Asiatische Bank. This loan was secured on certain likin collections pledged by the Chinese Government, the collections being confided to the InspectorGeneral of Customs. The outstanding amount of the foreign debt is about 54,000,000%.

The army of China comprises:

Defence.

1. The Eight Banners, nominally containing about 300,000 men, descendants of the Manchu conquerors and their allies. The number maintained on a war footing is from 80,000 to 100,000. The whole force is subdivided into three groups, consisting respectively of Manchus, Mongols, and Chinese, and forms a sort of hereditary profession within which intermarriage is compulsory. About 37,000 are stationed in garrisons in Manchuria; the Imperial Guard at Peking contains from 4,000 to 6,000.

2. The Ying Ping, or National Army, called also the Green Flags and the Five Camps (five being the unit of subdivision). This army consists of 18 corps, one for each province, under the Governor or Governor-General. The nominal strength is from 540,000 to 660,000 men, of whom about 200,000 are available for war, never more than one-third being called out. The most important contingent is the Tientsin Army Corps, nominally 100,000 strong, really about 35,000, with modern organisation, drill, and arms, employed in garrison duty at Tientsin, and at Taku and other forts.

Besides these forces there are mercenary troops, raised in emergencies, and Mongolian and other irregular cavalry, nominally 200,000 strong, really about 20,000, but of no military value. The total land army on peace footing is put at 300,000 men, and on war footing at about 1,000,000, but the army, as a whole, has no unity or cohesion; there is no proper discipline, the drill is mere physical exercise, the weapons are long since obsolete, and there is no transport, commissariat, or medical service.

The Chinese navy, during the war with Japan, disappointed those who regarded it as an effective fighting force. At the opening of hostilities, on July 25th, 1894, when the Kowshing transport was sunk, an engagement took place between the Japanese cruiser Yoshino and the Tsi-Yuen, with other vessels, and the small Chinese cruiser Kuang-Yi was driven ashore and destroyed. In the battle of the Yalu (September 17th), or in immediate consequence of that action, the barbette armour-clad King Yuen, 2,850 tons, and the cruisers Chih Yuen, 2,300 tons, Chao Yung, 1,350 tons, Yang Wei, 1,350 tons, and Kuang Ki, 1,030 tons, were sunk or burned. Subsequently at Wei Hai Wei the barbette ship Ting Yuen and the cruiser Ching Yuen were sunk, and the armour-clad Chen Yuen was captured. The Chinese fleet is organized in district squadrons, which are severally raised and maintained by the provincial viceroys. At the conclusion of the war the Chen-Hai and the Kang Chi alone remained to China of her effective Pei Yang squadron. Some smaller vessels have since been added to the fleet. Among these are the cruisers Hai Chi and Hai Tien (4,300 tons) launched in the Tyne in 1897 and 1898. They have 6 in. armour on the guns positons and a 5 in. deck, and they carry 2 8 in., 10 4.7 in., and 12 3 pr. Armstrong quick-firers. The speed is 24 knots. The small cruisers Hai-Yung, Hai Shen, and Hai Shew, 2,950 tons, have been launched at Stettin (1897); and 3 destroyers, the Hai Lung (33-6 knots), Hai Niu, Hai Ching, and Hai Hoha at Elbing. A French engineer, M. Doyère, has reorganised the arsenal of Foochow, and a torpedo gun vessel (817 tons) and a 205 knot torpedo boat are in hand there.

Production and Industry.

