The Railway systems.

The main scheme of the railway systems of China is simple. It consists of lines, more or less parallel, running roughly north and south, linked by cross lines with coast ports, or abutting on navigable rivers. One great east and west line will run through central China, from Hankow to Sze-ch'uen. Connexion with Europe is afforded by the Manchuria-trans-Siberia main line, which has a general east and west direction. From Harbin on this railway a branch runs south to Mukden, which since 1908 has become an important railway centre. Thence one line goes due south to Port Arthur; another south-east to An-tung (on the Yalu) and Korea; a third south and west to Tientsin and Peking. A branch from the Mukden-Tientsin line goes round the head of the Gulf of Liao-tung and connects Niu-chwang with the Mukden-Port Arthur line. By this route it is 470 m. from Peking to Niu-chwang.

From Peking the trunk line (completed in 1905) runs south through the heart of China to Hankow on the Yangtsze-kiang. This section (754 m. long) is popularly known as "the Lu-Han line," from the first part of the names of the terminal stations. The continuation south of this line from Hankow to Canton was in 1910 under construction. Thus a great north and south connexion nearly 2000 m. long is established from Canton to Harbin. From Mukden southward the line is owned and worked by China.

A railway (German concession) starts from Kiao-chow and runs westward through Shan-tung to Chinan Fu, whence an extension farther west to join the main Lu-Han line at Cheng-ting Fu in Chih-li was undertaken. Westward from Cheng-ting Fu a line financed by the Russo-Chinese Bank runs to T'ai-yuen Fu in Shan-si.

Another main north and south railway parallel to, but east of, the Lu-Han line and following more or less the route of the Grand Canal, is designed to connect Tientsin, Su-chow (in Kiang-su), Chin-kiang, Nanking, Shanghai, Hang-chow and Ning-po. The southern section (Nanking, Shanghai, &c.) was open in 1909. This Tientsin-Ning-po railway connects at Chinan-Fu with the Shan-tung lines.

A third north and south line starts from Kiu-Kiang on the Yangtsze below Hankow and traversing the centre of Kiang-si province will join the Canton-Hankow line at Shao-Chow in Kwang-tung province. The construction of the first section, Kiu-Kiang to Nanchang (76 m.), began in 1910.

In southern China besides the main Canton to Hankow railway (under construction) a line (120 m. long) runs from Canton to Kowloon (opposite Hong-Kong), and there are local lines running inland from Swatow and Fuchow. The French completed in 1909 a trunk line (500 m. long) from Haiphong in Tong King to Yun-nan Fu, the capital of Yun-nan, some 200 m. being in Chinese territory. The French hold concessions for railways in Kwang-si and Kwang-tung. The British government has the right to extend the Burma railway system through Yun-nan and north to the Yangtsze.

There are local lines in Hu-nan and Ho-nan which connect with the trunk line from Canton to Peking. The Peking-Kalgan line (122 m. long) is a distinct undertaking. The Chinese propose to continue it another 530 m. north-westward to Urga in Mongolia, and an eventual junction with the trans-Siberian railway in the neighbourhood of Lake Baikal is contemplated. This line would greatly shorten the distance between Moscow and Peking.

In 1910 there were open for traffic in China (not reckoning the Russian and Japanese systems in Manchuria, q.v.) over 3000 m. of railway, and 1500 m. of trunk lines were under construction.

Roads, rivers, and canals.

China is traversed in all directions by roads. Very few are paved of metalled and nearly all are badly kept; speaking generally, the government spends nothing in keeping either the roads or canals in repair. The roads in several instances are subsidiary to the canals and navigable rivers as a means of communication. The ancient trade routes were twelve in number, viz.[24]:—

1. The West river route (W. from Canton). 2. The Cheling Pass route (N.W. from Canton). 3. The Meiling Pass route (N. from Canton). 4. The Min river route (N.W. from Fu-chow). 5. The Lower Yangtsze route (as far W. as Hu-peh and Hu-nan). 6. The Upper Yangtsze route (from I'chang to Sze-ch'uen). 7. The Kwei-chow route. 8. The Han river route (Hankow to Shen-si). 9. The Grand Canal (already described). 10. The Shan-si route. 11. The Kiakhta route. 12. The Manchurian route.

