Empire to adopt the queue as a badge of subjection, and
they were careful to station garrisons of Manchu troops
at various important centres to guard against any sudden
uprising. In Peking they kept up the organisation of the
eight great Banner corps of Manchu troops.

In a few decades the new regime was thoroughly estab-
lished, and the Chinese seemed to forget they were under a
foreign rule.

OF CHINESE HISTORY FROM THE BEGINNING OF
FOREIGN RELATIONS

e last chapter we gave a brief review of the first two
periods oi Chinese history. The Tsing Dynasty introduces
a new element and brings us to the

THIRD PERIOD (a.d. 1644 to the present time)

The re-shaping 0/ the old civilisation through intercourse
with Western nations

It has been customary to refer to China as the " fixed
type.*' and to prophesy that change in her government or
form of civilisation was an impossibility. Recent events
have once more proved how unsafe it is to indulge in political
forecasts respecting the future of nations. Radical changes
bave already been effected in China, as the result of the
pressure brought to bear upon her by outside influences.
In order to preserve her national integrity, she has been
forced to adopt important reforms, and to introduce many
foreign elements into her civilisation.

This, however, has only been accomplished slowly, and
has come about through a long series of frictions and con-
Utts with Western nations.

The Reign of Kanghi (1662-1723)

As early as the reign of Kanghi, the second of the
Xi&chu Emperors, two European embassies arrived at
Peking for the purpose of opening up commercial relations

♦ Written by the Rov. F. L. Hawks Pott, D-D,
19

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

Durgan, entered Peking in triumph, and in accordance with
the agreement entered into with Wu San-kwei, placed his
nephew on the Imperial throne of China, thus inaugurating
the present dynasty, the Tsing, in 1644.

In a few decades the new regime was thoroughly estab-
lished, and the Chinese seemed to forget they were under a
foreign rule.

CHAPTER II *

SKTCH OF CHINESE HISTORY FROM THE BEGINNING OF
FOREIGN RELATIONS

I the last chapter we gave a brief review of the first two
periods ot Chinese history. The Tsing Dynasty introduces
a new element and brings us to the

THIRD PERIOD (a.d. 1644 to the present time)

The reshaping 0/ the old civilisation through intercourse
with Western nations

It has been customary to refer to China as the " fixed

type." and to prophesy that change in her government or

form of civilisation was an impossibility. Recent events

'<'■ once more proved how unsafe it is to indulge in political

casts respecting the future of nations. Radical changes

• already been effected in China, as the result of the

pressure brought to bear upon her by outside influences.

In order to preserve her national integrity, she has been

forced to adopt important reforms, and to introduce many

foreign elements into her civilisation.

Tins, however, has only been accomplished slowly, and
come about through a long series of frictions and con-
tests with Western nations.

The Reign of Kanghi (1662-1723)

As early as the reign of Kanghi, the second of the
•anchu Emperors, two European embassies arrived at
Peking for the purpose of opening up commercial relations

• Written by the Rev. F. L. Hawks Pott, D.D.
19

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

with China. One came overland from Russia by way
Siberia, and the other by sea from Holland. Neither
successful in obtaining the privileges sought, for the Chinese,
largely on account of their long isolation from the rest
of the world, considered themselves superior to all other
nations, and would not consent to treat on terms of equality
with their representatives. This for a long time was the
source of many misunderstandings. For instance, when
the Chinese demanded from foreign envoys, who one after
another made their appearance at Peking, the performance
of the ceremony of the Kotow, all, with the exception of the
Dutch, resolutely refused to comply with the request, on
the ground that it would imply that the countries from
which they came stood to China in the relation of tributary
or vassal nations. Although the Dutch yielded the point
and performed the ceremony, they derived but little benefit
from their obsequiousness.

In 1689 the Chinese came into collision with the Russians,
The latter had built a fort at Albazin, on the upper course
of the Amur River, and the Chinese regarded this as an
encroachment upon their territory. The fort was destro*.
and some of the Russian garrison were carried off as prisoners
to Peking.

By the treaty of Nerchinsk, made in 1689 {the first treaty
entered into between China and a European nation), it
agreed that the Amur River should be regarded as the
boundary line between the two adjacent Empires, and that
the Russians should have the right of erecting a fort at
Nerchinsk.

In xyiflJPeter the Great of Russia sent a second emb
to China. This was received more favorably than the first,
the ceremony of the kotow not being insisted upon. When,
however, a few years later, a caravan arrived for the purpose
of opening up trade between the two nations, a change had
taken place in the temper of the court, and it was declared
that all trade relations between the two countries must
confined to the frontiers.

In the early part of his reign, Kanghi had treated tl

CHINESE HISTORY: THIRD PERIOD 21

Catholic missionaries with considerable favor,
but later, owing to a dispute that arose concerning the
Chinese translation for the word " God," and the adoption
by the missionaries of the term approved by the Pope, in
opposition to the one favored by the Emperor, the good
will of the latter was forfeited. The Chinese jealously
resented the appeal to an authority outside their own

The literary activity during the reign of Kanghi was
very great, for during this time were published the standard
dictionary of the Chinese characters, compiled by a com-
mission of scholars appointed by the Emperor, and also
a huge encyclopedia, consisting of 6,026 volumes. The
famous sixteen maxims, known as the Sacied Edict, were
composed by the Emperor ; these were afterwards expanded
and annotated by his son Yung Cheng, and from that time

this have been expounded monthly in the city temples
to the common people.

The Reigns of Yung Cheng and Kienlung (1723-1796)

Kanghi was succeeded by his son Yung Cheng {1723),
during whose reign Russian and Portuguese embassies
visited the capital, and were granted an Audience.

In 1736 Kienlung ascended the throne. Although,
•ign, there was much disorder in the Empire, yet
-.ere also many conquests of importance. Frequent
ins broke out and were put down with considerable
Sculty. A serious outbreak, leading to the annexation
•tern. Turkestan, occurred in Mongolia. A war was
carried on with Burma, resulting in the Burmese entering
into an agreement to pay a triennial tribute to the Court
at Peking. This was henceforth regularly paid until
Burma was annexed by the British Government. Trouble
also arose in Tifeet, due to the Gurkhas from Nipal inter-
fering in the government of the country. An army was
dispatched into Tibet, and the Gurkhas were driven out and
forced to acknowledge the sovereignty of China.

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

In 1763 occurred the return to the Chinese Empire of a
Tartar tribe called the Turgut, an event graphically de-
scribed by the English writer De Quincy. During the out-
break in Mongolia this tribe had migrated from their original
home and settled in Russian territory near the Volga River.
Owing to the harsh treatment to which they were subjected
by the Russians they determined to make their escape.
On their flight back they experienced untold hardships,
being pursued by the Cossacks and attacked by the wild
tribes through whose territory they had to pass. Out of
160,000 who started on the expedition only a very small
remnant finally reached their destination.

Beginnings of Commercial Relations between
England and China

As early as 1635, during the reign of Charles I., a charte
had been granted to some English merchants to form
company to promote commerce with China, and as the result
of the royal grant Captain Weddell sailed for the East with
a small fleet of vessels. The Portuguese, who had made a
settlement at Macao, and who were anxious to keep the
trade with China for themselves, did all they could to place
obstacles in the way of this expedition. They so mis-
represented matters to the Chinese authorities that, when
the English fleet was passing the Bogue Forts, on the way up
the Canton River, a Chinese battery suddenly opened fire
upon it. The British ships retaliated, and after silencing
the guns of the battery, landed a party of sailors, took
possession of the forts, and hoisted their flag. This display
of force induced the Chinese to grant the right to trade, and
a cargo was obtained by the English ships. After this, trade
was gradually developed between China and England, but
it was hampered by many restrictions, very heavy import
and export duties being charged.

During the reign of the Emperor Kienhing.in 1793, while
George III. was King of England, Lord Macartney was sent
to visit the Emperor in Peking. He was received wit

CHINESE HISTORY: THIRD PERIOD

but the real attitude of the Chinese was shown by
the fact that the boat upon which he was conveyed to Peking
bore an inscription on its flag signifying that he was a tribute-
bearer from England. On his journey from Tientsin to
Peking the question was raised as to his willingness to pej-
Iwm the kotow. This he positively refused to do unless
a Chinese official of equal rank with himself would perform
a similar obeisance to a portrait of George III. Finally the
point was waived, and he was permitted to have two inter-
views with the Emperor, not however at Peking, but in the
garden of the palace at Jehol. Consent was given to the
English to carry on trade at Canton, on condition that they
submitted to the regulations imposed by the provincial
officials.

In the reign of the following Emperor, Kia King (1796-
1&20), the English Government sent another embassy to
China under Lord Amherst (1816). When he arrived at
Tungchow, on his way to the capital, he received word that
the Emperor would see him in the Summer Palace outside
of Peking, and that he was to hasten there with all dispatch.
soon as he had completed the journey he was summoned
to an audience. Lord Amherst rather impolitically pleaded
fatigue, and the non-arrival of his baggage containing his
court dress, and begged to have the audience postponed.
This roused the resentment of the Emperor, who immediately
refused to hold any further negotiations with him, and curtly
ordered him to return to Canton. Thus the mission ended
in a humiliating failure.

From the reign of Charles L, trade with China on the
part of England had been in the hands of the East India
Company. This monopoly came to an end in 1834, and
then the British Government decided to put the trade with
China on a different footing. Accordingly, Lord Napier
was appointed as commercial representative of the British
Government in China,

Hitherto all commercial transactions had been carried
by the English through a committee of native merchants
known as the Co-Hong, and with the Hoppo, a commissioner

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

appointed from Peking as superintendent of foreign
customs.

When Lord Napier arrived at Canton, the Chinese re-
fused to recognise him. They preferred for many reasons
to carry on trade in the old way, and they were unwilling
to permit Lord Napier to begin a new course of procedure
by dealing directly with the Viceroy of Kwangtung and
Kwangsi, whose capital was at Shiuhing, instead of with
the Co-Hong. This brought matters to a deadlock between
the Chinese and British merchants, and for a time an em-
bargo was placed upon all foreign trade. After the foreigners
had been confined in their factories and relations had become
most strained, two British men-of-war were sent up the
river, to protect the factories, and secure the safety of
English lives and property. Lord Napier soon afterwards
retired to Macao, where, his health having been seriously
impaired by the anxiety through which he had passed, he
shortly afterwards expired. As soon as he left Canton, the
Chinese, deeming they had carried their point, immediately
resumed trade with the English through the old channel of
the Co-Hong.

In 1836 Captain Charles Elliot was commissioned by the
British Government to take up the work of Lord Napier,
but in his attempted negotiations with the Chinese autho-
rities he met with no greater success than his predecessor.

About this time the Chinese became seriously alarmed at
what they considered one of the serious evils of foreign
trade, namely, the seeming outflow of silver from the
country. This was especially noticed in connection with
the large sums spent on opium. The commerce in this drug
had never been legalised by the Chinese Government, and
increasing quantities were surreptitiously smuggled into
the country. In the reign of Tao Kwang, the question of
legalising or prohibiting the trade in opium was warmly
debated at Peking, and it was finally decided to make de-
termined efforts to abolish it, and to suppress the smuggling
oi the commodity into the country.

CHINESE HISTORY: THIRD PERIOD

First War with Great Britain {1840-1843)

In 1839 Commissioner Lin Tze-sii was appointed to carry
oat the prohibition policy. He was a man of considerable
force of character and of superior integrity, but at the same
time very conservative in his views and opposed to the
extension of foreign trade. Shortly after his arrival at
ton he demanded that all the opium in the possession -f
foreign merchants should be delivered up to him, without
compensation, on the ground that it was contraband. In
accordance with this request, at the direction of Captain
Elliot, 20,291 chests of opium were handed over to the
Chinese authorities, all of which was completely destroyed.
The tension between the Chinese officials and the foreign
merchants had now become so great that a collision became
unavoidable. The giving up of the opium led to further
demands, and the conditions imposed upon the foreigners
became unbearable. This led to the first war between
China and Great Britain, in 1840, which unfortunately is
generally referred to by the Chinese as the Opium War.
Although it is true that the British Government made the
destruction of the opium a casus belli, yet, even if this had
not occurred, the avoidance of hostilities would have been
tble. The real cause of the war was that the Chinese
>^ed to treat on terms of equality, either diplomatically
or commercially, with foreigners, and the latter insisted on
; i be so treated, The war lasted for three years.
TV e were worsted both on sea and land, but bus-

ies dragged on until after the arrival of Sir Henry
Pottinger, who had been appointed to succeed Captain
Elliot. He had received instructions from the Home
Government that he was not to make terms with the pro-
vincial authorities, but directly with the Imperial Govern-
ment. At the same time Sir William Parker was appointed
to command the British fleet. By Sir Henry Pottinger's
command the war was carried to the north. Amoy,
Chmhai, Chapu, Ningpo, Wusung, and Shanghai were taken
in quick succession, and then the British fleet sailed up the

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

Yangtze and bombarded Chinkiang, an important city at
the junction of the Yangtze and the Grand Canal. After
some resistance this place was taken* and the fleet pro-
ceeded to Nanking- When this city was reached, the
Chinese submitted, and two Imperial Commissioners, Ilipu
and Kiying, were instructed to enter into negotiations for
peace. The first treaty between China and Great Britain,
known as the Treaty of Nanking, was concluded on August
29, 1842. Among the terms agreed to were the follow-
ing : (1) Canton, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo, and Shang
were to be opened as Treaty Ports, where foreigners could
reside and carry on trade ; (2) The island of Hongkong
was to be ceded to Great Britain ; (3) An indemnity of
#21,000,000 was to be paid, $6,000,000 of which was for the
opium destroyed ; (4) Fair tariff rates were to be imposed
at the Treaty Ports ; and (5) Official correspondence was to
be carried on upon equal terms between the two nations.
Shortly after this treaty had been ratified at Peking, similar
treaties were made with China, first by the United States
and then by France.

The Taiping Rebellion (First Stage, 1850-1860)

In 1 85 1 the Emperor Hienfeng ascended the Dragor
Throne. During his reign broke out one of the greatest
rebellions China has ever experienced. This was the
Taiping Rebellion. The leader, Hung Hsiu-chuen. having
obtained some knowledge of the Christian religion, had
become a zealous opponent of idolatry. He established a
society called the Shang Ti-hui— that is, the society for the
worship of " the Almighty." At first the movement was
of the nature of a religious crusade, and his followers went
about the province of Kwangsi breaking down idols and
destroying temples. The rising soon assumed a political
aspect, and the members of the society declared open re-
bellion against the reigning dynasty, taking as their rallying
cry " the extermination of the Manchus." After some
successes in Kwangsi, the rebels advanced into Hunan, ar

CHINESE HISTORY : THIRD PERIOD

triking the Siang River, followed its course northward,
sacking the cities along its banks. At Changsha, the capital
of the province, they met with their first serious repulse, for
this city was so ably defended by Tseng Kwo-fan that they
were unable to take it even after a long siege. Abandoning
the attempt they skirted the Tungting Lake, and entered
the valley of the Yangtze. On the banks of the Great
River they seized the cities Hanyang, Wuchang, Hankow,
Anking, Kiukiang, and Nanking. The latter city was
selected as the capital of a new dynasty to be known as the
Tajping, a word signifying that their leader intended to
establish the reign of peace on earth. Hung Hsiu-chuen
himself assumed the title of Emperor, being called Tien
Wang, or " Heavenly Monarch." Four assistant kings were
appointed to aid in governing the Empire, known respect-
ively as the Kings of the North, South, East, and West.
After this Hung himself no longer acted as the energetic
leader of his hosts, but gave himself up to a life of ease and
licence.

In 1853 an expedition was dispatched to the north in
the hope of taking Peking. In their attack on Tientsin the
rebels were repulsed by the Manchu General, Sankolinsin,
and. disheartened by their defeat, began to withdraw to
the south. At this juncture Li Hung-chang came into
public notice. He raised an army in his own province of
Anhwei, and began a series of vigorous attacks upon the
rebels. Gradually the Imperial forces made headway
against the rebels, and succeeded in hemming them in on
that part of the Yangtze between Nanking and Anking.

r Second War with Great Britain {1856-1860)
n the meantime relations between the Chinese and the
British merchants in the south had not become any
smoother. The British resented the way in which they
were treated by the Chinese authorities, and the Chinese
thought they had just cause of offence because, although
the opium trade had been declared illicit, smuggling still

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

continued, and was often carried on by ships called lorchas/
which secured the right of flying the British flag, by taking
out licences in Hongkong.

The immediate cause leading to hostilities was the case
of the lorcha Arrow. This vessel, flying the British flag,
during the absence of its captain, an Irishman, was boarded
by some Chinese officials by order of the Viceroy Yen, while
lying at anchor off Whampoa. The flag was hauled dov
and twelve of the Chinese crew were taken prisoner
Mr. Harry Parkes, who was then English Consul at Cantor
demanded an apology for the insult to the flag, and the
immediate return of the men. The Chinese authorities
refused to comply with these demands. At first they gave
as their reasons that the flag was not flying when the vessel
was boarded, and that they had seized these men because
were noted criminals wanted by the Chinese Govern-
ment. Later they stated that the ship had no right to be
flying the British flag, as the time of its license had expired.
This last statement was true, but it is generally believed
that the expiry of the time of the license could not have
been known to the Chinese at the time of the seizure of the
crew,

A series of altercations grew out of the incident, and as
neither party was willing to agree to a compromise, both
prepared for war.

In 1857 Lord Elgin was appointed High Commissioner
for Great Britain, and transports, with 5,000 troops,
were dispatched to China, This force was, however, diverted
to India to assist in the suppression of the Sepoy Mutiny
in that country, and it was not until some months later
that a British force arrived on the scene.

The French Government, induced partly by a desire to
obtain reparation for the massacre of a French missionary
in Kwangsi, and partly by the spirit of Imperial aggrandise-
ment that manifested itself so strongly when Napoleon III.
was Emperor, decided to join forces with the British in

• A lorcha is a light Chinese sailing vessel, built somewhat after
a European model, but rigged like a junk.

CHINESE HISTORY : THIRD PERIOD

bringing China to terms. When the forces of both nations
had arrived, an attack was made on the city of Canton. It
was taken, and for a time held by the foreign forces.

The war was then carried to the north, and the allied
fleets sailed to the mouth of the Peiho River, After the

ing of the Taku Forts, there was nothing to hinder the
nee on Tientsin. This led the Chinese to sue for terms
of peace, and the Treaty of Tientsin was signed on June 26,
1858. According to the terms of this treaty, (1) The
British were to be allowed the right of appointing a Minister
to reside at Peking ; {2) Newchwang, Formosa, Swatow,
and Kiungchow were to be opened as additional Treaty
Ports ; (3) The British were to have the privilege of trading
on the Yangtze ; (4) An indemnity of 2,000,000 taels was

be paid ; and (5) The tariff was to be revised. At the
same time a treaty was made between China and France,
and the Chinese Government was obliged to agree to pay
the same amount of indemnity to France as to England.

»In the following year, the question arose as to the place
he ratifications of these treaties were to be ex-
changed. The British and French insisted upon Peking,
as being named in the treaties, but the Chinese resolutely
persisted in offering opposition. The British and French
fleets proceeded to Tientsin, and finding the entrance to
the river blocked by barriers consisting of long stakes
bound together with heavy chains, decided to force an en-
tice. While attempting to do this, they were fired upon
by the Taku Forts, and compelled to retire after suffering
isiderable Kof

The British and French were not long in seeking repara-
tion for what they considered an act of treachery on the
part of the Chinese, and a formidable expedition was fitted
out, consisting of 20,000 men, of whom 13,000 were British
and 7,000 French. This expedition landed to the north of
the Taku Forts, and, to the surprise and consternation of
the Chinese, delivered their attack from the land side.
Although the Chinese made a desperate defence the forts
were finally obliged to capitulate. The way being opened

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

to Tientsin the fleet advanced up the river, and when
satisfactory terms could be arrived at, the allied forces set
out for Peking. On the march, a message was received
from the Manchu Prince, Tsai, proposing a conference at
Tungchow. Parkes and Loch, with some other Englishmen
and some Frenchmen, were sent to Tungchow to complete
the final arrangements for the conference. While on this
mission they were seized by the Chinese and sent as prisoners
to Peking. Parkes and Loch were for a time confined in
the prison used for the worst criminals, and subjected to
much ill-treatment. The others were imprisoned within the
precincts of the Summer Palace outside of Peking.

The allied forces, as soon as they discovered that they
had been duped by the Chinese, advanced on Peking. On
the way two engagements were fought, one at Changkiawan,
and one at Palikiao, in both of which the Chinese were put
to flight. Before Peking was reached the Emperor fled to
Jehol, leaving Prince Kung to enter into negotiations with
the invaders.

The British and French would consider no terms of peace
until the prisoners had been returned. Finally, Parkes
and Loch, and all who had survived their tortures, were set
free. By way of reparation for the death of the others, the
British and French envoys authorised the commanders to
permit the destruction of the Summer Palace, which had
already been looted by the French. In justification of this
act they said, " the punishment was one which would fall
not on the people, who were comparatively innocent, but
exclusively on the Emperor, whose direct responsibility for
the crime committed is established."

The Treaty of Peking was signed October 22, i860,
and the following terms were agreed to : (1) An indemnity
of 8,000,000 taels was to be paid in lieu of the sum mentioned
in the treaty of 1858 ; (2) Kowldon was to be ceded to
the British Government ; and (3) Tientsin was to be
opened as a Treaty Port.

The French also demanded an indemnity of 8,000,000
taels, and a special article provided for the restoration t

CHINESE HISTORY: THIRD PERIOD 31

the missions, through the intermediary of the French
Minister, of the property for religious and philanthropic
work which had been confiscated during the persecutions.
To the Chinese text of the article was added a clause : " It
shall also be permitted to French missionaries to buy or
rent land and build houses in any of the provinces at their
pleasure." This clause is not found in the French text,
which is authoritative, but the Chinese Government has
allowed it to pass by default (see Chapter VII.. " Extra-
territoriality ' ').

Upon the death of the Emperor Hienfeng, his only son,
a child of six years, became his successor. The Court being
then at Jehol, the government fell into the hands of a
coterie bent on renewing the war and resisting foreign
aggression at all costs, the reign title Kisiang (Favoring
Fortune) being adopted. To carry out their policy and
maintain their power, they planned to seize the Empresses
Regent and their adherents ; but they, with the support
of Prince Kung, brother of Hienfeng, effected a counter
coup d'etat, put to death some and banished others of the
leaders of the government, seized the reins, and changed
the reign title to Tungchih (Peace and Order). The Em-
press Consort and Empress Mother exercised the regency,
and Prince Kung became the principal Minister and the
most powerful of those engaged in the administration.

The foreign envoys took up their residence in Peking, the
first to do so being Sir Frederick Bruce for Great Britain, the
Hon. Anson Burlinghame for the United States of America,
Monsieur de Bourboulon for France, and General Vlangaly
for Russia.

Second Stage of Taiping Rebellion (1862- 1864)

The Taiping forces, though driven back from the imme-
diate vicinity of Shanghai and restricted to the Yangtze
valley above Chinkiang, soon felt the relief given by the
defeat of the Imperial forces at the hands of the foreign
allied powers, and again occupied the whole of the triangle

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

between the Yangtze and Hangchow Bay, with the ex-
ception of Shanghai. This city was protected by the troops
left by the allies for protection of the foreign settlements.

The Chinese in Shanghai formed a patriotic league for
the defence of the city, and at the suggestion of Li Hung-
chang, who had been appointed Governor of Kiangsu
Province, engaged the services of two Americans, Ward and
Burgevine, to organise a force of Europeans and Manila
men to fight the rebels. Ward, with a force two hundred
strong, consisting mainly of adventurers, in conjunction
with the Imperial army, succeeded in taking the city of
Sungkiang. In August i860 Chung Wang advanced on
Shanghai. Although he was able to occupy the native
city, he failed to take the foreign settlements, as they were
defended by a foreign garrison. After a time he retired
from Shanghai, burning and destroying all the villages
and hamlets in the outlying country.

When Admiral Hope, the British Commander of the
fleet that had carried on the expedition in the north, re-
turned to Shanghai, he went up to Nanking to pay a visit
to the Taiping Emperor, Tien Wang, and entered into an
agreement with him, by which the safety of Shanghai \
assured from attacks by the rebels, provided the English
and Europeans remained neutral. In consequence of this
arrangement Ward was compelled to disband his force,
but in pkice of it he organised a small army composed of
Chinese troops. This afterward became known as " The
Ever Victorious Army." With this he gained many victories
over the rebels.

When the rebels had taken Ningpo and Soochow, and
threatened to attack Shanghai again, Admiral Hope saw
that no reliance could be placed upon Tien Wang's assur-
ances, and, for the sake of helping to restore peace, decided
to assist the Imperial forces. The British and French
then proceeded to clear the country of rebels within a
thirty-miles radius of Shanghai. Acting in conjunction
With Ward this was successfully accomplished ; but during
the campaign the brave American leader lost his life. He

CHINESE HISTORY: THIRD PERIOD

succeeded for a time by Burgevine, but the latter soon
came into difficulties with the Chinese authorities, and was
dismissed from their service. Then Captain Holland of
the British Army was placed in command, but under his
leadership the forces suffered defeat at Taitsang. Finally,
Captain C. E. Gordon was loaned by the British Government
to assist the Imperial forces. Gordon's chief object was the
taking of Soochow, the stronghold of the rebels in Kiangsu.
This city was closely invested, but held out for many
months. At last a dissension broke out between two
factions in the city, and the party in favor of capitulation
having gained the upper hand, the rebels surrendered, on

understanding that the lives of their leaders (the so-called
Wangs) were to be spared. Li Hung-chang, however, much
to the indignation of Gordon, broke faith with the rebels,
and. after getting their leaders into his power, put them all
to death.

Nanking, which had been besieged for eleven years by
the Imperial forces, was the only place still left in the hands
of the rebels. When the city was about to fall, Tien Wang
ended his life by taking poison. Chung Wang and the son
of Tien Wang attempted to escape, but were captured and
put to death. With the fall of Nanking the rebellion
collapsed. Over twenty millions of lives had been sacri-
ficed, and many of the fairest districts of the Empire had
been devastated. To this day, in many of the cities, hear.
of ruins and rubbish may be found, witnessing to the havoc
wrought by the rebels.

Mohammedan Uprisings

Tn 1867, during the reign of Tungchih, the Mohammed BBS
in Yunnan revolted against the Chinese Government on
account of the harsh treatment received at the hands of the
officials, and attempted to establish a government of their
own. A similar uprising broke out in Shensi and Kansu.
These revolts were suppressed with much difficulty by the
Imperial Government.

34 THE CHINESE EMPIRE

First Embassy to Foreign Countries (1867)

In 1867 the Chinese 'Government sent its first embassy
to foreign countries. This consisted of three envoys, two
Chinese and one foreign, the latter being the Hon. Anson
Burlinghame, who had been U.S. Minister to Peking. The
object of the mission was to win for China more favorable
treatment from Western nations, and to represent the
Chinese Government as desirous of entering upon a course
of reform. Unfortunately Mr. Burlinghame died in St
Petersburg before the mission had been completed.

The Tientsin Massacre (1870)

In 1870 occurred what is known as the Tientsin Massacre.
For some time previous anti-foreign and anti-Christian
literature had been circulated among the masses, with the
result that their minds had been highly inflamed against the
missionaries.

The trouble in Tientsin arose out of rumors spread in
regard to the Roman Catholic Orphanage, such as that the
Sisters in charge were in the habit of kidnapping children,
and of taking out their hearts and eyes to serve as medicine.
A committee of five Chinese gentlemen were permitted to
examine the premises, that they might be convinced of
the absurdity of such stories and help to correct the false
impression. The French Consul, who looked upon this
investigation as an unwarranted intrusion, very uncere-
moniously drove these visitors into the street. This angered
the populace, and resulted in the burning down of the
Orphanage and the Cathedral, and the massacre of many of
the Sisters and their native assistants. The French Minister
demanded the punishment of the officials who had been
remiss in not quelling the riot, the decapitation of the ring-
leaders, and an indemnity of 400,000 taels.

First Public Audience (1873)

Shortly after the marriage of the Emperor, when the
regency of the Empress Dowager for a time came t

CHINESE HISTORY: THIRD PERIOD 35

the first Imperial Audience for foreign ambassadors was held
June 29. 1873. This appeared to be a step in advance
00 the part of China, but the fact that the audience took
place in the " Pavilion of Purple Light/' a hall used for
receiving tributary nations, showed that the pride of China
as strong as ever.

Succession of Kwanghsu (1875)

In 1875, Kwanghsii, the present Emperor, was placed
upon the throne. He is the son of Prince Chun, the youngest
brother of Hienfeng. His elevation to the Imperial dignity
was brought about by a coup d'Ual on the part of his aunt,
the mother of the Emperor Tungchih, the present Empress
Dowager, As he was a mere child at the time of his acces-
sion, the power once more fell into the hands of the Empress
Dowager, and she became the virtual ruler of the Empire,
a position which she has held, with short intervals of retire-
ment, up to the present time.

The Chefoo Convention (1876)

After the British Government had annexed Burma, an
attempt was made to open up a trade route through Yunnan.
fr. A. R. Margary, of H.B.M/s Consular service, was com-
lissioned to travel overland through China to meet at
ihamo an expedition sent out by the Indian Government,
and to act as interpreter and guide through Yunnan and
Central China to Hankow. After meeting the expedition,
Margary started on ahead to Manwyne, the first city within
Chinese territory, to prepare the way for those who were to
follow. Upon arriving there he was made away with, and
then the expedition was attacked, and driven back by bands
armed natives.

Sir Thomas Wade was at that time British Minister at

eking. After prolonged negotiations between him and the

hinese Government, the Chefoo Convention was finally

agreed to, the principal articles of which are as follows :

(1) A compensation of 200,000 taels was to be paid ; (2) An

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

embassy expressing regret for the murder of Margary wa
to be dispatched to Great Britain ; (3) Further arrange-
ments for the better regulation of the opium traffic were to
be put in force ; and (4) Four new Treaty Ports — Ichang,
Wuhu , Wenchow, and Pakhoj — were to be open to foreign
trade and residence, and six ports of call on the Yangtze for
the landing of foreign goods.

Dispute between China and Russia

A dispute arose between China and Russia in regard to
the city of Kuldja, that had fallen into the hands of the
Russians during the Mohammedan rebellion in the north-
western part of the Empire. When China demanded the
return of the city, they were met with a direct refusal. For
a time it looked as if the friction would lead to a war between
the two countries. Finally, however, in i88i,the Treaty of
St. Petersburg was agreed to, by which China regained
Kuldja and the most of Ili, and paid nine million roubles
Russia in compensation for her claims.

Trouble in Korea

As far back as 1592 the Japanese had founded a sett!
ment at Fusan in Korea. In 1876, in retaliation for an
unprovoked attack upon one of their gunboats off the coast
of Korea, the Japanese dispatched an expedition to that
country, and compelled the Korean Government to pay an
indemnity, to open the ports of Chemulpo, Gensan, and
Fusan, and to allow Japanese to reside in Korea on the same
terms as Europeans resided in Japan. The Chinese Govern-
ment, regarding Korea as a vassal kingdom, determined to
neutralise Japanese influence by throwing open the country
to the whole world under treaty. Thus Korea, hitherto
known as the Hermit Nation, emerged from her position of
seclusion, and entered into treaty relations with foreign
powers. The opening of Korea led to many troubles.
There was soon formed a Party of Progress, and this was in
constant strife with the Conservatives. In order to main-

CHINESE HISTORY: THIRD PERIOD

tain orderthe Chinese appointed a Resident, after the pattern
of British Residents in India, to live in the capital at SeouL
In one of the quarrels between the Reformers and the Con-
servatives, the Japanese Legation was burnt to the ground,
and the Japanese Minister and his staff were forced to flee
for safety to Chemulpo, This led to the landing of a
Japanese force at Chemulpo, and the dispatch of Chinese
troops to Seoul. It seemed for a time as if war was imminent
between the two countries, but Li Hung-chang and Count
Ito, acting for their respective governments, were able to
arrive at an understanding. Both countries agreed to with-
draw their troops from Korea within four months, and
promised that, in case any serious disturbance arose in the
future, before either country landed troops, notice should
be previously given to the other. At this time Russia,
taking as a pretext the disturbed condition of the country,
moved her troops towards the northern frontiers of Korea,
a counter-movement, the British fleet seized Port
nilton, an island off the southern coast, and threatened
to take permanent possession of it if the Russian occupation
lasted in the north. In 1887 the British Government with-
drew her forces from Port Hamilton, with the stipulation
that the island was never to be ceded to any other power.

War with France (1884-5)

As protectors of Roman Catholic Missions in the Far
East, the French Government obtained a pretext for inter-
fering in tfae affairs of Annam, and in 1864 the King of that
country was obliged to cede Cochin China to France.

After the Franco-Prussian War, when the French
Government entered on a policy of extending its colonial
possessions, it became desirous of annexing Tonkin, lying
to the north of Annam, as in that way it would be able to
tap the resources of Yunnan. Tonkin, which for centuries
had been a vassal kingdom of China, appealed to the latter
(or protection. In 1884 the French troops threatened
Scmtay and Bacninh, and notwithstanding the protests

$8 THE CHINESE EMPIRE

made by the Chinese, proceeded to occupy them, As neither
country was anxious for war, negotiations followed, as the
result of which it was agreed that China was to cede Langson
and some other places to France, and that, in return, France
would respect China's southern boundary. Owing to a
misunderstanding, when the French troops came to take
possession of these places, the Chinese garrison refused to
evacuate. Thus hostilities broke out.

As there had been no formal declaration of war, Admini
Courbet, of the French Navy, sailed with his fleet unopposed
past the Chinese fleet and forts into the mouth of the Min
River at Foochow. Then, without warning, he suddenly
opened fire on the forts and the Chinese ships as they lay
at anchor. As the Chinese were taken completely by sur-
prise, they were unable to make resistance. Their forts were
much injured, and a large number of their ships were
destroyed. The French fleet then sailed away, and seized
Kelung in Formosa by a similar stratagem to that used at
Foochow. The Pescadores Islands were also taken. The
war dragged on in a desultory manner, and on land the
Chinese gained some successes over the French troops. At
length peace was declared on June 9, 1885, by the terms
of which China gave up all claim to Tonkin, while
French promised to respect China's southern frontier.

The Riots of 1891

China was next involved in difficulties with foreign
powers by the riots of 1891 on the Yangtze River. The
passions of the populace had been stirred up by the circula-
tion of libellous literature scattered broadcast throughout
this region of the country. It is generally supposed that
it emanated from the literati, who were bitterly opposed to
all the changes taking place in the Empire. The prime
instigator was a scholar named Chow Han, who composed
many diatribes against the Christian religion. The soldiers
who had been disbanded after the suppression of the Taiping
Rebellion, and who had formed a society known as the

CHINESE HISTORY: THIRD PERIOD

Ki>-lao-hui, were only too ready to take this opportunity
of creating a disturbance, and of looting Christian churches
and missionary residences. Riots occurred in Wuhu,
Wusueh, Tanyang, Wusih, Chinkiang, Yangchow, and
Kiangyin. At Wusueh two British subjects, one a member
of the Maritime Customs and one a missionary, were mur-
dered. Upon strong representations being made by the
foreign powers, the Chinese Government was forced to grant
monetary compensation for all the damage wrought by the
rioters.

The War with Japan (1894-5)

In 1894 occurred the war between China and Japan. The
Chinese, disregarding the agreement entered into with
Japan, sent troops into Korea to quell a disturbance, and
the Japanese, as acounter-move, landed a corps of theirarmy
consisting of 10,000 men. After some parleying, it was
arranged that the forces of both countries should be with-
drawn. While negotiations were still in progress, some
Japanese cruisers sighted a British steamer, the Kowshing,
transporting troops to Korea. Looking upon this as a
breach of faith, the Japanese commander ordered the
captain of the Kowshing to surrender, and demanded the
Chinese troops as prisoners. Although those in command
of the Kowshing were willing to surrender, they were unable
to do so owing to a mutiny of the Chinese soldiers. Accord-
ingly the Japanese ships opened fire, and in a few minutes
sunk the Kowshing. This led to a declaration of war on
both sides. China claimed that, as Korea was a vassal state,
had a right to interfere in her political affairs. The
Japanese reasons for going to war were their resentment at
the supercilious way in which they had always been re-
garded by the Chinese, their desire to gain control over
Korea so as to check the further advance of Russia to the
south, and the wish to find some vent for the ebullition of
military spirit in Japan. The war soon revealed the utter
lack of preparation on the part of China. Her forces on

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

land were miserably armed, and badly officered. China
had made but little progress in the art of modern warfare,
whereas Japan had a most efficient army. On land, the
Chinese troops were defeated in every engagement, and
were driven out of Korea.

In the Naval battle at the mouth of the Yalu, the
Chinese fleet fought with determination, but were at a great
disadvantage on account of the want of proper ammunition.
Five of their vessels were sunk and the rest were put to
flight.

Port Arthur, strongly fortified by the Chinese and
deemed impregnable, was next assaulted by the Japanese,
under General Oyama, from the land side. The Japanese
surmounted all obstacles, and, owing to the poor defence
made by the Chinese, soon succeeded in taking possession
of the fortress.

After the capture of Port Arthur, the Japanese fleet
attacked Weihaiwei. Although Admiral Ting of the Chinese
fleet, who had fled thither after the battle of the Yalu,
offered a determined resistance, he was finally forced to
surrender all the forts to the Japanese. After this China
was powerless to continue the war, and accordingly Li
Hung-chang was sent to Japan to sue for terms of peace.
The treaty of Shimonoseki was signed on April 17, 1895.
By it (1) The independence of Korea was to be recognised ;
(2) The Liaotung Peninsula (including Port Arthur), For-
mosa, and the Pescadores Islands were to be ceded to
Japan ; (3) An indemnity of 200,000,000 taels was to be
paid in seven years j and (4) Shasi, Chungking, Soochow,
and Hangchow were to be opened as Treaty Ports to
foreign trade and residence. A large part of the fruits of
Japan's victory was wrested from her by Russia, Germany,
and France uniting to compel her to waive her claims to
the Liaotung Peninsula in exchange for a payment of
30,000,000 taels.

The result of the war was disastrous to China in many
ways. It dispelled the idi«a from the minds of Westerners
that China had really entered on the path of reform,

CHINESE HISTORY: THIRD PERIOD

the belief became prevalent that China was so weak that
she must yield to whatever demands were made of her,
provided a sufficient show of force was displayed.

Acts of Foreign Aggression

In 1897 Germany seized Kiaochow, on the south of
the Shantung Peninsula. Her pretext for so doing was the
murder of two German Roman Catholic missionaries in the
southern part of Shantung,

Russia forced the Chinese Government to lease Port
Arthur, one of the strongest naval bases in the world, and
Talienwan, thus strengthening her position in Manchuria.

Great Britain put in a claim for the lease of Weihaiwei,
and China granted this in return for the help received
in financing the indemnity owed to Japan.

France claimed and obtained the lease of Kwangchow-
wan, in Kwangtung, so as to " restore the balance of power
in the Far East.'

In 1899 Italy demanded, but was refused, the cession of
Saninen Bay in Chekiang. The people of China began to
realise that, if this process of granting leases went on longer,
the integrity of the Empire was doomed, and a strong anti-
foreign feeling began to manifest itself.

The Reforms of 1898

In 1898 the Emperor Kwanghsii, strongly influenced by
a band of ardent young reformers, the chief of whom was

ig Yu-wei, attempted to introduce radical reforms in
the Empire, believing that only thus could the ship of state
be saved from foundering. The Empress Dowager, as well
as the conservative officials of Peking, regarded these in-
novations with dread, and an attempt was made to depose
the Emperor. She began a vigorous crusade against the
Reform Party, and did not hesitate to put to death all
who fell into her hands.

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

The Boxer Outbreak (1900)

The anti-foreign spirit in China, roused by the acts of
aggression on the part of foreign powers, found expression
in the Boxer movement of 1900. The Boxers were a semi-
religious fanatical secret society, the members of which
were banded together to drive out all foreigners from China,
and to rid the Empire of foreign domination. Those who
joined it believed they were under the special protection of
the gods, and that by the use of magical charms they could
make themselves invulnerable in battle. They began their
operations in Shantung, where they proceeded to burn down
churches and missionary residences, and to murder Christian
converts. From Shantung the movement extended int
Chihli, and soon all the northern part of China was
confusion. The Chinese officials, many of whom openly
sympathised with the aims of the Boxers, did little to
oppose their progress, and the Empress Dowager took no
strong measures against them. As alarm was felt for the
safety of the Legations at Peking, guards were sent up
from the men-of-war anchored off Taku for their protection.
Peking was surrounded by the Boxers and cut off from all
communication with the outside world. Admiral Seymour
of the British fleet and Captain McCalla of the American
fleet, with a force of 2,000 men, consisting of British,
Americans, Germans, and others, undertook to march
from Tientsin to Peking to relieve the Legations. This
expedition was steadily opposed, and upon reaching
Langfang met with a determined resistance, news having
reached the Chinese of the taking of the Taku Forts by the
fleets of the European powers. The relief force was com-
pelled to retreat, and on the way back experienced much
hardship, and came near to being annihilated.

Owing to the disturbed conditions in China a large
number of vessels of the various foreign powers had
sembled off Taku. It was from these that the relief
expedition to Peking had been sent. After it had started,
on June 16, the commanders of the fleets, with the ex-

CHINESE HISTORY: THIRD PERIOD

ception of the American commander, joined in summoning
the Taku Forts to surrender. Upon the refusal of the
Chinese, fire was opened on the forts, and after a severe
bombardment they were taken. This led the Chinese
Government to declare war on foreign nations, and the
Imperial troops began to make common cause with the
Boxers. The foreign settlement at Tientsin was besieged
by the Chinese, and was only saved from destruction by
an expedition sent to its relief from Taku.

During the summer of 1900 massacres of Christian
missionaries and their converts took place throughout
North China. A secret edict to exterminate all foreigners
was issued by the Empress Dowager, and was obeyed in
Paotingfu, and in Taiyuanfu. As soon as the gravity of
the situation was realised troops of the foreign powers were
dispatched to China. Upon the arrival of these the native
city of Tientsin was attacked and, after severe fighting, was
taken by the allied forces. Then a relief expedition set out
for Peking.