China is essentially an agricultural country, and the land is all freehold, held by families on the payment of an annual tax. Lands and houses are registered, and when a sale takes place the purchaser, on informing the district ruler, receives, besides the document given by the seller, an official statement of the transfer, for which he pays at the rate of 6 per cent. of the purchase money. Land, however, cannot be sold until all the near kindred have successively refused to purchase. The holdings are in general small; the farm animals are oxen and buffaloes; the implements used are primitive; irrigation is common. Horticulture is a favourite pursuit, and fruit trees are grown in great variety. Wheat, barley, maize, and millet and other cereals, with pease and beans, are chiefly cultivated in the north, and rice in the south. Sugar, indigo, and cotton are cultivated in the south provinces. Opium has become a crop of increasing importance. Tea is cultivated exclusively in the west and south, in Fu-Chien, Hûpei, Hû-Nan, Chiang-hsi, Cheh-Chiang, An-hui, Kuangtung, and Sze-ch'wan. The culture of silk is equally important with that of tea. The mulberry tree grows everywhere, but the best and the most silk comes from Kuangtung, Sze-ch'wan, Cheh-Chiang and Kiang-su. An important feature in the development of the Chinese industries is the erection of cotton mills in Shanghai, and of silk filatures in Shanghai, Canton and elsewhere. Two native cotton mills were started in 1890, and recently four foreign millcompanies have been successfully floated.

All the 18 provinces contain coal, and China may be regarded as one of the first coal countries of the world. The coal mines at Kai-p'ing, Northern Chihli, under foreign supervision, have been very productive; those of Fangshan-hsien supply Pekin with anthracite fuel. In Shantung the coal-field of Poshan is at present the most productive, but at Changkiu-hsien, Ichou-fu, and I-hsien there are also promising coal-fields. Coal is found also in Kansu. In Eastern Shansi there is a field of anthracite of an area of about 13,500 square miles, and in Western Shansi a field of bituminous coal of nearly equal importance. In South-Eastern Hunan the coal area covers about 21,700 square miles, containing both anthracite and bituminous coal, and in some places the production is already considerable. In Central and Northern Sze-Chuen coal is abundant, and the coal traffic is stated to be enormous.

Iron ores are abundant in the anthracite field of Shansi, where the iron industry is ancient, and iron (found in conjunction with coal) is worked in Manchuria. Copper ore is plentiful in Yunnan, where the coppermining industry has long existed, and near the city of Mengtse tin, lead, and silver are found.

Commerce.

The commercial intercourse of China is mainly with the United Kingdom and the British colonies. The following table shows the value of the foreign trade of China for five years in haikwan taels :

Imports
Exports.

151,362,819 162,102,911 171,696,715 202,589,994 202,828,625 116,632,311 128,104,522 143,293,211 131,081,421 163,501,358

These values are the actual market prices of the goods (imports and exports) in the ports of China; but for the purposes of comparison it is the value of the imports at the moment

of landing, and of the exports at the moment of shipping, that should be taken. For this purpose from the imports there have to be deducted the costs incurred after landing, namely, the expenses of landing, storing, and selling, and the duty paid; and to the exports there have to be added the importer's commission, the expenses of packing, storing, and shipping, and the export duty. So dealt with, the value of the imports for 1896 comes to 177,630,606 haikwan taels, and that of the exports to 146,929,091 haikwan taels; and the value of the imports for 1897 comes to 177,915,163 haikwan taels, and that of the exports to 181,769,995 haikwan taels.

During 1897 the principal countries participated in the trade of China as shown in the following table :

1 Including Imports from Formosa, etc., haikwan taels 5,413,194

Exports to

The imports into China from Hong Kong come originally from, and the exports from China to that colony are further carried on to, Great Britain, Germany, France, America, Australia, India, the Straits, and other countries.

The figures given above include the statistics of imports and exports at the treaty ports for the whole year; and also the like statistics of the junk trade of Hong Kong and Macao with the south of China (by the Kowloon and Lappa custom houses).

The chief imports and exports are as follows (1897) :

Of the tea in 1897, 244,480 piculs (each 133 lbs.) went to Great Britain, 813,494 piculs to Russia, 207,888 piculs to the United States, 119,723 piculs to Hong Kong, 33,327 piculs to Australia, out of a total of 1,532,158 piculs. The total export of tea has been as follows to foreign countries in piculs:1885, 2,128,751; 1892, 1,622,681; 1893, 1,820,831; 1894, 1 862,312; 1895, 1,865,680; 1896, 1,712,841; 1897, 1,532, 158.