Of the routes named, that by the West river commands the trade of Kwang-si and penetrates to Yun-nan (where it now has to meet the competition of the French railway from Tong King) and Kwei-chow. The Cheling Pass route from Canton is so named as it crosses that pass (1500 ft. high) to reach the water-ways of Hu-nan at Chen-chow on an affluent of the Siang, and thus connects with the Yangtsze. The trade of this route—whence in former times the teas of Hu-nan (Oonam) and Hu-peh (Oopaek) reached Canton—has been largely diverted via Shanghai and up the Yangtsze. The Canton-Hankow railway also supersedes it for through traffic. The route by the Meiling Pass (1000 ft. High) links Canton and Kiu-kiang. This route is used by the King-te Chen porcelain works to send, to Canton the commoner ware, there to be painted with florid and multicoloured designs. The Min river route serves mainly the province of Fu-kien. The Lower Yangtsze is a river route, now mainly served by steamers (though the salt is still carried by junks), and the Upper Yangtsze is a river route also, but much more difficult of navigation. The Kwei-chow route is up the river Yuen from Changte and the Tung-t'ing lake. The Han river route becomes beyong Sing-nagn Fu a land route over the Tsingling mountains to the capital of Shen-si, and thence on to Kan-suh, Mongolia and Siberia. The Shan-si route from Peking, wholly by road, calls for no detailed account; the Manchurian route is now adequately served by railways. There remains the important Kiakhta route. From Peking it goes to Kalgan (this section is now served by a railway), whence the main route traverses Mongolia, while branches serve Shan-si, Shen-si, Kan-suh, Turkestan, &c. By this route go the caravans bearing tea to Siberia and Russia. Other routes are from Yun-nan to Burma and from Sze-ch'uen province to Tibet.

The government maintains a number of courier roads, which, like the main trade roads, keep approximately to a straight line. These courier roads are sometimes cut in the steep sides of mountains or run through them in tunnels. They are, in the plains, 20 to 25 ft. wide and are occasionally paved. The chief courier roads starting from Peking go to Sze-chu'en, Yun-nan, Kweilin (in Kwang-si), Canton and Fu-chow. Canals are numerous, especially in the deltas of the Yangtsze and Si-kiang.

In the centre and south of China the roads are rarely more than 5 ft. broad and wheeled traffic is seldom possible. Bridges are generally of stone, sometimes of wood; large rivers are crossed by bridges of boats. In the north carts drawn by ponies, mules or oxen are employed; in the centre and south passengers travel in sedan-chairs or in wheelbarrows, or ride on ponies. Occasionally the local authorities employ the corvee system to dig out the bed of a canal, but as a rule roads are left to take care of themselves.

Posts and Telegraphs.—Every important city is now connected by telegraph with the capital, and the service is reasonably efficient. In 1907 there were 25,913 m. of telegraph lines. Connexion is also established with the British lines in Burma and the Russian lines in Siberia. The Great Northern Telegraph Company (Danish) and the Eastern Extension Telegraph Company (British) connect Shanghai by cable with Hong-Kong, Japan, Singapore and Europe. An imperial postal service was established in 1896 under the general control of the maritime customs.[25] By an edict of November 1906 the control of the postal services was transferred to the Board of Communication. The Post Office serves all the open ports, and every important city in the interior. There were in 1910 some 4000 native post-offices, employing 15,000 persons, of whom about 200 only were foreigners. The treaty powers however, still maintain their separate post offices at Shanghai, and several other treaty ports for the despatch and receipt of mails from Europe. During the years 1901-1908 mail matters increased from ten millions to two hundred and fifty-two millions of items; and the 250 tons of parcels handled to 27,155 tons. In postal matters China has adopted a most progressive attitude. The imperial post conforms in all respects to the universal Postal Union regulations. (G. J.; X.)