The foreigners in Peking had, in the meantime, taken
refuge in the British, American, and adjoining Legations,
where they were subjected to a long and trying siege. With
splendid determination they held out against overwhelming
odds, and managed to maintain their position. The Chinese
were afraid of proceeding to extremities, and never put
forth all the force at their disposal against the beleaguered.
It is probable they suffered from divided counsels in their
own midst, one party wishing to destroy the foreigners, and
one holding back from fear of the consequences. If Tientsin
had been able to hold out against the foreigners, the fate of
(be Legations would have been sealed. When, however,
it was learnt that Tientsin had been taken, the attack on
the Legations was no longer carried on with much real
spirit. The allied army arrived at Peking on August 14,
and the city was taken on the following day. The Emperor
and Empress Dowager fled as the foreign troops entered
the city, and established the Court at Sianfu in Shensi.
During the outbreak in the north, the Viceroys, Liu Kun-i,

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

and Chang Chih-tung — governing the provinces Kiangsu,
Anhwei, Kiangsi, Hupeh, and Hunan — -succeeded in keeping
the part of the Empire over which they ruled from taking
part in the mad uprising ; and an agreement was made by
them with the various Consuls of the Western powers, by
which they promised to preserve order in their jurisdictions,
provided the military operations of the invading forces
were confined to the north. When the Boxer movement
had been suppressed there followed a long period of ne-
gotiations between the representatives of the Chinese
Government and of the Western powers. The Chinese
were forced to yield to the following terms : (i) China was
to erect a monument to the memory of Baron von Kettler,
the German Minister who had been murdered in the streets
of Peking at the outbreak of hostilities, and to send an
Imperial Prince to Germany to convey the Emperor's
apology for the sad occurrence ; {2) The death penalty
was to be meted out to the leaders in the uprising, and to
the officials responsible for the murder of the foreigners ;
(3) An indemnity, £67,500,000, was to be paid in annual
instalments extending over forty years ; (4) The Taku
Forts were to be demolished ; and (5) Permanent garrisons
were to be stationed at the various Legations in Peking,
and on the route to the sea.

Recent Events

Since the Boxer uprising many important events have
taken place. The war between Russia and Japan, although
strictly speaking not an event in Chinese history, has been
one in which China was deeply concerned. The long-
pursued policy of Russia to gain absolute control of
Manchuria has been checked. The prowess of Japan,
displayed on the battle-field, at the siege of Port Arthur,
and at the naval engagement of the Straits of Tsushima,
has led the Chinese to look with respect upon Japan, and
to follow her example in introducing reforms into her own
army.

CHINESE HISTORY: THIRD PERIOD 45

Much has been recently accomplished in the way of
organising a system of enlightened education, and the old
literary examination system has been entirely discarded.
Much activity is shown in the building of railroads. A
national spirit is growing, taking as its motto, " China for
the Chinese.0 The government is undergoing modification,
and the promise has been held out of the grant of a con-
stitution in the near future. Indeed, reform edicts follow
one another so quickly that each seems to tread on the
heels of the one going before. The influence of Japan is
paramount, and it seems probable that the world may
witness an alliance of the Yellow Race that will bring about
astounding results.

Indeed, our attention is directed to China as it has never
been before, and we naturally are led to speculate upon
the future possibilities of this remarkable people, and the
part they may play in the unfolding drama of the great
world process.

CHAPTER III

THE GOVERNMENT

The government of China is an autocratic rule superpc
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 century 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 unaltered.

The Manchu Dynasty 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 compose
as much of Chinese troops, stiftened by Manchu battalions
and led by Manchu officers, as of the all-conquering Manchu
bowmen. In their civil government the Tsing Emperors
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

THE GOVERNMENT

by its own strength ; and from the very beginning, before
the ruins which marked their military progress ceased
smoking and were cold, they not only continued the system
and forms of their predecessors, but associated with them-
sejvestin the administration, the literate class of theirChinese
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 drawn 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 carrifre ouverie aux talents,
Some allowance must be made for the predilection of the
ruling 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

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 modern 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) adrninistration 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 coun-
sellors.

The American simile may be carried even further, but the
Western reader must be cautioned not to apply it except as
specifically indicated. American government stands firm-
based on the town meeting. This was generally true in

4& THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 communi-
ties. It is also true, mutatis mutandis, of village com-
munities 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 repre-
sents 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. 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-interindependence of the central and provincial ad-
ministrations ; but the means of providing for the main-
tenance 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 noble
(ii) The Central Metropolitan Government,
(iii) The Provincial Administration,
(iv) The Township and Village.
To explain clearly the system of Chinese administratic

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 ra

fications to its sources.

THE GOVERNMENT

L The Court

The Emperor rules by divine right. He is no empty
" Dei gratia," based on a parliamentary title, or on election
a Diet, or by allied kings and princes. He is himself the
leaven, and, when he dies, he " mounts the Dragon
iot 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 r apart from his reverential worship of the
tes 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 beingfollowed. Not
one of the Emperors of the presenHiynasty (except Tung-
! i , an only son) was the eldest son of his predecessor :
Kanghi 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
rebelled against him on his accession ; Kienlung 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
sons of concubines ; but the son of a concubine might
be preferred to others, and all are equally recognised as the
of their father. Failing a son, the choice would be
long the other princes of the Imperial family, but re-
sted by the necessity, if possible, of going a generation
per in order that the selected prince might be adopted as

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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, the present Emperor — adopted as his son
and successor — being natally his father's brother's son ; and
the coup d'etat manqui of 1898 was based upon the alleged
necessity of providing an Emperor of the next generation
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-given name the same
(as Albert Edward, Albert Henry, Albert Charles) ; the
Emperor Tungchih was " christened " Tsai-shun, and his
successor, the present Emperor, Tsai-tien ; in the next
generation we have the heir presumptive, selected in 1898,
Pu-chun, and the prince who went to St. Louis in 1903,
Pu-lun. To his people the sovereign is " The Emperor,"
" 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 synonym
or a modified form being used : just as, for example, with
a King Harry, now or at some past time during the present
dynasty 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 then-
reign title, but this has happened only once under Manchu
rule — in 1861, when the first reign title of the infant Em-
peror was changed, concurrently with a coup d'etat, from
Kisiang (Favoring 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 ; tt

THE GOVERNMENT

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 edirts and rescripts are the
iw of the Empire ; this is true also of the writs and Orders
uTCounctTof the King of Great Britain and Ireland, and
the restrictions on the acts of the two sovereigns differ only
in degree and kind. The Emperor is bound, in the first
place, by the unwritten constitution of the Empire, the
customs which Jiave come down from time immemorial,
through generations of both rulers anoTTuTed, an^Turther
by established precedent as defined in the edicts of his
predecessors, even those of previous dynasties. Then he
is bound by the opinions and decisions of his Ministers,
whose position and weight "a'tfter rrom those of Ministers
of constitutional monarchies only in the mode of their
selection and retention in office. Finally, shut up withm
ills of his palace, he is more sensible of the daily
pressure brought to bear upon him by his personal en-
tourage 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
what happened in 1898, when the present Emperor under-
took to modify in a few months the development of many
ituries, and impetuously instituted reforms for which the
Empire was not then ready. The Emperor is also the source
of honors and of office ; but this is no more literally true in
China 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

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 i86ir he left only one son, five years old,
to succeed him, born, not of the Empress Consort, but of
the Secondary Empress, the present 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 honor), 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 Kung,
brother of Hienfeng. The regency was determined in i£
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 "l
seventy-one over the youth of thirty-five, her nephew-
adopted-grandson, is strengthened by the capacity of the
ruler, the necessity of the state, and the devoted reverent
due to parents and grandparents.

The Imperial Clansmen are those who can trace their
descent back 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 ;

THE GOVERNMENT

their sons to Bei-tze, Prince of the fourth 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
h 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), Earl Li (from Li Hung-chang) : none of these
titles carry with them any special privileges.

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
fairs Regulations, indeed, of the most minute and

iprehensive 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,
id the distribution of the superior literary degrees as
rds for proficiency in the studies upon which the entire
polity of the Empire is based, comprise the remainder of

II. Metropolitan Administration

• ** The Chinese Government/' by W. F. Mayers, 1878.

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 found 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
the means of communication. In its pristine form tb
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 Shiuhing, 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 Chapoo, who, being responsible for
resistance to aggression on the coasts of Kwangtung and
Chekiang, transferred their headquarters to Nanking t
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
envoy was sent direct from the central government. The
American treaty of 1844 was 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

THE GOVERNMENT

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
supervisor, and to adopt a more centralised policy. XThis
policy was made the more necessary from the disorganisa-
tion into which the provincial administration was thrown
by the Taiping 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

^uls 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 Tsungli 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
186 1, 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. Thus was developed a Cabinet, in the sense com-
mon 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 resumption
by the Grand Council of its active functions as the deliberat-
ing and deciding Cabinet of the Emperor, and the executive
head of the government. The Grand Council, however,
inherited the centralised power of the old Tsungli Yamen,
and the orders emanating from Peking were more direct

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

low,

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 future, it is right, in these days of rapid transformation
of a hitherto immovable Empire, to state that this chapter
was written in October 1906. 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
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). Six honorary titles were once attached
to the Grand Secretariat — Grand and Junior 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.

THE GOVERNMENT

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 KOn-Ki-chu, "Committee of National Defence"

M 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 Tsl'ngli 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," now nine in number* —

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

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

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

* Sec Appendix A.

5»

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 H
are the following :

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

S. 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, tx
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,
Overseers, Assistants, etc., quant, 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/' commonly
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 favor.

THE GOVERNMENT

Tung-cheng Sze, " Office of Transmission," deals
with memorials to the Throne.

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

Han-lin Yuan, " College of Literature," exercised
ntrol over the education of the Empire until super-
seded by the Board of Education, and continues to
ist as a memorial of a glorious past. It is also
charged with the custody and preparation of the
historical archives of the dynasty, but many of its
records were burnt 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 vis-d-vis 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 differences. The comparison with states would be
more exact if for " state " were substituted " territory,"
such as those of the American Union, which have their ex-
ecutive 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 Kwangsi

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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-chang holding the Viceroy alty 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 whict
is strengthened by the patronage which is then at thei
disposal. For officials lower in rank the rule is almost
universally followed ; they may be reappointed once, but
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.

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 is 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.

THE GOVERNMENT

Hupeh man may hold an official post in Hupeh, nor
man in Kiangsu. When Li Hung-chang left the
ficeroyalty at Tientsin, the post to which he would naturally
have gone was the other great Viceroy alty. that at Nanking ;
but his native province. Anhwei. is in the Nanking Vice-
royalty, and he went to Canton instead, Tsen Chun-suan,
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 be
was the obviously indicated man to restore order in the
Canton Vieeroyalty, 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 Vieeroyalty of which Kwangsi
forms part, and went therefore as acting Viceroy ; in 1906
he was appointed substantive Viceroy to Yunnan.

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
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 divide ct 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
be United States the federal government appointed to any
tate a Republican as Governor, a Democrat as Lieutenant-
Governor, a Republican 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, fol-
ag Li Hung-chang and Li Han-chang ; the former were
Jy conservative, and the latter generally, but moder-
ately, progressive, and the men of other provinces, disre-
garding provincial lines, ranged themselves with one or
Other of these parties. Latterly the Canton party, ultra-
progres :k in 1898, has again come to the

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

front. In making provincial appointments care is always
taken to balance these parties ; and in the general ad-
ministration, exercising their functions at the provinci
capital, an official will seldom be of the same party as
immediate superior or his immediate subordinate, while
the appointments to prefectures and magistracies 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 main-
tained between Manchu and Chinese. In the provinces
further equilibrium is maintained by the occasional appoint-
ment 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 settl
its disturbances with the means at its disposal, it is left t
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 oversigh
and of holding the provinces responsible for the due per-
formance of their duties. If a breach of the Yellow Riv
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 Shantung 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 brought
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

THE GOVERNMENT

is much the same, and the duties of each of the officials will
now be described,

T?l'xg-tu, commonly called Chihtai, Governor-General.
ordinarily styled Viceroy, though there is notmng~inr tin;
office or its title of the viceregal idea. As tx 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
provincial adininisfrafion, 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 other provinces, each with its
[jvernor, are subordinated to no Governor-General. The
stribution is shown by the following table, in which " ex-
Governor " 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
Chihli

Province : —
. « no Governor

Three adjoining Provinces : —
Shantung . . Governor

Shansi
Honan

Governor
Governor

Outlying Provinces : —
Kiangsu . . Governor*

Anhwet

Kiangsi

Shensi

Kansu

Governor
Governor
Governor
no Governor

Chihli (Tientsin)
Viceroy.

under no Vice-
roy.

Liang - Kiang
(Nanking)
Viceroy.

Shen-Kan Vice-
roy.

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

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

Fukien

Chekiang

Hupeh

Hunan

Szechwan

Kwangtung
Kwangsi
Yunnan
Kweichow

ex-Governor
Governor
ex-Governor
Governor
no Governor

ex-Governor
Governor
ex-Governor
Governor

1 Min-Che Vice-

/ r°y.

\ Hu - Kwang

j Viceroy.

Szechwan Vice-
roy.

| Liang - Kwang
Viceroy.

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

Si)N-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 abolished
(in 1905) in those provinces in which a Viceroy resides.

Pu-cheng Shih-sze, commonly called Fantai, Provincial
Treasurer, 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.

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

THE GOVERNMENT

Yen-yun Shih-sze, SalHIomptroller, in Some provinces,
ad Yen-yun Tao, Salt Intendant^ in other provinces, con-
al 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 deliberating and executive Board of pro-
vincial government ; and the six enumerated above form
the general provincial administration, residing at the
capital, except that the Chihli Viceroy now (since 1861)
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, Commissioner 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

iber of the Shan-how Kii.

The unit for administrative purposes within the province
ts 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-sun Tao, 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

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 military 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
Tientsin there is a special Customs Taotai in addition to
the territorial Taotai.
■-^--Chih-Fu, the " Knower of a Prefecture/' commonly
translated £rje£ecjt. 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, contrc
of aboriginal tribes, etc.

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

Chjh-Chow, w 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
pCOvlndft] government ; or is, like a Tung-chih of the first

THE GOVERNMENT 67

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 u 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,
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
tercise of all the direct functions of public administration.

specimen proclamation, given by Mr. Parker,* well
Justrates the gradations of rank of the provincial officials
rom 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 tao [end], who instructs the fu (end), who
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
Sre, while he is actually " with but after " the Sze. His-
4 China, Her History, etc.," by E. H. Parker, 1901.

68 THE CHINESE EMPIRE

torically the Governor is an interloper, dating back only to
the Ming Dynasty, 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 government 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 modern,
dating from the beginnings of the present dynasty. So is
the Fu, but historically he is the modern representative of
the thirty-six provincial rulers of the Tsin dynasty (b.c. 221)
and of the Han which followed it. The Chow is also a
modern 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 responsibility 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 millions, the officials of the
likin collectorate, the Viceroy's adviser on international
or on railway matters, and a deputy who does little more
than carry messages, are alike in theory only the delegates
ad hoc of the appointing power. These unofficial officials

THE GOVERNMENT

are selected from the official class, the class known as
" expectant " Hsien, Fu, or Tao men qualified 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 literature ; this
is a glorious tradition ; a hundred years ago it was in
the main probably true, but to-day money and political
influence are the keys which open the gates of political
eferment.

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 around it. In it every Chinese
subject 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 life he is identified
with his Hsien ; it may be convenient, and may elucidate

political policy, to speak of Li Hung-ehang as an Anhwei
man, but to his fellow-countryman he is the Hofei(hsien)
man.

The official head of this district b the Chih-hsien, who
may be called Mayor, if it be understood that the municipal
limits extend until they meet the territory of the adjoining
municipalities. His official salary may be from Tls. 100
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 h

* The cases of cities without walls, in outlying corners of the
Empire, are so very few as not to affect the general statement.

7°

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 list 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 different districts of the Empire are applied, according
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 municipality, and
some of the most important of his functions must be
described.

The judicial function is the most important. He is
.Police Magistrate, and decides ordinary police cases. He is
Court of First Instance in all civil cases ; the penalty for
taking a case first to a higher court is fifty blows with the
bamboo on the naked thigh ; appeal from his court lies to
the Fu, and by that time the resources of the litigants are
usually exhausted. Civil cases are usually settled by the
guilds in towns, and by village elders or by arbitration of
friends in the country ; 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 hold by an Assistant Magis-

* u The Office of District Magistrate in China," by Byron Brenan.
Journal, China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1898.

THE GOVERNMENT

trate ; appeal lies 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 •
a lawyer only to draw up his plea, but not to conduct his
defence ; he is also sheriff 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 responsible for 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 likin ;
with theinhis 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 public 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, 1
official temples, and all other public buildings ; and must

• la I itics like Soochow, divided between two or three Hsien,
the maintenance of the walls is not also divided, but is entrusted to
the super ior omcer, the Fu.

CHINESE

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
purposes. He maintains order, sees to the physical well-
being of his district, and is the guardian of the people's
morals.

These are the principal functions of the Mayor of the
Chinese municipium, and under the paternal government
fil 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 rebellion
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
local customs in civil matters. Questions of land trnure,
of water rights, of corvees (when not Imperial), of temple

THE GOVERNMENT

privileges, of prescriptive rights in crops, may, in details,
differ (nmi district to district, will probably differ from
Fu to Fu, and will 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
local custom in an adjoining district would alienate from
him the foreshore accretion to his own farm concerns him
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 trying
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
rung 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 villagers, and in the case of traders to the peculiarly
Chiuese 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 behavior
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 verifying

74 THE CHINESE EMPIRE

titles and boundaries on every transfer of land ; and the
I and gratuities from this, and the power over his fellow-
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 is considered a collection of villages, being
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 almost, if not quite, invariably settled by the Guild
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
I that the interests of the countryman, peaceful and
I -iw abiding, are sacrificed to those of the town dwellers,
rowdy and competitive. The direct taxes, land tax and
h ibute, ire assessed on rental value for farming land, and
I own properly is subjected to no great increase from this
lUtifig. The movement of food supplies, too, is prohibited
or s.i in tinned, not according to the interests of the producing
but to meet the needs of the consuming townsman.

The Army

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

MANCHU MILITARY ORGANISATION

m the time of the Manchu conquest during
the first halt oJ the seventeenth century, the Manchu
" nation in arms " has been divided into eight " Banners,"
thire superior and live inferior. The three Superior Banners
are : (») The Hordered Yellow (yellow being the color of
the Imi- ; (ii) The Plain Yellow ; and (iii) The

PWwn Wiite* The five Inferior Banners are : (iv) The
\\>a:« ; (v) The Plain Red; (vi) The Bordered

THE GOVERNMENT

Red ; (vii) The Plain Blue ; and (viii) The Bordered Blue.
Each of the eight Banners is further divided into three
" nations " — viz,, (a) Manehu, (6) Mongol, and (c) Chinese,
the last consisting of the descendants of the natives of
North China who joined the Manehu 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
tribute while living, and to which his bones are taken when
dead, so all living 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
I (or Brigadier), and Adjutant-Generals, two each for the
Manehu and Chinese, and one for the Mongol nation of the
Banner. Each Banner is divided into regiments (chala),
five Manehu, five Chinese and two Mongol, each with its
Colonel (Tsanling), Lieutenant-Colonel, and Adjutant.
Inder 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 " military cordon " of twenty-five cities of
Chihli, at which are settled military colonies drawn from
the eight Banners. Ouftside 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
irrisqns 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

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

as an outer defence to the capital, partly to look out
Mongolia ; these are at the following places : —

Shantung : Tsingchow and Tehchow.

Honan : Kaifeng.

Shansi : Kweihwa, Suiyuan, and Taiyuanfu,

Shensi : Sianfu.

Kansu : Ninghia, Liangchow, and Chwangliang.

The garrisons designed primarily to hold down tl
conquered Chinese were stationed at the following places

Szechwan : Chengtu.

Hupeh : Kingchow (guarding the outlet of the Yang
Gorge).

Kiangsu : Nanking, with sub-garrison at Chinkiang.

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

Fukien : Foochow,

Kwangtung : Canton.

In six provinces there are no garrisons — five of them
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 Kiin), 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 military command ; (b) the
effective unofficial army under civilian command.

official army, constituting the provincial militia, is designated
the Armv of the Gree^StajidajxT^UTbTui 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
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 Kiinmen (" 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,
Fiitsiang, commonly styled Hiehtai ; and these again into
battalions, ying (or "camps"). Under the Hiehtai are
Lieutenant-Colonel (Tsantsiang), Major (Yuki), Senior
Captain (Tusze), Junior Captain (Showpei), Lieutenant
(Tsientsung), Sergeant (Patsung). 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 exist 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 Kwang-
i'onkin frontier, the provincial Commander-in-Chief is
associated in the command 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.

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

is force dates from the Taiping rebellion (1850-64), when
the official organisation was found ineffective and un-
warlike, and the provincial rulers, such as Tseng Kwo-fan
in the west and Li Hung-chang in the east, were driven
to raise bodies of irregulars orvojunteers, styled yung
(brave) , after the fashiorT~6Tlhe volunteers of the French
Re volution 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
battalions 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,
thi " 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
disorder is shown in the following item of news :

Peking, December 14th, 1906.

( to 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

-Toy at Nanking), Chang Chih-tung (Viceroy at Hankow),
.ind I sen Chun-ming (Governor of Kiangsi) are ordered to
• lr l> U« h troops to the scene of the troubles in order to suppress
Lho same and capture the culprits and at the same time to give
protection for the railway between Pingsiang and Liling as

I as 1 he mines at Pingsiang and al! the foreigners there. In
< .1 .. ,.i failure the said Viceroys and Governors will be held
responsible-.

i i.vi uiI*m 12th the Provincial Judge of Kiangsi, Ching
I'nu; : hilt is ordered to take command of the armies from the

THE GOVERNMENT 79

three provinces to settle the troubles in the districts affected
by rioters.

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

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 system of taxation, and its methods of providing
for the expenses of administration. The Western mind is
accustomed to the system of the common 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 centralised 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 system 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
the Son of Heaven at the top and the mass of the people

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE

at the bottom, the Emperor's representatives, the officials
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 profit of
his office may be Tls. 100,000, with an official salary not
exceeding Tls. 1,000. 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 countries.

The Chinese official is nowadays less an administrator
a tax-collector ; but an infinitesimal portion of his
revenues is wasted on such heads of expenditure as police,
stice, roads, education, fire prevention, sanitation, or
thers of the numerous expenses falling on the official
purse in the West ; so far as we, with our limited 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
comparatively modern times, some similitudes 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
qc 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
and fines of his court, and in augmenting his official income
from the same source. Every Chinese official takes for

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

himself, without question, the interest on his official balances;
so did the English Paymasters of the Forces up to the time
of Pitt, and probably for many years after his time ; cer-
tainly until after Fox was appointed to the post. Even
modern 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 Sheriff 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
$10,000. These instances are adduced, not in any wa>
to belittle 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 Em-
peror, land, property and revenue ; in practice, the revenue
is assigned piecemeal from certain sources of cotiectfc
to certain defined heads of Imperial expenditure, at
must be remitted independently for the purposes assigned.
One province, for example, may be assessed Tis.500,000
US the Likin collection for the year ; instead oi remitting
to the Imperial Treasury, or holding it subject to the
<.i«ler of the Treasury, Tls.ioo.ooo will be remitted direct
t" the Shanghai Taotai for the service of the foreign

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE

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
Cyprus 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.

1. 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
a 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
overlordship are recognised by the payment of land tax
proportioned to the (original) rental value of the land.
This revenue was formerly 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
sury ; but a hundred years ago China had no urgent

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

in aid to Kansu, The tax-note will be in Treasury tails ;
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 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 nine
exchange transactions, each of which will yield a profit
of at least a quarter 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 tin-
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 an
study of figures * purporting to represent the revenue and
expenditure 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
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
foreign institution, the Maritime Customs. Other recei

;

semi-
ceipts

lire of

• The principal authorities for the taxation and expenditure
China are E. H, Parker and George Jaraieson, and any figures quoted
will generally be from their writings.

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE

Ue 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
le matriculations of the German Empire ; they corre-
spond more closely, perhaps, to the surplus remitted from

• us to Constantinople, after providing for the administra-
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
m 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 : 1, Land Tax ; 2, Tribute ;
5, 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.

1. 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
ct 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
overlordship are recognised by the payment of land tax
proportioned to the (original) rental value of the land.
This revenue was formerly 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
sury ; but a hundred years ago China had no urgent

84 THE CHINESE EMPIRE

in aid to Kansu. The tax-note will be in Treas
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 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 nine
exchange transactions, each of which will yield a profit
of at least a quarter 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 an>
study of figures * purporting to represent the revenue and
expenditure 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
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

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

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE

ie 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
I he matriculations of the German Empire ; they corre-
spond more closely, perhaps, to the surplus remitted from
Cyprus 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
tt 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
overlordship are recognised by the payment of land tax
proportioned to the (original) rental value of the land.
This revenue was formerly 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

86 THE CHINESE EMPIRE

northern frontier question and no navy, and the remittances
to the capital were required only for the maintenance
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.

The 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 office, 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
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

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE

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 account 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 J
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
paver and payee ; but on an average it is quite safe to put
itr 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 little 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
illusory "cost of collection " : in another the amount in taels

on verted 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,ooo, with the effect of increasing
the land tax to over five times the statutory amount.

For the province of Honan we have an illuminating

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 ") , .
u M ,, military tenure (" tun t'ien ")

Total

Mows.

t.493753
91-870

1.585-623

The taxes account presented by the magistrate of this
district translates as follows : —

Land tax proper on 1,585-625 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 tax. Cash, 17.520
Grain tax at the rate of 0*005468 " shih " per mow on

i*49375 mow (no levy on military land), equal to 8-169

" shih " or piculs at 6,400 copper cash per picul. Cash,

52,382 .. ....

Total ,.

Amount.

Kuping taels.

58-407
25-690

15587

46-316

146

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.

• "Land Taxation in the Province of Honan," 1905,

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE c^

H* have the land tax as settled, " fixed and im-

mutable," in 1713, increased by accretions, as legal and
as regular as any tax in any country, from Tls.58-407 to
Tls.oo/o&f, 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.14474
to Tls.463i6, an addition of 220 per cent.
In Hsin Hsiang the syndicate bought : —

Mows.

Tand on ordinary tenure
. , military tenure

i4303'5ij
105-845

Total

t,309-357

The taxes account was presented as follows : —

Land tax proper on 1,203*512 mow of common land at

00548392 tael per mow
Land tax proper on 105-845 mow of military land at 0-044

tael per mow

Total

Amount.

TaeU.

65-9996

46574

70-657

Payable at the rate of 2,600 copper cash per tael.
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 001255 piculs on common land
(nothing on military land), total 15*1075 piculs, pay-
able at the rate of 6,000 copper cash per picul. Total
cash, 90,645, equal to

Total . .

Cash.

Amount.

Kuping taels.
166-20

35'o6

8j'02

28328

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.201 26, an addition of 186

THE CHINESE EiCPIRE

lied far less stringent rules to the remoter provinces

ih in totbo* within easy reach of the capital Chihli, the

Tiu-tropolit.in pfOviutie, has nearly half its area outside

i!« W.il], until r the Mongolian system, and nearly half the

• within the Wall was granted in military tenure to

M.int-hu princes and nobles, exempt from land tax ; and

\il I his province is third in the amount of land tax re-

hirnrtl, rollccted from less than a third of its area. The

thrM province! (Shansi, Shantung, and Honan) immediately

Adjoining Chihli, and within the more direct reach of the

Peking garrison, are respectively first, second and fourth

the list ; Shunt, rated above all other provinces, is poor

Hid BJipoeed to climatic vicissitudes, but is attackable from

Peking IHd from Mongolia as well. Of the remoter pro*

vim MitJHuiit to mention Kwangtung, one of the

lulu-sl provinces of the Empire, rated tenth among the

eighteen provinces ; and Hupeh, with great agricultural

lth, rated tliu I- « nth. It is not for a moment to be

.1 th.ii the <rlf-denying magnanimity of the Em-

pexoTj Meted qo liis throne at Peking, is imitated by his

tc]>oriit.iiivts today, far removed from the control of

Hi- u overlord. Of Szechwan, Mr. Parker says: "I spent

a year in that province, and found that customary ratings,

.illowances, etc.. pffH tically made the land tax in some

dktliCta ten t nominal charge." In Kwangtung

we have regularly applied to (lore districts in the vicinity

of Canton the phrase tktli elW, (so shut, tsou shuit literally

it tmg in-come, walking in-come," which

may 1m* thus • Xpleittftd the m« umbent of the first may go to

moluinents come rolling in ; in the second

ad bil emoluments come rolling in; in

I he thud In and. but his emoluments come

hi It U difficult to know just what allowance to

of treatment in applying the Honan

ftjpi I' mpire, but we shall be well within

Mu reported return for the four nearer

tie reported return for the remoter

tho bail* from which to calculate the amount

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE 93

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.

Province.

Basic
Collection.

Accretion
»a8 per cent.

Collectors'
Expenses
10 per cent.

ToUl paid by
Taxpayer*.

Tta.

TIs.

lb.

Chihli

2,600,000

3,328,000

592,800

6,520,800

Shantung

2,800,000

3,SS4,000

638,400

7,022,400

Honan

2,380,000

3,046,400 j

542,640

5,969,040

Shansi

3,300,000

4^224,000

752,400

8,276,400

Shensi

3,300,000

4,224,000

752,400

8.276,400

Kansu

440,000

563,200

100*320

1,103,520

Szechwan

4,600,000

5.88S.OOO

1,048,800

11,536,800

Kweichow

220,000

a 8 1 .600

50,160

55lt76o

Hunan

2,400,000

3,072,000

547'20o

6,019,200

Hupeh

2,000,000

2,560,000

456,000

5,016,000

Kiangsi

2,600,000

3.328,000

592,800

6.520,800

Anhwei

2,614,000

3,345,920

,99a

6,555,912

Ksangsu

3,000,000

3,840,000

684,000

7,524,000

Chekiang

2,800,000

3,584*000

638,400

7,022,400

Fukien

2,000,000

2,560,000

456,000

5,Ol6,000

Kwangtung .

2,600,000

3,328,000

592,800

6,520,800

Kwangsi

700,000

896,000

159,600

1,755,600

Yunnan

500,000

640,000

114,000

1,254,000

Total

40p854,ooot

52,293,120

9.3i4»7i2

[02,461,832

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

"In my revenue and expenditure report of 1897, I
ilculated there should be 650,000 square miles of culti-
vated land in China, equivalent to (in round 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. X In the paper addressed by Sir

• "China: Past and Present."

f Amount returned, Tls.25, 887,000.

% Mr. Jamieson's "average taxation" includes both land tax
and commuted grain tribute. His land tax alone for the Empire
would work out to TIs, 37 5,000,000.

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 yield a revenue of Tls.400 ,000,000.
Sir Robert's estimate of the area under 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 0*1882
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
reported 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 *°
^.400,000,000.

2. Tribute

Tribute is another invariable incident of an Asiatic
form of government, and has formed a considerable part of
the revenues of the State under all the successive dynasties
which have ruled China. In the earlier dynasties the
taxation took mainly the form of tribute — i.e. payment in
kind, and generally of silk and grain, a roll of silk 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 it was increased to
53*588,565, and in 1064 to 67,767,929 pieces and piculs.

* »• Banking and Prices in China," by J, Edkins, 1905.

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE

In 1 148 the grain tribute from Chekiang, Kiangsu, and
Hukwang, was 2,395,000 piculs. In 1324, under the Mongol
Dynasty, the grain tribute amounted to 12,114,708 piculs,
of which Chihli contributed 2.271,449 ; Honan, 2,591,269 ;
and Chekiang, 4,494,783 ; and Kiangsi, 1,157,448
culs ; 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 Yunnan, 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 under
previous dynasties, is grain. Before the disorganisation
caused by foreign wars and rebellion, during the early
years of Taokwang (1821-50), the stipulated quantity
required 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
commuted it for an annual money payment, leaving Kiangsu,
Chekiang, Anhwei, and Shantung still to pay in kind. It
estimated that from these four provinces about 400.000
culs continue to go by the Grand Canal, and the annual
average of shipments by sea for the years 1902-05 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 payment by the commuting provinces
to Chihh 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

96 THE CHINESE EMPIRE

this sum between them." * There are, besides, recurring
payments for " repairs " to imaginary cargo-boats.

To get at the sum received by the Government fron
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, metropolitan and provincial
alike, 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.

Province.

Bute
Collection.

Accretion
j 10 pet cent.

Collection
Expenses
10 per cent.

Total paid by
Taxpayers.

Tl*.

Tie.

lift

Tla.

Shantung

500,000

1,050,000

155,000

1,705,000

Honan X

300,000

630,000

93.000

1,023,000

Hunan X

175,000

367-500

54.250

596.750

Hupeh %

420,000

882,000

I 30,200

1,432,200

Kiangsi X

800,000

I,68o,000

248,000

2,728,000

Anhwei

OOO.OOO

t, 800,000

279,000

3,069,000

Kiangsu

2,500,000

5.250,000

775.000

8,525,000

Chekiang

I.IOO.OOO

2,310,000

342,000

3,752,000

Kansu f . .

275,000

577,500

85.250

937.750

Kwangsi §

I 50,000

315.000

46,500

511,500

Szechwan §

50.OOO

105,000

I5.500

170,500

Yunnan §

2 50,000

525,000

77.500

852,500

Total

7,420,000

15,582,000

2,300.200

25.302,200

In the above table, for the province of Kiangsu. the

• "The Chinese Revenue," by E. H. Parker. Journal, North
China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1895-96.
t M China : Past and Present."
% Commuted,
f Always kept for local administration.

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE 97

basic 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-
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 fanner ; 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
(0-070 shin = 8£ catties = 11J lb,), con-
verted at 6, 000 cash . . < . . . 420

Spring official accretion, Tl .0*095 at 2,500

cash . , . . . . . , , . 237

Autumn official accretion, Tl.0095 at 2,800

cash . » . . . , . . . . . . 266

Cash . . 923
Second lot, area about 25 mow :
Grain tribute, 1 tow 4 sheng 9 ho (0*149
shih = 17^ catties =23-^ lb.), converted
at 7,000 cash . . .. .. .. .. 1043

Spring official accretion, Tl.0'087 at 2,500

cash . . . . . . . . . . , . 229

Autumn official accretion, TL0087 at 2,800

cash 247

Cash , . 15 1 9

If fluctuations and the present inflated price of grain be
iisregarded, 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

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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,ooo cash, and the other is assessed at 0*00596 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 from 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 honorable,
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 H 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
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
tiom 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

REVENUE AND>EXPEND1TURE

the " Hoppo " of Canton, abolished 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 percent, 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 accountants. He
says : " Chief among them is the ' Hoppo ' of Canton, who is
always a Manchu of the said ' bondsman ' class. The 4 regu-
lation sum,' which this official is bound to collect from the
native Custom Houses at Canton, Swatow, Hoihow, and
Pakhoi is about Tls.i57,ooo, 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 well known that he pays at least that sum for his
appointment, and that his only chance of keeping the post
lor three years — the time usually granted for making his
' pile ' — is to vigorously ply the palace with presents. . . .
From what I could gather from members of the Viceroy's
staff, at least Tls. 1,000,000 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."

Of the land stations but little is known. One such post
fa 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-

• •♦ Tbc Financial Capacity of China." Journal, North China
Branch of (ha Royal Asiatic Society, 1895-96.

IOO

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

ment, or on transfer, or retirement, and as the Wardens of
the Gates of Peking hold the keys, the tax is usually paid
without much hesitation, amounting sometimes toTls.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 honor 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.460,000. 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 unlikely that this trade passed entirely
untaxed, both on the inward and the outward traffic.

4. Salt

If the collection of the land tax is veiled by obscurity,
of the grain tribute by equal obscurity, and of the" Regular "
Customs by greater obscurity, the greatest obscurity covers
the revenue from the salt gabelle, 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 depot, 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, supply ii
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 "J : lake

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE

101

salt, supplying Mongolia, Kansu, and the greater part
of Shensi.

5. Shantung : sea salt, supplying Shantung and
corners of Honan, Anhwei, 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.

6b. Southern 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, supplying Szechwan, the
north-east corner of Yunnan, nearly all of Kweichow,
a corner of Hunan, and the western part of Hupeh.

8. Yunnan : well salt, supplying all Yunnan ex-
cept the north-east and south-east corners.

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

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

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, supplying 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 under him is an army of controllers,
agents, guards, etc., echelonned along and on both sides of
the Yangtze, charged with cnntrol7of the traffic, prevention
of smuggling and levy of taxes. Production, transport,
and sale are in private hands, under licenses issued by

102

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 3750 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 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 Tls. 2, 595 for government charges for storage
and taxation to this point. The transport to Hupeh is
controlled from point to point, and on arrival the salt is
stored in one of the provincial depots, paying storage, and
awaiting its turn to be sold to the licensed shops, con-
veyance to which is also controlled. There are numerous
changes of scale, changes in the method of accounting,
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, but 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 system, 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
Tis.1/60, 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 Hupeh, ten years

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE

103

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 indemnities, 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 Tls.11,415 ; if
Tls.1415 be allowed for cost of transport and legitimate
profit, the remaining Tis. 10,000 (Tls.2.67 a picul) is paid
by the people as tax, regular or irregular, open or covert.
The consumption of salt in the Empire can only be
guessed. A hundred years ago the official " blue-books M 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
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
eastern Hupeh, the people of China pay Tls.8 1,000,000
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

• A well-informed writer in the China Mail, Hongkong, 1885.
gives the retail price ol salt at Hankow as 64 cash a catty,
f M China : Past and Present."

104

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

incidence, and accordingly their collection and report depend
upon the industry, the integrity, and the whim of the local
officials ; 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 : —

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

2. The tea license, now probably incorporated
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.

The total proceeds of miscellaneous taxes * reported
to the Imperial Government, including cash receipts from
special tenures, corv^es, and purveyances, is Tls.3,856,ooo.t
This includes Tls.55,000 from Honan, for which Mr. Jamie-
son reports Tls.200,000 collected in 1900, and makes the
following remark : —

11 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 S per cent, ad
valorem. The fees which 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 ^.25,000,000 ;

* "China; Past and Present."

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

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE

105

per cent, on that should bring in an annual yield
of Tls.2,ooorooo. 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 Tls. 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

Accretion, 210 per cent, on latter
Collectors' expenses, 10 per cent, on whole

3,856,000

5.997»6oo

985.360

Total amount paid by taxpayers

Tls. 10,838,960

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

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 ^,8,296,275, and in 1905
Tls.35,111,004, made up as follows ; —

ms duty proper, Import and Export

Tonnage dues on shipping

Transit dues in commutation of provincial
levy of Ukin

Convention likin on opium, properly assign-
able to the provinces

Tls.
27,817,190
. 1,105,350

2,034,407
4,154.057

Tls.35,111,004

io6

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

The suras properly chargeable against this collection
were as follows : —

Fixed allowance to cover cost of collection
and preventive service, but including con-
siderable expenditure for Post Office,
Marine Department, Education and other
minor services

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

Tis.

3,168,000

773745

Tls.3,94i.745

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
paying 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, 180,000 ; and there is the interest on balances in hand,
which, on a very safe estimate, may be put at 3 per cent, of
the total, or Tls. 1,050,000.

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 (vide supra). The exigencies
of the Government during the Taiping rebellion, however,
drove the authorities to devise new forms of taxation, and
likin (" 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

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE

107

theory of the levy, one-tenth 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 much 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 man
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-
nately 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 amounted
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 of actual quantities reported to and
published by the Customs

108 THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 " J and yet, as we
have seen, the regular legal accretion is, at the very lowest
estimate, from ioo per cent, up to almost anything in reason.
The Salt Administration is an old-established 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 accounts to the Superior Boards
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 possibility 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
Tls,4 was the proper charge (which, indeed, was
easily ascertainable from the tariff) J yet a tael

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE

109

not a tael in the ordin ry sense of the word, but
was such a sura 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
Tls.4, 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.7'50, of which Tls.350 were the costs
of collecting Tls.4." *
On this it may be remarked that, if 12,000 cash were
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
1885 was equivalent to Tls. 7*50, at to-day's exchange the
juivalence is Tls. 10*50 ; and to the legal levy of Tls, 4 there
is added Tls. 6-50, 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
aders ; the latter are anxious to get their goods to market,
rid will willingly pay for expedition ; and the opportunity
the collectors recurs at each barrier to be passed. More-
ver, barriers on one route compete with those on another,
id composition and underdeclaration are recognised in-
cidents of trade ; but, while reducing the amount collected
id reported, it is not for a moment to be supposed that the
allectors will permit their individual emoluments to be
Jected unless in a sense favorable to themselves. Stu-
nts of things Chinese would promptly reject the sugges-
lon that the addition for " collectors' expenses," the
* Chma Mail. Hongkong, 1885,

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 : —

Reported likin on general merchandise
Accretion at 162 per cent.
Collectors' charges at 10 per cent. . .

Total sum paid by taxpayers

Tls.
11,930,000
19,326,600
3,125,660

Tls.34,382,260

In this is not included the collection on native opium.
This product is bashful and retiring, and prefers the bye-
ways to the highways, and it is absolutely certain that the
difference 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 : —

Reported collection from native opium f
Accretion at 162 per cent.
Collectors' charges at 10 per cent. . .

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

Tls.
2,830,000
4.584,600

741,460

The consumption of native opium in China is certainly
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.920,598 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,o25,i2i.

• "China; Past and Present."
f Including Tls. 870,000 from opium in Manchuria, which has a
separate budget.

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE

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. Parker * in the following words : —

1 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,
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 famines, wars, foreign loans,
Imperial marriages, birthdays, funerals, etc., etc.
Remissions of taxation are very troublesome, for
those who have already 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 account is increased by legalised
and regular accretion, and this again by indeterminate
charges which the collectors collect for themselves, and to a

• h The Financial Capacity of China."

112

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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
basic tax plus accretion plus what may come to him as his
share in collectors' charges, and from this must provide 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 lie
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 master's 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 metropolitan officials
and Ministers of State, and to the officials of the Palace, any

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE

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
expenditure, one of Tls.6oo,ooo for the Imperial Household,
wind i is shown in the following note by Mr. Parker * to be
drawn from eight different sources : —

ff 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 Office 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.6oo,ooo. 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 : —

Chekiang province, Salt dues fund

Kwangtung „ „ H . .

Fukien ,. Tea » . .

* " The Financial Capacity of China,"

Tls.
50,000
50,000
50,000

H4 THE CHINESE EMPIRE

Foochow native customs receipts
Foochow foreign „ „ . .

Shanghai „ „ „ . .

North Kwangtung native customs
Kiukiang native customs . .

Tls.

, IOO.OOO
. 50,000
. 50(0O0
.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 Shanghai foreign customs ; and the
Kiangsu salt-gabelle {Tls. 120,000) and native customs
at Hwaian (Tls.30.000) took that of the two Foochow
customs combined. It must also be explained that
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,c
to Tls.450,000.

Subject to full consideration of all these omissions
of all the obscurity hanging over Chinese accounts,
below (pp. 116 and 117) 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 Yellow River Conservancy, on
an expenditure of Tls. 1,678,000 (£250,000) !

Let us now abstract from Mr. Parker's ngures,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.

* " Land Taxation in the Province of Honan. "
f *' China: Past and Present.'*

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE 115

Revenue

Tls.