:

China has besides an extensive coasting trade, largely carried on by British and other foreign as well as Chinese vessels.

Great Britain has, in virtue of various treaties with the Chinese Govern. ment, the right of access to certain ports of the Empire. The following is a list of twenty-three of these treaty ports, with the value of their direct foreign imports and exports for 1897 :

Wuchow on the West River, and Samshui in Kuangtung, were opened to Foreign trade on the 4th June, 1897, in accordance with the Special Article of the Burmese Frontier Convention (British Treaty of February 4th, 1897).

Szemao was opened to frontier trade on January 2nd, 1897, in accordance with the stipulation of the Gérard Supplementary Frontier Convention of 1895.

The Chinese Government has announced its intention of opening Yochow, in Hunan; Santuao, in Fukien; Chingwangtao, in Chihli; and Woosung, as treaty ports.

Since April 1887 the customs stations in the vicinity of Hong Kong and Macao have been placed under the management of the foreign customs. In 1897, Kowloon imports 13,027,228 haikwan taels, and exports 23,024,493 haikwan taels; Lappa imports 3,514,878 haikwan taels, and exports 5,894,314 haikwan taels. The same service has also been charged with the collection of the so-called Likin (inland) tax on foreign opium imported, which is likely to result in a considerable increase of the foreign maritime customs receipts. A custom house was opened at Yatung (Tibet) on 1st May, 1894. The port of Nanking, which the Chinese Government consented to throw

H H

open by a treaty made with France in 1858, in which England participated under the most favoured nation' clause, had not been opened at the end of 1897.

The value of the total imports into the United Kingdom from China, and of the exports of British and Irish produce and manufactures from the United Kingdom to China (including Hong Kong and Macao), in each of the last five years, were, according to the Board of Trade returns :—

From China, exclusive of Hong Kong and Macao, the imports into the United Kingdom amounted in 1896 to 2,973,8877.; in 1897 to 2,684,7221.; to China, exclusive of these ports, the exports of British produce amounted in 1896 to 6,717,3537.; in 1897 to 5,142,3421.

In 1890 and in the last five years the quantities and value of the imports of tea into the United Kingdom from China, including Hong Kong and Macao, were:

Other important articles of import into Great Britain from China are silk, raw and waste, the value of which amounted in 1896, to 640,6217.; 1897, 576,5741.; silk manufactures, 1896, 61,7267.; 1897, 53,1187.; hemp, 1896, 198,0947.; 1897, 50,1927.; bristles, 1896, 195,1667.; 1897, 175,8047. ; drugs, 1896, 66,9077.; 1897, 88,7887.; skins and furs, 1896, 237,3757. ; 1897, 2354117.; manufactures of skins and furs, 1896, 219,6557.; 1897, 231,7231.; straw plaiting, 1896, 348,4537.; 1897, 288,2907.; wool, 1896, 57,2737.; 1897, 38, 148. The chief British exports to China were :Cottons, 1896, 5,599,3677.; 1897, 4,330, 6337. ; cotton yarn, 1896, 282,8677. ; 1897,333,2727.; machinery, 1896, 352,9777.; 1897, 274,7487.; iron, 1896, 514,4937.; 1897, 582,1407.; woollens and worsteds, 1896, 785,2257.; 1897, 588,2771.

Shipping and Navigation.

During the year 1897, 44,500 vessels, of 33,752,362 tons (34,566 being steamers of 32,519,729 tons), entered and cleared Chinese ports. Of these 21,140, of 21,891,043 tons, were British; 18,889, of 7,819,980 tons, Chinese ; 1,858, of 1,658,094 tons, German; 653, of 660,707 tons, Japanese; 333, of 269,780 tons, American; 464, of 423,122 tons, French.

Internal Communications.

China is traversed in all directions by numerous roads, and, though none are paved or metalled, and all are badly kept, a vast internal trade is carried on partly over them, but chiefly by means of numerous canals and navigable rivers. In February the Chiuese Government agreed that all internal water