IV. GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

Changes in the traditional form of government in China—an autocracy based on parental rule—were initiated in 1905 when a commission was appointed to study the forms of government in other countries.[26] On the 1st of September 1906 an imperial edict was issued in which the establishment of parliamentary institutions in China was foreshadowed. In 1907 an advisory council—as a sort of stepping-stone to representative government—was established by another edict. On the 27th of August 1908 an edict announced the convocation of a parliament in the ninth year from that date. An edict of the 3rd of December 1908 reaffirmed that of the 27th of August. An edict of the 31st of October 1909 fixed the classes from which an Imperial Assembly (or Senate) was to be selected, and an edict of the 9th of May 1910 gave the names of the senators, all of whom had been nominated by the throne. The assembly as thus constituted consisted of 200 members drawn from eight classes: (1) princes and nobles of the imperial house—16 members; (2) Manchu and Chinese nobles—12 members; (3) princes and nobles of dependencies—14 members; (4) imperial clansmen other than those mentioned—6 members; (5) Peking officials—32 members; (6) eminent scholars—10 members; (7) exceptional property owners—10 members; (8) representatives of provincial assemblies—100 members. The national assembly, which was opened by the regent on the 3rd of October 1910, thus contained the elements of a two-chambered parliament. The edict summoning the assembly contained the following exhortations:—

The members should understand that this assemblage of the senate is an unprecedented undertaking in China and will be the forerunner of the creation of a parliament. They are earnestly desired to devote to it their patriotism and sincerity, to observe proper order, and to fulfil their duties in representing public opinion. Thus it is hoped that our sincere wish to effect constitutional reforms in their proper order and to aim at success may be duly satisfied.

Concurrently with these steps towards a fundamental alteration in the method of government, changes were made in many departments of the state, and an elective element was introduced into the provincial administrations. The old conception of government with such modifications as had been made up to 1910 are set forth below.

The Chinese conception of government.

The laws of the state prescribe the government of the country to be based on the government of the family.[27] The emperor is the sole and supreme head of the state, his will being absolute alike in the highest affairs and in the humblest details of private life. The highest form of legislation was an imperial decree, whether promulgated in general terms or to meet a special case. In either form it was the law of the land, and no privilege or prescriptive right could be pleaded against it. All officers of state, all judges and magistrates, hold their offices entirely at the imperial pleasure. They can be dismissed, degraded, punished, without reason assigned and without form of trial—even without knowing by whom or of what they are accused. The monarch has an advisory council, but he is not bound by its advice, nor need he pretend that he is acting by and with its advice and concurrence. This condition of affairs dates back to a primitive state of society, which probably existed among the Chinese who first developed a civilized form of government. That this system should have been maintained in China through many centuries is a fact into the causes of which it is worth while to inquire. We find it pictured in the records which make up the Book of History, and we find it enforced in the writings of the great apostle of patriarchal institutions, Confucius, and in all the other works which go to make up the Confucian Canon. The reverence with which these scriptures are viewed was the principal means of perpetuating the primitive form of Chinese imperialism. The contents of their pages formed the study of every schoolboy, and supplied the themes at the competitive examinations through which every one had to pass who sought an official career. Thus the mind of the nation was constantly and almost exclusively turned towards them, and their dogmas became part and parcel of the national training. The whole theory of government is the embodiment of parental love and filial piety. As the people are the children of the emperor, so is he the T'ien-tsze or the Son of Heaven.

The emperor.

In practice the arbitrary power of the emperor is tempered in several ways. Firstly, although the constitution conferred this absolute and unchecked power on the emperor, it was not for his gratification but that he might exercise it for the good of his people. He rules by divine authority, and as the vicegerent of heaven upon earth. If he rules corruptly or unjustly, heaven will send disasters and calamity on the people as a reproof; if the rule becomes tyrannical, heaven may withdraw its favour entirely, and then rebellion may be justified. The Manchu dynasty came to the throne as foreign conquerors, nevertheless they base their right to rule, not on the power of the sword, but on divine approval. On this moral ground they claim the obedience of their subjects, and submit themselves to the corresponding obligations. The emperor, unless he has gained the throne by conquest, is selected by his predecessor or by the imperial family in conclave. He is usually a son (but seldom the eldest son) of his predecessor, and need not be the child of the empress-consort,[28] though (other things being equal) a son of the empress is preferred. Failing a son another prince of the imperial house is chosen, the choice being properly among the princes of a generation below that of the preceding emperor, so that the new emperor may be adopted as the son of his predecessor, and perform for him the due ceremonies at the ancestral tablets. Apart from this ancestor-worship the emperor worships only at the Altar of Heaven, leaving Buddhism, Taoism, and any other form of worship to his subjects. The emperor's sacrifices and prayers to heaven are conducted with great parade and ceremony. The chief of these state observances is the sacrifice at the winter solstice, which is performed before sunrise on the morning of the 21st of December at the Temple of Heaven. The form of the altar is peculiar.