Land tax reported paid in money . .

25,887,000

ii.

Tribute, whether commuted or not . .

7,420,000

lii.

Native customs

4,160,000

iv.

I2,6o0,OOO

Miscellaneous taxes, old and new . .

3,856,000

vi.

Foreign customs, collection 1905

35,111,000

vii.

Likin on general merchandise and

Total .. Tls.

13,890,000

102,924,000

Expenditure

Tls

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

Army, Navy, and Fortifications

25,200,000

vi.

Arsenals

3.385.000

vii.

Yellow River and other Conservancies

1,389,000

viii.

Foreign Customs allowance and main-

tenance of Lights

3,942,000

ix.

Native Customs, allowance to In-

370,000

3,842,000

Railway development fund

550,000

xn\

Imperial grants for provincial ad-

34,042,000

xiii.

* Foreign loans and indemnities taken

at exchange of 3s. to the tael

Total . . Tls.

42,000,000

136,496,000

* See Appendix G, page 441.

REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE

117

Expenditure

Item.

Description.

Imperial or extra provincial expenditure-
Peking supply (fixed charge)
Kansu province, subsidy to ..

Service of foreign loans

[Note. — The fixed charge for this item is
Tls.390,000. of which, however, the
Changlu Salt Department remits 60,000, the
Grain Tax Department 80,000, and the
L.ikin 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
Likin Office
Yunnan Copper Supply Administration
Remittances to Imperial Household

fox upkeep of Yuen-ming-yuen Palace
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)
Peking supplementary subsidy, termed Ku-pen
(not paid, no funds available)
Provincial expenditure —

Yellow River repairs, fi xed allowance

Pay of provincial troops : " Banner," " Green,"

and " River " camps ..
Provincial "drilled" force
River embankments 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 Ust
Pay of police in eleven hsien

er gunboats, dockyard expenses
Workshops, etc., under the " Shan-hou " office

Amount.

Total

Total. Imperial and extra provincial
„ provincial

Total

Kuping Tls.

200,000
610,000
1 70,000

173.000

210,000
230,000

20,000
20,000
20,000
2,000
00,000
50,000

40,000

60,000

600,000

330,000
290,000

24,000

303.000

20,000
11.000
50,000
50.000

2,573,000

1.895,000
1,678,000

3-573.000

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

The Imperial expenditure, so far as 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 municipal administration, the resultant figures
will be readily accepted by all competent investigators as
being in all cases well under the fact.

Imperial

Provincial

Local

Administration

Administration.

T1».

Tl„.

i. Land Tax

25, 887,000

67,060,000

9,315,000

i i . Tribute

7,420,000

15,582,000

2,300,000

iii. Native Customs , .

3,790,000

1,290,000

249,000

iv. Salt Gabelle

1 3,050,000

26,000,000

25,000,000

v. Miscellaneous

3,856,000

5,998,000

985,000

vi. Foreign Customs . .

31,169,000

3,942,000

1 ,230,000

vii. Likin . . , •

1 3,890,000

22,502,000

3,639,000

Total . .

99,062,000

142,374,000

42,7l8tOOO

The grand total here shown, Tls.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 based 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.

CHAPTER V

THE CURRENCY

Preliminary

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 modern
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 rolls, though received for tribute at a fixed rate of con-
version as late as the thirteenth century, 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 commercial transactions should
be a cube of one tsun weighing one kin. In modern 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
the ordinary currency in what is now Szechwan. Tn modem
times iron was used to further depreciate the coinage of

119

120

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

HiiTifeng (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 ha
not endured ; and for present-day discussion we need on
consider three kinds — copper, paper and silver.

COPPER CURRENCY

Early Coins

It is only in copper (or bronze) that currency and coinage
are synonymous terms in China. Disregarding the archaic
uninscribed tokens of rulers before the true historic period,
we find the earliest recorded legislation on coinage about a
century after the beginning of the Chow Dynasty (circa
b,c. 1122), 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 earliest 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 put 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 civilisation, 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 conventionalised, the blade
being shortened and the ring having become a thickened
copy of the round coin with square hole which had by that
time become the common coinage.

/TV

■)

Specimen of Pu cash.

THE CURRENCY

121

Inscribed Round Coins

Inscribed round coins came in about the seventh century
B.C., the earliest known specimens being inscribed as weigh-
ing i bang 14 chu or i^J tael, having a present-day weight
of 171 grains ; while others are inscribed with other weights,
such as i^-f liang, or with the place of issue and the number
of kin or hoes they stood token for. The earlier round
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 " Haifa 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 little

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 round holes . . b.c 660-336
„ „ pl square holes from B.C. 221.

China has had a copper coinage for twenty-live 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 found 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 " (-^ tael) , which
remained in circulation, side by side with all other issues,
9T upwards of 700 years. This coin, also easily obtainable
to-day, is beautifully cast, 095 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

* Here and later the English inch.

122

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

from time to time, until we come to the Golden Age
China — the Tang Dynasty, A.D. 618. Then began the issue
of the coins inscribed in square modern 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 095 inch, they were of the same dimensions and weight
as the coins which, until 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 found 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 were 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 circulation.
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 Nuchen Tartars
(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. 1368-1 642), and found itself

Ming, a.d. 1368-1643.

Shun-chih, ad. 1644-1661.

Kang-hi, a.d. 1662-1722.

Yung-cheng, A.D. 1723-1735.

fao-kwang, ad. 1821-1850,

Tung-chih, a.d. 1862-1874,

THE CURRENCY

123

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 media 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 equal in appear-
ance to the coinage of the first century of the present Tsing
Dynasty, 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 their continuance for nearly two
centuries of the financial and monetary systems of the Mings.
The earliest issues of coinage by the first Emperor to establish
himself at Peking, Shunchih (a.d. 1644-1661), bore inscrip-
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 coins bore the mint name in Chinese and
Manchu. His successor, Kanghi (a.d. 1602-1722), continued
the bilingual inscriptions through the whole of his reign,
but toward the end of the reign, the two mints at Peking,

124

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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. i 723-1735) 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 quality of
metal, and in elegance of inscription ; previous dynasties
and previous reigns had equalled it in some one or more of
these qualities, but not in the combination of all- The
Shunchih coins were generally 0'95 to 1*05 inch and those
of Kanghi roo to no inch in diameter, and both were made
of a bright yellow brass ; the Yungcheng coins were
generally 1/00 to no inch in diameter, made of a rich
light-brown bronze. It was from this time that the de
generation of the coinage began, and it will be well here
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 (.y\ 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 trimetallic system, by which, in weight, 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
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
mercies 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 assumed to have weighed 5 cht

THE CURRENCY

125

or -^ tael when first introduced * (though this may be an
erroneous assumption), and, as far as numismatics 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 ^V tael. Dis-
carding any difference of tael, this continued to be the
iesideratum of the mints, the actual weight of the issues
varying, 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 bimetallic
proportion in the currency, but seldom falling below y§Q
tael. During the first reign of the Tsing Dynasty the
weight was ^fa tael, afterwards raised to y\-$fty tael, and under
Kanghi, a.d. 1684, the weight was again reduced to -fa tael.
to be again raised, a.d. 1702, to fa*^ tael, and again reduced
to -jlj^j 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 -fa 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 it was the

Under the Chow Dynasty, on the evidence of the coins, the
ing of 24 chu was probably 97*5 grains, giving 4-06 grains as the
weight of the chu. The " First Emperor/' Shin 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 : —

1 chu . . . . . . 0*68 gramme — 10*5 grains

24 chu = 1 liang . . . . 16*35 grammes = 252*5 grains

lis standard was probably continued into the Han Dynasty, which
soon (b.c. 206) followed the Tsin ; and the first ruler of the Northern
a.d. 550) enacted that a hundred 5-chu coins should actually
weigh 500 chu, " otherwise 1 kin 4 liang 20 chu." The actual
weight (46 to 5 1 grains) of surviving specimens 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 modern liang of 570 to 580 grains.

126

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

struggle between the mints and the illegal melter do\
of too-full-weight coins, and that, to keep the currency
from the melting crucible, the mints were driven 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 i*io inch and
weighing -^q tael, while at the end of the eighteenth century
official issues (no account being taken of illicit coining, so
common in China) were so small as 0*85 or even 0'8o inch,
and weighed no more than tq oTT tael. A memorialist just
a century ago reported to the Throne that, of the coins in
common circulation, from 1 to 2 per cent, weighed -j3^ tael
and over, while 30 to 40 per cent, weighed the full legal ^\j tael.
The coins of the period Kiaking (A.D. 17Q6-1820) were of
light 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, in which he reports to the Throne that
coins weighing j^ tael, such as were issued in other provinces,
involve a loss, and that he is therefore minting them at
-j-0-0 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 appearance
or appreciably less in value.

Token Coinage
In the reign of Hienfeng (a.d. 1851-1861) the gover
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.

10 cash, A.D. 1853-1861.

10 cash, A.D. 1853- 1 86 1

THE CURRENCY

127

The first tokens issued (in 1853) were 10-cash pieces
with a diameter of 1-50 inch, but these were soon reduced
to a maximum diameter of 1*20 inch and a minimum fur
official issues during the present reign of Kwanghsii which
iy be put at i*oo inch, The provinces soon followed
suit and 10-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, ioo, 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 lies before me.

Value

Diameter.

Thickness.

Weight.

10-cash

i -45 inch

O'zz inch

32 z grains

20-cash

z-80 „

0*12 ,,

59i •>

50-cash

2'22 ,,

020 „

1.41° ,.

zoo-cash

2*63 „

0-25 „

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,

lough not in the province of Chihli, immediately around
it, the patriotism, or the self-interest, or the timidity of the

eople led to their immediate adoption, and the zo-cash
sieces (but none of the others) have continuously for fifty
pears past constituted the sole circulating medium of the

ipital. It must not be supposed however that, even at

't king, the zo-cash piece is considered to be worth, or is
accepted for, ten cash f 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
• Weight inscribed on rim 0*50 tael.

t Cash, from the Sanskrit Karsha, Karshapana, the translation
in English of the Chinese " Copper coin/'

128

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 * 413 pieces of 10-cash, with an actual
face value of 4.130 and a nominal f 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
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 (ri\Tl 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 i"io inch, some are of pure copper and weigh
112 grains, others contain 95 percent, 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 105 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

9 v, infra, page 130.

f v. infra, page 1 32*

THE CURRENCY

129

to the silver dollar, but 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.

Mint Statistics

The people of China are voracious in their consumption

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 quan-

ities issued by the mints for certain years of the first

entury of the present dynasty.

King hi

A.D. 1644

. 1646
,. «6«7
. 164B

„ r652
. 1653
. lO-H
■ **55
1660

1666

1671
1676

71,663,900
443.7Si.76o
624,813,960

i.3S3.1&4.«94

1.449.494.SOO

1,693,424,510

1,097,633,850

3,511,663,740

>i4*>.344i46o

1,413,576,080

2*0,304,180

491, 384,600

>93 ■679, 800

29<M75f&30

231,365,360

A D. l6lj

„ 1686

131,398,600
a»9<93*r70o
189,923,400
a37»o6 3,030
138,065,800
238,073,800
374.933.400
399,167.300
437.3*3,*oo
499,100
675,160
713,320.000
746.304.000
757,865,000
1,048,739,660

Cu'll

three periods of the nineteenth century we have
giving the issues of each mint.

1800-1850
Fixed quota.

1831

1865

Peking

809,856,000

1.349.784.000

Cbihli

60,666,000

60,756,840

Shansi . .

17.473,000

17.472,000

Shensi . .

87,560,000

94*584,000

94.589.040

Szechwan

194,127.000

194,127,000

I57.733.33J

Hunan

47,880,000

48,054,000

Hupeh ,

84,000,000

84,420,000

Kiangsi

41,928,000

42.037.99^

Kianpu
Chekiang . ,

111,804,000

111,992,052

129,600,000

139,600,000

Fukien

43,200,000

Kwangtung

34,560,000

34.560.000

34,560,000

Kwangsi

24,000,000

Yunnan

179,784,000

5,760,000

170,569,080

Kweicbow

94,860,000

4.464,000

89.773.200

1,122,000

* "Chinese Currency." by J, Edkins, Shanghai, 1901.
t Probably the same as in the period 1 800-1 830,

130

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

A close correspondence in the issues of certain mints
in the three columns 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 u cents n it is estimated that 12,500,000,000 were
issued up to the end of 1906, and it appears probable tha
over a third of these came from the Hupeh mint.

Variability of Tiao

Cash are strung on strings, in rolls of 100, of which
10 go to the string or tiao, or ch'uan, formerly called kuan.
Nothing is ever done in China for nothing, and no oppor-
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-
This charge is made by deducting one, or two, or three, or
four cash from each hundred ; the deduction is more or
less (as everything 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 tiao 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 will 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

* North-China Daily News, May 1 ith, 1906.

THE CURRENCY

131

direction. To complicate matters, the only cash
bills which are popular are issued by a Wusueh bank
and are current in all these towns, but not at face
value. At Wusueh a biH 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 10-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
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 Chichou 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 itooo 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

132 THE CHINESE EMPIRE

broke the parcel of copper pieces. The result wa
that the matter was referred to the officials, and after
plea and counter-plea, the shopkeepers have won,
and by proclamation the rate in Wusueh from to-
morrow will be g8 to the ioo, so that the banks will
hand over unbroken packets of copper coins. Does not
the commercial strength of the Chinese lie just in this
pertinacious struggling against the smallest losses ?

Double Value of Cash in North China

In the north (Chihli, Shantung) one cash counts fc
two. The price of an article being there quoted at ioo
cash, you hand over 50 coins, at 2 tiao you give what in the
south constitutes 1 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 i.ooo cash, i.e. nominally of 100 and nominally-actually
of 98 pieces of 10-cash actually contains 49 pieces of 10-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
millions 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
fanner 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 YoiTo °'
a tael of silver, worth only a generation ago the third of
pound sterling ; and of this copper cash, at the exchange
ruling a couple of years ago, it took approximately 10,000
to equal a pound sterling, 2,000 an American dollar, 500
a mark, and 400 a franc.

THE CURRENCY

133

PAPER MONEY

Paper money comes to be considered next, since, speaking
generally and cxceptis excipiendis, 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
loney-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
itensils, 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 modern terms, this means that
the government began to issue paper money. These issues
continued to the end of the Tang period. The 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. 907 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 Shun, the present province of
Szechwan, that the true paper money was first introduced ;
these were notes issued without being guaranteed by some

134

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 Chengtsung
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 operation ; but
in course of time they were unable to fulfil their engage-
ments, 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 " changelings " 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 kiao-tze were established 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 : —

1 * Under the Emperor Kiotsung, in a.d. 1131.
was attempted to make a military establishment at
Wuchow, but as the requisite funds did not come in
* Klaproth, •' Aiemoires relatifs a lJAsi.e.."

THE CURRENCY

135

without great difficulty, the officers charged with the
matter proposed to the Board of Revenue to issue
Kwan-tze or due bills, with which they could 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 Kiang-
nan ; subsequently, it was also manufactured in
Chcngtu-fu in Szechwan, and Linan-fu in Chekiang.
The hwei-tze first issued were worth a string of a
thousand cash, but under the reign of Hiao-tsung, in
1163, they were issued of the value of 500, 300, and
2oocash each. In fiveyears.t.e.up to the seventh month
of the year 1166, there had already 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 further sway
of the Sung Dynasty, the number of the hwei-tze was
constantly on the increase ; and besides this descrip-
tion of note, there were some of the Kiao-lze 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 govern-
ment adopted to augment their circulation.

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

136 THE CHINESE EMPIRE

were technically named ' seventeen terms ' were
withdrawn entirely ; and three of those called
4 eighteen terms ' were exchanged for one note of
the new currency which bore the character kia. But
although 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 found
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 ways 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.

THE CURRENCY

137

le first issue of Mongol government notes was made in the
first year (a.d. 1260) of Kublai Khan, the title of whose
reign was Chung-tung, and the successive issues in this and
the following reigns must be briefly summarised.

a.d. 1260. Kiao-chao, 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 Kiao-chao
currency, and 2,000 cash in Kiao-chao currency repre-
sented one tael in silver. — (N.B. one cash ^y^^ tael.)
,D. 1264. Treasury established in each province ; notes
representing 12,000 ting =600,000 taels constituted
bank-note reserve.

^.d. 1275. Li-chao notes issued, of 2, 3, and 5 cash, but

soon withdrawn.
.D. 1287. Chih-yuan-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.

i.D. 1309. Chih-ta-chao notes issued of thirteen denomina-
tions from 2 cash to 2 taels of silver. One chih-ta-chao
(tael of silver) was equivalent to 5,000 chih-yuan-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-
yuan notes continued to circulate to the end of the
Mongol Dynasty.

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

138

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

tael being always taken as equivalent to i.ooo cash. This
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 dynastic 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
Cambuluc, and the way it is wrought is such that you
might say he hath the Secret of Alchemy in perfectior
and you would be right ! For he makes his mone
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 lies
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 tornesel ; the
next, a little larger, one tornesel ; one a little larger
stiU 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 1,000 cas
One bezant = 20 groats = 133I tornesel.

THE CURRENCY

139

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 current, and shall be able to transact all sales
and purchases of goods by means of them just as weU
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.

14 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 pays 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
are paid without any delay. And with this paper-

I40 THE CHINESE EMPIRE

money they can buy what they like anywhere ove
the Empire, whilst it is also vastly lighter to carry
about on their journeys. And it is a truth that the
merchants will several times in the year bring warts
to the amount of 400,000 bezants, and the Grand Sire
pays for all in that paper. So he buys such a quantity
of those precious things every year that his treasure
endless, whilst all the time the money he pays awaj
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 pric
for them. And the owners are glad to do this, becaus
they would find no other purchaser give so large
price. Thus the quantity they bring in is marvellous.
though those who do not choose to do so may let
alone. Still, in this way, nearly all the valuables
the country come into the Kaan's possession.

11 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, or
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 like, he goes to the Mint and buys as
much as he list, paying in this paper-money.

" Now you have heard the ways 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
a constant diet of irredeemable assignats is not nutritious.
With ;»ll the warlike prowess and rough hardihood of the
Mongols, weakened though they may have been by a life of

The Book of Scr Marco Polo" translated by Col. Henry Yule
lion, 1871. Book H. Chap, xxiv.

THE CURRENCY

I4I

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 system of his pre-
is. 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

ere able to " resume specie payments."
T have been unable to obtain a copy of a Mongol govern-
ment note, which would have had a special interest as
illustrating the currency, 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
instrument of credit has a curious history, furnishing an
absolute guarantee of its authenticity. During the foreign
occupation of Peking in 1 900-1 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 corner-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 by-
stander who was present " unofficially," Surgeon Major
Louis Livingston Seaman, U.S.A., of New York, and he
gave to the Museum of St. John's College at Shanghai the

ecimen which is here reproduced.
The note is printed on mulberry-bark paper, which now

of a dark slate colour, the " something resembling sheets

142

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

descripti

of paper, but black " of Marco Po]
sheet of paper is 13-5 by 875 inches, and the design on
face is 12 '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 panels. The upper has on the two sides in con-
ventionalised 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
fuoting 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 char-
acters the legend " The Seal of the Government Note
Administrators." On the back of the note, above, is
impressed in vermilion a seal bearing in square seal
characters the legend " Seal for Circulating Government
Notes"; below, within a border 6*2 by 4*1 inches, is repeated
the middle part of the upper panel of the face — one kwan,
with a pictorial illustration representing ten hundreds of
cash.

Hienfeng Notes.
From A.D. 1403, it may be said, or at any rate

from

some time in the reign of Yunglo (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 t

THE CURRENCY

143

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 taelsof silver.

The cash notes were of four denominations, 500, 1,000,
1,500, and 2,000 cash, and the silver notes were for 1, 3, 5,
io, and 50 taels of the Metropolitan or Two-tael 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
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
♦ See page 156.

144

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 = i.ooo 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 always
regarded as synonymous terms (c.f Marco Polo, ubi 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 theor
and practice, inscribed on his coins their theoretic silve
value, vtrSo °* a *ae^

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 ioo.ooo cash ; and about a.d. 1183, during
the reign of Hiaotsung, 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 1, 2, 3, 5, and 10 taels respectively, each tael
passing for 2,000 cash. They could be used as official
and commercial currency, and served equally as metallic
reserve for the paper notes. This silver coinage only lasted
three years.

I am uncertain 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

ec 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 begun
fifty years before ; a fair parallel, were it not for the relative
credit of the two governments, might be found in the silver

THE CURRENCY

145

reserve of the Bank of France, which, being based on gold,

counted at the ratio 1 : 16. A silver coin, an exact

model of the cash of the reign, was issued during the reign

of the Ming Wanli (a.d. 1573-1619), but this was probably

a mint sport, much like the English silver pennies issued

:o-day. The silver coins of the nineteenth century in the

ections 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.
ha
fo

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,
sut a weight. This weight is the " tael," * as it is called by
foreigners, the Chinese name for it being Hang ; 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
lumber of " taels " of the stipulated quality of silver.

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
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 5556 grains, and this is the standard for all
transactions in which the scale is not specified. Frequently,

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

146

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 from Chungking, will buy and sell with
a tael 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 5564 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
tael of 555'0 grains, but for cotton yarn the tael is 556'(
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
fine ; and payment may be stipulated in any one of these
three qualities. 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
China, 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

THE CURRENCY

147

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 quality of silver ; for-
tunately, the commercial honor of the Chinese bankers
stands high, though 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 currencies in which the unit of value is a
denned 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 essentia]
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 taels. At Mengtsz the sycee
most commonly current is the chieh-ting, more commonly
known as the pai-jang ingot ; when laid flat on a sheet of
paper and traced with a pencil, it has eight curvilinear
les, a figure not unlike the brass pieces inserted in doors
protect key-holes ; in weight the pieces vary from two
taels 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
:>n the copper cash tung-pao = " current coin ") and more
lonly 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

148 THE CHINESE EMPIRE

49*94 taels and as being of silver for the quality of which
2 '75 must be added ; it is also stamped with dies at l ln-
Meiting 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 49*81 and 49*90 taels, five between 4991 and 50*00
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 money " (v. infra) are per shoe of
nominally 53 taels. Except to make change the small lumps
of silver are seldom seen at Shanghai, and when received
from other cities are sent to be cast into shoes.

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 anc
in the country subordinated to it, silver is rated for quality
by milliemes of a standard of " pure silver." Thus, at
Tientsin all silver is reduced to a theoretic local standard
of 992 ; at Chef 00, 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 milliemes 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."

THE CURRENCY

149

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 countries the standard of 1,000 represents
silver chemically pure, with no admixture of 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 millieme standards, and in the
Shanghai notation it is 2*8 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 silver M
of the Kuping tael, but at 3*084 (i.e. at 6' 168 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.
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 tael
touch, 522^ grains of silver of the Haikwan tael touch,
and about 518^ grains of silver of the Western standard
i.ooo fine.

I shall have more to say on the definition of the quality
of silver when 1 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 tael of value and the tael of weight.

i5o

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

At Tientsin, by " Tientsin tael " is meant one Hang-ping
tael in weight of silver of the Hwa-fiao 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 will 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, 16 make one catty,* or Chinese M pound."
In weighing the precious metals, however, the tael is the
heaviest unit, and it has decimal subdivisions, each with
its own name, down to the one thousand-million-millionth

(rooo.ooo.ooo.ooo.oQo) Part of a tae1' those in daily use
being the following : —

10 Li (cash) =
10 Fen =

10 Tsien =

1 Fen (Candarin).
1 Tsien (Mace).
1 Liang (Tael).

Seven places of decimals (the ten-millionth part) of a
tael are frequently, even regularly, seen in statements of
account of revenue and expenditure submitted to the
Throne. This is the tael of the arithmetics, but its actual
weight will best be considered under the head of the tael
of currency ; it is sufficient here to say that the weight
different

THE CURRENCY

151

The Tael of Currency

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

Haikwan Tad

The Haikwan tael is the currency in which duties are
levied by the Imperial Maritime Customs, but it is a purely
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
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 quality 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 ii lb. av. and a tael of 1 \ 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 grammes
or 583" I grains.

Taking the Haikwan tael, then, as being purely a money

152

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

of account, 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.ni.40 worked out as follows : —

Weight on local scale . . . . . . 100.0,0.0

Add for difference in weight . » , , 2.8.0.0

Add for touch 6.1.6.8

Add for expenses of melting, etc 0.2.0.4

Divide by the n Shanghai Convention," 0.98 109,1.7.2

in. 4.0.0

(N.B.— The proper name for the Shanghai tael is " Con-
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, 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," 0.98 105.6.0.0

Tsaoping taels 100 Shanghai taels . . 107.7.5.5

The Tsaoping tael has been found to weigh 56565
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 quality of the silver (v. supra, page 148).

THE CURRENCY

153

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 i.ooo fine, will be careful to
receive an amount in other silver fully sufficient in value
to cover his liability. Another element of variation, even
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
labor 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 unknown 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 Tael

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 paying
rates referred to above' In one aspect this tael may be

154

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

considered as " bank money " — a fictitious medium ot
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 tael is 575*8
grains of silver 1,000 fine ; this is the receiving rate (the
paying rate being 0*2 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.
Where the foreign obligations of the Imperial Government
are concerned the equivalence of the several currencies is
taken as follows ; —

100 Haikwan taels = 101*642335 Kuping taels.
100 Kuping taels — 109*60 Shanghai taels.

Tsaoping Tael

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 = 99 90 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.

THE CURRENCY

*55

In places where the standard of silver is quoted by degrees
of betterness, as at Shanghai and on the lower Yangtze,*

ithe standard for Tsaoping is 275 silver which, referred to
a K u ping standard, is 999.
J

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
is so stipulated, as we have seen in the case of the cur-
rencies of Chungking. Usually, however, if not generally,
among these various taels there is one which is recognised
as the currency of the place, in which payments 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 country 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 Taels

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
re three standards of tael weight — the Kung-fa of 5557

* v. supra, page £48.

156

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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
adopted the Kung-fa tael of 1,000 silver as their currency
of account. Each of these currencies, except the Kupir
and Kung-fa, is further subject to a difference of 0*6 to
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
complete.

Tientsin Taeh,

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 n New
Merchants " tael of 557*6 grains, differing from the old
established local tael by only 000038 part of itself or less
than Yotf °t 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.105215 ; and that for many years, in paying
Customs duties, for every 100 Haikwan taels Chinese mer-
chants paid Tientsin Tls.106, foreign merchants in general
paid Tientsin Tls.105, and Russian merchants for tea paid
Tientsin Tls.104.

* 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.

THE CURRENCY

157

Hankow Tael

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 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,
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 discounts, fixed for each
sub-standard, but supplying that variablity which is
demanded for all transfers in China from place to place,
from bank to bank, or from account to account. These
standards are known by the per-mill proportion to the

-ma standard ; and I have note of taeis of the 998,
996, 995, 993, 992, 990, 988, and 986 scale, being respectively
q-2, 0-4, 05, 07, 08, i"0, 12, and i*4 percent- lighter than
standard Sze-ma in weight. Formerly the silver was
Iways 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
ess clearly if the tael is of " foreign silver " {900 fine)
or of '• pure silver " ; in the latter case payment is effected
by weighing out 10 per cent, additional of the dollar silver.

!58

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

The question is even further complicated by a practice, which
has crept in of recent years, of making 20 per cent, of pay-
ments 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 con-
taining 57985 grains of fine silver becomes one of 574- r
grains, and ultimately one of 561*4 grains ; and, as there
is a tendency now (1906) to substitute 20-cent pieces en-
tirely 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.

Shanghai Tael

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 ac 579*85
grains) for dealings 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. el 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

THE CURRENCY

*59

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
fnreign 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,
ling even that they could read the inscriptions on the

*hts 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 565*65 grains, the silver is reduced to a standard

1 4 fine on the Kuping basis of 1,000 fine, and the con-
vention is that 98 taels of this weight and this silver settle
a liablity 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.

[6o

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

or if 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 irrespective
of its exact weight, which is anything btween 49 and 54
taels, but an allowance of 0-05 tael is added for each tael
by which the weight of the shoe exceeds 50 taels ; thus if
the quality of the silver is 2*70, the addition for a shoe
weighing 4975 or one of 50-05 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 504-260-1-51 + 2 40 =10600 ;. this result, divided by
0-98 {the Shanghai " convention ") gives 108-163 as the
number 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 £108 2s- 4^- 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
reduced to Shanghai taels. The government, 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 cur-
rency, but pays in Shanghai currency at the rate of 109*60,
calculated as follows ;

Kuping taels 100 weight = Tsaoping taels . . 101800
Add for touch of pure silver on two shoes . . 5 600

Divide by the " convention " 098
Add for meltage fee . .

107-400

109592

•008

109600

THE CURRENCY

161

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

Coining 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 currency is the Tsaoping tael, and this is 565 65
grains ; for pure silver the addition for touch is 2 8 per shoe,
which the Chinese treat as if it were 5 6 per cent. ; and the
" convention " is o'()8. 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 bullion 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 time 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, lias been) little of the metals in circulation,
silver being commonly deposited at the banks, which permit
removal only on the first days of the third, sixth, ninth, and

• SubjfH a to modification by consideration of the tTue standard
of quality of silver (v. supra, page 148).

i6i

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

twelfth months, but allow transfers from account to account.
This " transfer mono\ " 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 premium
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 in transfer
money, not in hard silver. An ordinary exchange operation
would be as follows I—

Silver deposited, Newchang taels . .
Premium on deposit, r6o per shoe

Transfer money credited
Exchange premium 3^ per cent, , .

Shanghai taels

100*00
300

103*00
3*35

10635

It may be noted that the parity of exchange is 100

Newchwang taels of silver = 104*89 Shanghai taels. The

1 iiis 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

he seen from the quotations of the last day of 1904 :

r Tls. 1, 000 = Transfer-money Tls.i,358*5o (quoted

1 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

UK cash transactions, however, of Newchwang Tls. 100 =

Shanghai Tls. 105 65.

Introduction of Foreign Coins

A foreigner, as an individual, objects to carrying around

m his pocket a4-lb.lump of silverwhich he cannot subdivide,

and he equally objects to carrying 6-lb. weight of coppers as

only fractional equivalent of the silver dollar to which

he is sernstonied ; he also objert< to ignorance of the

THE CURRENCY

163

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.
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
u 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,

I until in the end the chopped dollar resembles a disc, or
rather a cup, of hammered silver work,
dol
Pil
for
nf

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
foreign 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 toexceed 400,000
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 premium of

d onpnaDy over a coosidVrabk are* of

to the Yangtze. On the mtrodwctiap oi tbe

dofiar , sixty years ago, it was readily accepted at

, and the Carolus was " demonetised/' At Shanghai,
r, and in the Yangtze basin the Caroms held its own
and was the sole cmreDcy 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 Carohis dollars, collected from all
parts of the world, they were soon driven to a premium,
which by 1855 amounted to 25 per cent., and in 1856 to 30
per cent, of their intrinsic value ; and the curious spectacle
was seen of exchange quoted at Canton at 4s. 6#. per
dollar (Mexican of 416 grains) and at Shanghai at 6s. and
more per dollar (Carolus of 402 J grains). The situation
became intolerable, and on a fixed day merchants' accounts
at the banks were transferred, unit jot unit, from a currency
(the Carolus) containing 362 grainsof fine silver, to a currency
(the Shanghai tael) containing nominally 525 grains of fine
r per unit, A Carolus dollar lies before me as I write,
bought at Wuhu for 1 -40 Mexican dollar. With a diameter
of 1 56 inch, it weighs 26*08 grammes =402-5 grains, over
3 per cent, lighter than the Mexican dollar. On the obverse
it bears the King's head wreathed with laurel and the
inscription .1808. carolus. iiil del gratia. On the reverse
shield quartered with the arms of Castille and Leon,
ik-rcharged with three fleur-de-lys, the shield sur-
mounted by in Imperial crown and standing between two
columns (the Pillars of Hercules) bearing a scroll inscribed
im.us ULTRA ; the inscription reads .hispan. et ind. rex.
m. 8 r. t.il The milling is as usual and the reeding -0-0-0-.
ill** obverse is stamped in black with a design having a
CbinftM character in the middle, constituting the guarantee
of some I in 1 banker, In Formosa* the chopped

THE CURRENCY

165

Carolus remained the ordinary currency at its intrinsic
valuation up to the time of the Japanese occupation in 1895,
The next to be accepted was the Mexican, called by Chinese
the w Eagle " dollar from its design— an eagle grasping 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
intothe 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-honored 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 favor ; 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, bad they any vitality, the calculations
ut money-changers ; they gave no seigniorage to the mint ;
id of late years the annual output has been thousands
instead of millions. The energy ol the mints has in

166

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

recent years been devoted to the issue of subsidiary coinage.
First 10-cent and 20-cent pieces, which, consisting of silver
t. while the dollar was 900 fine, could be sold from the
: at no cents for the dollar and still show a profit ; these
herame popular with the smaller money-changers
of the margin between the rate of issue and the
value, and because of the petty speculation per-
by the margin of value. Then followed the copper
the popular coin, since it has an exchange
greater than the hundredth part of a dollar, and the
r. who makes his profit from the depreciated
silver cottage, will make it also from appreciated copper
The tourist who draws on his letter of credit at a
: in Shanghai, having to receive so many dollars
• (sa> -4'! cents, for the odd cents will be given 70
cente tt depreciated silver, but for the 4 cents he will receive
pper certs and 2 copper cash, since by the exchange
$Z cash are the equivalent of four-hundredths of
t leave the last two sentences as they were written
, tt order to show how great has been the depreciation
in torn coin within twelve months. Now (July 1906) the
tvuifct will still receive his 70 cents in depreciated silver,
but foe the 4 cents he will no longer be given 3 copper
ONfefc* mtl a cash, but will receive 4 copper cents — actually

General Considerations

1» China thi currency is at the top a weight pure and
m the middle a combination of weight and token
i. and at the bottom a coin which stands on its own
support from nor absolutely gives it
in 't 111 the series. At the top is the tael (call it
id it will be better realised), in which payments
same way that delivery is taken of a
flU ThftO comes the dollar, which, though ;i
. riere htgal tender, and of which the specimens
are inscribed, not generally dollar
ttetelv ;j hundredths of 1 tael ; though so

THE CURRENCY

167

inscribed, dollars of stiver 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. Then come subsidiary
silver coins fractional to the dollar, but subject to a fluctuat-
ing 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 token 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 except the lowly cash
the subject of barter. Where shall she begin ? Is she to
take her fundamental coin, the cash, with a present-day
value of the ten-thousandth part of a pound 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 families 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
to introduce the metric system 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 millions. This presupposes
that the four hundred millions are crying for relief, 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 will 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 number, standing like Isacchar between two burdens ;
they may consider that their profits from rapid fluctuations
in exchange, of the causes of which they have prior know-
ledge, 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 ability
to keep their own treasuries. The Government of China
will welcome 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
I lis assistants and his servants, and backed by his family to
the third and the fourth generation, will fight strenuously
against any obligation to pay into the Treasury the exact
coin which he has received from the taxpayer. The power-

THE CURRENCY 169

ful body oi 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 guilds make some attempt to pre-
serve a local uniformity in the measures accepted by them-
selves, but they have no official 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 cha«.»s.
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

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
weights and measures — prevailing in China, having them-

170

WEIGHTS 4ND MEASURES

171

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 lightly 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 applying 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 1 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
chapter is to consider only the standards accepted at each
place by the guilds concerned.

Weight

As in England and America 16 ounces make 1 pound,
in China 16 hang (tael) make I kin (catty), constituting one
of the two exceptions to the purely decimal system ; then
100 catties make 1 picul. In practice quantities of ordinary
commodities are usually, and in exact accounts invariably,
stated in the single unit of catty, even when the amount 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 J ounces avoirdupois, as
stipulated by the British treaty, 604*53 grammes as stipu-
lated by the French treaty, the two differing by 0*4 grammes

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 2121
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' 06 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 204 ounces, while the regular guild
catty is 18*6 ounces ; the Soochow guild catty is 197
ounces, that for rice paid as Imperial tribute is 20*6 ounces,
while that for the sale of oil is 232 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 425 ounces.

Capacity

The Chinese table of capacity gives sixteen decimal 1
sions, down t« .. .-th part, of the shih ; those

in common use are the tow ($), sheng f^), and ko (,^).
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 in-
variably 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.

Length

The table of length is divided decimally down to

iwK5Stu Part °* a ioot> an^ S06** UP to I0 fee* = 1 chang.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

173

i!u foreign merchant knows as the unit of length the chih,
commonly called " foot," imposed by treaty, accepted by
the Customs, and measuring 14*1 English inches ; this finds
no exact counterpart 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 14*8 inches, which is the tailor's foot of Canton,
At Shanghai the tailor's foot is 13* 85 inches and the car-
penter's foot is ii'i inches ; the official land foot is 121
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 135 inches. At
Soochow the tailor's foot is 13*45 inches, but that used for
the measurement of cloth is 111 inches. At Shiuhing
1 penters 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 in inches. These instances of
inconsistency might be amplified indefinitely ; sumcr it
to say that in China local standards of the foot range from
8*6 to 278 Inch

Distance

The Chinese do not much trouble themselves with the
accurate measurement of distance, and would sympathise
fully with the Dutch measurement of canal boat-runs by
the number of pipes smoked. A theoretic unit 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
one cared to measure it. Based on a foot of 14-1 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 ;
OH the plain this would represent a third of a mile, 3 half-
kilometre, more or less, but in hilly country it varies con-

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

siderably. By Chinese reckoning, if it is 50 li to the top of
Mount 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 nj^s^tn Part '* 1CK> mow
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 ;
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 thoughout
the Empire the mow varies from 3,840 to 9.964 , with one
standard of 18,148 English 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-
momhried that China is not one country, it is a dozen ; it
is ■ continent, with the population and the diversity of a
. ouiiuriit, with the inborn habit of centuries to stereotype
the minds of the people, and with the natural stubbornness
•I 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 Mr. 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
1 exterritoriality.' On the other hand the government
of the privileged persons by their own authorities from
home is ' extraterritorial.' "
Notwithstanding this dictum the orotund forms
extraterritorial-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 fax Romano spread, and every citizen travelling
was under the a?gis of the jus Romanum ; the principle

* M Exterritoriality*" by F. T. Piggott, 1893.
i;5

176 THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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, Frankish, 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
inequitable that, for example, the Frank, who was entitlec
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 sovereign.

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 stern requirements of the Koran ; and that no
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 applied, but to assimilate the legal pro-
cedure of two diverse civilisations 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
protect their own nationals according to their own customs.

EXTRATERRITORIALITY

177

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 everywhere ; 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-
ality in the Turkish Empire and in the states now or formerly
vassal to it.

At first the natural 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 tu 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 of the English in India at the time, when once
removed from the protection 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
ted, since the trade so profitable to them was equally

178

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 likely 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 submitted 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 Charta, " To no freeman will we deny or sell justice."
The incompatability 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 family are promptly imprisoned ; if the debtor
returns, he is put in prison and kept there indefinitely, so
long as he can rind money for his daily food, until released
by payment in fuU 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 dying before surrender, he
saved his immediate family — father, mother, sons, and
daughters — from decapitation, and their property from
confiscation, the penalty when a commander 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 ;

EXTRATERRITORIALITY

179

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 lifer 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 English and
American merchants 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 consisted mainly of opium,
and consequently the war is in common 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 con-
taining even more favorable terms than the British treaty.
In fact, the direct cause of the war was the growing sense of
the need for better protection to life and property, though
behind this was the ground cause of the need for better
relations generally. In the words of Dr. Hawks Pott's
"Sketch of Chinese History ' '— M 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 equality,
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,

i8o

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

faults on both sides, as is always the case where a bol
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 equality of
treatment and extraterritorial rights on the one side, an<3
on the other a stubborn disinclination to yield either,
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 Pnissia and the North German Confederation in
1861, and by other powers in later years, are still the charter
of liberty of the foreigner resident in China ; and in each
them, in addition to a " most favored nation " clause,
contained the stipulation of extraterritoriality.

The earliest treaties with China were made by Russia,
whose envoys came by the Siberian route, and whc
colonists and armed forces were in constant conflict wit!
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 pa

the frontier and commit crimes of violence against

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

sent to the frontier of their own country 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

Kiakhta, 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
■ ittle shall be handed over to their natural judges
{leurs juges naturds), who will condemn them to pay
ten times, and for a second offence twenty time

EXTRATERRITORIALITY

:-i

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
ording to the legal procedure of their native land.
The British treaty of Nanking, signed in 1842, as the
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 jurisdic-
tion 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 Hnomunchai (1843) contains
provisions for extradition, and Mttlinmd to il are some
M ("rpnpral Regulations under which British trade is to be
conducted at the five ports ol < .'.niton, Amoy, Foochow,
Ningpo, and Shanghai " which had beta published it Hong-
kong by a proclamation isvutd OB July 22, 1843, by Sir
Henry Pottinger, Minister Plenipotent Lai pei mtendent

of Trade. Of these Regulations. Me KXU ftfttt -.lipnlating
that " disputes shall be arranged amicably," i.e. by arbitra-

i8a

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

w Regarding the punishment of English criminals,
the English Government will enact the laws necessary
to attain that end, and the Consul will be empowered
r« i 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 cor-
respondence 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
the laws of the land of their allegiance and not of the land
of their sojourn. In the treaty of Wanghea, 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 controversy
and disaffection, justice shall be equitably and im-
partially 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 " livres a Taction reguliere
des lois franchises," adding, however, an enunciation of the
principle of extraterritoriality : —

" II en sera de meme en toute circonstance analogue
et non prevue dans la presente Convention, le principe

commis
par eux dans les cinq ports, les Franeais seront con-
starament regis par la loi francaise."
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 :—

11 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 plaintiff's nationality

shall be freely permitted to attend the trial, and shall

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 nationality 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 national

182

THE CHIN1

"Regarding the pur-1
the English Governmti
to attain that end, and •
to put them in force ; ;r,v
Chinese criminals, the*
their own laws, in t'
respondence which *
concluding of the |.=
This regulation w:i?

Chinese, designed to •

crews of foreign ship-.

States of America, pi •

British cannon, to *■*

clearly the one •. :■■■;■■

American, English, « .

quiet the fruits o! • »

aries to peaceful;.

the laws of the l,u.

of their sojourn

July 1844, An.
" Suhi
criminal
be ano
accon1
Unit* ;
shall
Con
tin 1
St.

Tl
1844.
acciir
des 1
prin

.-.essity for

. ae right has

..,s as supplying

iiois can remain

. t tiie application

..ri chant, and the

iws. regulations,

.iiiion tooting, the

-ixwncan will be

iduiury functions

tv nay be reduced

,...» 1 !us government,

. . .iuuercial possibilities

. .«> :n the country to

. .. c union by the reports

..c-»iL. jvrtifying invoices

.>*..! it iwuments signed

.. va.tv FsiUy he is the

..^ .^Vtini supplementing

k. . >^.'r*> Ar.d indicating

. » ■•. • .-*- •_-. the position,

. ...o xv.: yy in their own

:ic :se Consul performing

. xasues. all of which add

x . »i mciple of extraterri-
,....'. r.v> try offences com-
.*. udge for suits brought
»i 'ilicr Americans, or by

..c w« uninal judge for more
,fcl.vaiis. even up to murder

.1 fuel1, probate judge, and
vx-.>ions appeal is difficult.
. >> the U.S. Minister at

,-vU *

EXTRATERRITORIALITY

185

Peking, but this is in no sense a re-trial ; and in certain
an appeal may be taken to the U.S. Circuit Court of
California, six thousand miles away. His position is the
more difficult from the fact that he has to administer, not
tho law of Massachusetts or of New York, or even of Cali-
fornia, the nearest state, but " American law." and this
generally without the aid of trained lawyers ; he must
administer the common law unelucidated by any statutes,
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
interpretation of the tenets of the Buddhist religion. With
all this complexity he has still another element of difficulty :
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.*

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.

• The opening on January 2, 1007. of a United States District
rt 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.

i86

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 favored
nation " clause, of all the treaties made with China. This
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 arguments 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 we
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 yield 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 nationalities,
plaint must be made before six different Consular courts,
with, incidentally, the result that one culprit may be fined
a dollar and another a hundred dollars on the same day for

. EXTRATERRITORIALITY 187

the same offence. The Municipal Council governing such a
community is subject to no legally constituted tribunal,
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
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

I 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 one ship, which for the same charges would to-day pay
£25, paid what was then equivalent to £900. To-day a
ship's papers are deposited with her Consul, and the Chinese

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

rSfl

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

authorities can exercise control only through him, whil^ ilJ
attendance and supplies may be obtained in the open market.

The cargo could formerly be sold only to licensed monopo-
list dealers, while now an importer may find his own bu
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
the Factory, in which he was the tenant and guest of the
monopolists who alone could 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, n<
forty in number, and usually within a circumscribed area
those ports ; but in any case he now has free access, withw
intermediaries, to his ships and to his market.

Formerly the merchant had no knowledge of the am
of taxation levied, inwards and outwards, on his goods, but
it was none the lighter for that. Now the tax is strict
limited to the rates, based on a uniform 5 per cent, levy,
specified in a revenue (non-protective) tariff, which forms
an integral part of the treaty under which he lives an
trades. From the inland taxation, too, which presses
heavily on Chinese traders who are subject to the levy
likin, his goods are exempted by payment 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
U if 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 charitable and patri-
otic funds, or from inducement to buy official honors 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 the Chinese officials, as was
the case in the old days.

No foreign merchant is now liable for any but his o

EXTRATERRITORIALITY 18 m

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.

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 corner 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 indifferent
as among the same class in the home Lands, and the mal-
practice is common ; but while the abuse of the flag provides
a decent income to many among them, it causes great injury

the legitimate commerce 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, nr 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
Chinaman and his own Government and is no concern

190

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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
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
his 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 neutralise 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

EXTRATERRITORIALITY

191

state, and have no desire for a " new religion " ; and the
history of missionary work in this country is as much marked
by the martyrdom of the saints, allowance being made for
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
1552 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 he 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 proselytise. 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, begun
by Kanghi (1662-1723), and continued by Yungcheng
(1 723-1735). The treaty of 185 1 provided that the Chinese

t Government would interpose no obstacle to u Russian sub-
jects celebrating in their factories divine service according
to the ritual of their own religion M ; and the Russian treaty
of Tientsin, 1858, granted facilities to "la mission ecclesi-
astique 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-
fessed by the Protestant and Roman Catholic Churches,
are recognised as teaching men to do good, and to do

EXTRATERRITORIALITY

193

faisance qui ont ete confisques aux Chretiens pendant
les persecutions dont ils ont et£ les victimes seront
rendu s & fetus proprie'taires par I'entremise du Ministre
de France en Chine, auquel le Gouvernement Imperial
les fera de'livTer avec les cimetieres et les autres Edifices
qui en dependaient."
To the Chinese, but not to the French, text of this article
pas added, surreptitiously as the Chinese Government has
Iways 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

for reference the much debated wording of Article XII,

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
sidence in the interior, and the protection to be accorded
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, confronted by
the infallible decision of the Pope, contrary to his own, on
the correct rendering into Chinese of the name of the Deity,
decreed the exclusion from his dominions of this alien power.
peremptorily expelled all teachers of the gospel and

closed their churches, and this policy was continued by his
at Yoagcbeng ; in the Uangkiang viceroyalty alone
a hundred prosperous churches were so closed, and even in
the extreme west, in Szechwan, there were churches not
a tiw. Upon the resumption of a policy of toleration the
pastors returned to their flocks, and the nineteenth century
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 inter-
polated 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 forty-
seven years ago, 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
OJ 1902 and the American of 1903.

What is permitted to one nation is ipso facto granted in
China to aU nations, the privileges of one Church may be
t [aimed 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

Id find men to listen to their words But besides the

CTRATERRITORIAUTY

195

prescriptive right derived through thr Roman Catholic
missions, they claimed under Article XtL 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,
■ »i which Article X. reads as follows : —

" Die Bekenner und Lehrer der christlichen Religion
5ollen in China voile Sicherheit fur ihre Personen,
ihr Eigenthum und die Ausiibung 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
H 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 1 1 it-
same right of user cannot be claimed as in the case of mission
property and rerideoce hi the interior, since the Chinese
Government has always, 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.

tq6

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

h-iTi. raosl mission iri« >, certainly most Protestant mission-
aries, generally actvpl this position; but they cannot
always be trusted to temper zeal with discretion and to
distinguish what is right from what is lawful. In this lie
an element of danger to the missionary and to his cause.
Not only in the treaty ports, the sole authorised places fol
foreign trade, is the Westerner covered by his extraterri-
torialised position, but in <vm curner 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 quality superior to that doled out to his un-
converted brother : it could not be got out of your mind, or
nut of mine, in a similar case. None of us could endure that
a prot£g£ 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
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 struggle against the snares of the devil ; by the
convert, who is divided between his allegiance to his mnr
faith and the old beliefs which made all that was holy in his
former life ; by the family, who not only regard their recreant
member as an apostate but are also compelled to maintain
the old worship with reduced assessments from reduced
numbers; and by the people and governors of the land, whc

EXTRATERRITORIALITY

197

may find in such a situation a spark to initiate a great con-
flagration. No missionary, none of ourselves, could re!
his support in such a case ; and yet few missionaries c« in-
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 Chekiarig, Catholic and Protestant
converts frequently engage in clan fights, while the mis-
nonaries 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 weakest 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 numerous 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 the manifest tendency, clearly recognised by all,
even the most impartial, but quite incapable of legal demon-
stration, for the judges of tlit- land, in cases where the right
fa not obviously on one side or the other, to decide ex motu
suo against the convert ; ostensibly such decisions are given
on as good legal grounds as any case in China is ever de-
Ctdedi but practically the underlying reason is the convert's
* See Appendix D.

198 THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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

EXTRATERRITORIALITY

199

In a " concession, " such as those at Tientsin, Hankow,
or Canton, this Chinese court for mixed cases sits at the

K 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 tmperio, sub-
sidiary to the foreign imperium already interjected into the
Chinese imperium ■ besides, as Chinese, other than employes
sf the foreign residents, are not permitted to live on the
concession " of the old type, the cases appearing before
such a court are generally only police 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)
[2,328 treaty-power foreigners, and 535,500 Chinese, in
addition to somewhat over 100,000 Chinese living 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 official 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
>wn Consulate.

In criminal cases, in which by Chinese law the death
penalty is, or might be, inflicted — such as homicide, rebellion,
counterfeiting, rape, etc. — the proceedings take the form of
a demand for extradition ; and, upon a prima facie case
being made out, the defendant is remitted to the custody
and judgment of the Shanghai city magistrate (Hsien), who,

200

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

though of nominally lower rank than the President of tf
Mixed Court, 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
police cases for contravention of municipal regulations ; but
as it is not required that these regulations should have
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 alien legislation which is not always lost, and it
happens occasionally that the opinions of the judge and the
assessor do not agre< .

Civil cases in China are commonly settled by guild
action, and are seldom brought before the official tribui
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 M < tsy 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,
being purely Chinese, they are no concern of the foreign
powers, and are therefore oof subject to I he decision of the
foreign assessor; the other side holds that (-very judicial
question arising within the " area reserved for foreign resi-
dence and trade " concerns the foreign powers, and that the

EXTRATERRITORIALITY

201

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
\tortion and flagrant injustice, while the magistrate gene-
rally puts himself into agreement witli the assessor when a
municipal regulation comes into the case, neither being too
desirous of crystallising the differences and precipitating a
mnnict. Occasionally, however, when the incompatibility
of view cannot be compromised, a sharply defined issue is
made.*

The Chinese official view is unimpeachable ; appeal is

le 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
1853 the Taiping rebels devastated the country for hundi
- 4 miles around Shanghai, many thousands of refugees found
there under the foreign flags the protection to life denied
them under their own flag. In the ten years which elaj.
before the restoration of order these thousands were shel-

d within the area reserved for foreign residence, from
which it would have been inhuman 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,
wit Inn the limits of which there are to-day over half a million.
There has thus grown up a foreign interest in real estate
valued at over two hundred million taels, and a foreign in-

st in the maintenance of order and the administration
of justice among the half-million Chinese living under the
same jurisdiction as the foreign residents ; and the foreign
(icial view is that foreign supervision is necessary over
foreign and Chinese residents alike in the interest of

i^ners ; and, further, that two independent police and
justiciary administrations cannot be allowed to fane

* See Appendix E.

202

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

within the same area, and, that if there is to be one admini-
stration, 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 sixty
years, and through it life in China has been rendered possible
for all foreigners ; without it, during those sixty 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 m the country ; and so long
as their stay there is legitimate, so long 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
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 i
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
dozen 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 <r 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
0O the simple process of multiplying degrees of longitude
by degrees of latitude may be put as follows :- —

China Proper . . . . . , 1,535,000 Eng. sq. m

Manchuria . . . . . . 365,000 „ ,,

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

Total . . 4,300,000 ..

The population is variously estimated from 270,000,000
(Rockhill 1904, and Hippisley 1876) 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
Mongolia, Tibet, etc., making, with Parker's estimate for
China Proper, a total of 411,000,000.

1 1 \e Eighteen Provinces extend roughly from latitude
200 to 400 N. and from longitude 980 to 1220 E., comprising

• " China : Past and Present " (1903),
303

204

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

the seventh and eighth hours of Zone time east of Greenwich.
The western part is mountainous, 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 small, but incredibly rich,
plain of the Pearl (or West River) delta, lying around
Canton. Of. the nineteen provinces (treating Manchuri.i
an undivided area), treaty ports have been opened in four-
teen— 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 synonymous with " port of entry,"
but it is something more. The first men of the \Y
Portuguese, Dutch, English, 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 circumstances that in 1557 tnev
obtained a lease of Macao, && miles from Canton, and then-
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 commercial 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-
king (1842) opened the first " treaty ports," five in number :
Canton, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo, and Shanghai. These five
ports have now grown to forty, including some that have
been opened voluntarily by China, not under the ohligai
of any treaty, but on the same footing and under the same
trade regulations as the regular treaty ports, At tl
ports foreign nations are privilegedtto establish Consulates,
loreign merchants are permitted t<> live ami trade, and on
the trade at these ports are levied dues and duties according

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 205

tariff settled for 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 " established 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 all 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
Changsha, a treaty port, without further payment ; it may
then be shipped to Changteh, having the privileges o! a
treaty port, without further payment ; but if it then goes
on fifty miles farther, or if, instead of taking the journey
of 900 miles in three stages to Changteh, 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 privilege. 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
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, Tsitsihar {or Heilung-
kiang) and Kirin, may be dismissed with few words. The

206

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

chief interest in them attaches to the Amur (or Heilung-
kiang, Black Dragon River) and the Sungari and their degree
of navigability, and to the great wheat production of Kirin
and the flouring mills established by the Russians at Harbin.
This town is important as the junction between the rail-
way north from Port Arthur, Talien (Tairen 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
excellence from latitude 300 N., and, in the shape of " wild "
silk or tussore from worms feeding on the oak, from beyond
latitude 400 N. In minerals Manchuria is sufficiently rich
to call for development, gold, silver, copper, lead, iron, and
coal being known to exist. In the province of Shengking
are three treaty ports, or, in the wild scramble for treaty
ports now manifested, it is safer to say that this was tin-
number in 1906 ; and in addition there is the territory of
Port Arthur and Dalny (Talien in Chinese, Tairen in Japanese),
granted in 1898 to Russia un a lease, which was subsequently,
in 1905, transferred to Japan.

Newchwang. (40° 41' N., 1220 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 Yingkew,
30 miles below the unimportant city of Newchwang.

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 207

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 Posl I Office.
A British concession was laid out, and through the long years
of waiting for trade the little clump of buildings on this —
dingy, dirty, and dusty — sufficed for all the requirements of
the port. Now there are, on the left bank, (lie remains, not
yet eroded out of existence, <>[ 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 population at the port is
estimated at 75,000, and on December 31, 1905, there were
within the district 291 resident civilian foreigners, 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,e.
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.

1864 ..

1874 -

1884 .

1894 ..

1904 ..

Imports.
Tls.

709738
2,433.135

3,690,410
7,886,161

20.358.39*

Exports.

Tls.
1,710,398

1.753,543
4,123,084

8,532-44J
12,159,486

Total.
Tls.*

2,42c i ;■
4,186,678

7313.494

16,418,604
41,517,878

* The tael ( I I Iver had an exchange value of 6s. Sd. in

1864, of 6?. id. in 1874, of 5s. ?d. in 1884. of p. 2/i. in 1894, and of
w. tod. in 1004

208

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

During 1904 the junk trade amounted, in addition,
Tls.6,365r26r for imports, and Tls.4, 313,861 for exports,
total of Tls. 10,679, 122. This gives a total of Tls.52,i« .7,1
as the value in 1904 of the water-borne trade of tt
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,7,8i5,ooo for native weaving), cot-
ton yarn (value Tls.3,946,000), hemp and gunny b
(Tls .315,400) , cigarettes (Tls.428,890) , flour (Tls,837,ooo,
supplies from Harbin being shut off), matches (Tls.428,500),
paper (Tls. 1.705,000), kerosene oil (Tls.i, 087,000), sugar
(Tls. 1, 497,000), rice (Tts.962.000), and wheat (Tls.603,000).
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 (TTs.2, 1 33, 000), silk
(lis, 2,005,000), and such opium as was declared for assess-
ment of duty (Tls,289,ooo).

Moukden (410 51' N., 1230 26' E.) is the Manchu nam
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
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-halt
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 1
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, and is on the point of being
opened as a treaty port. It is connected by rail with Dalny

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 209

id Newchwang, and, when the line from Sinmingfu is
extended, will also find direct outlets at Chinwangtao and
Tientsin. Outlets may also be found through Vladivostok
and Irkutsk. The population is estimated at 250,000.
Antung (400 8' N., 1240 14' E.) 23 miles above Ta-
ingkow, at the mouth of the Yalu River which separates
Manchuria from Korea, and Antung, 25 miles farther
up, which were on the point of being opened as treaty
ports in March 1907, will tap the wealth of timber stand-
ing on the mountains flanking the river, and will provide
outlet for the silk of eastern Shengking, which now
by junk to Chefoo and Dalny. Antung will be a
station on the line of railway connecting Korea with
Manchuria.

Harbin, the junction of the railways from Irkutsk to
Yladivostock, and from Harbin to Kwanehengtze, where
it joins the Japanese line to Dalny, is made the seat of a
Custom House to control the railway traffic.

Chihli

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
rouglily 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
ml mined at Tongshan and the anthracite of the hills west
of Peking are conspicuous examples. The plain is a vast
live of human industry on which, as everywhere on the
plains of China, man is pitted against the forces of nature.
and, with no other appliances than those possessed by their
remote ancestors, the men of the hive win out. This is a
part of the country running from Tientsin to Chinkiang
through of latitude, and traversed by the

2T0

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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
be shown to-day after 175 years ; but in recent 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., 1160 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 142 1 to Peking, which
hftS 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 countries 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

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 211

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 around 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,
to buy and sell, and to act as general traders. Against this
assumption the Chinese Government has repeatedly pro-
tested.

Tientsin (390 0/ N., 1170 ir' E.), "The Ford of Heaven,"
is situated at the junction of the Grand Canal, which start-
ing from Hangchow finds here the end of its long course,
of the Peiho (North River) leading north to Peking, and
of the Haiho (Sea River) emptying into the Gulf of Pechihli.
The city is distant from the sea 35 miles by road, but 56
miles by the original corkscrew windings of the river, a
distance since reduced to 47 miles 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 commercial 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 summer floods will cause the mud
bottom to rise faster than the water surface, a river of
my bends and restricted width, all combine to impose
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
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
icial city of the Empire, of the rank of district city, which
is to-day without 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

212

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

foreign Provisional Government which followed on tl
Boxer movement of 1900, when the wails 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
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 (1897), British Extra-mural Extension
(1900), French (1861), French Extension (1900), American
(granted in 1861, but at once abandoned and in 1902 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 under a
lease in perpetuity to the British Government, a small
ground rent being reserved to show the ultimate sovereignt
of China. The area was divided into lots, the leases
which were sold to provide for roads and bunding, anc
which are held under 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
ex 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.
Tin- 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
Government, is de jure ruler of the concession ; but,
eonfonniiv with English practice, he actively intervene

on!

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 213

ly 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
taxes, and the three tenants paying the highest rent. Ger-
many in 1807 contracted with a commercial syndicate to
develop 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 land-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
e 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 administrativeTwork 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
distincttforms of government under eight European powers.
At Tientsin and in its consular district live (December 31,

men

214

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

1905) a total of 3,770 civilian foreigners, including 679
British, 387 American, 465 German, 244 French, 115
Russian, 60 Austro-Hungarian, 100 Belgian, 34 Italian, 1,538
Japanese, and 148 others. Formerly the population d
the city and its suburbs was estimated at a million, but,
with all its development, recent and more careful estimates
put it at 750,000. The development of trade is shown by
the following figures of the value of merchandise (not
including treasure) carried in foreign bottoms.

Imports,

Exports.

Total.

Tls.

1864

7,645,422

1,730,786

9,376,208

1874

, 17,682,684

I>144393

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

14^95.375

68,954,694

1905 ■

■ 81,826,313

14739.359

96,565,672

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 yarn
(^5.6,514,570 for foreign, and Tls. 574,10a for native spin-
nings), copper (Tls.3,119,000 for foreign, and Tls.460,840
for Chinese), cigarettes (Tls. r, 287, 000), tobacco (Tls. 422,600),
kerosene oil (Tls. 2, 268,600), railway plant and machinery
in general (Tls. 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, 132,000,
for transit to Russia by land Tls. 2,861,600). The principal
among the articles of export were bristles Tls. 83 1,713),
spirits (Tls. 666,500), skins and furs (Tls.5,210,000), straw-
braid (Tls. 858. 600), and wool of camel, goat, and sheep
(Tls.3,326,400).

Chjnwangtao (390 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

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 215

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
Peking and Tientsin to maintain communication with the
outer world during the winter 1900-1 ; 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
lis, 18,817, 120 f°r imports, and Tls.3,033,959 for exports,
a total of Tls. 2 1,85 1,079, 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 390 N., and its
southern mouth near thepresent outlet, latitude 38°N.. ; from
the seventh century A.D. it emptied by one mouth about
latitude 380 30' N. ; toward the end of the twelfth century it
plunged south-east from a point midwaybetween Kaifeng and

2l6

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

Tsinan, and emptied into the Yellow Sea south of Shantung,
at about latitude 340 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 310 N. ; in 1324 it broke away lower down below
Kaifeng, and flowed south-east to the mouth at latitude
340 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
380 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 wills, 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 everywhere its bottom is higher than the
surrounding plain. Were 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 1140 E. to the sea, and from the Yangtze
latitude 320 N. to Tientsin. Nor do these floods enrich the
soil, as do those of the Yangtze and the Nile, but they deposit
an infertile sand which is prevented from being rendered fer-
tile by the combined action of the wind, the sun, and the rain,

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 217

[trough its lightness and friability, which expose it to the
destructive 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 born B.C. 551 (dying
B.C. 479) in what is now the district of Chow-hsien, and his
Memorial Hall is still standing at Uiiichnw in the prefecture
of Yinchow, in the western part of the province ; and
through all the vicissitudes of revolutions, rebellions, and
falling dynasties, his memory has been kept green and his
name honored 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 Chef 00 and the

(foreign " leased territories " of Kiaochow and Weihaiwei.
Chefoo (370 33' N., 1210 22' E.) : the treaty port,
opened in 1863, is not at Chefoo, which is on the north side
of its harbor, 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 harbor, has been,
more or less tacitly, and without any formal agreement,
reserved for occupation as a foreign quarter. The residents
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

218

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 country only by such routes as
are called roads in China, or by junk to the harborless 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 forty years has been as follov
treasure not included : —

Imports.

Exports.

Total.

Tls.

1864

2,766,669

2,758,547

5,525.216

1874

5.851. 159

1,960,402

7,811,561

1884

5,922,202

4»I38,3I4

10,060.516

1894

8,208,938

6,569738

14778,676

1904

J 1, 569,021

12,686,154

34.255.175

1905

• 27,179,259

11,952^25

39,131,384

To this has to be added for 1905 the value of the jun*
trade, imports Tls. 11,531,033, exports Tls. 2, 31 1,260, total,
Tls. 13,842,293, Among the imports the principal were
cotton fabrics (value in 1904 Tls.3, 120,000 for foreign,

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 219

Tls. 155,000 for native weaving), cotton yarn (Tls. 1,728, 000
for foreign, and Tls. 80,35 5 f°r native spinning), cigar-
ettes (Tls. 674, 000), coal (Tls.510,000), flour (Tls, 1,332,000),
matches (Tls.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.4,8o3,ooo), straw-braid (Tls. 1,413,000), vermi-
celli (Tls.i.573,213).

Weihaiwei (37° 30' N., 1220 9' E.) was occupied by
ireat 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

re ruled more Sinico through the village elders. The port
a summer station, but not a base, for the British East
Asiatic squadron, and an hotel and a school have been

stablished there. Considering the meagreness of the

spulation and that it is supposed, while being a free port,
to have no legitimate traffic with its hinterland, its sea-

srne 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 (360 4' N., 1200 18' E.), the
port and seat of government of the German " Territory of
Kiaochow." Possession of this port and its environs was
cen on November 14, 1897. as reprisal for the murder
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 arc
added three unofficial members. The town and port have
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

330

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 encountering the perils of
the stormy passage around the Shantung Promontory.
The canal has long since been unavailable for transport,
but its modern substitute, the railway from Tsingtau to
Tsinan, 450 kilometres, will tap 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 impmved.
Beginning from January 1, 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 harbor
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
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 1-
assured, the more that the ordinary bureaucratic raethi

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 221

of German administration are not so much in evidence in
the " Kiautschau-gebiet " as in other German colonies.
Though through 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.

1900

1902
1905

Imports.

TIs.

2,852,576

0,075,250

15,097,422

Exports.

TIs.

1,104,574

2,269,392

7,225,258

Total,
TIs.

3.957.150
IO.344.642

22,322,68o

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. Other important
products exported from Kiaochow 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.

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.

222

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

Shansi, the " Mountains of the West," lies between
Chinli 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 escarp-
ment 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 is in course of construction,
connecting the capital, Taiyuanfu, with the Peking-Hankow
line at Chentow. The estimated area is 82,000 square
miles, and population 12,000,000.

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
"Vit 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 Moukden,
but without staffs. The area of the province is estimated
at 75,000 square miles, and its population at 8,500,000.
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
Shizttl and the latter Shansi : Shensi is only a convenient

• rationalised mode of distinguishing the two provinces.

KAN8U forms the extreme north-west corner of the

Eighteen Provinces, and has an area estimated at 125.000

nil.H. and a population of 8,000,000. Traversed

River, it is restricted to land transport ;

mainly wool of sheep and camel, finds its

Mongolia, thence down from the north-west

K w far to the south, but is more conveniently

II the only other province not having

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 223

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 7,500,000. 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 popula-
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 surface of the
province is made up of masses of mountains, through
which the Yangtze has cut its deep and narrow channel,
and which is everywhere cut up by steep-sided valleys and
ravines. In the whole 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 —
the river otherwise without a name, the spinal cord of China,

224

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

which foreigners have united to call by the name given tc
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 tumultuousiy in its passage through
the famous Yangtze Gorges. Down stream the inherited
and trained skill of the boatmen carry their frail craft
safely past dangers with the current rushing, in places anc
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 hundred trackers, more or 1<
frequently 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.

Chungking (29° 34' N., 1060 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 Chungking,
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, stear
traffic can advantageously engage in the Szechwan 1 arryir

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 225

trade ; and the trade passing through the " Maritime
Customs " is carried by junk, 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 : —

I Of the imports five-sixths are made up of cotton manu-
factures, viz. cotton piece goods (Tls.3,777,6oo, all foreign
weaving), and cotton yarn (Tls.8,993,700 foreign, and
Tls. 2,681, 500 native spinning). Among exports the princi-
pal items were bristles (Tls. 477, 000), hides (115.458,000),
medicines (Tls.974.000), musk (Tls. 983, 000), opium (Tls.
4,084,000), silk (Tls. 1, 81 3,000), goat-skins (Tls 450,000),
white wax (Tls.332.000), and sheep's wool (Tls.3 15.000).
Much of the opium sent from the province takes various
land routes to escape too rigid a scale 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.

Imports.

Exports.

Total.

Tls.

1894 ..

5.782,701

4,997,688

10,780,389

1904 .,

18.451,938

10,952,028

29,403,966

226

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 Lake
and its surrounding alluvium occupying the north-eastern
quarter. Its area is estimated at 83,400 square miles, and
its population at 22.000,000. 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 1853-63, 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 "
army, the Chinese army was largely composed 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 Chiling 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 Yantgze route via Shanghai. In Hunan three
places have been opened to trade as " treaty ports."

Yochow (29° 20' N., 1 1 30 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 Hunan, owing to the
presumed necessity of transhipping from the deeper vessels

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 22?

possible on the Yangtze to the lighter draft boats of the
inner waters, but this expectation has not been realised,
and the successive later opening of Changsha and Changteh
has effectively killed whatever prospect of trade Yochow

lay have had. The municipal plan adopted at Yochow
is one which has been introduced at some other ports.
The Chinese 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,

re levied ; municipal work and police are under the joint
control of the Yochow territorial Taotai and the Com-
missioner 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 taxation becoming necessary, it
will be under the control of a representative body. The
population of Yochow is 20,000 , and the N treaty port " is
five miles distant, at a point where alone a safe anchorage

>uld be found.

Changsha (280 12' N., 1120 47' E,}, the capital of the
srovince, 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

le independent character of the people ; and it marks the
erne western limit of the advance of the Taipings, who
i 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 Tls.6,385,888. Considering that
the export of Hunan tea alone must be worth Tls. 10,000,000,

228

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

these figures show that the trade of this rich province
continues to be carried in the small Yangtze junks.

CHANGTEH (290 l' N., iii° 27' E.), on the Yuan River
west of the Tungting Lake, is on the point of being volun-
tarily opened by China, 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
inhabitants, and its chief value as an open port lies in t
fact that imports are carried free of duty so much tl
farther inland.

Hupeh

Hupeh, " North of the Lake," has an area estimated
at 71,400 square miles, and a population of 34,000,000, 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 (300 42' N., in° 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 Hupeh
meet the central plain of Hupeh. Here a great emporium

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 229

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-draft lower 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
trade of Ichang may be judged from the following figures
for the traffic which, between Ichang and Chungking, went
by u 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.

1894
1904

Gross Imports, Re-Exports, Net Imports.
(i.e. transhipped)
Tls, Tls. Tl3.

• 10.373.903 9427.920 945.983

- 35.559.841 34.X29,0l8 1,430,823

Shasi {300 17' N., 1120 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.

1897

135,292

l8l,220

316,512

1904

• • 1.334.328

622,043

I»956,37I

230

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

Hankow (300 35' N., 1140 17' E,), " Han-mouth,'- is
situated at the junction of the Han River and the Yangtze ;
across the Han is Hanyang, containing extensive iron and
steel works ; and opposite both, across the Yangtze, is
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 Chm
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
development. In the past the value of its trade
been as follows ; —

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 231

Imports.

Exports.

Total,

Tls.

1864

• 7.935,558

13453,425

21,388,983

1874

• 14.885471

18,276.094

33.161,565

1**4

. 17.467,883

16403,998

33.87I.88l

1894

. IS.W^66

23,218,827

39.i34.793

1904

. 44.364,324

63,085,050

107,449.374

1905

• 55.837.696

57.205,350

111,043,046

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 are
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 cordata, Tls.3, 320,000), cotton (TIs.3, 910,000),
jute (Tls. 1, 704, 000), hides (Tls. 3, 177,000), pig iron
(Tls. 987,000), rice (Tls.2, 130,000), sesamum seed
(Tls.3, 1 72,900), 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.

Kiangsi

The province of Kiangsi, with an area estimated at
69,500 square miles and a population of 22,000,000, 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 Poyang Lake
and the Tungting Lake in Hunan act as reservoirs to take
the first rush of flood waters coming down the Yangtze
every summer, and reduce their catastrophic effects. The

232

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

lake and its affluents, 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 Abbe1 Hue at a million, destroyed in the Taiping
rebellion, and revived so as to support a present population
of 130,000, is the centre of production of Chinese porcelain.
Formerly unapproachable in quality and inimitable in the
coloring 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 coloring
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.

Kk'KIANG (290 44' N., 1160 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
WIS granted, with municipal government like that of
ad this constitutes to-day the residential quarter
for the foreign community. Thirteen miles from Kiukiang
b the mountain resort of Ruling, " Bull Ridge," where, at
an Altitude o\ 3, 500 feet, the foreign residents of Shanghai
tAd th* Yangtze valley have established a " summer
■kmy, comprising, with no hotels, by the census

^vptcnilx-r iqo6, a summer population of i.ioo. The
tefrfwltri function of the port, to serve as a tea market,

* HvawtAined for a few years, but by degrees the control

;fc» bmfalW was transferred to Hankow, and to-day
: .1 prepared for the foreign market remains
Mmc-if HaikH until it is sold at Hankow. The progress
5 shown by the following figures, the

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 239

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 available width, but with
unaltered depth. At Shanghai is the junction with the
Soochow Creek, which provides water communication 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 lights,

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 17, 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 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 the 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

rrrow depth, a river frontage of nearly three-fourths of
mile. The 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-

234

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 (310 20' N., 1180 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.

1884 .

. 2,681,697

1,206793

3,888,490

1894 .

. 5,068,450

5,156,090

10,224,540

1904 .

. 9,916,453

13-306,930

23,223,383

The imports in 1904 included cotton woven fabric
(Tls. 1, 750,000 for foreign, and Tls.274,000 for native weav-
ings), cotton yarn (Tls. 818,000), gunny bags (Tls. 42 6, 000),
kerosene oil (Tls. 718,000), and sugar (Tls. 1,209,000) ;
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, amounted to 5,621,143 pici
in 1904, and 8,438,093 piculs (502,250 tons) in 1905.

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

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 235

ariously at from 14,000,000 to 39,000,000, the most probable
figure being 25,000,000 (Popoff, 1894). 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
supplying the salt for the Hwai Administration, which
provides officially for the needs of six provinces or parts of
provinces, with a probable total of a hundred miEion
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 opium, wheat, beans,
etc. ; while the products of its hand-looms, of the silk
weavers of Soochow 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 everywhere and in all directions inter-
sect its surface, the Grand Canal being only primus itUer
pares. The ruined bridges, temples, and houses of this
smiling land, devastated by the Taiping rebels (1853-64),
were a marked characteristic of Kiangsu thirty years ago,
and are still observable in many places. Kiangsu, Kiangsi,
and Anhwei form the Viceroy alty of Liangkiang, " The
Two River (provinces)." In the province are four treaty
ports, Nanking, Chinkiang, Soochow, and Shanghai.

Nanking (320 13' N., 1190 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.
221-587, and another of the city under the Southern Sung
(a.d. 1127-1280), and Mongol (a.d. 1280-1368) Dynasties.
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, have a circuit of twenty-five miles, and enclose an
area sufficient rather for the possible population of the
capital of an empire than for the present population of

236

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 Yung-lo (ad.
1403-24), 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.
Tls.

Exports.
Tls.

Total.
Tls.

1900

1904 .

2,158,311
5,296,119

1,710,284

3,529*929

3,868,595
8,826,048

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).

Chinkiajmg (320 13' N.. 1190 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 large 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, administers

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 237

in the same way as the British concession at Tientsin. The
course of trade is shown by the following figures : —

Imports.

Exports.

Total.

TIs.

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

The principal imports in 1904 were cotton woven fabrics
(TIs. 3,866,000), cotton yarn (TIs. 3,693,000), matches
(Tls.572,000), kerosene oil (TIs. 1,786,000), sandal- wood
(TIs. 325, 000), sugar (Tls.3,681,000), wood-oil (TIs. 1,058,000),
and tobacco (TIs. 594,000). The principal exports were
beans (Tls.535,000), bean-cake (TIs. 78 1,000), ground nuts
(TIs. 1, 804,000), ground nut-oil (TIs. 91 1,000), 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, Shuntung, Honan, etc.

Soochow (310 25' N., 120° 34' E.), the provincial capital,
for centuries been famous for its wealth and its magni-
ficence, and is the subject of two well-known proverbial
expressions.

Shang 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 born at (Hang-) chow, because there the men are
handsomest and most learned ; marry at (S00-) chow,
because there the women are most beautiful ; die at (Lin-)
chow, because there may be found the finest wood fur
coffins." Poets have sung the city in many another phrase,
'estern poets may there find keen enjoyment, pro-

23$

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

vided that, as elsewhere in China, they have no olfactory
nerves. The population, estimated before the rebellion
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-reeling, spinning, and weaving.
Soochow was opened as a treaty port in 1896, and an
international settlement was laid out, to be administered
on the plan afterward 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 follow 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.i, 886,194 for exports,
of which silk contributed four-fifths.

Shanghai (310 14' N., 1210 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
Tungsha lightship, marking the outer bar of the southern
entrance to the Yangtze, at the village of Wusung, is the
first affluent 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
with only a general depth of 19 feet at high water, spring
tides, though at times this is increased to 23 feet. This
sufficed for the vessels engaged in the carrying trade in the
early days, 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 8, 1901, to improve the condition of

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 239

Shanghai is mentioned in history 2,150 years ago, and
goo 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 17, 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 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 the 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. The 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-

24o THE CHINESE EMPIRE

pang/' the French Government having refused to surrender
its jurisdiction over the so-called " Concession Francaise."
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
Francaise " is 358 acres. The resident population of the
International Settlement at different periods and of the
whole of Shanghai and district for 1905 was as follows : —

American

French

German

Japanese

Portuguese

RoaiiD

Au*txo> Hungarian

Spanish

Other foreign

Total ..

Chinese;

1880,

1M5.

t8oo.

1B9J.

1900.

1903.

Tot.
Sett.

All

1,061

3 JO

III

185

10a

1,511

374

66
xi6

595

457

331
5*

i9t

t.663

*44
366

56*
7
3*

i6j

*.°55

338

liS

3«4

*50

73»

•8

•a

47»

*.9*7
561
176
3*5
736
97»

60
in
7«

433

4.381
991
fag

7«5
H37
i.\3i
554
158
148
146
111
69*

4.5*'

1,0X3

4*38<

3,03S

4M
163
»33
146

131
*13

Mf9

3.673

3,811

4.684

6.774

*M97

'5.57b

107,812

135,665

168,139

340,995

145.*76

452,716

650,000

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 whatever the minor dif-
ferences in their form of government, the several " reserved
areas " at Shanghai, whether British, French, American or
International, are not concessions such as exist at Tientsin,
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 title-deed issued by the foreign lessee power, and regis-
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

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 241

>f sale is not issued, but it is held under " perpetual lease,"
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

ixation and police ; but the systems 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 thou-
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

rere drawn up in 1845, with a " Committee of Roads and
Jetties " nominated by the Consul. These, as amended in
in 1854 and approved by the Chinese authorities, extended

le 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 Municipal 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 Municipal
Council is under the presidency of the French Consul-Gen oral,
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

242

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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, 35 0,000, representing
an additional capital value of over Tls.ioo.ooo.ooo. The
assessed value of the 358 acres of land under the French
Municipality 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-
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.

Tonnage of Shipping Entered and Cleared
1864-
991,786

548,175
116,945

756
130,397

British . ,
American
German . .
Japanese

Other foreign
Chinese steam

2,306,036

544-032

105458
206,473
158,060
704.439

1904.
6,524.801

394*659

1. 614.027

495.292*
1.143,970
2,009.049

Total

1,788,059 4,024,498 12,181,798

• Shanghai tael, worth less by 10 per cent, than the Haikwan
tael in which the values of trade are expressed.

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 243

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. Re-Exports. Net Imports.

Tls. Tls. Tls.

1859

. 32,429,232 2,609,603 29,819.629!

1864

. 30,522,183 I7i723.355 12,798,828

1874

. 52,902,102 43764,978 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

1906

• 227,535.546 152. 56339° 74.972,150

Chinese Produce Imported

Gross Imports. Re-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 6,878,211

1894 .

53.36l.347 47,092,163 6,269,184

1904 .

. 127,970,828 107,966,192 20,004,636

1906 .

. 115,424,069 100,656,771 14,767,298

Chinese Produce Exported

Original Exports. Re-Exports. Total.

Tls. Tls. Tls.

1859 .

i 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

1906 .

. 78,996,881 100,656,771 179,653,652

* Japan*

;se tonnage in 1904 reduced from 1,744,249 tons in 1905,

owing to Ru

sso- Japanese war.

t The Y

angtze and northern ports not having been opened to

foreign shipj

>ing, re-exports thither did not pass through the Customs

in 1859.

244

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

Total Trade

Inwahd.

Outward.

Total.

Tls.

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

339.77i.524

664,648,350

1906

• • 342,959>6l5

332,217,048

675,176,663

In the original exports from Shanghai in 1904. silk anc
its products figured for ^,33,411,000, raw cotton for
Tls. 16,000,000, cotton cloth from steam factories Tls .747,000,
and from hand-looms Tls. 5, 920,000, factory-spun cot
yarn Tls.4,150,000, and rice Tls .5, 100,000.

Chekiang

Chekiang, with an area of 36,700 square miles and
population estimated at 12,000,000, the northern end
the ancient Kingdom of Yueh, which extended along the
coast from Canton to Shanghai, 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
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 solid 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

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 245

^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 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 (300 12' N., 1200 12' E.), the provincial
capital, and for a time the capital of the Southern Sung
Empire (a.d. 1 129-1280), 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 summer 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.
Tis,

Exports.
Tis.

Total.
TLs.

1898
1904 .

, 2,960,234
8,702,249

5,033.245
9.I58.5I9

7*993479

17,760,768

Among the imports of 1904 cotton manufactures figured
but little, the principal being tin (Tis, 197,000) kerosene
oil (Tls,699,ooo), matches (Tls,97,ooo), sugar (Tls.1,710,000),

246

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

beans (Tls 795,000), bean-cake (Tls .275,000), bean-oil
(Tls. 1 34,000). wood-oil (Tls. 1 35, 000), rape-seed (Tls. 111,000),
and tobacco (Tls .4 18, 000), Among exports the principal
were cotton (Tls. 306,000), fans (Tls. 800,000), silk and its
products (Tls.3, 182,000), and tea (Tls.4,245,000).

Ningpo (290 53' N., 1210 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
at 260.000. There is no foreign concession or reserved
area, and 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 guilds 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 Hangchowp diverted a part of the trade from Ningpo.
The course of trade is seen from the following figures : —

Imports,

Exports.

Total.

TJs,

Tls.

t*M •

10,264,616

6,250.306

16,514,922

dM .

• 7.532.4^5

7.013^45

14,546,310

I -

6,649,117

4.773»272

11,422,389

1 •

8,984,676

5,615,081

14,599.757

UHH •

. 13,296,271

8,001,141

21,297,412

it »o flight an expansion of values expressed in silver,

non -progressive port. Among the imports of

I were cotton fabrics (Tls.2, 950,000),

1 -,33,000) , tin (Tls. 1, 300,000), kerosene oil

^i£&r (Tls. 1 ,529,000), and tobacco, including

a l.ooo). The chief exports were cotton

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 247

(Tls. 1,972 ,000), rush mats (Tls. 290,000), tea (Tls. 3,409,000),
and fishery products (Tls ,339, 000).

Wenchow (280 1' N., 1200 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. There is no
foreign settlement, and few foreign residents. It was
opened as a treaty port in 1877, and has failed to develop
a trade. In 1904 imports were valued at Tls. 1,523, 480,
including kerosene oil (Tls. 189,000), and sugar (Tls. 137,000) ;
and exports at Tls. 866,905, including tea (Tls.505,000) ;
making a total trade of TJs.2, 390,385.

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), 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 water 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. In Fukien are three treaty ports.

Santuao (260 40' N., 1190 40' E.), the " Haven of the
Three Marts," has one of the finest harbors in the world,
eminently suitable for a naval station ; and this, with the
desire to protect it by quasi-neutralisation, led to its volun-

248

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

tary opening in 1899. The port is shut off by mounta
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
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 Tls.53.723 ; to exports, tea
(110,772 piculs) contributed Tls. 1,936,000, and all other
goods Tls.5,359.

Foochow (250 59' N., 1190 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 at 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 is given in parentheses the
quantities (in thousands of piculs) of shipments of tea,
including in 1904 reshipments of tea received from Santuao.

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 249

[864

Imports.

Tls.
7,134,000
4,668,220
5-038,689
6,425,919
10,048,966

Exports,

Tls.

(487)

13,124,000

15,406,672 (683)
8,508,752 (680)
7,025,013 (487)
7,217,002 (293)

Total.
Tls.

258/

20,250,000
20,074,892
13.547.441
13.450,932
17,265,968

11884
1894
1904
iese are the figures for the trade by steamer, to which
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.8,3i6,932, total Tls. 11,451, 105. During the year 1904
the principal imports, by steamer and junk, were cotton
fabrics (Tls.8io.ooo for foreign, and Tls. 584,000 for native
weaving), cotton yarn (Tls. 1,01 1,000), tin (Tls. 159,000),
kerosene oil (Tls. 747, 000), sugar (Tls.309.000), beans
(Tls. 516,000), bean- and tea-oil (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 (240 27' N., 1180 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
harbor affords perfect shelter, except from typhoons which,
getting in, are unable to find their way out. The inner
harbor, with a width of a third to a half-mile, lies between
Amoy, on which are the business offices, 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
Japanese concession was marked out on the Amoy side,
has not been developed. At the upper end of the

250

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

inner harbor 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 earlier shipments being mainly of Amoy Oolong ; this
soon deteriorated in quality, and, as the export fell off,
its place was taken by Formosa Oolong, the culture and
preparation of which were introduced by Amoy tea-imn,
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 . .