"It consists of a triple circular terrace, 210 ft. wide at the base, 150 in the middle, and 90 at the top.... The emperor, with his immediate suite, kneels in front of the tablet of Shang-ti (The Supreme Being, or Heaven), and faces the north. The platform is laid with marble stones, forming nine concentric circles; the inner circle consists of nine stones, cut so as to fit with close edges round the central stone, which is a perfect circle. Here the emperor kneels, and is surrounded first by the circles of the terraces and their enclosing walls, and then by the circle of the horizon. He then seems to himself and to his court to be in the centre of the universe, and turning to the north, assuming the attitude of a subject, he acknowledges in prayer and by his position that he is inferior to heaven, and to heaven alone. Round him on the pavement are the nine circles of as many heavens, consisting of nine stones, then eighteen, then twenty-seven, and so on in successive multiples of nine till the square of nine, the favourite number of Chinese philosophy, is reached in the outermost circle of eighty-one stones."

On this occasion, also, a bullock of two years old, and without blemish, is offered as a whole burnt-offering in a green porcelain furnace which stands close beside the altar. The emperor's life is largely occupied with ceremonial observances, and custom ordains that except on state occasions he should not leave the walls of the palace.

For his knowledge of public affairs the emperor is thus largely dependent upon such information as courtiers and high officers of state permit to reach him.[29] The palace eunuchs have often exercised great power, though their influence has been less under the Manchus than was the case during previous dynasties. Though in theory the throne commands the services and money of all its subjects yet the crown as such has no revenues peculiarly its own. It is dependent on contributions levied through the high officials on the several provinces, subject always to the will of the people, and without their concurrence and co-operation nothing can be done.[30] The power of the purse and the power of the sword are thus exercised mediately, and the autocratic power is in practice transferred to the general body of high functionaries, or to that clique which for the time being has the ear of the emperor, and is united enough and powerful enough to impose its will on the others.

China governed by its civil service.

The functionaries who thus really wield the supreme power are almost without exception civil officials. Naturally the court has shown an inclination to choose Manchu rather than Chinese, but of late years this preference has become less marked, and in the imperial appointments to provincial administrations the proportion of Manchus chosen was at the beginning of the 20th century not more than one-fifth of the whole number. The real reason for this change is the marked superiority of the Chinese, in whose hands the administration is stated to be safer for the Manchu dynasty. Practically all the high Chinese officials have risen through the junior ranks of the civil service, and obtained their high position as the reward—so it must be presumed—of long and distinguished public service.

Functions of the central government.

Through the weakness of some of the emperors the functions of the central government gradually came to be to check the action of the provincial governments rather than assume a direct initiative in the conduct of affairs. "The central government may be said to criticize rather than to control the action of the provincial 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."[31] This was written in 1877, and since then the pressure of foreign nations has compelled the central government to assume greater responsibilities, and the empire is now ruled from Peking in a much more effective manner than was the case when Lord Napier in 1834 could find no representative of the central government with whom to transact business.

If the central authorities take the initiative, and issue orders to the provincial authorities, it, however, does not follow that they will be carried out. The orders, if unwelcome, are not directly disobeyed, but rather ignored, or specious pleas are put forward, showing the difficulty or impossibility of carrying them out at that particular juncture. The central government always wields the power of removing or degrading a recalcitrant governor, and no case has been known where such an order was not promptly obeyed. But the central government, being composed of officials, stand by their order, and are extremely reluctant to issue such a command, especially at the bidding of a foreign power. Generally the opinion of the governors and viceroys has great weight with the central government.

Departments of the central administration.