42.9*3

98.754

—

1894 ..

29,312

137.245

—

1904

3.065

100,683

63.630

1906

2,450

59.005

67,717

The following figures show the course of trade at Amoy,
the value of exports including that of Formosa tea imported
and re-exported —

Imports,

Exports.

Total.

Tls,

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

I3.576.082

1894 .

. 10,043,128

7,771,091

17.814,219

1904 .

. 14,522,053

6,604,634

21,126,687

Among imports in 1904 the principal were cotton fabrics
(Tls. 797,000), cotton yarn (Tls. 1,509, 000), tin (Tls. 208,000),

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 251

bicho de mar (Tls. 138,000), flour (Tls.505.ooo), matches
(Tls.130.000), kerosene oil (Tls. 589,000), rice (Tls. 1,907,000),
beans (Tls. 964,000), and bean-cake (Tls. 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.44 1,000), and tobacco (Tls.324,000).

KWANGTUNG

Kwangtung, the " Eastern Broad," forms with Kwangsi,
ic " Western Broad," the Viceroyalty of Liang Kwang,
le " Two Broads." Kwangtung is in the main a mountain-
is 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 Kwangtung 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 30,000,000. 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 immigrants, intermingled but never coalescing
or intermarrying, speaking dialects mutually unintelligible
to each other, and frequently engaging in clan 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
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

252

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

-million

itional

iupply the deficienc
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 literally 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
K wangchowwan ,

Swatow (230 22' N., 1160 40' E.), an unofficial town
with a present population of 60,000, the port of Chaochow,
the easternmost prefecture of Kwangtung, was opene
to trade in i860. The anchorage is good, four miles up
stream from Double Island, which lies 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 organisation. The people of
the Chaochow prefecture, commonly 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 mor
stringent conditions upon them (such as lower prices fa
their products, higher freights, special clauses in a bill
lading, etc.) by united guild action, proceeding even
occasion to the extreme measure of a boycott or of at
stention from all trade. The district is a large importer
of beans and bean-cake, and, though rice-producing, (

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 253

as well; its staple exports are sugar and tobacco. The
following figures show the course of trade :- —

Imports,

Exports.

Total.

Tls.

1864 .

6,399,786

3.700,165

10,099,951

1874 .

. II.057.659

4.3&7.739

15,425.398

1884 .

. 12,385,969

7.386,349

19772,318

1894 .

. 19,424,841

6,483.667

25,908,508

1904 .

- 34,615,923

14,664,863

49,280,786

le 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 coolies 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 yarn (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,ooo),bean-cakei(Tls.5,432.ooo), 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 (230 7' N„ 113° 16' E.)t the provincial capital,
is styled the " City of Rams," from the legend of the five
Immortals 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
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 unsavory Chinese
streets, and this continued after Canton was made a treaty

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 commercial
dependency of the British colony. At Canton the " factory "
sites were abandoned, and in 1859 a new 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 corner of the city.
Of this reclamation four-fifths were assigned as the Bn
concession and one-fifth as the French concession ; and
here, surrounded by a wide moat with guarded bridges,
the foreign community hves, 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-^1 — 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
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 Catholic cathedral erected by the French on the
site of the Viceroy's Palace, destroyed in 1857 by the

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 255

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 1861,
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 : —

two supervising stations for the junk trade with Hongkong

rd Macao, the stations of Kowloon and Lappa.
The foreign colonies of Hongkong and Macao being
free ports, with no Customs duties or supervision to trammel
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 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.
Opium and salt were the principal subjects of the traffic,
opium because of the great value and high duty attaching

Imports.

Exports.

TOTAL.

Tls.

Tls,

lis.

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

(9-1)

22,914,074

1884

, 11,886,781

13*853,243

(80)

25,740,024

1894

, 27,385,876

18,031,721

(12-6)

45.417.597

1904 ,

. 52,885,637

433DI.439

(29'5)

96,247,076

256

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 maintiained by
cruisers under the control of the native authorities of
Canton. The situation, with lax native control, became
intolerable in the eyes of those who would maintain the
absolute freedom of those free ports ; and in the Additional
Article of 1885 to the Chef 00 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 preven;
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 junk 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 follows : —

Imports.

Exports.

Total.

Tls.

1887 ..

29,186,636

3i.656.Oi9

60,842,655

1894 ..

53,792,843

41,607,808

95,400,651

1904 ..

92,650,896

65,102,878

I57J53.774

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 257

The principal imports into the delta through the three offices
in 1904 were cotton yarn (Tls. 4, 171, 000), flour (Tls.i, 133,000),
kerosene oil (Tls. 3, 834,000), rice {Tls.i 1,423, 000), sesamum
seed (Tls. 2,763, 000), and sugar {Tls.i, 276,000). The princi-
pal exports were silk and its products (Tls. 31, 420,000),
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. 1,234.000), 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
(53i25° piculs) less than 2 per cent, to the value of the
exports passing the three offices.

Samshui (230 6' N.f 1120 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. The principal export was paper
(TIs.231,000).

Kongmoon (220 35' N., 1130 9' E.), " River-mouth," a
city of 35,000 inhabitants, situated on a side creek of the
delta near the mouth of the westernmost branch of the
network of rivers, distant 70 miles steaming from Canton,
8j 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,
The principal exports were palm-leaf fans, straw mats, and
poultry.

25*

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

Kiungchow (20° i' N., iio° 16' E.). the prefectural i
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 cotnmunit
had any interest in it, the actual opening was deferre
until 1876. The port serves the trade of Hainan and of
the prefecture of Leichow 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 dally tide which rises here as in the
whole of the Gulf of Tonkin, The course of trade ha
been as follows : —

Imports.

TIs.

Exports.
TIs.

Total.

TJs.

1884
1894 .
1904 .

1,326,499
. L817.398

• 2,548,725

1,119,682
1,283,821
2,469,878

2,446,181
3,101,219
5,020.509

The principal exports in 1904 were pigs (65,306 valued at
Tls.881,631), sugar (Tls.507,000) and betel-nuts (TIs. 120,000).
Pakhoi (2i° 29' N., 1090 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 Limchow,
13 miles distant, and was opened as a treaty port in 1877.
In common with other ports on the Gulf it has but one tic
in the twenty-four hours. The district directly served bj
it is poor and sandy, producing sugar, indigo, and grounc
nuts, with fishing and piracy as bye industries ; and the
chief hope for any development of trade lay in the use
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 Tonkin. 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

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 259

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 Wucnow 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 route to Yunnan and
Western Kwangsi.

Goods.

Annual Average in

1881-83.

1888-9O.

1894-96.

1898-1900.

Shirtings, Yards
T. -Cloths
Fine cottons „
Cotton yarn, Piculs
Long Ells, Pieces

36, 1 20

Ii337.95<>
I4,600

1 1.323
5-306

4,081,600

2,987,875

I,3I5,66o

9I.48I

20.109

3,127,160

1.357.050

790,920

76,090

1,488,120

499.2SO

576,900

45,654

6,434

Total value of all
cotton and wool-
len goods. . Tls.

3S7.899

2,454.334

1,922,160

1,221,749

The value of the trade of Pakhoi in 1904 was, imports
Tls.1,892,235, exports Tls.ipi22.423, total Tls.3,014,658.
The exports included sugar (Tls. 296,000) and indigo
(Tls.257,000).

Cessions in Kwangtung

There are no less than three areas in Kwangtung ceded
t.j foreign powers under different conditions — Macao to
Portugal, Hongkong to Great Britain, and Kwangchowwan
to France.

Macao (220 xi' N., 1130 33' E.) was first occupied

2<X>

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 denned, 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 : the one indisputable fact being that the
Portuguese 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 sliips 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 and again in 1856, the merchants were
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 in 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 harbor. The population on December 31,
1899, was 63,991, composed of 3.780 Portuguese, 154 other
foreigners, and 60,057 Chinese.

Hongkong (220 18' N., 1140 10' E.), " Fair Haven,"
was formally occupied by the British authorities by
notification published on May 1, 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,

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 261

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 harbors in the world which may
be called perfect, the eastern entrance being 600 yards wide,
and the western entrance fully as wide, but protected by
outlying 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 harbor on its north
side, was added to the cession in i860. The northern side
of the harbor 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
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 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, to
theXhinese 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

262

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

is maintained in the colony, and the resident civilian
population in 1906 was 319,603, composed of 307,38s
Chinese, 6,085 British and other Europeans and Americans,
and 5,902 other foreigners. Of the Chinese 216.240 were
males and 91.148 were females.

Kwangchowwan (21° i' N., no0 25' E.) is one of the
four cessions on lease made in the period after the China-
Japan war, the four, with dates of first occupation, being
Kiaochow (Germany, November 14, 1897), Port Arthur
and Talien (Russia, March 27. 1898). Kwangchowwan
(France, April 22, 1898) and Weihaiwei (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 legitimate trade of the colony, and,
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 which the highest estimate is 9,000,000
(Alabaster, 1902), 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
t River, the affluents of which converge, as the fingers
of the hand converge to the wrist, to their outlet at Wuchow,
the waters then Mowing 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

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS

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-
comitants of a bad harvest ; it was in Kwangsi that the
Taiping rebellion took its rise, and the latest of the re-
bellions of China was that of Kwangsi 1902-5. 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 around Poseh, the
other, giving oil of better quality, lying across the Tonkin
frontier between Lungchow and Langson. In minerals
the province offers great, but as yet unproved, possibilities.
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 two treaty ports.

Wuchow (230 29' N., in0 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 Kwangtung ; and at Wuchow

HSE EMPIRE

erf tbe province, all of which
Ik dtntou—Jil of the steamer

bytke

Tfc>
2.976,807
- M 4*

: Bf4 351

3.277791

addition tbe vame of tbe trade by junk

T*.
1904 . . 882.758

ring tbe total trade of
1904 amount to

EmNflBS

9.3I5.039
the port in

Total.
Tit

4^21.758
11.084.227

Total.

TTs.

10,198.797

21.283.024

Of the total foreign import by steamer in 1904 entitled
them, with a value of Tb 7,407,289, no less than 80 per
cent, was sent inland under transit passes, thereby escaping
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 lis 251,000), poultry- (Tls.35 1,000),
and hides (TIs.591.000).

Lungchow (22° 22' N., 1060 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
tbe 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
)' urney of 800 miles. The Customs officials stationed

ie find little to do except to admire the picturesque
scenery, the value of the trade in 1905 being, imports
Tin. 163,330, exports Tls.67,122, total Tls.230.452. The
jtnncipal imports were timber and dye-yams, and the

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 265

principal export, other than opium, was American kerosene
oil which had come up the river from Canton.

Nanking (220 48' N„ 1080 15' E.), a city of about
100,000 inhabitants, situated about 30 miles below the
junction of the Right and Left Branches of the main (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, as a " trade mart " on
January 1, 1907. The Municipal Government will, it is
announced, be of the type adopted at Yochow.

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 assimiliated by the Empire, its direct government by
China dating only from the time of Kublai Khan (a.d. 1260),
through whose conquest Yunnan was annexed and his
suzerainty over Burma, Annam, and Cambodia reaffirmed.

IThe area is put at about 145,000 square miles, and the
estimates of the population range from 6,000,000 (Popoff,
1894) to 10,000,000 (Tiberii, 1902). 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 suppressed with great difficulty and with ruthless
slaughter ; and this brought in its train the bubonic plague,
which was for many years endemic in Yunnan (at Mengtsz
with a resident population of 12,000 nearly 1,000 deaths
are said to have occurred in each of the years 1892 to 1896).
vas first seen by European surgeons 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, would lead to the accept-
ance of the lower figure. Yunnan is decidedly mountainous.

266

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

The western part is covered with mountain chains
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
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, tc
be supplemented by the railway now under construction
to Yunnanfu, the provincial capital ; the West River from
the eastern border, leading to Canton and Hongkong ; anc
the Yangtze from the northern border, leading down tc
Hankow and Shanghai. Of the agricultural products
the province, the only one deserving attention is opii
which is considered in the chapter on that drug, and whic
is the principal means by which Yunnan pays for
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.

THE PROVINCES AND THE TREATY PORTS 267

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
it 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 (230 24' N., 1030 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
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 summer 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 lbs. 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 tariff duty, are, however,
based on the undiminished 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 round-
about way for Kweichow. The opening of Wuchow (1897)

CHAPTER IX

FOREIGN TRADE

The records of the foreign trade of China in olden time
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 pre-
sumably 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. 960-112;
Dynasties ; and the routes followed by the Chinese them-
selves 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 this 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 about 151 1. Six years later, 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 coast, while Fernando was put in prison
in Peking, ultimately losing his life* Other ships arrived

370

>J TRADE

271

o (where a regular " factory,"

shed), Fooehow, and Amoy,

lished near Canton, one being

luct of the Portuguese was in

aintained at that time by all

heathen, probably intensified

he better of Chinese traders in

order went out to slay them,

n the north, 800 losing their

:uguese concentrated at Macao,

o settle in 1557 on payment

• in 1573 the Chinese shut in

ncl in 1587 established a civil

lese inhabitants and collect all

th endured until 1848. Several

or attempted to go, to Peking :

Andrade in 1517, was stopped

:552, was stopped by the Portu-

a third in 1667 reached Peking.

a fourth in 1727 was graciously

cured no tangible advantages ;

led a fifth in 1753. After the

nee of Macao in 1848. political

nd, with one exception (Mexico),

le Western powers to secure (in

id commerce with the Imperial

next to enter into the foreign
entered the East from the West
1543, by reason of the decision
ilimitation ; and their first visit
lien they were well received at
ssion started for Peking in 1580.
n and sent back to Manila ; this
il 1847, and the first treaty was
ipment of the Spanish trade with
iese trading between Manila and
tinehew, etc.), and the Chinese

ob!

rec

sit

sin1

fol

Po(

duj'

aeb

wh*

lad

we?

wit

ofi

tra<

the
of a
whc
I5H

FOREIGN TRADE

27I

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 payment
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 15 17, 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) a 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, anc^ tne nrst treaty was
made in 1864. The development of the Spanish trade with
China was left to the Chinese trading between Manila and
Fukien ports (Amoy, Chinchew, etc.), and the Chinese

27*

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 1622, when a fleet of seveni
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 negotia-
tion ; 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!) with walls six to eight feet thick and
thirty feet high, one in 1624, Fort Zealandia. at Taiwanfu
in the south, one at Tamsui in the north. Their first em-
bassy 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 Koshinga, an inde-
pendent 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 July 1635.
The policy of every nation in that day was to restrict the
trade of others, in the belief that trade was a stagnant
reservoir, the abstraction of a portion of the content
which by others would leave so much the less for them-

FOREIGN TRADE

273

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 £4,000 and £6.ooo 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 unprofitable

I 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 until
the abolition of its monopoly in 1834, all other English

» merchants trading under the Company's license. The first
British embassy to Peking was that of Lord Macartney in
1793, which was well and honorably received, but produced
no practical result ; and the second was that of Lord

• Amherst in 1816. who did not secure an audience, owing
to regrettable misunderstanding. 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 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

274

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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
Canton ; they obtained cargoes, but the only result was
that the Chinese prohibited all trade to nations not
on the spot.

The French first made touch with China, other than
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 resumption of hostilities with the
English, and was not again raised until 1829. Their first
diplomatic mission was in 1844, and by it the first treaty
was signed.

The Americans first made direct entry into the China
trade in 1784, their previous connection 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 owing 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.
By this time the Americans had attained a position in the
trade of Canton second only to the English, a development
based rather upon the prestige of others than upon their
Own, 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 amo;

FOREIGN TRADE

275

the factories at Canton the Swedish, Danish, and Imperial ;

he memory of the Danes is still preserved in Dane Island
at Whampoa, and the Imperial factory probably provided
chiefly for what is now Belgian trade and, possibly, for that
of the Hanseatic towns. Others, without separate factories,
came also under 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

t 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 Guild 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-
affirmed, they were given an absolute monopoly of all
dealings with foreigners, and were held responsible for their
debts and good behavior : 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 until their merchants
ships are ready to depart, and must then sail away
with them.

276

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

II. Neither women, guns, spears, nor arms of any kinc
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 unk-ss under 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 ri^
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 representation to make, it must
be done through the Hong merchants.

VII. Hong merchants are not to owe money to
i"ivigners. Smuggling goods to and from the city
prohibited,

VIII. Foreign ships arriving with merchandise must
mil loiter about outside the river ; they must come direct
to Whampoa and must not engage in clandestine trade

where.

These and others of the older regulations remained in
lull fore* up to the very last of the factory days. In 1830,
for example, no less than three ladies, wives of some 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
•iliuials threatened to stop all trade ! By this system

• Ship chandlers.

FOREIGN TRADE

277

the foreign trader, living ordinarily at Macao, came to
Canton to attend to the business of his ship, and while
there lived 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 documents :
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 TIs.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 summer one or two members
would be left in Canton, not, ostensibly, to protect the
factory, which was under 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, j
that an out-of-season ship was, or might be, expected,
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,
especially the latter, monopolised all dealings with the ship,
as ship, fixing their own prices. On arrival at the Bogue
(Bocca Tigris, Hoomunchai, Tiger's Gullet) , the one narrow
entrance for laden ships, a permit to enter 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.

• ■ Old Canton," by W. C. Huater.

Tonnage dues calculated according to measure-
ment of length and breadth

Loss in converting into bullion

Shroffage

Official gratuity

Hoppo's " fee for opening the barrier " . .

Transport to Peking and weighing in Govern-
ment scales . . ....

To the Superintendent of the Treasury

Add ii\j per cent, converting into bullion

IDifference in weights between Canton and
Peking, 7 per cent.*

Total

842 285

75-806

15-161

810-691

480-420

I50-I45

116-424

1-212

2,492 212

I74'455
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
sum payable on the above account for this ship of 420 tons
is Tls.168, equivalent at to-day's exchange to £25. When
the ship arrived at Whampoa, she continued to be a source
of minor 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-

* The actual difference in weights is under 1 pfer cent., but the
other way around, the Canton scale being the heavier.

FOREIGN TRADE

279

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
materially 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

1 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 n 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 bullion. When^he Export cargo, taken down
in privileged lighters, was duly laden on board, the Co-
Hong obtained the " Grand Chop " or clearance permit
— paid 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 millions, 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 honorable, with
never a written contract, with many an occasion of help
in time of difficulty, and with much sympathy and friendli-

280

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

ness from one to the other. When the East India Company
was thrust from its high estate in 1834 and the British
Government sent a Royal Envoy to assume, for the first
time, the control of trade, then the full light of day was
thrown on the system, 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, stevedores, hghterers, brokers, shroffs, linguists,
guides — all 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 trust-
worthy agent out to inquire prices, but must in all cases
accept without criticism the prices offered by his broker
of the Co-Hong. This applied equally to imports and to
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 paying
heavily for the privilege. Its thirteen members paid for
their appointment, Tls.200,000 (over £60,000) being re-
ported as the sum so paid by one ; they were frequently
called upon for special contributions, say Tls.ioo.ooo,
for a Yellow River flood or some other catastrophe ; they
had to maintain their position (their " pull ") at the capital ;

FOREIGN TRADE

281

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, nine
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
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 —

1st, 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 opium 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 opium

in the tariffs annexed simultaneously to all the treaties

858.

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

282

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 supplements
treaty of Hoomunchai (1843) and the American treaty
1844.

The position was now reversed, and from i8€
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 labor only after the development springing from the
inventions of Richard Arkwright and Eli Whitney, and
in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the move-
ment of cotton cloth 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 1 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 Wh'ich 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, 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

FOREIGN TRADE

erchant 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 sufficient
to cover its bills. 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 !), bar and scrap
iron (probably^ as ballast;, lead (required for packing tea,
but also minecTin China), quicksilver (in demand, import
779,600 lbs, "hi 1868 and 156,000 lbs, in 1905), and 350,000
Spanish dollars in kegs. That veracious historian, J.
Fenimore Cooper, •"^writing in 1847 of a trade of which
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, " until 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
159, a year in which the imports and exports of merchandise
t Shanghai about balanced, the import of treasure at that
port through foreign channels was Tls. 10,483,550 and the
* "The Crater."

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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.i,742,5io outwards.
After that date banking facilities were more fully developed
in the East, and in 1905 was seen the spectacle of a
Chinese import trade (Tls.447^00,000) 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 way which will
referred to later.

The new trade of China, based on conditions laid do
by the foreign powers, has been conducted since i860 on
linos similar in many 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,
and from the moment when Chinese produce is bought for
shipment ; but one fact must be borne in mind, that Customs
i 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 tradecT to Canton, Dutch to
Formosa and Amoy, and English to Amoy and, from i(

FOREIGN TRADE 285

Canton. In the eighteenth century trade was rigidly
restricted to Canton, and at this port the flags of the principal
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 following table.

1864.

1874-

18B4.

t894.

1903.

"."V

British ..
American
French .,
■ ;.-TnLiii
Japanese
Norwegian
Other Foreign . .
Chinesct

Ton*.

1, 862,314

3,609,390

93.099

580,570

756

38.195

396,673

64,588

T.111;.

+♦738,791

3,1^-1,560

'37.1153

530,377

480

41,5 °7

I97.7&4

494*2 37

Ton*.
12,154,949

93.903
939>7*4

ai5,'°5

10.4J5

460,197

3,993.613

Ton*.

3Q.496,347

>J9i"7

348,291

[,963*603

379.044

188,051

458,290

5,539.246

Tons.

48,133,987

539,686

M7B,ioo

7,310,437

7.965i 158

r,i mosH

1,106,466
9,911,109

Toms.

35.095,638

1,393.4*6

1,699,131

8,187,871

6,238,018*

3,921,026

9io.385

i6,407,35J

Total

6.635.485

0,305,801

18,606,788

29,613,001 1

57,290,389

71.755. W

Imports

Imports generally (net, after deduction of re-exports
to foreign countries) were valued in 1867 at Tls. 69,329, 741
(£23,109,914) and in 1905 at Tls.447,100,791 (£67,065,119).

Opium was imported Ln 1867 to the amount of 60,948
:uls, 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. 3 1, 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 ^.34,070,021,
being *j\ per cent, of all foreign imports.

Japanese carrying trade affected by Russo-Japanese War,

1904-S-

t Steamers and sailing vessels engaging in trade under the regu-
lations of the Inspectorate General of Customs,

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

Cotton Manufactures in 1867 were valued at Tls 14, 617, zi
being 21 per cent, of the total, and in 1905
Tls, 181 ,452,953, being 40 per cent of the total ; the im-
ports of 1905 were above the normal, but the increase was
maintained in 1906. Of plain fabrics {grey and white si
ings, sheetings, drills, jeans, and T-cloths) the import
1867 was 3,738,965 pieces, about 118,875,000 square yard
of which 130,000 pieces came from the United States
the rest mainly from England ; the value of these pi
fabrics was ^5.10,537,427, which was 72 per cent, of
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 : —

English

American
Japanese
Indian
All others

Total

Pieces.

14,393,846

12,693,793

789,290

651,011

174753

Sq. Yards. Value, Tls.

589,200,000

519,770,000

30,530,000

22,330,000

5,770,000

43,480, 1^

42,977.1/^
2,079,313

486,8*

28.702,693 1,167,600,000 90,484,885

This value was 48 per cent. oH:he value of all cotton products
imported in 1905. Fine cotton fabrics were imported in
1867 to 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, whicli
may be divided approximately between the countries of
origin as follows : —

English
American
Japanese
All others

Total

Pieces.

7.634.054

54L977
1,813,480

832,374

Sq. Yards.

186,304,000

16,253,000

11,368,000

6,271,000

Valub, Ti

23.135.5&3
2,006,35
1,446,054

M2I.4J

10,821,885 220,195,000 27,509,

FOREIGN TRADE

287

This value was 15 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 tine 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
yarn in 1867 was 33,274 piculs, entirely of English spinning :
it was of the finer counts, with an average value of Tls.4820
{£16) a picul ; and the total value, Tls. 1,603,807, was
11 per cent, of all cotton products. In 1905 the cotton
yarn 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 18s.) 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 TIs. 20,000,000, the value of the
750,000 piculs of yarn 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

I yarn. This yarn 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 corner of the Empire, and in every
village street may be seen the long white stretches arranged
by the women in preparation for their labor 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-
iting the spinning-wheel, but the hand-loom is still
>nquered-

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

It 1'otlcn s were importedin 18670! avalue ofTls.7.391,236,
constituting 10 per cent, of all foreign imports. In IQ05
the value was 7154,414,713, being less than I per cent,
of all imports. Those Chinese who can afford woollens
prefer silks and furs, and the wearers of sheep-skirls and
cotton-wadded garments cannot afford woollens ; wr.
the demands of fashion are met by cotton imitations.

Metals were valued in 1867 at Tls. 1,630, 351. a littl
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
explanation. The import of copper in 1867 was 1 1. 150
piculs, valued at Tls. 198, 017, and in 1905 was 985
piculs, valued at Tls .3 1,762, 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 piculs) 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
which is estimated at not less than 500,000 piculs a yea
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 2713,113 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., the discards of Western markets, coming mainlv from
England.

Sundries, i.e. all goods other than opium, cot
woollens, and metals, were valued in 1867 at ^5.13,636,376,
under 20 per cent, of the whole :

just

1905

FOREIGN TRADE 289

was Tls. 186,338,096, just over 40 percent, of the whole.

Jothing 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 115.4,427,171,
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
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 Tls. 1,726,950 for synthetic indigo to displace
the natural product of the country. The taste for foreign
luxuries has been introduced by returned 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 was
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.0'215 a gross, nearly ten boxes for
each one of the 400,000,000 of men, women and children
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 which 52 per cent.
was American, 8 per cent. Russian, 32 per cent, Sumatran,
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, while 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

290

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

been Chinese sugar re-imported, the greater part being
Java sugar, with some quantity from the Fhilippi
shippt'd 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 TIs.205.168, and in 1905 of 115-3,121,841 ; 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.

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
(£19,298,571), and in 1905 at Tls. 227,888,197 (£34,183,230),
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 merchants 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 we re-
silk 31 per cent., tea n per cent, and sundries 58 p*r cent

Tea * constituted the main staple of the old trade of

* 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 aud Spanish obtained it from Canton, and GO
quently called it by the Cantonese name cha. The Russians, ob-

FOREIGN TRADE 291

China. As has been stated, the fragrant leal formed the
main part of the outward lading of ships, vessels which
could take a thousand tons or more 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
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 1848-9 and 1849-50 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 ; thereafter 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

Tea Leaf.

Brick Tea.

Quantity.

Value.

Quantity.

Value.

3;;

Piculs.
1,248,256
1,846,989

8^9,173

TIB.

33,838,423
31,246,063
21,013,687

Piculs.

65,3"

370,212
530.125

Tla.

717.665
2,258,757

4431.965

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 tor

taining it by the northern frontier, called it tchai, from the northern
Chinese name cha*yeh, " tea-leaf."

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

the inhabitants of Siberia and Central Asia, who make of
it a soup. The decline in the China tea trade has cotae
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 tlien
the trade advanced by leaps and bounds. In 1867, when
China shipments were one and a quarter million piculs, 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 graduaUj
lost to China tea, until in 1905 the quantities withdrav
from bond for consumption within the United Kingdom
were as follows : —

China
India
Ceylon

Other countries

6,658.966 lbs.
150,530,446 „
89>385,901 ..
12,513,284 „

49,142 piculs
1,128,978 ,.

670,394 ri
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 23I 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 I.
13,251 piculs, brick, 53,123 piculs ; in 1886, leaf. 239,086

FOREIGN TRADE

293

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 consumption in the world, have been lost to China,
chiefly 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 flavor 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 country 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.2-5oa picul, reduced only in 1903 to Tls.1/25 (equivalent
at present exchange to J 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*50 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
ct the export trade. By the nineteenth century the supplies

294

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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,
1828-33, being 5,393 bales (4,314 piculs). During the next
four years of open trade, 1833-7, shipments increased to
an annual average of 12,497 bales (9,998 piculs). Then
followed a period of war and interrupted trade, and in tin-
five years 1839-44 *ne ajmual shipments fell to a
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 1845-50 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 follows : —

i860
1867

1886
1905

Canton.
Piculs.

5,571

9.^59

19,406

34.231

Shanghai. Total, all Ports.

Piculs.
6l,552
30,358
44.967
44.303

Piculs.
67,123
39^27
64488
80.335

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 "3»924 2,234,887

1886 .. 350,482 19,210,052 2,271,996 6,753/.

1905 . . 1,344,286 53.425473 4.844.343 9.938.750

In 1905 tlit raw white originated almost entirely m Shanghai
and Canton ; yellow silk came chiefly from Szec I
smaller quantity being also produced in Shantung ; wild

FOREIGN TRADE

295

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.
Shanghai, and Canton, and, in the shape of pongees woven
from wild silk, at Chef 00. 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 1 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 1 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
o( supply of silk for the West, and within a half-century she

2p6

THE CHINESE EMPTRE

supplied a full half ; on the basis of the average output of
the three years 1902-4, and not including the home weaving
of China and Japan, the West was supplied with silk, 27
per cent, from China, 28 per cent, from Japan, 25 per o
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.

China

109,279

8l,5H

69,617

J apan

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.i32,oo8,7i2, or 58 per cent,
of the whole, in 1905. In the earlier year the only notice-
able items were cassia (Tls.325,686), cotton (115.458,424),
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 picu)
beans and two and a half million piculs of bean-cake were
imported into Kwangtung ports. The chief source of

production is Manchuria, next to that Shantung, Hupeh, and
the lower Yangtze.

Bristles 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.

Cotton 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,

Fire-crackers 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 with 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.

Mutihig, entirely the product of the Canton district.

2g8

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

and almost entirely destined for the United States,
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 va
mineral wealth China provides but a small surplus for ship
ment abroad. China is a coal country, and the tota
foreign export in 1905 (11,534 tons) was less than r per cent
of the quantity imported ; it has large fields of iron or
and the export in 1905 (24,600 tons) was less than a sixt
of the import ; it is a copper country, and, with no expor
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
ore, regulus and refined, coming from Hunan, in 1905 w;
94.327 piculs.

Provisions were shipped in 1905, chiefly for consumpti
at Hongkong, to a value of 1157,239,410, including cattl
sheep, pigs, and goats, valued at TIs .3,210, 100, and eg|
valued at TIs.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 piculs, and cotton-seed 566,105 piculs ; in 1905,
rape-seed 19,751 piculs (from Hupeh »and Anhwei),
sesamum-seed 575,721 piculs (from ^Hupeh^ and Kiangsu),
and cotton-seed 659,705 piculs. The Vape-seed and cotton-
seed go entirely to Japan, the sesamum-seed chiefly
Germany and Japan.

Skins, consisting mainly of goat, kid, and lamb, co:
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,
in 1887 ac Tls.652,17^, in 1897 at Hs.3,083,517, and
1905 at Tls.9,684,286. Of the export of 1905 the Unit

FOREIGN TRADE

299

States took 42 per cent.. Great Britain 30 per cent., with
Japan, Italy, and Germany next.

Straw 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 Shantung
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*33* 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
effect on the trade of the country would be to^ increase the
quantity of commodities required to be exported to maintain
commercial equilibrium ; but, in fact, the tendency has been
in the direction of an increase of imports. Considering mei

3oo

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

chandise only, passing through the various Custom He
imports exceeded exports in 190 1 by 27 per cent., in ic
by 28 per cent, and in 1903 by 31 per cent ; in 1904 tr
excess increased to 43 per cent., and in 1905 to no le
than 97 per cent., but in these two years the greatly increa
import trade, apart from any question of increased absor
tive power by the people, was largely financed by remittanc
to maintain the Russian and Japanese armies in the fielc
rendering the conditions of trade abnormal. The year
1903 must then be taken as the last normal year. Outsid
the maritime Customs, statistics are unknown in China,
and all that can be done in seeking information is to adoj
a reasonable working hypothesis, and on it to base a con-
jecture. With this serious limitation, an attempt * lias
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 further 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.

Assets. — The merchandise exported was Tls .236,205, 162,
and bullion and coin Tls.33, 046,000, including as before

* "An Inquiry into the Commercial Liabilities and Assets of
China in International Trade, " by H. B. Morse.

FOREIGN TRADE

301

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
felopment 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 laborers, remitting
to their homes the fruit of their labor 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
the west the seas which circumscribe it on the east and
south ; and no study of its trade conditions would
complete which was restricted to its maritime traffic. Pric
to the application in Europe of the magnetic needle to tt
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 Qfl
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 >a\(
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.

The same enterprise which built up a foreign trade by
land, was applied also to the development of internal trade

30a

INTERNAL TRADE

303

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 dynasty became established in power the waj
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 labor minimised
the cost of transport by land. By sea, the clumsy junks
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 : —

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 irom Foochow

304

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

route, as far west as Hupeli
route, from Ichang into

5. The Lower Yangtze
and Hunan.

6. The Upper Yangtze
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.

1. The West River route from Canton commands 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
m from the north-west providing a route, interrupted by
rapids and shaUows, 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 traffic 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 traffic 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 :—

No. of Passes.

Value of Goods.
Tls.

Kwangsi

Kweichow

Yunnan

. 22,275

83,228
S.U4

860,803

4.856,903
140,086

INTERNAL TRADE

305

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-ways of Hunan. This pass, of less than 1,500
feet altitude, offers 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
plying 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 commercial use. The main
-ircam of traffic skirted the eastern side of the lake and,
entering the Yangtze at Yoehuw, 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

306

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

furnished a route west into Szechwan. By the Cheling Pass
route came the teas of Hunan and Hupefa 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,
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 (Plum 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,
tin- porcelain of Kingtehchen, The porcelain of to-daj
however, consists of plain ware sent to Canton to be painte
with the florid and multicolored designs peculiar to that
market. A curious instance of the conservatism of Chi;
trade was shown in 1903, In that year, in the general se,
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-honored Chinese method of cessation of all business

INTERNAL TRADE

307

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
Meiiing 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, found 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. Tin-
myriads of junks of former days, whose sails of matting
reflected the sun in golden patches, have yielded the main
thoroughfare to their quicker and handier rivals, and have
been driven to the byways 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 junk ; 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

3<>8

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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
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 fror
Chinkiang up, which in 1905 were as follows : —

Net Imports . .
Original Exports

11
129,407.753
118,104,228

Total

247,511,981

A moderate estimate for the junk trade would carry tt
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
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 cliffs
more precipitous. The average speed of the current
throughout the year is not less than five knots an hoi:

• » The Far East," by Archibald Little.

INTERNAL TRADE

and at times, especially during the summer floods, and in
places, this speed rises to twelve knots and even more.
The swift current drives the boatmen to tracking on rhHr
upward journey, and the trackers find but scanty foothold
nn 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 cliffs, up to a hundred feet or more above
the level of the water. This is the least of their difficulties.
From the upper end of the Ichang Gorge toFengtu.adistance
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 difficulties
apart from the rapids the following episode, occurring before
the lowest rapid was reached, furnishes an illustration,

K" October 6th. The boats under way 6 a.m., tracking
up the right bank. At 8.30 a.m. the tracking-line of
No. 1 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 aim 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 poured. Inch by
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 f we
gather some illuminating sentences describing the difficulty.
" We had a tough job to get round the point which
iorms 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

" Ichang to Chungking," 1890, by H. E. Hobson.
t • Through the Yangtze Gorges," by Archibald J. Little.

3">

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 favorable
season, while in the summer, against the full strength of
the Yangtze in flood, the voyage may be extended to three
or even four months : under the most favorable con-
ditions the average rate of progress does not exceed 15
miles a day, and it may fall as low as 3 miles a day through
the whole of the course of 420 miles from Ichang to Chung-
king. It is on the upward journey that most of the accidents
occur, and full a 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 junks, 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 lis. 16,562 ,371, downward Tls.i 1,169,256, 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 Tls. 40,000,000.

7. The Kweichow route up the Yuan River from
Cfaangteh and the Tungting Lake, is barred by numerous
rapids and available only for small boats. The downward
traffic consists of timber, opium, and mining products ;
the officially declared value of the timber is Tls.6,ooo,ooo
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. 1,207 ,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
^54,856,903 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
presents few difficulties to navigation, beyond the gradually
diminishing depth of water, as far up as Sichwanting in the
south-west corner 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

J. 12

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

small in the past few years, but in 1896 was valued

Tls. 1 .617,401, and in 1900 at Tls 1,032,471 ; in the former
year the greater part was tea leaf. 78,207 piculs, and
in the latter year brick tea, 70,905 piculs. The foreign
goods going from Hankow under transit pass in 1905 u
Slirnsi were valued at Tls. 825,540, and into Kansu at
Tls. 26,319.

<>. 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
tn 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
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, th* 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

Bridge over Grand Canal at Wusih.

Grand Canal passing through Wusili.

INTERNAL TRADE

313

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
course 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 banks 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 country 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 everywhere 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
from Chinkiang, the depth is frequently too little for the
larger boats during the season of low water. In this section
boats up to 40 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 1 —

u 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

314

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

on the Zuider Zee and the intricate system of
Netherlands dykes. The supply of water and
sacrifice of land are carefully measured and jealou
w; itched 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. Tr
whole of this part is much neglected and silted up, and
only available generally for navigation during the summer,
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
depth 60 or 70 feet below the level of the surrounding
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,

INTERNAL TRADE

315

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
[5.3,646,000, and in 1905 at Tls.3,331,000.
10. The Shansi route is mentioned to illustrate the
medieval conditions prevailing in China wherever transport
by water is not available. The province may be described
either as an accidented plateau or an unaccidented moun-
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 Taiyuanfu, 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 urgency of the
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 corner
of Shansi, thence up the valley of the Fen ho toward
Taiyuanfu ; 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 at its northern
end, and preceeding by Tatungfu south to Taiyuanfu.
ength of land transport from the nearest navigable
-way byjhis route is. noteless than £400 miles,^and
e road from Chengtingfu is only 150 miles, yet this

3i6

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

is the best and cheapest and the most frequented route
into Shansi.

ii. The Kiakhia route is, and has been for more than
two centuries, one of the most important trade routes in
the Empire. North of the Yangtze communication 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 Tienstin 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 goes 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
a thousand miles 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 with 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
originating 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 for the future,
as soon as peace conditions shall have been fully restored,
because of the construction of the railway from Ta

INTERNAL TRADE

317

(Tairen or Dalny) to Harbin, and thence east to Vladivostock
and north-west into Russian territory ; and by this railway
in 1903 went 378739 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 hundred 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, twelve years ago, 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 hinter-
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 summer and the frozen plain
of Manchuria in winter furnish the means of distributing
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 commodities
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

31*

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 are available for shipment to Hankow. 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 1,700,845 piculs. Of
these shipments 2,804,164 piculs were sent to Tientsin,
1,553,894 piculs being tribute rice and the rest in merchants'
hands, and 1,337,479 piculs to Chefoo ; 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 1
rich rice fields of that province.

Beans were shipped in 1903 (much of the trade was
diverted from Manchuria during the Russo-Japanese war)
to the extent of 3,423,766 piculs from Newchwang, 1,928,543
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 shipped 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
7.030,325 piculs ; of this quantity 3,400,444 piculs wer
to Japan, and the balance, except 731,161 piculs for Am
went to Kwangtung.

Coal shipments in 1905 amounted to 193,759 tons
Tientsin and Chingwangtao, 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
Chefoo, Wuhu, and Chinkiang.

INTERNAL TRADE

3*9

Cotton hand- woven cloth was shipped by steamer in
[905 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 Manchuria, but
32,116 piculs to the Chinese colonies in foreign parts. In
i904Newchwang imported in addition 82,667 piculs by junk.

Ground-nuts were shipped to the extent of 183,601 piculs
from Tientsin, 109,042 piculs from Chef 00, 79,726 piculs
from Hankow, and 489,353 piculs from Chinkiang, with
>tal shipments of 978,519 piculs ; of this quantity 24,600
piculs went to foreign countries, and 912,555 piculs to Canton,

Hemp, Jute3 and Ramie shipments amounted to 365,988
piculs, of which 153,005 piculs came from Hankow and
113,634 piculs from Kiukiang ; 134,002 piculs went to Japan
and 128,441 piculs to other foreign countries, leaving
[°3>545 piculs for home consumption.

Medicines of the Chinese pharmacopoeia were shipped
to a value of Tls. 1,082,247 fr°m Chungking, Tls. 1,050,853
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, ground-nuts, and the seeds of
the Camellia oleijera and the Aleurites cor data, provides the
Chinese housekeeper with fat for cooking and for illumination.
Shipments in 1905 amounted to 1,030,701 piculs, of which
33373 piculs (116,498 piculs in 1903) came from Newchwang,
168,333 piculs from Kiaochow, 419,444 piculs from Hankow,
171,310 piculs I mm Chinkiang, and 148,915 piculs from
Shanghai. It was imported into every port where it is not
produced.

320

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

Oil-seeds were shipped in 1905 to the extent of 1,581,514
piculs. Cotton-seed supplied 657,379 piculs, the c
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
piculs, 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
Tls. 10,849,912, for home consumption in other than tin-
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 addit
to 4,156,663 piculs imported from abroad.

Vegetable tallow, expressed from the seeds of the Stillingia
sebijera, 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 rl
consumption.

Tobacco, 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 ^4,427,171, and cigars, worth Tls.381,466, im-
ported from foreign countries.

Railways

This volume deals with the past and the present, anc
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 1906 were
as follows : —

Province through
which passing.

Manchuria

Points served.

Cliibli 1
Manchuria j . .
Chihli

Chihli 1

Mongolia j '

Chihh j

Honan [ , ,

Hupeh J
Honan

Chihli t

Shansi J ' "
Honan
ShaDtung

Kiangsu

Chekiang

Kiangsi >
Hunan y '
Kwangtung . .

Kwangtung

Hunan

Hupeh

(Irkutsk), Manchuli, Harbin,

Pogranichnaia, (Vladivostock)
Harbin, Kwanchengtze , .
Kwanchengtze, Moukden, Sinmin-

fu, Liaoyang, Newchwang,

Talien, Port Arthur
Moukden, Antung . .
Kowpangtze, Sinminfu
Peking, Tientsin, Chinwangtao,

Kowpangtze, Newchwang
Peking, Tungchow

Peking, Kalgan

Peking, Paotingfu, Chengting,
Weihwei, Chengchow, Hankow

Taokow, Weihwei, Tsinghwa

Chengting, Taiyuanfu

Kaifeng, Chengchow, Honan fu . .

Tsingtau, Tsinan, Poshan

Hwangtaikiao, Lokow

Shanghai, Soochow, Chinkiang,
Nanking

Hangchow city, Hangchow settle-
ment

Pingsiang, Chuchow

Swatow, Chaochowfu
Kungyik. Sunning, Samkahoi
Canton, Samshui

Length in milei.

Canton, Chuchow, Changsha, Han-
kow

Com-
pleted.

925
147

481

600

754
93
87

270

6-1
25

Under
st ruction

36
187

68
75

"3
3

322

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

and the passenger traffic is already considerable. The
development of goods traffic is a subject (or 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.52, 500,000 ; in the same year the Tientsin trade by
the Grand Canal was valued at Tls. 21,000,000, and that
between Tientsin and Paoting by the (Chihii) West River
at Tls.23,5oo,ooo. 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 indications that even of stagnating
China it may be said e pur si muove.

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 denounce 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 opportunity
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 arguments
with which to confute its opponents. There will 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. 618) the poppy was
apparently unknown to the Chinese botanists and physicians.

• " The Poppy in China," by J. Editing,

324

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

The 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 Yung 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 t&ese 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
west of the city. . . . The gardener came to me to
' The poppy is a good plant to have.' ... Its seeds are lit
autumn millet ; when ground they yield a sap like CO
milk; when boiled they become a drink tit 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
this poppy-seed decoction. I laugh and am happy.
have come to Yingchwan (his later home) and am wandering
on the banks of its river. I seem to be climbing the slupr*
of Mount Lu (home ul Ins buyliuod) in the far west." Ii
he Herbalist of Su Sung, prepared by order of the Emper

OPIUM

325

and

out

resu

ii...

about the year 1057, i* *s 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 found 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
suit 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

I Wang Shih. refer explicitly to the merits of the poppy
capsule in curing dysentery. Three writers on medical
subjects of the thirteenth century, 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 dysentery accompanied by local inflammation ; though
its effects are quick, great care must be taken in using it,

I because it kills like a knife."
The tirst 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-
medans, from whom he could leani of Arab arts and in-
dustries. In the. " Eastern Treasury of Medicine," a
Korean work of the same period, is given an exact ace
of the method of scoring the capsule, gathering the exude

326

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 owiov), transformed it into afyun.
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-yung, is unintelligible in Chinese.

Opium Smoking

It may be said broadly that, while all other opium-
using peoples 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 Am
and thence to Formosa, which was in process of colonisation
from Amoy in that period. In the " Notes on the Conduct
of Business " published about 1650, the year 1620 is given
as the date of the introduction, about the time of the
" Counterblaste to Tobacco " of King James the Sixth of
Scotland and First of England. The Chinese Emperors were
animated by the same feelings as King James, and

OPIUM

327

last of the Ming Emperors (1628-44) prohibited tobacco
smoking in his dominions. The first of the Manchu
Emperors, before his occupation of 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 smoke
tobacco is a fault, but not so great a fault as to neglect
practice with the bow. As to the prohibition of tobacco
smoking, it became impossible to maintain it because you
princes and others smoked privately, though not publicly ;
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. Kaerapfer
visited Java in 1689, and in his account of Batavia is the
first mention of an " opium-smoking divan," in which was
smoked "opium diluted with waterand 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

328 THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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
Staunton's account of Lord Macartney's mission (1793)
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 Malwj
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
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 " *

* " Journal China Branch of Royal Asiatic Society," 1882.

OPIUM

329

of 1753, which is based on tariffs of 1687 and 1733, then
still in force, opium is included as paying 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 commodities are
given, among them silk at Tls.ioo, tea at Tls.8, rhubarb
Tls.150, 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 f6reign drug. The trade went on without
restriction on the importation, and in 1773 the English mer-
chants made their first imports from Calcutta, with the
probable effect of increasing the amount introduced. In
1780 a new Viceroy was appointed to Canton, who had
11 the reputation of an upright, bold, and rigid minister/' *
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 Imperial edict was issued
absolutely prohibiting all importation. In 1800 this
prohibitory edict was issued anew. From this date the
traffic became contraband, and about the same time
smuggling became organised by detailed arrangements
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
• •• British Parliamentary Papers," 1783.

330

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

annual export of TIs, 10,000,000 in the ten years previous '*
to 1839 ; and 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 b
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.
It may be true that in ten years shipments of treasi
amounted to upwards of Tls.io,ooo,ooo annually, but
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 "look
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
commodities not exceeding Tls. 10,000,000 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 sh

OPIUM

331

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 in one
direction, 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 edicts of 1796 and 1800, as they had before ;
and arrangements were made with businesslike method for
circumventing 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
letter had only the effect of covering the traffic with a veil
of decency such that the importing merchants might engage

I 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
* See page 283,

332

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

regular reports of revenue collected, and the regular New
Year's gratifications sent in accordance with custom to th^
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 odor 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 until they could be delivered to purcha
This went on until 1820, when the order went out that
no opium was to be stored in Macao or at Whampoa ;
importers then established store ships at Lintin Islam
in the estuary of the Canton River. Up to this date the
import had not in any year exceeded 5,000 chests.

When the edict of 1800 was issued, the East In
Company ceased to carry opium on its own account. From
that time it was officially 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 with 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 inter J' took

his order to the receiving ship at Lintin, where he repacked
into mat-bags, marked with his private chop, and took it

OPIUM

333

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 bruium fulmen
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 doubtless 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 called
on board all concerned and went through some solemn
foolery, the object of which was to secure supplies for the
schooner, on its way from Singapore to Canton, driven into
Namoa in distress ; afterwards, at a more private interview
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
flying 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."

* -Old Canton."

334

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 as Ambassador of His Britannic
Majesty, brought to the fore 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 of 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 Tze-sii. In this decision the Emperor
may have been mistaken, he may have attempted to sweep
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 was appointed 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 Neil
Dow to carry out a Maine Liquor Law in the state of Ken-
tucky. But both he and his master had misjudged the
situation ; when they said " opium," the English env
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 ■■!
officials of the two powers, the abolition of the monopoly
the Co-Hong, and the adoption of uniform dues and dutic s
but it left the Chinese Government free to adopt its own
measures for the regulation ui the opium traffic. The Eng-

OPIUM

335

lish Government did not undertake to perform preventive
service for China, since others than English were already
engaged 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 10, 1839,
and, after remaining inscrutable for some days, on the 18th
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, they 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
evidenced by the fact that this was effectually destroyed
to the last ounce. Of the firms contributing the opium,
the largest contributor 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 Commissioner's action, directed against the
foreigner and not against his own countrymen, was to
check the local trade for a time, but it did not do away
with it ; the demand remained, new supplies came forward,
id 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 officials along the coast
to throw off such modest feelings of restraint as they may
have felt before. Then, in the decade 1850-60, the spread
}f the Taiping rebellion over whole provinces, involving

I3«

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

millions of people, caused vast misery, which dTOVS many
the Chinese equivalent of " drink," filled the pockets oj
myriads with plunder to be spent in indulgence, and brought
into the field on both sides armed forces whose chief occupa-
tion, then as now, was opium smoking. The result of this
laxity and this increase in the demand was a perfect car-
nival 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 Lin tin ;
he sold it, generally speaking, and obtained payment at
Canton, all subsequent proceedings being the concern of tin
purchasers, Chinese subjects ; and he delivered it on board
his own ship, usually at Lintin, to a certain extent at definite
points on the coast to the east and north, but always under
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 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 secrecy and mystery.
From this driving of the traffic away from the light of day,
from the increased activity of the importers in supplying
an mcreased 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

OPIUM

337

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 was first imported by the Portuguese at the be-
ginning of Tne^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, on the occasion of the famous surrender, one-thirteenth
of all the opium 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
from a trade which they would not consent to legalise ;
and his representatives, the whole length of the coast, acted
in every respect, except as to turning their receipts into
the treasury, as it the trade had been legalised. The dis-

338

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

turbed state of the country from 1850 to i860 weakened
the authority of the Government, and gave the officials an
excuse and an opportunity 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 unsettled. The treaty of
Nanking of 1842 was silent on the subject, leaving China to
enact and enforce her own sumptuary and prohibitive laws,
and to adopt her own preventive measures. The same
silence 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
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 commission to revise the
Customs tariff ; 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, for 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 burning
a question as the opium trade should not be mentioned
those unofficial colloquies which accompany all negotiat
was impossible ; and that the wisdom of legalisation cm
regulation was fully explained to the Chinese negotiator
as a measure of political economy is made known to us b>
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 opium trade, and with instructions from
his Government conceived in the same spirit, but who never-
theless became an advocate of the legalisation of the

OPIUM

339

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 threatened
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,
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 our work done without some attempt to
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 — attempt 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 the 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,
* " Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan,"

340

THE CHTNESE EMPIRE

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
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 condition

" i. Opium will henceforth pay thirty taels per picul
Import Duty. The importer will sell it only at the
port. It will be carried into the interior by Chin*
only, and only as Chinese property ; the Forei^
trader will 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 furure revisions of tl
Tariff is the same rule of revision to be applied
Opium as to other goods."
The next step in the history of opium is found in the
Chefoo Convention of 1876, by which the British Government
accepted in principle a proposal that inland taxation (likin)
on the drug should 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.no per picul which the Chinese
Government is entitled to collect ; and the establishment
in 1887 of the Kowloon and Lappa Customs, to control

OPIUM

34i

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, is contained in the
Supplemental 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
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 employed 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

rof the favored nation clause in existing Treaties
shall not be claimed by the citizens or subjects of
either Power as against the provisions of this
Article."
The only commentary on this agreement is found in
the fact that when, in 1884-5, 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.
The course of the trade in foreign opium since the
legalisation is shown in the following table. In 1863
Tientsin and Chef 00 had been opened in the north, and
Hankow, Kiukiang and Chinkiang on the Yangtze* In
1879 the recorded import, 82,927 piculs, reached its maxi-
mum. The opening of the Kowloon and Lappa Customs

342

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

in 1887 may be assumed to have reduced smuggling in
by between 10,000 and 15,000 piculs.

1863.

1867.

1879-

1888.

1897.

190$.

fkak

Ffctfo

Plcuk.

Picul*.

Piculs.

Pfcafc-

Manchuria

, ,

- —

-o*5

2,453

Chihli . .

3,708 7.898

5,181

i.555

9l8

225

Shantung

873 2.735

3.536

|iS

320

{ 5

Hunan

Hup

1,412

4.242

3>294

1. 163

519

Kiangsi

1.993

2,202

2.153

3.077

2.483

1.715

Anhwei
Kiangsu

}•

22,389

16,788

(28,199

3.4CH.
22,182

1.557 |
17.676

1.626

Chekiang

2,679

5.047

7,728

6,274

4.873

4.041

Fukien

9,821

9.238

8,903

13.039

7.877

6,600

Formosa

—

2,586

5.552

4,646

— ■

~i:

Kwangsi
Kwangtung f

7,2 12

7&7

12,787

26,845

I3.058;

{ 18.587

Other channels *

20,000

5,000

5.OO0

S.ooo

Total

{

50,087

60,948

82,927

82,612

49.309

51.020

70,O87

80,948

102,927

87,612

54.309

56.920

The following table shows the proportion of each kmd
of foreign opium imported during the past forty years,
viz. Bengal (Patna and Benares), the production of the
Opium Regie 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-fourths

• Other channels, i.e. by junk, either legitimately, but no
reporting to the Imperial Maritime Customs, or smuggled, fi
1905 a quantity unreported was mtrodviced through Kwangchow-
w.in, estimated not to exceed 2,000 piculs. Of the official impor
into Kwangtung, the Canton delta ports in 1905 took 13,5
piculs, 8,150 piculs in 1897, and 17,776 piculs in 1888 ; befo
the opening of the Kowloon and Lappa Customs, in 1879
took only 1,194 piculs, in 1867 only 2,111 piculs, and in 1863
only 3,469 piculs officially reported.

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
below.

P-EXGKL-

MAtWA

PwtstAjr

TOTAt

FkuU.

Plcub.

Plculi.

Picula.

1863 .

I5,I20

34.967

—

50,087

1867 .

26,297

34.006

645

60,948

t*73 -

24,300

40,910

587

^S<7'>7

1879 •

37*953

39.509

5.466

82,927

1883 .

27.S04

34.632

6,032

68,t68

1S88

45.040

33.127

4.445

82,612

1893 •

■

32,416

28,694

6,998

68,108

1897 -

26,8l6

19.635

2,858»

49.309

1901

27,250

21,799

435

49,484

1 90s

•

34J95

16,034

1,691

51.920

Average

f Quai
1 Per

itity . .
cent. . .

29,689
47-2

30.331
48-2

2 16

62,936
roo'o

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 Chinese ever took
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

* Formosa, the chief consumer of Persian opium, passed under
the Japanese flag in 1895.

344

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 Dative
supply would have sufficed, or would have become sufficient,
for all requirements, even to satisfy the demands of a craving
which has extended to every corner 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
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
* " Native Opium," 1&63. Shanghai, 1864.

OPIUM

345

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 supplied 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
obtainable 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
commodity 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 official 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.

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 cultivation.

346 THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 r,ooo piculs. The lowest estimate
for the whole province to-day is 2,000 piculs.

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, was estimated to produce 2,500 piculs
of opium. There has recently been increased production
in the Hsuchow prefecture in the north-western corner 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 .
in 1888 this had fallen to 318 piculs, which is now the average
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 ii

OPIUM

347

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
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 opium was known at Hankow in 1863 and
before, and in 1879 the 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
ioes 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,

348 THE CHINESE EMPIRE

For the Yangtze Provinces, accessible since 1861
steamer, the annual production may be put at 10,500 picuL

Inland Provinces

Honan opium was known at Shanghai in 1863 ; in 1879
the production was estimated at 3,500 to 5,000 piculs, and
in 1887 at 5,000 piculs : the output to-day is probably
fully 5,000 piculs.

Shansi formerly supplied a large area with 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 tc
at 5,000 piculs.

Shensi, as we know, cultivated the poppy in the eight!:
century ; and, as the practice of scoring the capsule
obtain opium was introduced through the adjoining provinc
Kansu, it may be assumed that Shensi was one of the
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 country it (the
poppy) formed the most conspicuous winter crop." In
1879 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-daj
at less than 10,000 piculs.

Kansu, according to Richthofen, " does not coos
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 {

OPIUM

349

in general, heavy smokers, the consumption per capita
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)
says : " We were astounded 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 minimum 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 ii,on 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 mountain 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 Mr. A. Hosie. In his consular report
for 1903 (presented to both Houses of Parliament, October
1904, Cd. 2247), he records the fact that " in the provincial
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 : M We were astounded at the extent of the

350

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 too
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
nf 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 Regie 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(ooo 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 pici
entered at Wuchow in 1905), and is a thoroughfare for
Szechwan, Yunnan, and Kweichow opium 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 measui
exact ; but it may be safely asserted that the production
of opium in China to-day is, at the lowest, six-fold, and
is more probably eight-fold, the quantity of the present
import of foreign opium.

OPIUM 351

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 opium
was administered in any form. However or whenever
first started, hypodermic injections have taken hold, and
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 : —
I Ounces.

1892 . . 15,761 1898

1893 .. 27,993 1899

1894 .. 43.414 I9°°

1895 . . 64,043 1901

1896 . . 67,320 1902

1897 ,„ 81,716
Up to April T903 duty had been levied on import at the
rate of 5 per cent, ad valorem, representing a tax of about
Tls.o*o8 per ounce ; then a prohibitory tax of Tls.3'00
er ounce, about 200 per cent, ad valorem, was imposed,
id the imports declared to the Customs fell off as follows : —

Ounces.

1903 106,148

1904 128

1905 54

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 last
two years given above is explained, not by a diminished
demand, but by smuggling.

The latest endeavor (November 1906) of the Chinese
Government to extirpate the opium evil is given in Ap-
pendix F.

Ounces.

92.159
154.705
114,768

138.567
195.133

CHAPTER XII

THE INSPECTORATE OF CUSTOMS

The foundations of the " Foreign " Customs were laid n
the necessities of the Chinese Government , and not in am
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, destoying 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. The limit of their advance
was the moat of the city, the foreign settlements, imme-
diately 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 honorable traditions of the old factory days of Canton,
and had no desire to evade the payment 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 nation
control being rendered the more easy by the fact that <
three powers were involved. The first step taken to tide
over the moratorium was an arrangement by which t
foreign merchants declared to their Consuls the nature

35*

THE INSPECTORATE OF CUSTOMS

353

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 found, 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
June 29, 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. Murphy, 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 close 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
tautai, who shall supply the deficiency complained of,
and give him efficient and trustworthy instruments
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 tilled by Mr.
Horatio Nelson Lay, who had an equal knowledge of
Chinese and equally good powers of organisation. The
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

354

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 established here in the fail of 1854, chiefly
at the suggestion and by the efforts of the Honorable
Mr. McLane, the affairs of the Custom-house were
in much confusion in consequence of existing political
troubles in this neighborhood, 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 unanimot
in approving of an arrangement which promised t
reform the abuses into which the Custom-house had
fallen, and to put a stop to the irregularities pre-
vailing.

" Weunderstood, 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
reorganized their affairs and being able under their
own system and superintendence to conduct those
of the Custom-house with as much effect as else-
where ; and with this cessation of any necessity for
its continuance, we cannot but perceive the great
disadvantage in which we arc placed by it ia com-
parison with the other ports. Custom-house business
in China under Chinese supervision is conducted

THE INSPECTORATE OF CUSTOMS 355

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 regime 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
under 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,

follows :

•« Rule 10, 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 uniform system
shall be enforced at every port.

The High Officer appointed by the Chinese Go*

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 nomination 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 definition of port boundaries ; or in discharging
the duties of harbour-master ; also in the distribution
of Lights, Buoys, Beacons, and the like, the main-
tenance 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 g, 1863, and
was relieved from duty on November 30 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 commissioned to procure a fleet of gunboats
for the repression of rebellion and piracy ; and the demand
of Mr. Lay and his commander. Captain Sherard Osborne,
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."

Mr. Robert Hart, " The I. G.," was appointed on
June 30, 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 : —

THE INSPECTORATE OF CUSTOMS 357

At Tientsin, C. Kleczkowsky (French) ;
„ Chinkiang, J. K. Leonard (American) ;
„ 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 Su-
perintendent of Foreign Affairs,
issues the following Instructions : —

11 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. Fitz-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,
Hsieh, 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

358 THE CHINESE EMPIRE

the commission of frauds ; distinguishing carefully
Imports from Exports, and Native from Foreign
Produce, and preventing the one being confounded
with the Other.

u 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.

u 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 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

THE INSPECTORATE OF CUSTOMS

359

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 t

"A Special Instruction, addressed to the Officiating
Inspectors General of Maritime Customs, Fei-sze-lae
and Heh-teh (Mr Fitz-Roy and Mr. Hart).

•« Hsien-Feng, I Uh year, 5/A month, 2yd day

" 30'* /«•«! l86l."

The office was in fact administered by Mr. Hart alone,
with his headquarters, in r86i, June at Peking, July at
Tientsin, September at Peking, November at Shanghai ;
1862, May at Canton, then back to Shanghai ; 1863, February
at Canton, April back to Shanghai, where on May 9 he
surrendered his office. Mr. Lay, resuming his office, estab-
lished himself at Peking, Upon the substantive appoint-
ment of Mr. Hart. November 30, 1863. he established 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 1878-9
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

360

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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. Durir
that decade elementary questions were vital, and an unwis
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 collect 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
intended for export to foreign countries, and, since iBSy,
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 traffic ; 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 INSPECTORATE OF CUSTOMS

361

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 Meritens and A, Huber, French ; and
F, Klein wachter 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
Commissioners 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
to the Superintendents. Originally the Inspector General's
phraseology was " I have received the commands of H.I.H.
Prince Kung to direct " ; it then became " I enclose for
your information and guidance copy of a despatch from
the Tsung-li Yamen 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 Tsung-li Yamen) continued
to be adopted lor 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 impcrio, and during a service of close on half a century
not a breath of suspicion has ever been thrown on the I. G.*s
entire loyalty to those whose salt he ate.

In the administration ad personam the Imperial Govern-

362

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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
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 Govern-
ment having for that function found a man they could
trust, trusted him. The appointment of a Commissioner in

.rge of a port, or his transfer to another post, has always
>een reported to the higher authorities, with the reasons
influencing his selection ; but apart from this the Inspector
General has been left to the exercise of his discretion in the
appointment, promotion, and discharge of aU 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 pro-
bably nowhere in the world been any servant of the state so
unfettered in the exercise of so large a patronage ; and the
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 conspicuous 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 service.

The Customs Service is now (1906) organised in four
departments, the " Inspector General of Customs and Posts "
being the directing head of all.

THE INSPECTORATE OF CUSTOMS 363

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. Harbors Staff, for Coast work in general and
Harbor work at Shanghai,

3. Lights Staff, for operation of Lights.

III. Educational Department.
•I. Tung Wen Kwan at Peking, which after

forty years' good work was amalgamated
with the Imperial University in 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 may be gauged by the following
comparative statement of the numbers in 1875 and in 1906.

1875*

1906.

Foreign.

China*.

I- orci k-u.

Chinese.

I. Revenue Department :

1. Foreign Indoor

•126

—

343

—

2. „ Outdoor . .

203

—

754

—

3, Coast Staff

145

672

4. Chinese Clerical . .

—

2S2

950

5. „ Non -clerical

—

802

—

2,858

II. Marine Department ;

Ei Engineers' Staff ..

—

} HO

2. Harbors Staff

—

3. Lights Staff

—

267

4. Chinese employees

[88

III. Educational Department 1

—

IV, Postal Department :

Control and Clerical Staff

—

2,388

Non-clerical Staff

—

3.190

424

i,4t7

1.345

10,63 s

Total ..

1,841

11,980

3^4

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

The cosmopolitan character of the Service may be
judged from the following table showing the number of
each foreign nationality on the staff as it stood in 1875
and in 1906.

Nation .ililv.

American

Austrian

Belgian

British

Danish

Dutch

French
German

Greek

Hungarian

Italian

Japanese

Luxemburger

Norwegian

Portuguese

Russian

Siamese

Spanish

Swedish

Swiss

»*?».

iv*

—

An attempt will now be made to give some idea of
nature of the work done by the Chinese Customs
differing, as it does, so much from the work done by cor-
responding 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 \i
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 t he-
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-

THE INSPECTORATE OF CUSTOMS

365

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 Tis.soo.
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
modern 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 unheard 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,
the Consul is necessarily the advocate of his national, and
the Commissioner 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 valuable 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

1 system of '* Importer's Passes," by which the importer

366

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

may convey his rights to a purchaser. When re-exported
to another treaty port, either by the original importer a
by the purchaser under a pass, the goods are covered by
an " exemption certificate/' without which they are habk
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 <m
payment of likin, or, if intended for shipment abroad.
and only in that case, may be covered by a " transit
outwards " on payment of a half duty. On shipment
at any port export duty is paid, whether for a foreign nr
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 re-
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 inl.>
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
by labels affixed to each ball or small package, and
empted from all further payment so long as the labels

THE INSPECTORATE OF CUSTOMS 367

itact. Native opium is since 1906 treated in the same
vay whenever it comes under the cognisance of the Customs.
Since November 11, 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, to some extent,
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
discontented the staff whose irregular practices he is there
to check : while facilitating work to the traders by the
introduction of regularity, he will find that too much un-
accustomed rigidity may lead to discontent and even to
riot ; he must satisfy the representatives of the foreign
powers in whose interest, to secure funds for due payment
of the indemnities, he is placed in control ; his measures
must be such as not to alienate the Chinese Government,
whose servant he is, while he is often called upon to enforce
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
impossible function for the foreigner to assume ; and the
Commissioner's function is only to obtain a receipt certi-
fying 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

36S THE CHINESE EMPIRE

by the bank pass directly under the control of the Chinese
side of the Customs, the Superintendent and not the Con-
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 o!
6 revenue steamers, officered by a special Coast Stafi, 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 fa
general control, they are under the orders of the Inspector
General ; for personnel and materiel 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 Marine Department is divided into the Engineers',
Harbors, 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 Harbors 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 Harbors work and Pilotage
China generally. He reports direct to the Inspector

THE INSPECTORATE OF CUSTOMS

3^9

General on matters affecting the whole coast, and through
the Commissioner, who has joint authority, on work affect-
ing one port 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 Commisioner — over buoys (111 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 Harbor 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 Harbor 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-
missioner, while the hand is the hand of the Harbor 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 example,
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 Harbor Master is in theory expected to apply
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 Office, Legation,
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

37«>

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 Coast Inspector.

The Educational Department (merged in the Peking
University by Imperial Decree of January II, 1902) h3d
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. \Y. A. P. Martin,
educator and sinologue. The College at Canton, which
still survives, is smaller, and is under the direct coi
of the Commissioner, as quasi colleague of the Tartar
General, appointments to its staff being made by the
Inspector General.

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 Chef 00, were thrown open
to the public, in order to provide uninterrupted communica-
tion with Peking and the north during the winter, when
the northern ports were closed by ice. Communication
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 i88fl
the facilities were extended to all ports north of Fukien.
In 1896 a decree was issued creating an Imperial Post,
tin.- organisation and management of which were entrusted
to Sir Robert Hart, The new establishment was thus

THE INSPECTORATE OF CUSTOMS

grafted on the Customs, which was called upon to provide
men and funds for its development, and a new burden was
laid on the shouldersof Inspector General and Commissioners.
In the organisation of the Post, the Customs organisation
was the foundation on which the structure was erected ;
the Customs district became the Postal district, the Com-
missioner of Customs became the District Postmaster, the
Customs Accountant became the Postal District Account-
ant , and the net balance of Postal receipts and expenditure
became a receipt or payment entry in the Customs N 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 been instituted ;

(without it an exotic organisation would have been formed,
having its roots in Western practice but not satisfying the
needs of China, and with it has grown up a Service which
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
a no less enormous amount of organising on the Commis-
sioners, It speaks volumes for the spirit which animates
the Service that this unaccustomed work has been cheerfully
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 port, 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

372

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

of communication -with the territorial officials and
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 responsibility 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
of a Customs establishment working on and in a situation
characterised by the principles of extraterritoriality. To
exemplify this by action taken by the Inspector General
would be to give a resume" of the foreign relations of China
for forty years, and it will be enough to refer to marl
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
Commissioners 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 1, i860,
and the successive quarterly reports and returns to the
Chinese Government are still numbered from that date,
the 184th quarter ending on September 30, 1906. Follow-
ing this precedent the Customs have often, both gencr
through the Inspector General and locally through thf
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
Customs at Canton ; the proceeds of the loan be receh

THE INSPECTORATE OF CUSTOMS

373

him ; the monthly instalments paid into banks to his
the coupons and drawn bonds paid by his cheque ;
le register to be kept and bonds cancelled by him ; and
case of default the bonds should be received by him
it face value in satisfaction of Customs duties. The
Chinese Government recognised that the Chinese public
vould not trust its agents of the official hierarchy, but
yould 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
of international conventions has been averted, many an
Asiatic incitement in dealing with a Western enemy has
been withdrawn or modified, many a blunder based on
Asiatic ignorance of modern conditions has been avoided,
under 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 Commissioner 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 been lacking, and he

374

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 favor of the Chinese Government,
whose servant he is, or in favor 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-
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 grapple 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 ar
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 loyal t
their chief and the Government they serve, or the absolute
impartiality of their administration.

The appointment of Robert Hart in 1861 asOfnci
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 to-day he issues circular instructions to Commissioners
of Customs at forty ports, to six Likin Collectorates, and
to four Postal Commissioners. The revenue collected for
the Imperial Government by the Service organised by him
increased from ^.8,296,275 in 1865 to Tls. 37. 080.457
in 1906. The foreign trade under its cognisance increased

THE INSPECTORATE OF CUSTOMS

375

from Tls.121, 898,792 in 1865 to Tls.674, 988,988 in 1905 ;

±.0 these figures must be added ^,28,523,449 in 1865

and Tis. 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 115.1,737,546,961.

Sir Robert Hart, the organiser of the Service which has
,onethis work, was born on February 20, 1835, the same year
in which the Empress Dowager of China was born. After
graduating (A.B. and Senior Scholar) at Queen's University,
Ireland, in 1853, he was appointed Supernumerary Inter-
preter to the British Superintendency of Trade at Hongkong
in May 1854 ; and in May 1859 was granted special per-
mission 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
honors. From China he received in 1864 the brevet title
of Provincial Judge, with civil rank of the third class ;
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 class 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

376

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

by the Empress Dowager and Emperor. His native land
has recognised the distinction he has conferred upon h
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 Omcier, from Belgium,
Sweden, Austria, France, Italy, Portugal, Norway, Holland,
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
be 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 will sit in his chair, an>
will sign as Inspector General, but in the history of China
there will be but one " I. G."

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 Dynasty, 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,ooo,ooo
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 Office 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
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 railways ar«-
now utilised for the more rapid transmission of despatche

377

37*

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

The Wenpao Chii, or Document Office, is an offshoot o<
the I-chan, but quite independent of it. On the appointment
of Ministers to foreign countries in 1875, it became necr
to arrange for the transmission of their despatches betwea
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 Chu continues to fun

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 1884-5.
the attention of the Imperial Government was drav,
the necessity of organising the island as a province, the
Imperial High Commissioner and Governor, Liu Ming-cbuan,
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 denorninations, red 3-cent for short
distances, and green 5-cents for longer distances. The
simplicity of an almost uniform tariff worked, as always in
( liina, against its adoption ; and these stamps had a history
unique in philately, being used for railway tickets. This
Post Office was ultimately organised on the following lines :-

1. Mails were carried by couriers on foot.

2. The postal routes were divided into stages, av«

a day's journey in length, or, say, 70 to 100 h.

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.

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 system WIS

THE POST OFFICE

379

cumbrous. 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 transmission 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
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 drafts, and
parcels is a most lucrative part of their business. They have

3»o

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

a tariff, more or less fixed according to distance, ranpM
from 20 cash (Jrf.) to 200 cash (5^.) for each letter, but*!
not particular to an ounce or two in the weight ; and that!
rates may be reduced to an important customer or commuted
for an annual subsidy, while smaller people will ordnwi [
pay more, and addressees are regularly mulcted ra ens
payments. On the whole the system has suited admiraMy I
the public which it serves, but has the fatal defect, fromi
national point of view, that it does not encourage j
development on lines not immediately profitable, the
for this purpose, derived from the more profitable
being diverted to private pockets.

Any national and general postal organisation ha
two strong vested interests to encounter : the first,
official interest in the expenditure of Tls.3, 000,000 anmi
in rendering a service which could be performed by
hands at less than half the cost ; the second, the
mercial interest in a profitable business enterprise,
a government which never coerces the people but aeb
mainly by moral suasion and on the principle of '
and let live."

The Imperial Post was established by Imperial Deere*
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 H
and Mr. T. Piry traces the development in his report on
the Working of the Post Office for the year 1904 : —

" Early m the ' sixties,' during the first few winters
after Foreign Representatives took up their residence
at Peking, the Legation and Customs mails w<
exchanged between Shanghai and Peking, under
auspices of theTsung-U Yamen.by means of the Govern-
ment couriers employed for the transmission of oJO
despatches. It was then found convenient to arrange
that the Customs should undertake the responsib;
of making up and distributing these mails, a prac
which, for the overland service during the winter
months, involved the creation of Postal Departments

THE POST OFFICE

381

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 Yamen authorised the Inspector General
to inform the British Minister, Sir Thomas Wade, that
it was prepared to sanction the establishment of a
National Postal System 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 officiaUy
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
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

382 THE CHINESE EMPIRE

were also recognised by the foreign Adrainistratktt
having postal agencies in China. In 1878 China w*
formally invited to join the Postal Union . In the same
year, while on a visit to Paris, the Inspector General
was sounded by the French Minister for Foreign Affairs
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 Ofhct
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 hid
declared its intention to undertake national resp-
bilities ; and the Customs Department continued to
satisfy only certain wants and prepare the system
for further development till, twenty years after the
Chef 00 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
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

THE POST OFFICE

383

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 Service
Postage Stamps and copies of Postal Tariff may
be obtained on application at the Customs Postal
Department,
(Signed) J. H. Hart.
Shanghai, 16th December, 1878.

I his 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
Commissioner, supervised the overland courier service to
the north. This department, which was called the Shu
Hsin Kuan, or Post Office, was opened on July 24, 1878,
and started with a staff of seventeen men.

Under instructions issued in December 1882, the system
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

384

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

first Postal Secretary ; he was succeeded In 1807 by

A. van Aalst ; and he in 1 901 by Mr. T. Piry, to whom tk

present organisation of the Post Office is mainly due.

Under its present organisation the headquarters of the
Imperial Post Office are at Peking, where all postal afiak)
are dealt with by the Postal Secretary, under the Inspector
General of Customs and Posts. There is also at Shanghu
Deputy Postal Secretary to attend to supplies, Tbt
Eighteen Provinces and Manchuria have been divided into
postal districts, now forty-one in number. Next to the
headquarters staff come Postal Commissioners — now four,
at Peking, Hankow, Shanghai, and Canton— exercising direct
control over their own district and a supervising direction
over neighboring districts. The other treaty-port disl
are under the Commissioner of Customs acting eat 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 Office 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 staff on its own premises ;
Inland Agencies, at which licensed Agents, wh<;
usually substantial shopkeepers of the place and
guaranteed, undertake all postal business, includ-
ing the delivery of correspondence, in return for
a fixed commission and certain other emolumen
and
Box Offices — that is, small shops in which the
Imperial Post Office places letter-boxes, cleared at
certain times during the day, and where the owne
under license and guarantee, is allowed to
stamps to the public in return for a small a
mission : ordinary postal business, including
tration, can be effected at these shops, but t\\
owners do not undertake delivery. Box Office
are placed in all large cities as adjuncts to the
Head and Branch Offices situated the:

THE POST OFFICE 3«_

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 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 denned, it has been left to Postmasters
to extend to inland places within their districts on certain
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 countries 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
towns throughout China. The total number of establish-
ments on December 31, 1906, was 2,096.

Communication between Imperial establishments is
kept up by means of contract steamers on the coast and
large rivers ; by railways where they exist ; by steam-
launches, junks, or hong-boats on the inland waterways ;
and on the numerous overland routes, which now measure
over 110,000 li (35,000 miles) in length, by mounted or foot
couriers.

The coast and river steamers and launches 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

386 THE CHINESE EMPIRE

of canals and small creeks, many of them unnavigable by
launches. This part of China is also very densely populated
and although the Shanghai, Hangchow, and Ningpo dis
are not extensive, they contain an unusually large number
of post offices, a remark likewise applicable to the Cantuo
delta districts.

Communication by couriers, of a kind to fulfil the
requirements of a Postal Service built up on Western hues,
has naturally been no easy matter in a vast country
China, presenting every variety of geographical features
and where public roads axe utterly neglected. Old-estab-
lished trade routes are usually followed, even at the cost ol
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 generally limited to ioo li (33 English miles), and the
couriers run according to schedule on fixed days ; but en
the main routes speed is accelerated as much as possible,
daily despatch being ensured on them for light mails ami
an every-two-days or semi-weekly service for hea
For light mails night-and-day foot couriers are used B
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 Office, and
uniforms or badges.

As actually constituted, the staff of the Imperial Post
Office includes—

Foreign
Inspector General and Headquarters

Staff

Postmasters ex officio
Postal Commissioners
Postmasters, Deputy Postmasters, and

Assistants
District Inspectors
Postal Officers
Mail Escort Officers

THE POST OFFICE

Chinese

Inspecting Clerks
Chinese Clerks — linguists

„ non-linguists
Postal Agents

319
674

1,361
5

3,19°

Sorters, Letter-carriers and Couriers, and
Miscellaneous

5.578

387

Total Foreign and Chinese . . 5.722

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 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 found. Non-
linguists are not required to know a foreign language, and
work at Head Offices under 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 system which, in
the main, rests on their honesty and their efficiency, works
satisfactorily, cases of loss, misbehavior, 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 accounts
of its district and renders them to Peking, where they are

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

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 — th
since steady expansion began in 1 901 — vouches for the
soundness of the system upon which it is established.
A few comparative figures will prove interesting.

1901.

1003.

1905.

1906.

District Offices

Branch Offices

»34

320

396

4*4

Agencies

609

T.189

Articles dealt with . .

10,500,000

42,500,000

76.000.000

! I3.OOO.OOO

Parcels : number

1 26.800

487,000

I.383.OOO

weight in lbs.

552,000

2.673,000

7,176,400

9.482.000

Letters in Native

clubbed mails

7,300,000

7,267,500

8,806,000

7.892.OOO

Divided between the four large geographical divisions
of China, the results for 1906 can be summarised as

follows : —

Esub-
Mrtmrnti

Articles.

Ptecdk.

North China : Peking to Kiaochow
Central China : Kiukiang to Chunking
Lower Yangtze : Wuhu to Hangchow. .
Southern China and Yunnan Stations, ,

696

4'5
322
663

37-ixtO.OOO
1 7,500.000
38,500.000
20,000,000

397.000
248,000
450,000

Total

2,096

u3.000.000

1.383,000

A few words must be said on the financial means of this
large Service. It may not be generally known that,
only had the postal experiment started in 1861 to
carried on for over thirty years against numerous difficulty
and without the avowed support of the Government, but.
even after its formal recognition m 1896, without
special pecuniary help from it. The Customs Service, under
the leadership of Sir Robert Hart, had alone, from

THE POST OFFICE

389

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 immovable 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 12, 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.io.ooo
at six of the Treaty Ports — Tientsin, Shanghai, Hankow,
Foochow, Swatow, and Canton. This grant has not been
received in full, not more than half being forthcoming, but
it enables the Service to provide for its actual money
deficiency. The Post Office is worked " on the cheap."
Chinese cheap labour is utilised to the fullest extent com-
patible with paying a sufficient 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 ; office
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, arc now dependent on the Imperial
Post Office for the transmission of their correspondence,
and the public duties of the Service increase every day.

39*

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

lew establishments are wanted in every direction,
at those now open the work is becoming heavier.

hitherto followed, to stretch out lengthy lines i
so as to rapidly bring all large cities of the int
into communication with treaty ports, had to be earned
on without special regard to the local exploitation of each
great centre, and, as a consequence, many are still ooJy
provided with Agencies quite inadequate to their requirt-
ments. Every ju and ksien city should now have its owa
and properly constituted Post Office, able, separate]
undertake the establishment and control of agencies or
box offices in all the localities in its neighborhood. 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 official 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 inst
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 prote-
asked for offices or couriers it is readily granted. Indica-
tions are seen everywhere of the growth of the institute
its low rates, quickness, and regularity draw the pal
more and more to its counters.

China has not yet formally entered the Universal Post
Union, but special Conventions entered into with Japan,
France, Hongkong, and India place her, through the inter*

lediary of the contracting Administrations, in exactly the

THE POST OFFICE

39i

le postal relations with all Union countries 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
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 Mayor 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
necessity 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
>litical influence of the past dozen years.
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-
tablishing the National Post, China addressed the Conseil
Federal Suisse, notifying the creation of the Imperial

39^

THE CHINESE EMPIRE

Postal Service, and her formal intention to join the Un
as soon as organisation permitted ; meanwhile her Po
Offices, as they opened at the Treaty and other ports,
to observe Union practice and rules. These declar.
she confirmed again before the Universal Postal Congress
of Washington in 1897, and ever since she has acknowledged,
at these places, Universal Postal Union regulations and
rates. Consequently, all international mail matter, to and
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
costly service of land couriers, the rule remains the
for light articles — letters and postcards ; but on pri.
matter and other heavy mail articles the Chinese Admini-
stration 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 America
domestic rate, if received for distribution at Shanghai,
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
backing which is always given in China to vested inter
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

• A charge for transport was imposed from November 1906

THE POST OFFICE

393

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 favor," 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-
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 can remain open until 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 " system 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.

APPENDIX A

The reform of the government has been taken in hand, and
below are given two Imperial Edicts issued on November 6,
1906.

REORGANISATION OF MINISTRIES AT PEKING

1. — We have already issued an Imperial Decree to prepare
for a Constitutional Government, and we have appointed at the
same time Duke Tsai-Tse and others to compile administrative
reforms and Prince Ching and others to supervise the same ;
and such reforms, we have decreed, will be carried out after
receiving our sanction. Now, the said Princes and High Com-
missioners have presented the draft administrative reforms
for our perusal and asked us to scrutinise the same, after
which to be duly promulgated.

Since the reigns of ancestors of our dynasty there have
always been Constitutions and a proper administrative system,
but these were made to meet the necessity of the times, and
the present state of affairs is quite different from the days of
old, and such shall be taken into consideration according to the
circumstances. However, it is important solely to have people
who are responsible for their acts, and to erase all the abuses
and to have effective administration instead of nominal > and to
re-organise all the offices in a practical manner. The Grand
Council is the centre of all the departments of administration,
and it was at first established out of the Grand Secretariat in
the reign of the Emperor Yungcheng, and lately the Council
has been in close touch with the Throne and daily in attend-
ance in the Palace to receive Imperial orders. This usage it
is desirable to maintain, as it is able to maintain secrecy and
to deal with state affairs more promptly ; and, moreover, there
having been no abuse hitherto, there is no reason to abolish the
same, and therefore the Grand Council will remain as hitherto
without any change. The Presidents of the Boards are hereby
appointed also to act as Tsanyu Chengwu Tachen or Ministers
of State, and they are ordered to attend the Palace on duty,
deciding their date of attendance by rotation, in order to com-
municate their views to the Throne and to reply to questions
from the Throne.

39$

APPENDIX

The Waiwu Pu (the Board of Foreign Affairs) and
Pu (the Board of Civil Appointments) will be the same as hither*
The police affairs being only a part of civil administration, &
Board of Constabulary is hereby re-named the Board of Chi
Administration or Min-cheng Pu. The Board of Revenue «
Hu Pu is re-named the Board of Finance or Tuchih Put in whid
the Council of Finance or Tsaicheng Chu is included Tte
Board of Rites is hereby amalgamated with the Courts d
Sacrificial Worship, Imperial Entertainments, and that of State
Ceremonial, and will remain under the old name of Lee Pn.

The Board of Education remains as hitherto.

The Ping Pu or Board of War is re-named Luchiin Pu, and tk
Board of Army Reorganisation and the Court of Imperial Stnd
amalgamated in it. It is also decided to take charge of tte
affairs of the Navy and General Staff until the establishment
of a Board of Navy and General Staff which will be established
in future. The Board of Punishment is re-named Fan I
the Board of Justice, to be responsible for all the judicial ad-
ministration ; and the Grand Court of Revision is re-named
Tali Yuan or Court of Cassation, which is to take charge soWy
of the matter of trying civil litigations and minor cases. The
Board of Works is amalgamated with the Board of Comioace
under the new style of N ung-kung-chang Pu. The affair
lating to steamships, railways, telegraphs, and postal adrninistn'
Hod are now placed under a new Board called the Board of
Communications or Yuchuan Pu Lifan Yuan or the Mongolian
Superintendency is hereby re-named the Lifan Pu or the Board
of Colonies.