Under the Ming dynasty the Nuiko or Grand Secretariat formed the supreme council of the empire. It is now of more honorific than actual importance. Active membership is limited to six persons, namely, four grand secretaries and two assistant grand secretaries, half of whom, according to a general rule formerly applicable to nearly all the high offices in Peking, must be Manchu and half Chinese. It constitutes the imperial chancery or court of archives, and admission to its ranks confers the highest distinction attainable by Chinese officials, though with functions that are almost purely nominal. Members of the grand secretariat are distinguished by the honorary title of Chung-t'ang. The most distinguished viceroys are usually advanced to the dignity of grand secretary while continuing to occupy their posts in the provinces. The best known of recent grand secretaries was Li Hung-chang.

Under the Manchu dynasty the Grand Council (Chuen Chi Ch'u) became the actual privy council of the sovereign, in whose presence its members daily transacted the business of the state. This council is composed of a small knot of men holding various high offices in the government boards at Peking. The literal meaning of Chuen Chi Ch'u is "place of plans for the army," and the institution derives its name from the practice established by the early emperors of the Manchu dynasty of treating public affairs on the footing of a military council. The usual time of transacting business is from 4 to 6 a.m. In addition to the grand council and the grand secretariat there were boards to supervise particular departments. By a decree of the 6th of November 1906 the central administration was remodelled, subsequent decrees making other changes. The administration in 1910 was carried on by the following agencies:—

A. Councils.—(1)The grand council. Its title was modified in 1906 and it is now known as the Grand Council of State Affairs or Privy Council. It has no special function, but deals with all matters of general administration and is presided over by the emperor (or regent). (2) The Grand Secretariat. This body gained no increase of power in 1906. (3) The advisory council or senate (Tu Cheng Yuen) created in 1907 and containing representatives of each province. It includes all members of the grand council and the grand secretariat and the heads of all the executive departments.[32] The members of these three bodies form advisory cabinets to the emperor.

B. Boards.—Besides boards concerned with the affairs of the court there were, before the pressure of foreign nations and the movement for reform caused changes to be made, six boards charged with the conduct of public affairs. They were: (1) Li Pu, the Board of Civil Appointments, controlling all appointments in the civil service from the rank of district magistrate upwards. (2) Hu Pu, the Board of Revenue, dealing with all revenues which reached the central government. (3) Li Pu, the Board of Ceremonies. (4) Ping Pu, the Board of War. It controlled the provincial forces. The Manchu forces were an independent organization attached to the palace. (5) Hsing Pu, the Board of Punishments. It dealt with the criminal law only, especially the punishment of officials guilty of malpractices. (6) Kung Pu, the Board of Works. Its work was limited to the control of the construction and repair of official residences.

As rearranged and enlarged there are now the following boards, given in order of precedence:—

1. Wai-wu Pu.—This was established in 1901 in succession to the Tsung-li Yamen,[33] which was created in 1861 after the Anglo-Chinese War in 1860 as a board for foreign affairs. Previous to that war, which established the right of foreign powers to have their representatives in Peking, all business with Western nations was transacted by provincial authorities, chiefly the viceroy at Canton. The only department at Peking which dealt specially with foreign affairs was the Li Fan Yuen, or board of control for the dependencies, which regulated the affairs of Mongolia, Tibet and the tributary states generally. With the advent of formally accredited ambassadors from the European powers something more than this was required, and a special board was appointed to discuss all questions with the foreign envoys. The number was originally four, with Prince Kung, a brother of the emperor Hien Feng, at their head. It was subsequently raised to ten, another prince of the blood, Prince Ching, becoming president. The members were spoken of collectively as the prince and ministers. For a long time the board had no real power, and was looked on rather as a buffer between the foreign envoys and the real government. The importance of foreign affairs, however, especially since the Japanese War, identified the Yamen more with the grand council, several of the most prominent men being members of both. At the same time that the Tsung-li Yamen was created, two important offices were established in the provinces for dealing with foreign commercial questions, viz. the superintendencies of trade for the northern and southern ports. The negotiations connected with the Boxer outbreak proved so conclusively that the machinery to the Tsung-li Yamen was of too antiquated a nature to serve the new requirements, that it was determined to abolish the Yamen and to substitute for it a board (Pu) to be styled the Wai-wu Pu, or "board of foreign affairs."