Except the Waiwu Pu, the system of winch will remain fc
hitherto, all the other Boards will have one President and
two Vice-Presidents, without making any distinction between
Manchu and Chinese.

The Censorate is an office where the administative official
are looked after and either impeached or recommended accc<
to the circumstances. Now one President and two Vice-Presidents
are appointed to the Censorate, and the Supervising Censors of
the Six Boards are to be called merely Supervising Censors.
Otherwise there will be no change.

The Tsecheng Yuan or Government Council, where tru
minent officials are appointed to assist in state affairs, and
Shenchi-yuan or the Court of Auditors, where all the revenues
and expenditures have to the audited, will be newly est

The Imperial Clan Court, Hanlin Yuan, Imperial Board of
Astronomy, Imperial Equipage Department, Imperial House-
hold, Banner Battalions, Imperial Guards. Peking Gendarmenes.
the city of Peking as well as the Peking Granaries, do not need

APPENDIX A

397

be reformed. Regarding the affairs to be dealt with by each
Board and Court and the number of officials to be used, etc.,
the heads of each Board and Court are hereby ordered to study
the matter and after due consultation with the Grand Council
they shall report upon the same to the Throne to get sanction
thereof. The reforms hereby promulgated are not yet complete,
but are simply effected to meet the present circumstances to
prepare for constitutional government, and further reforms
will be made from time to time. We do not make any radical
measure, but will reform gradually so as to complete our reforms
time. In a word, under the present difficult situation, unless
; adopt a certain rule to be followed both by the superior and
le rest equally, the present decadence of state affairs cannot
; remedied. Unless there is a way to understand each other —
etween sovereign and people — it is not possible to have griev-
heard and rectified. All the high officials who will be
vly appointed and are already in their posts are hereby
iered to attend to their respective official duties with full
sponsibility, and to carry out their works effectively instead
of becoming nominal, and they shall abandon their personal
it-clings but unite to aid in the affairs of the state being properly
carried out. If such be the case, we can expect that the con-
stitution which will in future be promulgated may become a
success. And if there is no improvement and there is no
progress, it is not only against the wishes of the Throne but
also that of the nation. This decree is hereby ordered to be
promulgated to the general public.

2. — The high officials who lost their positions owing to the
administrative reforms are to receive salaries as hitherto and to
wait further orders, and the minor officials of the yamens abolished
will either be appointed to other yamens or to the provinces ;
concerning which the Board of Civil Appointments will send
in their report to receive further Imperial sanction.

PROVINCIAL REFORMS FORESHADOWED

In reforming the administrative system the Princes and
High Commissioners concerned have presented the new system
for metropolitan offices, and we have already issued a decree
for the same to be carried out. However, the new administrative
systems of provinces are now in course of compilation. But
at present the civil administration is not properly carried out,
by which many difficulties are encountered. The depart-
mental and district magistrates are the officials who should
always be in touch with the people, but there are many who
do not keep in touch with the people, giving no attention to

398 APPENDIX A

the need of the people, and their staffs often indulge in prott|l
themselves. As such is the case it is no wonder that the £ '
ministration is out of order and the people have no placet |
state their grievances, a fact which is really deplorable. Hm
in reforming the administrative system the offices of the defC.
ment and district magistrate are very important. To isapm\
the capacity and status of the nation the present conditio «
the people is not satisfactory for carrying out self-govenuwst
and it is necessary to prepare them for self-government bete \
effecting the same. Therefore we hereby order the Vkcnp I
and the Governors of provinces concerned to state their vital
regarding the best way to improve the civil administration. U |
prepare for self-administration, and to check any abases K»
prevailing, and also to have the grievances of the people property |
heard and to erase the same, as we wish to get ihe best systt |
and to adopt it.

The Government establishes officials simply to ha
people properly looked after by educating them and giving the*
the enjoyment of life and carrying on their respective business*
If such hope be fulfilled, then there will be harmony and peitt
among the people, and thus the Empire may have a propff
system of looking after its own people.

These decrees are issued by the Emperor on the instn
of the Empress Dowager.

A subsequent edict regulates the relative position of
Ministries as follows : —

The order of the yamens is as under :

i. — Waiwu Pu (Board of Foreign Affairs).

2. — Board of Civil Appointments.

3. — Board of Civil Administration.

4. — Board of Finance.

5. — Board of Rites.

6.— Board of Army.

7. — Board of Justice.

8.— Board of Agriculture, Works, and Commerce.

9. — Board of Colonies.
10. — Imperial Household.
11. — Imperial Board of Astronomy.
12, — Hanlin Yuan,
13. — Censorate.
14. — Imperial Clan Court.
15. — Board of Education.
16. — Imperial Equipage Department.
17.— Court of Cassation.
18. — Board of Communications.

APPENDIX B

FEW typical instances are given below, showing the nature
the cases which come before the foreign Courts in China, and
he way they are dealt with,

BRITISH SUPREME COURT

Shanghai, May 21, 1906

Before Sir Havilland de Sausmarez, Judge

A. Pavlow v. Baron Ward

This was an adjourned rehearing with regard to the de-
fendant's set-off 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,
and asked for the hearing to be adjourned till June 15. 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 off.
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 off in respect of the Edendale transaction ? ' "
Then, his Lordship supposed, the order was drawn up.

Mr Jones said that the defendant had had ample oppor-
tunity afforded him of coming to the Court and proving his

999

400

APPENDIX B

claim. He had failed to do that, and counsel applied th
claim be dismissed, that the order be amended accor
and Baron Ward be now left to take such steps as
tit against Mr. Pavlow in the Russian Court.

His Lordship said he had considered the matter very ca^
fully, and what he would do would be this : grant an adjust-
ment until June 15 and fix that date peremptorily so tbt
in the event of the defendant not appearing to substantiiti
his defence, he would immediately fail, and the judgment
as modified by the order of November 16, 1905, and the crifl
of the Full Court, would stand. As regarded this parucnltf
claim something had been said by Mr. Jones as to its natuit
His Lordship had looked very carefully through the recant
of the case and also the report, and had been unable to find
that it had been seriously argued at any time that this mi
a counter-claim and not a set-off. At the same time, looking it
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 pe-
ovident to his Lordship's mind, on the terms of the Order
if he did adjudicate on a counter-claim which was not pr
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 thai
was made to appear to him, either at once or on Jun
that this was a counter-claim and not a set-off, then he ougf
to exercise jurisdiction. If, however, it should prove to be 1
set-off on argument, 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 such 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 enter!
this set-off if it proved to be a set-off and not a counter-cl
Therefore he would grant an adjournment until June
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
that it had no jurisdiction to do so, he would entertain the mo
He had felt it necessary to say this about the counter-claim and
the set-off because he did not want it to be thought that he was
assuming jurisdiction which ought properly to be exercised

APPENDIX B

401

yy 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
~rivy Council, they could move for a new Order in Council.
The Court then rose.

Shanghai, May 3, 1906

Be/ore Sir Havilland de Sausmarez, Judge

Joseph John Gilmore v. Henry Bennertz

The hearing of this case was concluded. Mr. W. N. Symonds
appeared for the plaintiff and Mr. Loftus E. 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.5,2oo was paid ; also a letter from Mr.
Frazer, 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. Frazer 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
Us. 5,200; and at the time the indemnity was received the
liabilities exceeded TJs.5,200.

Mr. Symonds put in a letter written by Mr. Woo to Mr.
Gilmore dated April 20, 1906, in which he said the matter
was settled 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.

Mr. Symonds produced a statement in Mr. Giles's handwriting
of the payments witness had made out of the Tls.25,000 up to
February 15, 1906. Counsel pointed out that according to
this statement there was a balance of nearly Tls.1,700. What
had witness done with that ?

APPENDIX

402

Defendant said the Tls. 1,700 had been spent in
expenses of liquidation of Chinese debts in Changsha. Thai
was still a small balance which he had been using to pay to
expenses in Shanghai since March.

Mr. Jones and Mr, Symonds then briefly addressed his Lecd-
ship on the case.

Judgment

His Lordship proceeded to deliver judgment as follows :—
The dispute in this case has arisen out of an enterprise ante-
taken by the parties on the opening of the port— I call it a pat
so as not to use a compromising word with regard to the
or fu, or whatever it might have been — of Changsha, for foreign
trade. Up to this time, or immediately preceding this
the parties were carrying on business at Hankow. Tl
thought there might be an opening and he went up to Changsha
to look about him, and in consequence of his negotiations
he thought an opportunity occurred of starting a business. iod
he in consequence communicated with the firm of BennerU 4
Esternau, With whom he appears to have been in communication,
in Hankow. The details of what happened do not seem to roe to
very much affect the matter, but the result of it all was
the plaintiff remained in Changsha and the defendant can.
and they did in fact start business. But previous to that certatt
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 t
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 alter
another fell out, and in the end the two parties to this a
were the only two people who can be described as people havi
anything to do with this company, and they do appear to I
carried on business under the name of Bennertz & Co. and tl:
Chinese hong name of Yu Hung-tih. That is the nam*
continued throughout, and it appears to exist still. Difficult!*
arose, and I do not see that it makes any difference to the |
action as to whether these difficulties arose through the n.
things or from personal objection to the defendant on the
of the Chinese, as suggested by the plaintiff, From whale

APPENDIX B

4°3

surce they did arise, the business did not flourish, and after
about a year things were so bad that the plaintiff left Changsha
mse 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 did intervene, with the
result that payment of Tls.5,200 was made. 1 think it is quite
lear from Mr. Frazer's letter, which was put in, how that sum
yas arrived at and the purpose for which it was paid. It was
be, shortly, for compensation for disturbance ; and the person
yho had approached the British authorities was the defendant
this action, and, therefore, naturally it was to him that the
Dirununications of the British Consul-General at Hankow were
addressed. The terms of the communications between the
Jritish Consul and Mr. Bennertz would, of course, in no way
lect any liability which Mr. Bennertz was under to third parties
-that is to say, parties other than himself and the British Govern-
lent — 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. paying 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
lankow. 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 4, 1904, down to June 29, 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 Shanghai
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
to this partnership or the affairs of the defendant. Unfortunately
things did not improve. Mr. Bennertz did not seem to get on
any belter 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

404

APPENDIX B

settled up. The result was that an agreement came to be nuA
hetween Mr. Bennertz and the Chinese in which the sum ct
Tls, 25,000 was paid for the stock-in-trade which he had
and various other things which are enumerated in this agreeme
and he was to clear out — all connection between him and Cha
was to cease. I consider this agreement was made
between the Chinese and Mr. Bennertz — not Bennertz Ql Co.,
but Mr. Bennertz himself and the parties in Changsha who pud
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 tbc
document itself, will enable any one who comes to take \bt
accounts to see how the money should be applied. I think
is only one other thing. I think that the Tls.25,000 was intend*}
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 whicb
might still be outstanding to the partnership while it existed.
Therefore, assuming for the moment that the Tb,. 25,000 wa.»
more than enough to cover all claims, then I think the Tls.25,000
should be applied in wiping them all 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 haw
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 m<
to be embodied in this agreement of J uly 4. 1904, in so far is
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 prop
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 befoie
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 haw
the definite statement here that of whatever profit Henry
Bennertz touched, he should pay 25 per cent, to the plaintiff.
There is the suggestion that an agreement was come to on
Tune 29 that the sum of one- third instead of one-quarter should

paid to Mr. Gilmore out of this sum paid as indemnity, bat

APPENDIX

405

re appeared to be the stipulation that TIs.3,500 should first
paid to the Chinese. There are various other matters which
tainly are somewhat complicated, and which I should expect
rto find reduced to writing- We have the version of it given by
plaintiff, which no doubt represents his own view, and there
n 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
<ieed of January 30, this year, by which the Tls.25.000 was paid.
1 think this includes all debts due by the partnership, as welt as
by the defendant, to the people who are enumerated 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 sum of Tls.64, which is a small sum 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.25,000 is not sufficient, then
it will have to be divided, the various sums will have to be
paid, so far as I can see, pro rata, and if after that there are
partnership debts — debts between July 4, 1904 and June 29,
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
plaintiff 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
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 counsel 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 beer
expended by Mr, Bennertz in purchasing goods for the tradin
of his company will have to be paid out of this Tls,25,ooo. ]

4o6 APPENDIX B

it is proved that this amount for provisions is a purely person!
debt in no way connected with the company, it ought not to he
set off against the Tls. 25,000 ; but at the same time from wte

n see, and in looking at the contents of the agreement toi
the way in which the business was carried on, the Tls .
was meant to cover Tsau's debt. Still, at the same tim<
not think I have anything before me which would make m
definitely whether it ought to be paid. I have given my direction,
and I think that the outstanding points may be so reduced thai
I can come to a conclusion very shortly.

Mr. Symonds, 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 accoun I
fust. 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 tk
question of costs at this time.

His Lordship— I will deal with that when I deal with u>
accounts. If I find the money substantially misapplied by
Mr. Bennertz, he will have to pay costs ; but on the other h
if the inquiry was uselessly raised, it will be the otfae

His Lordship then rose.

Shanghai, December 3, 1906
Before Mr. F. S. A. Bourne, Assistant Judge

DtEDERICHSEN JEBSEN & Co. V. THE CHINESE Eng

and Mining Co., Ltd.

winy.

Mr. J. H. Teesdale appeared for the plain tins and Mr A S
White-Cooper for the defendants. Mr. Loftus E. Jones wat
the case on behalf of the Holland China Trading Compan;
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 likely to be involved. It was possible that evidence
have to be given on questions of law — not necessarily Brit;

APPENDIX B

407

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 plaintiffs 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
plaintiffs ?

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.

The Court then rose.

Shanghai, September 20, 1906

Before Sir Havilland de Sausmarez, Judge, and Messrs. T,
Grayson (foreman), F. W. Rawsthorne, W. E. Blades.
T. H. W. Charnley, G. W. Noel, D. C. Kerr, G. C. Dew,
V. H. L Ann inc. G. H. Kendall, W. Fleming Inglis,
James Jones, and G. R. Barry (Jurors)

Ser

Rex v. Peter Sydney Hyndman

Peter Sydney Hyndman. bookkeeper, was charged that on
eptember 1 feloniously, wilfully, and of malice aforethought,
he did loll and murder Harry Smith.

When formally charged, prisoner, in a low voice, pleaded

r' not guilty."
*****

Addressing the prisoner his Lordship said : Peter Sydney
Hyndman, 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 your
feelings that for the moment your will was suspended, and that
the intent which would be presumed from your acts did not exisl

the same time I cannot but help feeling that you were moi

4o8 APPENDIX B

rash in this matter than you were justified in being. The case
of a husband who finds his wife whom he believes to be faithfu
to him in a position of that kind is one which might excus
almost from receiving any punishment at all for taking sod
sudden and violent vengeance on the man. I cannot fed thil
you are in that position, and. though I do not consider yw»
'rime one of great enormity, I must pass upon you a sentence whkk
will let the community know that the foolish and reckless carrying
of firearms is not to be encouraged, and that when a man doe
put himself in the position in which you put yourself, he must
take the consequences of his own acts. I sentence you to b<
kept in prison for eighteen calendar months with hard labour.

BRITISH POLICE COURT

Shanghai, December 4, 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 assaujttn
and beating one Chang Ah-cum at No. 216, Fearon Road, at
p.m. on December 2.

Inspector Bourke prosecuted, and intimated to the Court
that the accused was on duty at the time the assault took r
• * • * *

His Worship {addressing accused) said: I consider the
evidence given by the prosecution to be true ; that you d
what you are said to have done. In an ordinary case, perhaps,
it would be meet to give you a fine only, because the assault is not
a grave one, I cannot overlook the fact that at the tim<
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
had ulterior motives ; that your desire was to get out of thr
Police Force, The evidence of the Jemadar seems to point to
that too, and you yourself have made no effort 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 especially in the Police. There has been no pre\
conviction against you, but in spite of that I must send you to
prison. You were a policeman on duty in uniform, and
have disgraced your uniform ; you are put there to keep order,
and you go and make disorder. You might attain your object

APPENDIX B 409

getting out of the Police — of course that does not lie with
rne — but you will first have to go to prison for one month with
rd labour.

IN THE AMERICAN CONSULAR COURT FOR THE
DISTRICT OF HANGCHOW

Hangchow, March 15, 1906

efore Frederick D. Cloud, Esq., American Vice-Consul-in-
charge, Acting Judicially, and J. H. Judson, Esq.. and
J. Steinacher, Esq., Associates.

Tn the matter of Sun Zai-ling, Yee Tsung-lien, Sun Yu-ling,
and Chow Ding-ho, Plaintiffs, v. The Southern Methodist
Mission, and Thomas A. Hearn, and Edward Pilley,
Defendants.

In this action A. S. P. White-Cooper. Esq., appeared for the
laintiffs, and F. M. Brooks, Esq., of the law firm of Andrews &.
Jrooks, represented the defendants.

Judgment

This is an action brought by certain Chinese citizen; against
ie 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 Mission,
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 plaintiffs, the defendant
mission, or certain representatives of the defendant mission,
entered into an agreement of compromise with the plaintiffs
whereby, and according to the terms of which, certain lands
were to be restored to plaintiffs on condition of, and in con-
sideration of the said plaintiffs paying to the defendants the
sum of Tls.2,000; that the plaintiffs have duly paid to the
defendants the said consideration of Tls.2,ooo, 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 tc
bide by and carry out its terms and surrender the land agreed
lerein 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 (1) the defendants'

4io

APPENDIX B

wrongful actions above mentioned ; (z) the deprivation of ti
>aid temple lands and trespass thereon ; (3) arid
Tls.2,ooo ; and that the defendants had notice and well ksr»
that the land in question belonged to the temple and could 1* |
lawfully be purchased by defendants.

Wherefore, it was the plaintiffs' prayer that the defen
required to carry out the terms of the said compromise
ment, or that the defendants be ordered to forthwith
and give immediate possession of the land wrongfully incli
that the defendants be ordered to pull down, forthwith, as?
buildings erected on the said land and to restore the land
condition prior to such wrongful trespass ; that the defendant*
be ordered to pay the sum of Tls. 1,000 as damage for sad
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 pla
are Chinese subjects, but have specifically denied each and ev
other allegation of the plaintiffs. And answering further.
defendants allege that all of the land possessed and wi-
the Southern Methodist Mission at Huchow was procured
Hid according to treaty rights between America and Chim
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
but that the plaintiffs did not make any protest against
improvements while they were in progress ; that the alleged
agreement referred to by the plaintiffs was never signed by ti*
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 defen ;
immediately repudiated the same and refused to sign it ; that
the sum of Tls. 1,000 or Tls, 2,000 or any other sum of money
had never been paid to them by the plaintiffs, or by any one
else, but that certain Chinese officials had paid into the Amer
Consulate certain moneys which were still subject to the order
of the said officials ; and further, that the plaintiffs 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 harassing 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

APPENDIX B

411

dismissed with costs, and that defendants may recover

lages against the plaintiffs in the sum of TIs. 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 city 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 city known as Hai Tao, as being
largely unoccupied land, where the defendants were at liberty
to acquire as much land as might be needed for the mission.
The Prefect went so far as to delegate certain gentry to assist
the mission in obtaining the land from the several owners, and
in perfecting the titles thereto. Proclamations were issued by
the Magistrate having jurisdiction over the land, announcing 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 their 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
proclamation stating that the mission desired to acquire this
- waste land," and if there were any owners thereof they 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
transaction, nor have the plaintiffs 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 yamen to be
registered and stamped. The deeds remained in the yamen
some five months, when they were returned to the defendants,
having been properly registered and stamped. These various
transactions also received the written approval of the various
authorities concerned, including the Provincial Governor,

The acquisition of all this land by the defendants

412

APPENDIX B

accomplished without long delays — something over a ;
time being required for its completion. The negotiations w« 1
earned on openly, and the people of Huchow were ma>:
quainted with tlie fact that the defendants were buying tk 1
land, through the medium of the Magistrate's prodarnar
this, the plaintiffs have not disputed. Nor does the evidena
show that the people, or the gentry of Huchow, made or ©!
any protest against the acquisition of this land by the ratsstaa
until after all the negotiations had been completed and tk
land so purchased had been inclosed by the defendants with*
a w all. Nor is there any evidence to show that in the acquisiuc*
of this land the defendants deviated, in the least, either fne
the letter or the spirit of the provisions of the treaty berweet
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 most
hold that it is incumbent upon the said plain tiffs to show
preponderance of evidence, that such is the case ; but this tl*
plain tiffs have failed to do.

The fact that the ruins of what the plaintiffs allege to be those
of an ancient Confucian Library are characterised by numeroos
carvings of the Lotus flower, which is a characteristic emblem
of Buddhism and of Buddhistic ornamentation ; that the s»d
ruins, or foundation stones, are situated a considerable dHftiE**
away, and in another ward, or division of the city, from tl*
group of buildings recognised, and confirmed by the officially
written topographies of Huchow, as constituting the •
temple property ; that the defendants have produced doco*
mentary and other evidence showing ihat the real site of the
ancient 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 awty
from the property of the said mission, is sufficient eviden-
convince the Court that the said Confucian Library site
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 plaintiffs have endeavored to force upon the defendants
the terms of an agreement of compromise, which 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

APPENDIX B

415

trying to bind the other two members to the agreement,
lowever, 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
town by evidence that to do so would be grievously injurious
the plans and future work of the mission. And since the
rovincial officials have offered* upon their own motion, written
stimony to the fact that the Tls.1,000 named as the considera-
ion of this agreement, and that the Tls. 1,000 presented to the
lission for charitable purposes had been provided for by them-
Ives, and does not, nor ever did in any manner belong to the
laintiffs, and the further fact that the defendants have never
ccepted or been in possession of this money, it is evident that
laintiffs are not entitled to bring action against the defendants
w its recovery.

According to solemn compacts between China and the United
states of America, the Southern Methodist Mission, as well as
other American missionary societies, have the right to pur-
lase, or lease land in perpetuity, at Huchow, as well as at all
ather places within the Chinese Empire. 'And when they have
obtained their land, and secured properly executed title-deeds,
ley are entitled to enjoy full and complete possession of all
ich land without annoyance or molestation of any nature.

The petition of the plaintiffs is hereby dismissed at plaintiffs'
sts.

The defendants' prayer for damages is disallowed, as this
>urt has no jurisdiction to award damages against Chinese
lbjects, and leaves defendants to follow plaintiffs into a regularly
Histituted Chinese tribunal.

(Signed) Frederick D. Cloud,

American Vice-Consul-in-Charge,

Acting Judicially.
J. STEINACHER, ) A^AHatec
J. H. JUDSON, |AsS0CiateS'

INQUEST

Shanghai, December y, 1906

Before Mr. W. P. Boyd, American Vice-Consul-Gtneral-in-Charge,
Acting as Cuban Coroner

A Sad Ending

An inquest was opened at 2.30 p.m. yesterdav
North Honan Road, to inquire into the circumstanc

APPENDIX B

415

the

RUSSIAN CONSULAR COURT

Shanghai* December 3, igo6

Before Mr. C. Kleimenow, Consul-General

Alleged Arson

orderly on the Broadway, and damaging property to
extent of 50 cents, about 10 p.m., the 3rd inst.

Inspector Bourke related the nature of the charge.

Tsang Zen-fah, the complainant, gave evidence of the accused
having been drunk and doing damage to witness's goods.

Accused was fined S3 and ordered to pay the amount of
damage done.

I A. M. Silkiss was charged on a Russian Consular warrant
with having feloniously and wilfully set fire to his premises and
dwelling-house known as the Tivoli Hotel at Nos. 9 & 10, Boone
Road, about 11.30 p.m., December 1, 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 7, 1906

Before Mr. C, Kleimenow, Consul-General

Alleged Arson

A. M. Silkiss was brought up on remand charged on a Russian
>nsular warrant with having feloniously and wilfully et fire
to his premises and dwelling-house known as the Tivoli Hotel,
at Nos. 9 & ro, Boone Road, about 11.30 p.m., December I,
1906, with intent to secure insurance money thereon, and thereby
endangering life and property.

Det. Insp. McDowell prosecuted on behalf of the police.

On the Court resuming tins morning, the evidence was con-
cluded, and his Honour disposed of the case as follows : This
Court having no power to deal 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
Vladivostock. In the meantime the prisoner would be released
on depositing the sum of Tls,8.ooo, including diamonds, jewel-
lery, etc.. as well as being bound over in the sum of $4,000 in
two sureties of $2,000 each.

414

APPE

the death of Miss Loura Leslig
subject, aged thirty-two years,
between the horns of 10.30 an
laudanum poisoning.

The Coroner brought in a 1
death on December 5, 1906, i
11.30 p.m., by taking an orotic
with suicidal intent.

GERMAN COI

Shanghai, £

Before Mr. L. H

The Men

V. Blinkman, No. 72, Rang*
his dog to be at large unmuzue
ultimo, contrary to Municipal
Inspector Bourke stated tf
Defendant was fined $3 o-

JAPANESE
Sbange
Before Mr. D.

Br '

One Xejita was ch
ment, to wit, a shoorir v
a license and contrar fa
Inspector Bourke f
Accused was se*
place at once.

vAi

froi

Before M

A festive sail
named M. Yasur

4i6

APPENDIX B

Shanghai, December :a. 1906

Before Mr. L. Brod: Consul

Who's Who ?

lee Alexander. No. 56, Broadway, arrested on
Consular warrant, was charged with being a pimp,
and trafficking on the proceeds of prostitution.

Inspector McDowell appeared to prosecute on behalf 4
the police.

Accused was examined at some length, and not being able
to produce any papers or satisfactory evidence that he »»
a Russian subject, the Court refused to recognise him or assnoe
any responsibility over him.

The accused was next taken to H.B.M/s Police Court, wbffi
he was also refused recognition.

Accused was therefore taken back to the Station,, where k
was locked up, pending a decision as to what should be done win
him. Later in the day accused was taken to the Mixed Coot,
where he was remanded till Friday, the 14th inst.

Alec Alexander, No. 56, Broadway, who was arrested oa 1
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 trafncfcng
on the proceeds of prostitution. Inspector McDowell appearw
to prosecute on behalf of the police. The Inspector rnadf 1
statement as to how the case was first brought to his 0
An Englishwoman, who had been decoyed out to the Far East
by the accused by false promises, gave evidence as to how ibe
came out and became an inmate of a house of 01 fame. A-
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 the " North China Daily News"

mr, — Under instructions from H.M. Minister at Peking

I beg to hand you herewith for publication copy of a circular
dated August 31, 1903, addressed by Sir E. Satow to H.M.
Consular Officers in China.

It am, etc.,
Pelham Warren,
Constd-General,
October 31, 1906.
Circular
H.B.M. Legation,
Peking, August 31, 1003.
Sir.— Cases have come to my notice in which missionaries
have addressed themselves directly to Chinese officials, either
verbally or ui writing, on behalf of their Chinese converts,
instead of acting through the proper channel, which is one of

II M, Consuls or the head of H.M. Leg

Such intervention 1 pJHBme
ground that some ad een U the com - 1 1

which is in violation Off

It is necessary, ho
not accredited ageni
merit of the Treaty.
nfer upon missionaries
alive 1 I
I .1..
local Chin*
personally,]
it ted

li. vm

4i8 APPENDIX C

himself that his teaching is interfered with, or that a Chinese
] n eacher or convert has been interfered with or persecuted,
his proper course is to lay the Elds before the Consul of tie
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 authorized 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
n 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 tliis Circular, and to acquaint missionaries with its
contents whenever it seems likely 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 will 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 uncommon in Kwangtung. and not
unknown in other provinces One such fight broke out in
November 1906 at Haimenr in Chekiang, regarding which
an unbiassed Chinese informed me that the people of Haimen
are notorious for piracy and turbulence, tha 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-chosv Fu, Cheh, November 13, 1906.

For the past few days we have been living in great suspense.
The little Protestant community at Haimen. surrounded by
hundreds of Roman Catholic robbers who were under the
command of the native priest Nyun, 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
applied 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 pro
them there. The request was then made for a few soldiers
to come inside the Protestant compound, 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 Tung-ling
was unhorsed, made a prisoner, and kept in the Roman Catholic
compound. Another military officer was beaten by one of the
priests, and the Major General had to go in person to obtain
their liberation. He did this by promising to behead one of
the military officers who had been active against the robbers,

4*9

420

APPENDIX D

and (a pay $3,000 to the Roman Catholics for rifles taken i
the robbers by order of the Tong-ling. Houses and
belonging to Protestants were | and passengers

and from the boats were robbed. A tanf inquirer 1

caught and held for ransom. He was told that if he dido* I
furnish 100 jars of Chinese wine he would be killed Br I
gave them 90 jars and was allowed to escape. Some of Ifr I
members and inquirers had narrow escapes from being shot |
The son of an inquirer was shot through the thigh, and ok |
of the robbers was accidentally shot dead by another Roma (
Catholic.

On Saturday evening the Mandarins sent word to the Pro-
testants that they could not protect them, but would seed a j
armed escort to take them to Tai-chow city. A fleet of frit
gunboats sailed with them from Haimen. At a point, 40 k
from Haimen, two of the gunboats returned, leaving three boa*
to carry the refugees the remaining 80 li to Tai-chow

In company with two foreign missionaries and the Ma
under whose escort they had travelled, they went to visit tk
Prefect, who said that the Protestants had shown themsefvo
superior to the Roman Catholics, and had acted splendidly ■
the great trouble caused by the Roman Catholics. He ate
they must not return to Haimen until the trouble was 01

Testimony of the Protestant member whose shop was pilbgp*
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
I looked out and saw the men armed with long pistols and btf
knives, and became alarmed. I shouted, *I will come down 4
once,' and then ran out at the back door and hid in a neigh i
house. Here I remained for an hour or so, until after they had
pillaged my shop ; then the Chen-tai passed, and I wei
and asked him for protection. He sent seven or eighr
to escort me to the Protestant compound. Here I remained
From Friday till Sunday morning. The Protestant compound
was surrounded by a band led by Li Ti-song. This man si
the Tong-ling when he rode up to disperse the mob, ujxm which
the Tong-ling proceeded to the RX. compound, when
detained to make him promise $3,000 to pay for rifles which
had been taken from some of the Roman Catholic robber
his order. The Roman Catholics also demanded on of

an officer who had acted under the Tong-ling's 0 The

Tong-ltng was eventually rescued by the Chen-tai.

" On Saturday, at 5 p.m.. the Chen-tai said wr must leave
Haimen, as he could not protect us here, and he would provide

APPENDIX D

421

*tt 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 UtUe children went to
hide in a neighbour's house.

"On Sunday 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 gunboats. We then sailed for the city, and were
escorted by two other gunboats 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 9, 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 Catholics.
The Tong-ling came along on horseback, and one of the Roman-
ia (minted his rifle at him. This enraged the Tong-ling, who
ordered his men to seize the rifles. Twenty or thirty 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 prisoner:;.
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
under the Tong-ling, but these Mandarins are afraid to harm the
Roman Catholics because the R.C. bishop would accuse them
to the Provincial Governor (Fu-tni) 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

422

APPENDIX D

rifles and went about unarmed. All the shooting w;i
Romanists, who accidentally shot one of their own men. Maji
of the Roman Catholics assembled under arms are well-tawn
robbers.

The following is a diary showing the principal events ti
occurred in connection with the Roman Catholic attack * |
H aim en.

Friday, November 9.

Hundreds of armed men, under the command of the
Roman Catholic priest Nyun, suddenly appeared in the strerts I
of Haimen. They looted the houses and shops of Prote-
The owners fled to the Protestant compound. The Prole-
asked for an escort to Tai-chow city, but the Military Mandart?
said they would protect them in Haimen. The son of a Pro!
inquirer was shot through the thigh. The Protestant preach* |
sent an open note by a messenger to the foreign missi<<
here. It is as follows : " Eight hundred Roman Catholic soldiffl
armed with rifles and swords have just pillaged the houses and
shops of Christians (names given) and are building the wal
The Military Mandarin is powerless to restrain them. I to
not know about killed and wounded. We hope you will itself
us quickly."

Upon the arrival of this messenger, at 5 p.m. on Friday, 1
telegram was sent to C.I.M., Shanghai, and to British 1
Ningpo, as follows : " Hundreds armed Romanists attacW
Haimen Protestants. Killed, wounded, unknown. Houses fd*
laged. Tidal wall occupied." Foreign missionaries visited
Prefect, and found that he already knew the situation and du'.
the District Magistrate and two Deputies from the Prefect
were preparing to start for Haimen. It was learned that tfc
Major-General (Chen-tai) at Haimen had previously wanned
the city Magistrate of a Roman Catholic plot to
Protestants on the following day — Saturday. Eviden
fore, the attack began a day sooner than the Major-Gene
expected. The Protestant city pastor left for Haut
company with the returning messenger.

Saturday, 10th

The Protestant pastor arrived at Ko-ts, three miles
Haimen, and was furnished with .« x\ soldiers

guard him to Haimen. The escort deserted him before
reached Haimen, but the chair* hearers carried bin
the Protestant compound.

APPENDIX D

423

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 off a telegram,
which we received in this city about 5 o'clock. It is as follows :
" This morning the robbers surrounded the Protestant compound
twice. Chen-tai is unable to restrain them." At 5.30 a tele-
gram was sent to British Consul, Ningpo, as follows :— " Haimen
telegram says premises still surrounded. Mandarins powerless."
At 8 p.m. received a telegram from British Consul, Ningpo —
" You are on no account to take 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 his 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-ling rode off
in the direction of the Roman Catholic compound to complain to
Priest Nyun, the Commander in Chief of the Roman Catholic
forces. Nyun 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 military 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 pm.r under a military escort, the Protestants were
taken to gunboats, but a tempest was blowing and the boats
auld not start. Some of the refugees remained on the boats,
women and little children hid in neighbours' houses, and most
of the men returned to the Protestant compound for the night.

Sunday, n/A

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
ent as an additional escort for 10 miles, as it was feared^th,3*

424 APPENDIX D

robbers might follow in boats. When half-way to Tai-choi
a party of Roman Catholics were sighted, but no attack «i
made,

S p.m. People arriving at the city by steam launch frce
B 'iinen reported passing Protestant refugees in three gunboeS
about fifteen miles below the city.

Monday, 12th

9 a.m. First party of refugees arrived safely. Praise GoA
TJiey 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 fan
Haimen .

Telegram from British Consul, dated Ningpo. Monday. 10 am
" Catholics state that they have dispersed out Protestant-
assembled together with aggressive intentions. Is this tr
A reply was sent to the British Consul from Tai-chow I
ii o'clock as follows : " Protestant community officially seat
here under escort. Left Haimen Sunday morning. Unable ti
protect there. Premises in charge of Chen-tai."

Last of the three gunboat parties arrived about noon,
are informed that a body of Romanists left this city in answw
to a telegram from Haimen on Saturday night to attack refugee*
en route. They had lacked courage at sight of the gun'
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 till 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 ioo jars of wine as ransom for his
life. He managed to get 90 jars of wine for them, and thef
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.

Thursday, i$ih

8.30 a.m. A Thanksgiving Service to God for the
the refugees was held in the China Inland Mission Chapel. 1
37 and 124 were read, and prayer was offered for the perseru
Roman Catholics.

At Haimen the Roman Catholics are searching far
who have shown sympathy with the Protestants. Many have
fled from the town, others are in hiding, and business is paralysed

APPENDIX D

425

* One man was caught and taken to the R.C. premises to be

I tortured. The Mandarin succeeded in getting him liberated.

Attempts were then made to catch his son, who escaped and

I fled to this city, arriving here by steam launch with District

fagistrate and Tong-ling at six o'clock. He says some of the
med 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 Catholic 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 deliver 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 these houses being built behind the Protestant church, it
was now necessary to build 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
;lit, claimed the property as theirs.

Instead of resisting violence by violence we preferred to bring
the case before the local authorities. Civil and Military Mandarins
were immediately appointed by the Prefect of Tai-tcheou-fou,
M r 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 punishment, and was
partly occupied by them, partly given to them by a famous
brigand named Tchang. They answered, however, first saying
tin' deeds were at Nmgpo ; tin. second time they said they
were at Shanghai ; and the third tim< tiny showed a false paper
which they had manufactured after taking the measurement of
their church's land.

426

APPENDIX D

The Mandarins afterwards examined the tides of owuaftH
in the possession of the Catholic Mission, which are incontesit I
and all were unanimous in acknowledging our rights. addueAi

■-.mid build the wall. This decision being given, the i
returned on November a to continue work on the

-lao-tsen, the Protestant roaster, the evening befe
already assembled eighty armed men in the church for the [
of opposing the work. They rushed at the workniec
threatened to shoot them if they would not quit. The
retired-
It was market day ; the news soon spread to the outskn
of Haimen, and a great number of Catholics assembled, bosj ]
exasperated by the incessant provocations of Protestants and*
former insult and injustice.

"Die next day, Saturday, November 10, the
returned to their labor with a guard of Christians to dtkd
them. Two hours after the Mandarins asked that the w<
stopped, promising to settle the question immediately. Abo*
four o'clock that evening a delegate paid our missionaries a rat
and offered the following conditions of peace : —

1. That the Protestant master Ko would be sent away Jrao
Haimen and forbidden to return.

2. The wall would be built the next day and the lines draw
without any change.

3. If Protestants thereafter wished to take revenge. &
delegate and Colonel Tsao would take upon themselves tlf
responsibility and would answer for all.

The missionaries accepted these conditions and mime
ordered the Christians to disperse. The latter were still in the
port in the act of eating when they perceived two vessels coiniaf
towards them from the other side of the river. They were fulle*
pirates and armed Protestants f who as soon as they landed opened
fire on the Christians. The latter were obliged to defend thm-
selves, and put to flight their assailants. Then there ti
1 deplorable encounter between the Christians and Colonel I
Mi 1 , caused by the bad will of an under-leader com.*
called Siao Lao-yi. He was formerly a pirate, who, ha
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 combat j
he saw his former companions of brigandage fleeing, he orde
his men to charge the Christians and disarm them, and he ]
find. Ten were wounded, of whom one died.

Shortly after this bloody right Colonel Tsao paid tl
n us ,1 visit, saying that if any had been killed, the guilty pa
would be executed ; if depredation had taken place, the dami

APPENDIX D

427

would be compensated. General Ou was present and put the
ae on the soldiers. Sub-prefect Siao did so likewise, as also
the witnesses of this bloody brutality committed against
men who were justly defending their lives and who, faithful to
instructions given them, offered no resistance to the soldiers.
Siao Lao-yi is greatly to blame, and merits punishment.

As for reproaching the Christians with having firearms, that
is ridiculous in a country in which, to the knowledge and before
the very eyes of the Mandarins, all the inhabitants carry arms
to defend themselves against the pirates, who, thanks to the
BUM tiYity of those in power, abound there— brigandage and
assassination are continual.

Peace reigns there now, since the Mandarins expelled the
pirates of Peyen and sent away under good escort the Protestant
master Ko Siao-tsen. But I received a telegram this morning,
November 16, 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 28, 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 city.
Pere Beraud has had a very busy time of it here, for besides
looking after the members' spirituaJ welfare, he has built two
large churches, one within and one without the city, both of
whwh will remain as his monument for years to come. He
passed away on November 11, from an apoplectic stroke, and
was buried in the Priests' Cemetery at Ho-ti-k'eo, some twenty
miles from here. Pere 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 ur
in the difficulties of our situation. Such acts speak louder tha
words, and can never be forgotten.

APPENDIX E

UN December nth. 1905, a serious organised riot occurred
Shanghai, the provoking cause of which is described to
following narrative.

THE OUTBREAK AT THE MIXED COURT

Fight between Police and Runners

Extraordinary Incidents

The tension between the Municipal authorities and
of the Mixed Court reached a climax on Friday morning.
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 tbc
sentences of the Court, retaliated by sending a runner to the
Central Police 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 Sta
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
the Taotai to pursue, it would seem that only the opportunity
wanted to force matters to a more serious issue. Th
indications, in fact, that Friday's disorder was premeditate
Early in the session the Magistrate had a difference with
British Assessor (Mr. Twyman) over a case which had, !■■
been ordered for hearing on another date, and which he nov
refused to hear. The real trouble came, however, when two
women and three men were put before the Court on charges 1
kidnapping girls from their homes in Szechwan. Fifteen you

428

APPENDIX E

429

girls, who were to be the witnesses in the case, had been cared
for by the municipal police, and were brought to the court in
their charge. When the case came to be remanded, the Assessor
marked the charge sheet M Children to go to the Door of Hope
pro tern." 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. Fen ton, 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 police were victorious and carried off the children
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 were 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 industriously circulated that Mr.
Ching was hit over the head by one of the police.

tThe Chinese view of the disturbance on Friday in the Mixed
urt is represented in the following letter from " One who was
present." The original letter is in Chinese.

The Chinese Version

parte*

o: th*

10 be
• hi MB* Vk

the part of Mr. Kuan, the

rubt nas also pewnwifw use
back up this oppositniL Toss s on record.

:oii

Ta*al

Oil

! ;: He Hi

Mr. Kuan.

tote fee

Magistrate, and Mr. Twyman. the
trying eases brought by the police, amon*
bch a certain Mrs U Wang-shin was charged 1
Aajotding to the evidence, this
! off an oficai, and that she.

ghat ft uu Sxechwun ;
which she had

by four othris, had arrived i
she had with 'her five little _
Siechwan as personal attendants, bat which the
wrongly charged her with having kidnapped. In
wrongful accusation Mrs. Li Wang-shih asked that her
be punished. It was found, in the course of the trial, that 1
defendant had arrived in Shanghai in the steamer Aijwaj. i
route to her home in Kwangtung, and that the luggage
by her amounted to over one hundred pieces. As for the <
the defendant declared that she had documents proving
fate sales to her of them, etc. As this evidence
refute the charge of the children having been kidnap
Magistrate consulted with the Assessor as to the ad*
remanding the case, sending the children to the " Door of H
and keeping the defendants under the custody of the Mmd
Court ad interim. The British Assessor, however, dVternimfl)

nave the defendants confined under remand in the forage
'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 Magi?
accordingly ordered his runners to follow the regulations and
hand the female defendants to the charge of the Court feraak
gaoler. Upon this the Vice Consul ordered the poli
and all the constables present to use force in getting
defendants. In the melee that ensued two runners of the I

g Ta'i and Chou Yu-ch'ing, and several onion k

, and when the Magistrate called out to the police to

one of the inspectors went so far as even to threaten

with a club.
" About tliis tin was a large crowd of people outsidr

the gates, who. hearing of I i bance, I

APPENDIX E

431

mg a riot against the police on the part of the mob. the
strate ordered the gates to be temporarily closed in order
revent outsiders from coming in. Following on this the
e forcibly took away the defendants, male and female,
dng can render a worse insult to the dignity of an inde-
ent country than such treatment of its officials.
Finally the two runners who were hurt by the police have
examined by a special officer sent by the Shanghai Taotai
also by Dr. Ransom, the latter granting a certificate as to
rondition and nature of injuries received by the runners in
tion."

he London Times of November 1, 1906, contains a letter on
subject from the Rev. W. Arthur Cornaby. Corresponding
;tary of the Christian Literature Society for China, who has
liar opportunities for knowing what the Chinese think on
ic questions.

*ese Girl Slavery and the Shanghai Municipality
To the Editor of " The Times "

IR. — I have been asked to send you some particulars,
;rto unpublished in England, concerning the Shanghai riot
st December and its sequel. I am in touch with Chinese
ic opinion from long residence, and latterly the editorship
weekly newspaper in Chinese.

rntil toward the end of last year all the Chinese complaint*
h reached me were concerning the. Chinese side of the Mixed
t, and especially the notorious " runners " of that Court.
Chinese of Shanghai felt they were not sufficiently protected
he fact of a Western assessor sitting to watch the cases.
• deemed the French settlement system to suit them better,
e the Western was the judge and the Chinese Mandarin
.ssessor. And not until the case of a woman from Szechwan,
eighteen young girls, being arrested by the Western police
uspicion of kidnapping, did the native papers and talkers
merchant guilds take sides (before the case had been ti ie<l>
the Chinese Mandarin against the police and municipal
nil. This is to be explained by the following facts.
1 riot in Shanghai was threatened as early as July 9 last
(1905) in a Chinese document, handed to certain members
le Municipal Council and others, by a league of Chinese
of certain unmentionable property, who appended their

432

APPENDIX E

names, fourteen in all, to that document. They depre<
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 H 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 transferred 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, sevts
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 families along the Yangtze Valley have lost their brightest
girls that very much of the respectable public opinion out of
Shanghai has been with the municipal police rather than 00
the side of " the patriots of Shanghai." And, happily. 08
Excellency. Chow Fu, Viceroy of these Liang Ki&ng provk
saw the true national bearings of the case at the time, as opposed
to local vested interests. He was forced to " save the Chi nest-
face " by taking the " patriotic " side, but proceeded to i
up a memorial to the Throne for the total abolition of giri-
slavery throughout China. This was twice reported to I
been approved, but, as no Imperial edict has been forthcon
he has now (September 24) memorialised the Throne once a;
with intent to get the measure put through. This will ai
millions oi young girls physically and tens o» thousands
And when his memorial becomes definite law, we m
see the local property-owners appealing to the Muni

APPENDIX E 433

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 29.

APPENDIX F

MEGULATIOXS FVOBIBITIS'G OPIUM SMOKISG

far tbe

Mercury

Tbe

b translation from th* regulations |
compiled by the Government Cos
published in the Universal G*xdk

or Chengwud

Wang Ta-hsi, the Chines* Minister to London, some vox
ago presented a memorial regarding the prohibition of op*
smoking, and an Imperial decree has since been issued ordenf
the Government Council to compile regulations effecting tk

ubirion of opium smoking. On November 21, 1906, tbe
it Council sent in the reply to tbe Imperial order, «iu
tbe draft regulations consisting of ten articles. The reguUhoas
have been duly sanctioned by the Throne.

Article L To limit the cultivation of the poppy is the *aj
to eradicate the evil. The poppy obstructs agriculture, and to
effect is very bad. In China, in the provinces of Szechwia.
Shensi, Kansu, Yunnan. Kweichow, Shansi, and KiangbuiL
ilit: poppy is widely cultivated, and even in other province
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 tfce
1 ultivation of the poppy so as to effect the prohibition. Viceroy*
and Governors of provinces have to instruct the Magistrates ©1
departments and districts to report upon, after registering, tk
actual area of land used for cultivation of poppy. Unless land
has been hitherto used in the cultivation of the poppy it is no<
to be used for that purpose in future. For the land already
lirmg cultivated with the poppy special title-deeds mu-
obtained. Of the land at present in use for the cultivation of
1 In poppy one-ninth must be annually withdrawn from
vation, and if such land is suitable, other crops are to be cultivated
thereon. Magistrates of departments and districts are to pay
sin prise visits in order to ascertain whether there is any violation
ol 1 ins regulation.

this means the cultivation of the poppy will be exter-
1 linated En nine years.

414

APPENDIX F

435

son violating the rule will forfeit his land, and any

sing to grow the poppy and adopting some other crop

le time required in the decree shall be considered as

special reward.

irticle II, The issuing of certificates will prevent the

sibility of new smokers. The bad habit of opium smoking

now been indulged in for such a long time. About three or

sur tenths of the natives smoke opium. Therefore we must

lenient to those who have already acquired the habit, but

st be strict for the future. First of all, all the officials and
gentry and licentiates shall 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 yamen.
If the place of their living is remote from the local yamen, 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 yamen. 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 opium 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 yamen.
After the forms have been collected at the yamen a list will be
compiled, and one copy of the same will be handed over to the
higher yamen, 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 will 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
cease to smoke and obtain the guarantee of their neighbours
will be presented to the local officials, who will also inquire into
the case, and then the name will be erased from the book of

|36 APPENDIX F

registration and the certificate will be returned to the officii
A list of such withdrawals will be sent to the higher yarns K
record- The date of prohibition of opium is quite lenient, at \
therefore ii there is any one who does not give up the praftft |
within term, such person shall be severely punished. Ii Iks I
b any one who has a certificate of the second class and doe* s*
stop smoking, if he be an official, he will be cashiered ; if hebt '
a licentiate, his title will be taken away ; and it he be an mnffia4
person, his name will be registered. These names will be sent q
to the higher yamen to be placed on record, their nanus at
ages will be put up in the street, and their residence will be mfc
public, and no honorary positions will be given to them. Tkj
are not allowed to be reckoned as equals of the general pu

ArticU IV. By closing the opium shops the source
evil can be cleared away. Until the terms for the date of pro-
hibition come it is impossible to close the shops where ophn
is sold. However, there are opium shops where are many lamps
for smoking opium, and many youngsters are induced to coo*
there and gather together with many bad characters. Theittat
such shops shall be closed by local authorities within six moot]*
and the owners shall be ordered to change their occupation*
If they do not dose their shops in time, these shops shall be
officially closed by sealing the door. The restaurants and ban
shall not keep opium for the use of their customers, and the
guests shall not be allowed to bring in any opium pipe in ofdff
to smoke opium in these places. If there are any who viable
the rule, they *hall be severely punished. Those who sell opim
pipes, opium lamps, or other utensils for opium smokers, shall be
prohibited from selling these goods after six months, or they shall
be severely punished. The taxes on opium lamps shall not be
collected three months after date.

A rticte V. By registering each shop where opium is sold,
the exact number of them can be known. Though the shop*
where opium is sold cannot be dosed at once, yet t hey can be
gradually closed and no new shops be allowed to be opened
henceforth. In every city, town, or village, the shops what
opium or opium dross is sold are to be investigated by the bcal
officials, and their numbers shall be duly registered and kept
on record. Certificates shall be issued, which ates tnfl

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 end
of each year, and report the same to the local officials, who
keep the same on record. Alter calculating the total amount

APPENDIX F

437

opium and opium dross consumed in a district, annually, the
proportion of annual reduction necessary for the abolition of
opium smoking in ten years shall be calculated. Any surplus
at the end of that time shall be destroyed, and double its value
forfeited as a fine.

Article VI. The Government 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 begiven to them
gratis. It is also granted to local gentry to manufacture the cure
in accordance with the official 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
le proper effect, the local officials shall give them reward.

Article VII. The establishment of anti-opium societies is
a worthy proceeding. 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 similar matter.

Article VIII. The local officials are relied upon to use their
utmost endeavour to carry into effect these regulations, and
with the effective support of the local gentry there should be
no difficulty in carrying 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 which the responsible officials will be either
rewarded or reproved accordingly. The annual statistics shall
be sent to the Government Council, where their merits will be

APPENDIX F

dory dealt with. In the city of Peking the police authorjt&

of gendarmerie, and the officials of the city are
ir^Mwahl* If in any dbtikt opium smoking is stamped
before the expiry of the ten years' limit, the nflM-frr* of I
district should be duly rewarded. The petty officials are to 1
warned to have no irregularities in reducing the area in wind
the poppy B cultivated, in issuing certificates for opium shop
and shops where opium and opium dross are sold, or in deafef
with those who smoke opium. Any such irregularity wifl t»
followed by severe punishment, and any who receive brires
win be punished on a charge of the crime of fraud.

Article IX. The officials are strictly prohibited from smokuf
opium so as to set examples to others. The prohibition whim
tea years is for the general public The officials shall be example
to common people, and therefore they shall stop such bad hates
before the general public, and such prohibitions shall be strkth
enforced upon the officials and the punishments upon thai
shall be more severe. From now all the officials without cnsuo
tion of rank, metropolitan or provincial, military or civil, «ii
are over sixty and suffering from opium smoking habits, arc
exempted from the prohibition just as are the common people,
for they are too far gone for cure. However, those who haven*
reached sixty years of age, princes, dukes, men of title, lagfe
Metropolitan officials, Tartar Generals, Viceroys, Governors
Deputy Lieutenant Military Governors, the Provincial Com-
manders-in-chief, as well as Brigadier Generals, being all official;
who are well treated by the Throne and high in rank and position,
are not allowed to conceal their affairs, and if they smoke opium,
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 acun*
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 m
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 cf • nokc

within six months, at the end of which 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, such officials shall be
impeached and be summarily cashiered as a warning to others.
If there are any who are misreported by higher officials, they may
memorialise and the case will be tried accordingly. Those

APPENDIX F

439

who are the professors and students of ordinary schools and
colleges or of military 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 opium smoking. The
prohibition of cultivation of the poppy and of the opium-smoking
habit 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, Annam, 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
Generals, Viceroys, and Governors shall order the Commissioners
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 u in the Anglo-Chinese Commercial
Treaty, and in Article 16 of the American Chinese Commercial
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 syringes 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.

The British Minister to Peking has expressed deep sympathy
with the Chinese authorities regarding the prohibition of opium
smoking, and the Waiwupu has expressed its gratitude for the:
sympathy expressed. The following proposal has been made
to the British Minister : —

1. By taking the average of the total sum of the imports of
opium in the last five years, the amount of opium allowed to be
imported to China annually will be decided, and such amount will
be gradually reduced so as to discontinue the importation of
opium in ten years.

2. A Chinese delegate will be sent to India to investigate
the actual amount of opium imported to China from India,

Peking, December 8»

440 APPENDIX F

3- The tax on foreign opium will be made heavier, as 1
the case of native opium.

4. The Hongkong merchants who manufacture prepared
opium are importing it to China. The tax on such prepari
opium shall be raised. r ^

5. "Hie regulations prohibiting opium smoking shall be
made effective in all the foreign concessions and settlements.

6. Except for medical purposes no morphia shall be permitted
to be imported. r

APPENDIX G

CHINA

FOREIGN DEBT SECURED ON IMPERIAL REVENUE OUTSTANDING

DECEMBER 31, 1906 (SEE PAGE 115).

(Exchange at

3s. per tael).

Title.

Issued

Principal
Amount.

Rale
of
Int.

Charge
1906.

Principal

n| 1..

Dcc.31,'06.

Principal
outstanding
Dee 31, 1906.

1 Uma E. T1»767,«oo . .

tiM

115.080

8.400*

61,980

33»*oo

z. Hongkong and Shang-
hai Bank loon, Tls.

10,900,000 ,.
j. Arhhold, Kaiberg, &
Co., Nanking Loan

1894

1,635.000

355,060

490,300

1,144.500

1S95

t ,000,000

104,701

400,000

600,000

4. Cas&elloan

i«95

1,000,000

104,701

400,000

600,000

5. Hongkong and Shang-
hai Bank loan

1893

3,000,000

308,000

r, 400,000

1,600,000

6. Franco-Ruaalan loan,

Fr .400,000,000

1895

13,820,000

836.669

3,753,060

13.067.940

7 Anglo-German loan . .

1896

T 6, 000,000

960,479

'lOgshgoq

1,080,875

13.900,100

8. Anglo-German loan ..

1898

16,000,000

831,688

14.919,133

IruUmriitu* :

T901

9. Scrie* A

1 1. 230,000

574.435*

673.926

10,576,074

10. Series B

9,000,000

360,000

(iq.l)t

9,000,000

1 1 Scries C

21.500,000

900,000

(igisJt

22,500,000

12. Series £» .. ..

7.50o,ooo

300,000

(I9i6)t

7, 300,000

15. Scries E

17.250,000

690,000

, 0033)t

1 7,250,000 *

14. Loan

Ratlamys :

»9°3

1,000,000

50,000

(Jan. 07)1

1,000,000];

133,070,080

6,279,123

9»339.'4»

113.710,839

1 5. Imperial Chinese Rly.

J 899

3,300,000

169,636

1 1 3,000

3,185,000

16. Peking-Hankow Rly.

1899

4,500,000

223,000

l*9°9)t

4,300,000

XT. Sbanaiai-Nanking Rly

1904-6

2,900,000

145,000

2,900,000!

tS. Canton-Hankow Rly.

(Hongkong Gov.

19*6

1,000,000

|Q*OM

t, 000,000

10. Canton- Kuwloun Rly.f
Grand Total

1907

1,300,000

75.000

—

1,500,000

12,200,000

654,626

113,000

) 2,083,000

IIJ.270.080

<5,933,749

9,474,141

1 25.79S.8 59

• Fixed annual charge.

t Redemption begins.

1 £300.000 paid off In Jan. 190;, then £22,222

j fWt,

f Authorised amount to be l«ued, £3,230,000

II In course ot issue June 1907.

441

ighanistan, 8
Albazin, 20

Alcock. Sir Rutherjord, 353
Alfred, contemporary coins. 122
American Government compared
with Chinese, 47

— relations. 42, 54. lJ9- l&3> 239.
■W. 335. 337

Amherst, Lord, 23. 273

Amoy, port. 25, 249- 271, 273. 326,

328
Amur, river, 20, 206
Ancestral worship, 49, 6o, 196
An-cha Shih-sze, 64
Andrade, Fernando de, 16, 270, 271
Anhwei province, 27, 61, 63, 69, 93,

95. 96, lot, 148. 154, 233. 3i8.

342, 347
Animals for food, 298
Aniseed, 263
Anking, city, 27, 234
Annam, 14. 15. 37
Antimony. 226, 263, 298
Antung. port, 209
Arab traders. 270, 302, 324, 326
Archives, Court of, 56
Area, measure of. 174

— of China and provinces, 203, 209,
215, 221. 222. 223, 226, 228. 231,
233- 234/ 244* 247. 251, 262, 265I

Aristotle. 5
Army, 74, 226, 234
\irow. lorcha. 28
Audience, Imperial, 21, 23, 34* 35-

100. 375
Austrian relations. 213

Bacninh, 37

Bactria. 8

Baikal, lake, 12, 206J

Balance of trade, 299

Bank, Customs, 367

Bankruptcy laws, 178 '

Banners, Manchn military. 18, 74

Beans and bean-cake, 206, 296, 3 1 t>

- "53.

. 181,

251.

I. 54.

. 260,

Belgian relations, _• 1 3
Bimetallic ratio. 125. 128. 143

165
Bisbee, A, M., 369
Boards. See Ministries
Bogue, the (Hoomunchai), 22

273. 277
Bourboulon. Mons. de, 31
Bowra. E. (X, 561
Boxer outbreak {1900), 42, 21
Boycott. 71. 252
Bred on, Sir Robert E.. 359
Brigandage and piracy, 72,

263. 303
Brine wells. 223
Bristles, 297
British relations, 22, 23, 29, 4

I79. 181, 212, 230, 239, 254

272, 328. 334. 337
Bruce, Sir Frederick, 31
Buddhism, 49, 412
Burgevine, General, 32, 33
Burlingharne, Hon. Anson, 31
Burma, 14, 31. 35

Calcutta, Black Hole of. 177

Canton, port. t5. 23, 24, 36, 29, 54,

56. 76. 157. 172, 173. 177. 193,

199. 204, 253, 270. 271. 272. 273,

274, 276, 304. 305. 328, 332, 345*

Capacity, measures of, 1 72
Caravan trade. 20, 271, 274, 302,

3". 316
Carr, L.. 353
Cartwright. W,, 359. 3^'
Cash (copper coin), double value.

132
— (copper coin), variability of t»ao.

Catty, weight, 171

Censors, Court of, 58

Cessions and leseea of territory. 26,

4». 259

Chang Chih-tung, 44

■HS

i rebel, 17
, csty. 10

city. 27.
228, 311
1 Aaguste. 192
Cbapn. port, 35- 7f

122

\greesnesrt, 33. 114. 256.
340. 381

14*. 1S4- *»7. 3i»
province, 62. 64. 76. 93.
96. 101. 135. 154. »97. 244-
312, 342. 344. 346. 3*5
; paas, 226. 305

. ». *»• J7
rWagfm, city. 76. 3*3. 549
Qrih-Chow. 66
Chin-Fa. 66

Chib-Hnwn. 67

Cbihh, province. 7. 42. 63. 7$. 91.
93. aoo, 206. 209. 312. 315. 342,
346

Chihli-chow. 5e* Prefect
Chihli-ting. S« Prefect
Chihtai. 5e« Viceroy
Chincbew. part. 271
China, conquest of. 13 ; derivation
of word, 6 ; extent of the Empire,

«S

Chinese : a law-abiding people,
72 ; calendar, z. 4 ; dynasties,
3-18 ; government, 46 ; govern-
ment as compared with American,
47 ; history, 2 ; race, 1

Chinhai, port. 25

Cninkiang, port. 26. 31. 39, 76, 321.

■36. 3". 31*. 350
Chmwangtao, port, 214
Chow Dynasty, 4. 5, 6. ft, 120, 191,

2 5 3. 377
Chow Han. literate, 38
Chow-pan, 67
Chmv-tung, 67
Christianity in China, 16
Chungking, port, 40, 145, 155, 224,

310
Chung Wang, 33, 33
Chu Tsun, 344
Chu Yuan-Chang, founder of Ming

Dynasty. 1 s
Chwang Lieh-ti, 17
Chwangliang. city, 76
Cigarettes, 289
Clansmen, Imperial, 52
Coal, 2o6, 209, 215, 217. 326, 266,

289, 298. 318

INDEX

Co-Hong, So* Hong
Coins.. 119. 120, X2i ;
127 : "eight and va
Coaunercaal relations s

of Customs

3**. &S. &7. 369- $7°> 373- ft
Concessions-. St* Treaty Porn
Comfnons. 3. 5. 6. 10, 53
Consul, office of. 184
Consols, foreign. 82. 181, 1*.

*90. 199. *o2. 2X2. to, 365 ft
Copper, 95. 98. 206. 266. 288. »l

— coins. 120. 167

— token corns, 126. 128. 288
Cotton cloth. 1 36, 383. 386.

— raw. 136. 235. 390. 307

— yarn. 287
Coorbet. Admiral. 38
Courier service
Court, the, 49

Cowries as currency. 119. 136
Currency .

— copper, 120. i3». 123
Customs, maritime. 98 .

35*

— native, 367. and 98

— tariff. 26. 29. i«8. 303, 33S. 3Si

Daae, I. NL. 359
Dalny. S« Taken
Danish relations, 275
Decimal system . 171
Delegated functions, 68, 70
Detring, G.. 361. 370, 383
Dick, Thos,. 361
Distance, measure of. 173
Dollar, American. 1

— Carol us (Spanish), i6j, agj,

— Japanese, I

— Mexican. 128, 157. 16$
Dragon, emblem
Drew, E. B.. 361
Durra, 206, 210
Dutch relations, 16, ao. 177.

283. 3*7, 337
Dye-stuff. 289
Dynasties, 3-18

East India Company, 23. 101, 2

275. 280, 283. 328. 339. J33
Edan, B„ 353
Edicts, Sacred

— secret, 43

— reform.
Educational Department, y

at*

INDEX

445

Eggs. 298

Elgin, Lord, 28

Elliot, Captain Charles, 24, 25, 334

Emigration, 247, 260, 301

Emperor, the, 48, 67, 81 r 82

Empress Consort. 49. 5 1

— Dowager, 35, 41, 42, 43. 52
Engineer-in-Chief, 368

!i. Set Rriti^h

Exchange between currencies, 105,
108, 119. 130. 154, 161, 166

— bills of, 133
Expectant officials, 68, 70
Expenditure, state, 80, ill, 115,

117
Extraterritoriality, 175. 205, 282,

352. 364. 372. 399

Factories at Canton, 24. 177, 179,

353. 273. 275. 335-
Famine, 71, 315

Fantai. See Treasurer, Provincial

Fees exacted, 277, 279, 280

Fen-sun Tao, 65

Feudal government, 5, 6, 7, 80

Fibres, 297

Fire-Crackers, 297

First Emperor. See Shin Hwangti

Fish, 289

Fitz-Roy, G. H.. 356, 359

Five dynasties, epoch of the, 1 1

— rulers, j
Floods, 2 1 6, 228, 231
Flour, 289

Fluids sold by weight, 172
Foochow, port, i6, 26, 38, 76. 204,

248. 271. 272, 307
Foreign debt, 44 1

— Legations at Peking, 29, 31, 42,
43. 44, 380

— Merchants, 187, 202, 279, 352,

364

— Ministers at Peking, 29. 3 1 , 44,
241

— Post Offices, 381. 391

— relations with China, 19, 25, 26,
35. 54, 179, 254, 259. 281

— trade, 270, 282, 284, 299, 317,
364

— wars. See Wars

Formosa, 1. 16. 29, 38, 40, 272, 273,

327, 342, 343, 378
French relations, 28, 29, 30, 32, 34,

37, 40, 41, 54, 180, 182, 192, 212,

230, 240, 254, 274
Frontier ports, characteristics, 267
Fa. See Prefect
Fu-Hbi, 2

Fukien, province, 64, 76, 93, totf

247. 342. 344. 346
Furs, 283
Fusan, 36
Futai, See Governor

Garrisons, Manchu (and Mongol).

47, 76, 211
Generation, length of, 217
Genghis Khan, 12, 13
Gensan, 36
German relations, 40, 41, 42, 195,

213. 230
Glass and Glassware, 289
Glover, George B.„ 357
God, translation of term for, 2 1
Gold, 206, 215, 263, 266

— as currency, 1 1 9
Golden Dynasty. See Kin Dynasty

— Horde, 1 2
Gordon, Captain C. E., $}
Gorges of Yangtze, 308
Government of China, 46
Governor, office of, 60, 63, 64, 65,

77. H2
Grand Canal, 14. 26, 95, 107, 154,
211, 220, 236, 245, 312

— Council, 55
Gratuities to Officials, 99

Great Wall. 7. 17, 92, 203, 209, 317
Groundnuts, 319
Guilds, Trade, 74, 170, 252
Gurkhas, 21

Haiho. See Peiho

Hannen, city, 419

Hainan, island, I, 258

Han Dynasty, 8, 68, 119

Han river, 31 1

Hangchow, city, 12, 14, 40, 76, 95,

154, t72, 237. 244, 245, 312
Hankow, port. 27. 35. 56, 102, 148,

157, 199, 221. 230. 305. 307. 3".

345. 347. 349
Han-lin Yuan, 59
Hannen, Chas., 361
Hanyang, city, 27
Harbin, city, 206, 209
Harbor-master, 356, 369
Harding, J. R., 368
Hart, James H., 383
Hart. Sir Robert, 57. 94, 356, 374.

375, 380, 388
Height of mountain, 174
Henderson, D. M., 368
Hereditary nobility, 53
Hides, 397

446

INDEX

Hienfeng, Emperor, 26. 31, 52, 120,

126, 142
Hien-tsu. 52
Hing Pu. 57
Hioh Pu. 58. 65
Historical map. 2
Hiung-au, tribe, 8
Hofei (h9ien). district. 69
Hoihow, 90, 258
Hokow. 267
Holland, Captain, 33
Honan. province, 2, 5, 62, 6

87, 90. 92. 93. 95. "4. «». S"i

348
Hong at Canton, 23, 54, 275, 278,

281, 334
Hongkong, British Colony, 26, 954,

255, 260, 335. 336
Hope. Admiral, 32
Hoppo of Canton, 23. 24, 54, 66. 09,

123, 281, 331. 334
Howqua, Hong merchant. 28'
Hsia Dynasty, 3, 4
Hsiatig, river, 2
Hsien, district, 65, 86
y— office of. 67. 69. 70. 71. 86. 87,

108, 1 12, 377
Hn Nai-tsi, 344
Hu Pu, 57
Huber, A., 361
Hughes, George. 357
Hnkwang, 95
Hunan, province, 2, 8, 9, 26, 59, 62,

64. 95, 96. 101. 107, 226, 30^,

318, 342, 345, 347
Hung Hsiu-chucn, Taiping leader.

26. 27. 32, 33
Hungwu, Emperor, 123, 141, 235
Hupelv, province, 9, 44. 61, 64. 92.

93. 95. 96. 101, 102. 228, 34J
Hwai salt administration, 100, 101
Hwangho. Ste Yellow Fiver
Hwangpu, river, 238
Hwangti, ruler, 2, 6

Ichang, port. 36, 228, 308. 349

Hi, province, 36

llipu. Commissioner, 26

Imperial Clansmen, 52

Indemnities, 26, 29, 30, 35, 40, 44,
28 r, 299, 367

Inland places, 190. 193, 205, 366

Inspectorate of Customs. S<v Cus-
toms, maritime

Internal trade, 302

Irkutsk, city, 206

Iron, 206, 215, 288, 298

— -currency, 119, 126

Italian relations, 41. 212
Count, 37

Japan, wars wi • 56.

Japanese relations. 36. -
Java, 327

Jehol. city, 23. 30. 31
Judge, Provincial 64. 68.

377
Junk traffic. *>8, . \ 303

307. lio, 313
Jurisdiction over Cham

— over foreigners. S** Ex

territorial! 1

Kaifeng. city. 2, 12. 13. 7u. 315

Kalgan. mart, 315

Kan, river, 2

Kang Yu-wei. reformer. 41

Kanghi. Emperor. 10, 20, 21.

53. 91, 123. 125. 19 :. .
Kansu, province, 8, 33, 63.

96, 222, 316

Tsung, Emperor, 10
Kelung. 38

Kettler, Baron von, 44
Khitan. tribe. 1 1
K" ikhta, treat v of, 180

— mart, 316

Kiaking, Emperor. 23. 126
Kiangsi. province. 2. 8. 9, 63. ,

95- 96, 101. i54j 23 , 34Mt 3^.

hiangsu, province. 9. 32. 33, 61. fiu

93* 95- 96. 101. 148 1

312. 342, 346, 385
Kiangyin. city. 39
Kiaochow, German colon v 4

312
Kienfeng, Emperor. 21. 23, 49. u
Kienlung, Empc-roi 4q, fj

Kin Dynasty, 12. 13, 122, 134
Kingchow. city, 76
Kingtehchen, porcelain centre.

232, 3°6
Kirin, province and citv, 205
Kisiang, reign title, 31, 50
Kiukiang, port. 27. 154. z$2
Kiungchow. port, 29. 258
Kiying, 26

Kleczkowsky. C, 357
Kleinwachter, F., 361
Knife coins. 121
Ko-lao-hui, 39
Kongmoon. port. 258
Kopsch, H., 383
Korea. 8. j 1. 36. 37, 39,
Koshinga. pirate chief. 16, 277

INDEX 447

Kotow, ceremonial of, 20, 23, 272

Lin Tie-su, Imperial Commissioner,

Kowlooo Customs, 255, 340. 342

.25. 334

— territory, 30, 261

Lin chow, city, 237

Kowshing, steamer, 39

Lintin Island, opium depot, 332

Kublai Khan, 13, 14, 46, 137, 220,

Literature, Chinese, 2, 59, 227, 379

265. 312

— anti-Christian, anti-foreign, 34,

Kuldja, city. 36

Kuling, mountain riesort, 232

— destruction of, 7

Kiin, Ki-chu, 57

— encouragement of, 10, 21, 34, 45

Kung. Prince, 30. 31. 52. 55, 357,

Li-tsung, Emperor. 13

361

Little, Archibald J., 224

Kung Fu-tie. See Confucius

Liu Kun i, 43

Kung-pao. 57

Liu Ming-chuan. 378

Kung Pu. 58

Liu Pang, 7

Kwangchow-wan, French colony.

Liu Yu, 9

41. 262. 342

Loch. Sir Henry. 30

Kwanghsu, Emperor, 35, 41, 50,

Lolos, 1

Lo-ti-shui, tax. 106

Kwangsi, province, 1, 8, 24, 26. 28,

Lu. Duke of, 5

59, 62, 64, 93, 96, 101, 262. 304,

Lungchow, city, 263, 264. 304

342, 350

Kwangtung, province, 1, 8, 16, 64,

76. 92. 93- 99- 101. 107. 251. 318.

Macao, Portuguese colony. 24. 177,

342, 344- 345

204, 255, 259, 271, 272. 273, 276,

Kweichow, province, I, 64, 93, toi,

277. 332

322. 304- 311. 345- 350

Macartney, Lord, 22, 273. 328

Kweihwa, city, 76

Macpherson, A.. 361

Kwei Liang, 55

Magistrate. See Hsien

Kwo Show-king, mathematician.

Manehu Regent See Durgan

312

Manchuria. 44, 60, 67, 75, 100. 203,

205. 316, 342, 346

Lake Baikal, 12, 206

Manchus, 8, 17, 19, 46. 62, 74. 86,

Land registration, 71, 73, 86, 104

95. 123. 144* 203, 206, 317. 327

— tax. 85

Manhao, 267

Langson. city. 38

Manila. See Philippines

Laotze, 5

Manwyne, city, 35

Lappa customs. 255, 340, 342

Marco Polo, 14

Lay, Horatio Nelson, 353, 356

Margary, A. R., 35. 36

Lead, 206. 267, 282, 288

Martin. W. A. P.. 370

Lee Pu, 57

Matches. 289

Length, measure of, 172

Matteo Ricci. 16. 191

Leonard, J, K„ 357

Matting, 297

Lex loci, application of, 176, 177,

McCalla, Captain, 42

178, 185

Measures, 170

Li, measure of distance, 173

Medicines. 319

Li Han chang, 61

Meiling Pass, 232, 306

Li Hung-chang, 27, 32, 33, 37, 40,

Mencius. 3, 5, 6

56 60, 61, 69, 233, 381

Mengtsx. city, 265. 267, 305, 350

Li Tze-ching, rebel, 17

Merchant, position of, 187

Liangcbow. city, 76

Merchants, See Foreign Merchants

Liang Tao, 65

M6ritens, Baron de, 361

Liao, 206

Metals, See Minerals

Liaotung peninsula. 17, 40

Miaotze. 1

Liaoyang, cit\

Michael Roger. 16

Lights, buoys, and beacons, 356,

Middle Kingdom, 6

368. 369

Millet. 95, 210

Likin, inland taxation, 82, 106, 108.

Min river, 38, 307

109- 303- 34o. 345' 366

Minerals, 206, 223, 263, 288, 20K

INDEX

Ming Dynasty, 15, «6, 17, 18, 46,

. 141, 210. 235. 312, 327
Mining royalties, 104
Ministries (Peking), 51, 54, 57, 58,

"2. 395
Mint statistics, 129
Missionaries, 11. 16. 21. 28, 31, 37,

39. 41. 43. 190. 194- 196. 202, 219,

417. 4*o
Mixed Courts, 198, 428
Mokammttlan*, 33, 36, 176, 326.

348
Mokanshau, mountain resort. 245
Mongolia, 8, 15, 21, 203
Mongols. 8. 12-15, 95- I22. 15^ 203,

210, 235
Monopoly of trade, 187. 275, 280.281
Monsoon, 270, 277, 303
Morphia, 351
Morrison, Robert. 191
Moukden, city. 17. 206, 208, 347
Mow, measure of area. 1 74
Municipal government, Chinese. 47,

— government, foreign, 186, 188,
189, 198, 200, 204, 212. 218. 227.

24°. 154
Murphy, R. C, 353
Musk, 319

Naraoa Island, near Swatow, 333
Nanking, port. 9. 12, 26, 27, 32, 33.

54' 56» 57- 6l' 65« 7b, 95' IOL *73.

235

— treaty of. 26, 54. 153. l77- lSl-

204, 255, 260, 334. 338
Nanning, 263
Napier. Lord, 23, 24. 54, 273. 281,

334
Nerchinsk. 20, 180
Newchwang, port. 29, 161, 206
Niehtai. See Judge, Provincial
Ninghia, city, 76
Ningpo, port, 16, 25 32, 204, 246,

271, 273
Ningyuan. city, 17, 317
Nipal, 21

Nobility, ranks of, 47. 53. 217, 375
North and South, division between,

Notes. See Paper-money
Nu-Cheu Tartars, 12
Nui-Ko, 56
Nurhachu, 17

Official intercourse, 276, 281

Ogotai Khan, 13

OU* bean, wood, etc., 296, 319

Oil, kerosene, t&j, 389
Oil-seed*. 298, 320
Ohphant. Laurence, 338
Onon, rivei
Opium. 179* 323

— called tea, 332

— foreign, no. 285. 328. 33-

342. 350. 366. 434

— medicinal use, 324, 327.

— native, a 10. 206, 325. *G6l JO).

325- 343. 350* 434

— smoking. 326. 327, 337, 343. 34*

434

— trade, 25, 36, 255, 281, 32S. jjj.

338. 34o. 341- 343. 43-*
Osborne. Sherard. 356
Oyama. General, 40

Pakhoi, port, 36. 99, 258. 350

Palikiao, 30

Paotingfu, city, 43

Paper money, 46, ng :_•. ijj

r. Petar, 354
Parker, Sir William. 25
Parkes, Sir Harry, 28, 30
Parsee merchants, 335, 337
Passports, 340
Pawnbrokers' licenses, 104
PechihU, Gulf of, 209
Peiho, river, 29, 211
Peitaiho, seaside resort. 215
Peking, city, 18. 19. 22, 24. >'

30, 31. 42, 43. 47- 56. 60. 1

95. **3- 155- 210. 271

307. 317. 359
Penalty for homicide. 178. 19
People of China, 1. 46. 196. .
Perestrello, Raphael. 15
Persecution of Christians. 191, 19a.

193
Pescadores Islands. 16. r
Plulippine Esk i26

Phoenix, emblem, fa
Picul, weight, 171
Ping Pu. 57

Piracy. See Brigandage
Piry, 1\, 380. 384
Plague, bubonic. 265
Plato, 5

Polo. Marco. 14
Pope, decision of. 193
Poppy. 323, 337. 434
Population, 203, 207, 209, 211

215, 218, 221. 22;

228. 229. 230, 231. 23;

235. 23O, 23S.

ijS, 260. 262, 263. 265. 207. *6«

INDEX

449

Porcelain, 95* 98* 232. 306
Port Arthur, 40, 41, 44, 206
Port Hamilton, 37
Portuguese relations, 15, 21, 22,

177, 260, 270, 328, 337
Poseh, mart, 263, 304
Post Office. 370, ifj
Postal hongs, 379, 382, 392
Postal money orders, 385
Fottinger, Sir Henry. 25
Poyang hike, 231, 306
Prefect, Office of, 65, 66, 6j, 70, 112
Provinces of China, 203
Provincial government, 47, 59, 64,

397
Provisions. 298
Pu-cheng Shih-sze, 64
Pu-chun, Prince, 50
Pu-lun, Prince, 50, 53

Queue head-dress, 17, 18
Quicksilver, 282

Railways, 206, 207, 208, 220, 266,

3<>5' 315. 3J6. 320- 3*1
Rebellions. See Taiping, and Mu-

mmedan
Reclamation of land, 210
Red Girdle, 52
— River (Tonkin), 266
Reed tax, 104
Reed. William B., 338
Reform Party, 41
Remittance of money, 83
Residence in interior, 191, 193
Revenue. 80, 85, 115, 116, 118
Ricci, Matteo, 16, 191
Rice, 95- *3A 226, 233, 235, 231,

289, 317
Riots, 33, 38. 42, 186, 196, 367. 419,

428
Roger, Michael, 16
Roman dominion, 175
Russian relations, 20, 21, 22, 36, 37,

40, 41, 56, 180, 191, 213, 230, 273

Sacred Edict. SI

Salaries, official, 69, 81, 85, 87, 99,

1 12
Salt, f>i. 65, 71, 100, 113, 114. 221

235. 255, 266, 302, 307
Samshui. port, 257
Sandalwood, 283
Sankolinsin, 27
Sanmen Bay, 41
Santuao, port, 247
Seoul. 37

11 our. Admiral, 42
Shang Dynasty, 4

Shanghai, port, 25, 31, 32, 107, 148,

154, 158, 172, 199, 238. 307. 318.

348. 352. 391
Shanhaikwan. 203, 317
Shan- how Ku, 65
Shans, 1
Shansi, province, 63, 76, 92, 93. 100,

222, 315, 345, 346, 348
Shantung, province, 5, 41. 42, 62,

63. T6' 92, 93. 95* 96. 1 01, 2o6#

215. 3 J 2. 342, 346
Shasi, port, 40, 229, 305, 308
Shcngking, province, 206
Shen Nung, ruler, 2
Shensi, province, 1, 10. 11, 17, 33,

63. 76. 93, 100, 101, 222, 316, 324,

348
Shih Hwangti, Emperor, 6, 125
Sliitnonoscki. Treaty of, 40
Shipping statistics. 231, 242, 284
Shinning, city, 24. 54, 173
Shu Hsien Kuan. See Post Office
Shu, Kingdom, 9, 100
Shui-wu Chu, 361
Shun, ruler, 2, 3
S hunch in. Emperor, 49, 123
Sianfu, city, 11, 43, 76, 222, 311
Siang, river, 27, 226
Siangtan. city, 226, 227
Siberian route, 20
Silk, raw, 2, 136, 206, 235, 232, 253,

279. 290, 293. 320

— rolls as currency, 119, 136

— woven. 94, 236, 320
Silver, 206, 263

— coins, 144, 157, 162, 167

— currency, 143

— fineness, 145, 149, 151, too
■ — ingots, 147, 159

Skins, 298

Smith, Arthur, 353

Socrates, 3

Sontay, n

Soochow, city, 32, 33, 40, 69, 95,
107. 154, 172, 173, 237, 3*2

Spade coins, 121

Spanish relations, 16. 272, 326, 337

Statistics of trade, 207, 214, 218,
221. 225. 229, 231, 233. 234, 236,
j 37, 243. 244, 245, 246, 249- 250,
253- 255, 256, 258, 264, 268

Straw -braid, 299

Sugar. 29a 320

Suiyuan, city, 76

Summer Palace, Peking, 23, 30

Siin-fu, 64

Sung Dynasty, 9, 10. 12, 13, 94, 122,
*33> 270, 324

450 INDEX

Song, aomthern dynaaty, 13. 122.

Tientsin, port, 14, 27, 30, 43. <c

134. 144- 235- 3»*

65* 9% X07. 148. 154. 156. 19a,

Suagan River, 206

211. 3x1, 317

Snngkiang. city, 32

— treaties of. 29, 54. 180. 19T.

Sungpan. mart., 392

2 37. 338

Swatow. port. 29, 99. 252

Ti hioo Sze. 65

Sxecbwan. province, 1. 7. 9. 61. jf*t

Timber, 95, 226. 363. 290. 305. 307

92, 93- $5. 9& iox. 119, 133

Tin* 266. 288, 298, 305. 350

Ssemao. city. 268

Ting To -chang. Admiral

Sae-Tao. 65

Tipao. village elder, 48, 73

Titai. Provincial Commander-a-

Cbief.77

Tobacco, 320. 327, 337

Tad. Canton. 157; Haikwan. 151.

Tongshan. 209

161 ; Hankow, 157 ; Kuping, 88,

Tonkin, French protectorate. 14.

153. 160; Peking, 155; Shang-

37. 38. 350

hai. 15S; Tientsin. 156; Tsao-

Tonnage dues, 360, 366

ping, 154, 158 1 of silver. 145*

Tow, measure of capacity. 172

149, 165 ; of weight. 1 24, 14 5-

Tracking boats, 309

150. 171

Transfer money. 161

Taintor. E. C. 361

Transit dues, 176. 267, 340, 360. 365
— pass, 237, 264, 268. 269. 304. 3x5,

Taiping, Emperor, 2, 3

— Rebellion, 26. 31. 38, 55, 78, 95,

316. 366

106, 201. 226, 232, 235, 313, 335.

Treasure, 25. 2 78, 283. 300,

352

Treasurer. Provincial, 64, ('

Taitsang, 33

112

Tai-Tsung, Emperor, 10

Treaties with China, 20. 26, 29, 3a

Taiyuanfu, city, 43, 76, 222

36, 40, 54. »8o. 18 1 r 182. 183. X92,

Taku Forts, 29, 42, 43, 44

195' 2''

Ta-li Sec. 59

Treaty ports, 26, 29. 30. 3

Talien, port, 41, 206. 262. 316

203. 204. 206. 207. 2 1 i

Tallow, vegetable, 320

227. 228, 229, 230, 253

Tang, Prince of Shang, 4

— privileges, 175. 183. 185

— dynasty, 10, 11, 122, 123. 125,

204. 220. 225. 364, 366

»3& *43- 2?°* 323

Tribute, 8. 10, 14, 23. 47. 65. 7

Tanyang. city, 39

75. 94. 95- 96% 99* "9. 135

Taoism, 5, 49

318

Taokwang, Emperor, 24, 95, 1 -

Tsa- 30

194

Tsao-tsao, 9

Taotai, 65. 67. 82, 112

Tsen Chun-suan, 61

Tartar General (Tsiang Kan), 63,

Tseng Kwo-fan, 27, 6x* 78, 226

66, 76, 123, 208

Tsiang Kun. See Tartar General

Tatsienlu, mart, 302

Tsin (China), 8

Tatung, city. 234

— (Roman Empire). 8

Tatungkow, port, 209

— Dynasty. 6, 7, 11, 68, 125

Tax collection, 48, 71. -■?,. 74, 80, 83.

— shih-hwang, 6. 7

85. 88. 89, 102, 108, in, 188

Tsinan, city, 221

Tea, 226, 233, 248. 249, 250, 257,

Tsingchow, city. 76

274, 279, 290. 306, 307, 311, 330

Tstng Dynasty. See Manchus

— licenses, 104

Tsinkianpu, city. 312.

Tehchow, city, 76

Tsingtau. See Kiaochow

Telegraphs. 56

Tsitsihar, province and city. 205

Tengyneh, city, 268

Tso Tsung-tang, 61

Three Kingdoms, The, 9

Tsungli Yamen, 55, 57, 361

Tiao (1,000 cash), variability, 130

Tsung-tu. 63

Tibet, 21. 203, 269

Tsushima, Straits of, naval engage-

Tien Wang. See Hung Hsin-chuen

xnent of the, 44

Tientsin, massacre, 34

Tu-cha Yuan, 58

3 falOS OEM bS3 67D

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