2. Board of Civil Appointments.

3. Board of Home Affairs.

4. Board of Finance and Paymaster General's Department.

5. Board of Ceremonies.

6. Army Board or Ministry of War (instituted 1906).[34]

7. Board of Judicature.

8. Board of Agriculture, Works and Commerce (instituted 1903).

9. Board of dependencies.

10. Board of Education (instituted 1903).

11. Board of Communications (instituted 1906).

Each board has one president and two vice-presidents, with the exception of the Wai-wu Pu, which has a comptroller-general and two presidents, and the Boards of War and Education, each of which has a comptroller-general in addition to the president. According to the decree of 1906 no distinction, in filling up the various boards, is to be made between Manchu and Chinese.

Besides the boards named there are other departments of state, some of them not limited to any one branch of the public service. The more important are those that follow:—

The Censorate (Tu Ch'a Yuen).—An institution peculiar to China. The constitution provides a paid body of men whose duty it is to inform the emperor of all facts affecting the welfare of the people and the conduct of government, and in particular to keep an eye on the malfeasance of his officers. These men are termed Yue shih (imperial recorder), generally translated censors. Their office has existed since the 3rd century B.C. The body consists of two presidents, a Chinese and a Manchu, 24 supervising censors attached to the ministries at Peking, and 56 censors, divided into fifteen divisions, each division taking a particular province or area, so as to embrace the whole eighteen provinces, besides one metropolitan division. The censors are privileged to animadvert on the conduct even of the emperor himself; to censure the manner in which all other officials perform or neglect their duties and to denounce them to the throne. They receive appeals made to the emperor, either by the people against the officials or by subordinate officials against their superiors. They exercise, in accord with the Board of Justice, an oversight over all criminal cases and give their opinion whenever the death penalty is to be pronounced. They superintend the working of the different boards and are sometimes sent to various places as imperial inspectors, hence they are called erh mu kuan (the eyes and ears of the emperor). The censors exercise their office at times with great boldness;[35] their advice if unpalatable may be disregarded and the censor in question degraded. The system of the censorate lends itself to espionage and to bribery, and it is said to be more powerful for mischief than for good. With the growth in influence of the native press the institution appears to lose its raison d'etre.

The grand court of revision (Ta-li sze) or Court of Cassation exercises, in conjunction with the Board of Justice and the Censorate, a general supervision over the administration of the criminal law. These bodies are styled collectively San-fah sze (the Three High Justices).

The Hanlin College (Hanlin Yuen, literally Forest of Pencils) is composed of all the literate who have passed the palace examination and obtained the title of Hanlin or imperial academist. It has two chancellors—a Manchu and a Chinese. Its functions are of a purely literary character and it is of importance chiefly because the heads of the college, who are presumably the most eminent scholars of the empire, have the right of advising the throne on all public affairs, and are eligible as members of the grand council or of the Wai-wu Pu. The Chinese set fire to it during the fighting in Peking in June 1900 in the hope of burning out the adjoining British legation. The whole of the library, containing some of the most valuable manuscripts in the world, was destroyed.

Provincial government.

Each of the eighteen provinces of China proper, the three provinces of Manchuria and the province of Sin-kiang are ruled by a viceroy placed over one, two and in one instance three provinces, or by a governor over a single province either under a viceroy or depending directly on the central government, the viceroy or the governor being held responsible to the emperor for the entire administration, political, judicial, military and fiscal. The most important viceroyalties are those of Chih-li, Liang-kiang and Liang-kwang. The viceroyalty of Liang-kiang comprises the provinces of Kiang-su, Ngan-hui and Kiang-si. The viceroy resides at Nanking and hence is sometimes called the viceroy of Nanking. Similarly the viceroy of Liang-kwang (comprising the provinces of Kwang-tung and Kwang-si) through having his residence at Canton is sometimes styled the viceroy of Canton. The three provinces adjoining the metropolitan province of Chih-li—Shan-tung, Shan-si and Ho-nan—have no viceroys over them; seven provinces—including Chih-li—have no governors, the viceroy officiating as governor. In provinces where there are both a viceroy and a governor they act conjointly, but special departments are administered by the one rather than the other. The viceroy controls the military and the salt tax; the governor the civil service generally.

The viceroy or governor is assisted by various other high officials, all of whom down to the district magistrate are nominated from Peking. The chief officials are the treasurer, the judicial commissioner or provincial judge, and the commissioner of education (this last post being created in 1903). The treasurer controls the finances of the whole province, receiving the taxes and paying the salaries of the officials. The judge, the salt commissioner, and the grain collector are the only other officials whose authority extends over the whole province. Each province is subdivided into prefectures ruled by prefects, and each prefecture into districts ruled by a district magistrate, Chih-hsien, the official through whom the people in general receive the orders of the government. Two or more prefectures are united into a tao or circuit, the official at the head of which is called a Taot'ai. Each town and village has also its unofficial governing body of "gentry."[36] The officials appointed from Peking hold office for three years, but they may be re-appointed once, and in the case of powerful viceroys they may hold office for a prolonged period. Another rule is that no official is ever appointed to a post in the province of his birth; a rule which, however, did not apply to Manchuria. The Peking authorities take care also in making the high appointments to send men of different political parties to posts in the same province.

The edict of the 6th of November 1906 initiating changes in the central administration was accompanied by another edict outlining changes in the provincial government, and an edict of the 22nd of July 1908 ordered the election of provincial assemblies. The edict made it clear that the functions of the assemblies were to be purely consultative. The elections took place according to the regulations, the number of members allotted to each province varying from 30 (Kirin province, Manchuria, and two others) to 140 in Chih-li. The franchise was restricted, but the returns for the first elections showed nearly 1000 voters for each representative. The first meetings of the assemblies were held in October 1909.

The Civil Service.—The bureaucratic element is a vital feature in the government of China, the holding of office being almost the only road to distinction. Officials are by the Chinese called collectively Kwan (rulers or magistrates) but are known to foreigners as mandarins (q.v.). The mandarins are divided into nine degrees, distinguished by the buttons worn on the top of their caps. These are as follows:—first and highest, a plain red button; second, a flowered red button; third, a transparent blue button; fourth, an opaque blue button; fifth, an uncoloured glass button; sixth, an opaque white shell button; seventh, a plain gilt button; eighth, a gilt button with flowers in relief; ninth, a gilt button with engraved flowers. The buttons indicate simply rank, not office. The peacock feathers worn in their hats are an order granted as reward of merit, and indicate neither rank nor office. The Yellow Jacket similarly is a decoration, the most important in China.

The ranks of the civil service are recruited by means of examinations. Up to the beginning of 1906 the subjects in which candidates were examined were purely Chinese and literary with a smattering of history. In 1906 this system was modified and an official career was opened to candidates who had obtained honours in an examination in western subjects (see Sec. Education). The old system is so closely identified with the life of China that some space must be devoted to a description of it.

As a general rule students preparing for the public examination read with private tutors. There were neither high schools nor universities where a regular training could be got. In most of the provincial capitals, and at some other places, there were indeed institutions termed colleges, supported to some extent from public funds, where advanced students could prosecute their studies; but before the movement initiated by the viceroy Chang Chih-tung after the China-Japan War of 1894, they hardly counted as factors in the national education. The private tutors, on the other hand, were plentiful and cheap. After a series of preliminary trials the student obtained his first qualification by examination held before the literary chancellor in the prefecture to which he belonged. This was termed the Siuts'ai, or licentiate's degree, and was merely a qualification to enter for the higher examinations. The number of licentiate degrees to be given was, however, strictly limited; those who failed to get in were set back to try again, which they might do as often as they pleased. There was no limit of age. Those selected next proceeded to the great examination held at the capital of each province, once in three years, before examiners sent from Peking for the purpose. Here again the number who passed was strictly limited. Out of 10,000 or 12,000 competitors only some 300 or 350 could obtain degrees. The others, as before, must go back and try again. This degree, termed Chue jen, or provincial graduate, was the first substantial reward of the student's ambition, and of itself qualified for the public service, though it did not immediately nor necessarily lead to active employment. The third and final examination took place at Peking, and was open to provincial graduates from all parts of the empire. Out of 6000 competitors entering for this final test, which was held triennially, some 325 to 350 succeeded in obtaining the degree of Chin shih, or metropolitan graduate. These were the finally selected men who became the officials of the empire.

Several other doors were, however, open by which admission to the ranks of bureaucracy could be obtained. In the first place, to encourage scholars to persevere, a certain number of those who failed to reach the chue jen, or second degree, were allowed, as a reward of repeated efforts, to get into a special class from which selection for office might be made. Further, the government reserved to itself the right to nominate the sons and grandsons of distinguished deceased public servants without examination. And, lastly, by a system of "recommendation," young men from favoured institutions or men who had served as clerks in the boards, might be put on the roster for substantive appointment. The necessities of the Chinese government also from time to time compelled it to throw open a still wider door of entry into the civil service, namely, admission by purchase. During the T'aip'ing rebellion, when the government was at its wits' end for money, formal sanction was given to what had previously been only intermittently resorted to, and since then immense sums of money have been received by the sale of patents of rank, to secure either admission to office or more rapid promotion of those already employed. As a result of this policy, the country has been saddled with thousands of titular officials far in excess of the number of appointments to be given away. Deserving men were kept waiting for years, while inferior and less capable officials were pushed ahead, because they had money wherewith to bribe their way. Nevertheless the purchase system admitted into the service a number of men free from that bigoted adherence to Confucian doctrine which characterizes the literary classes, and more in touch with modern progress.

All candidates who succeed in entering the official ranks are eligible for active employment, but as the number of candidates is far in excess of the number of appointments a period of weary waiting ensues. A few of the best scholars get admitted at once into the Hanlin college or into one or other of the boards at Peking. The rest are drafted off in batches to the various provinces to await their turn for appointment as vacancies occur. During this period of waiting they are termed "expectants" and draw no regular pay. Occasional service, however, falls in their way, as when they are commissioned for special duty in outlying districts, which they perform as Wei yuens, or deputies of the regular officials. The period of expectancy may be abridged by recommendation or purchase, and it is generally supposed that this last lever must invariably be resorted to to secure any lucrative local appointment. A poor but promising official is often, it is said, financed by a syndicate of relations and friends, who look to recoup themselves out of the customary perquisites which attach to the post. Appointments to the junior provincial posts are usually left to the provincial government, but the central government can always interfere directly. Appointments to the lucrative posts of customs, taot'ai, at the treaty ports are usually made direct from Peking, and the officer selected is neither necessarily nor usually from the provincial staff. It would perhaps be safe to say that this appointment has hitherto always been the result of a pecuniary arrangement of greater or less magnitude.

Bribery and torture.

During the first five years (1906-1910) of the new method, by which candidates for the civil service were required, in addition to Chinese classics, to have a knowledge of western science, great efforts were made in several provinces to train up a better class of public official. The old system of administration had many theoretical excellencies, and there had been notable instances of upright administration, but the regulation which forbade a mandarin to hold any office for more than three years made it the selfish interest of every office-holder to get as much out of the people within his jurisdiction as he possibly could in that time. This corruption in high places had a thoroughly demoralizing effect. While among the better commercial classes Chinese probity in business relations with foreigners is proverbial, the people generally set little or no value upon truth, and this has led to the use of torture in their courts of justice; for it is argued that where the value of an oath is not understood, some other means must be resorted to to extract evidence.

Justice.—The Chih-Hsien or district magistrate decides ordinary police cases; he is also coroner and sheriff, he hears suits for divorce and breach of promise, and is a 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."[37] Appeal from the Hsien court lies to the Fu, or prefectural court, and thence cases may be taken to the provincial judge, who signs death warrants, while there are final courts of appeal at Peking. Civil cases are usually settled by trade gilds in towns and by village elders, or by arbitration in rural districts. Reference has been made to the use of torture. Flogging is the only form of torture which has been allowed under the Manchus. The obdurate witness is laid on his face, and the executioner delivers his blows on the upper part of the thighs with the concave side of a split bamboo, the sharp edges of which mutilate the sufferer terribly. The punishment is continued until the man either supplies the evidence required or becomes insensible. Punishment by bamboo was formally abolished by imperial edict in 1905, and other judicial reforms were instituted. They remained largely inoperative, and even in Shanghai, under the eyes of foreign residents, gross cases of the infliction of torture occurred in 1909.[38]

For capital offences the usual modes of inflicting the extreme penalty of the law are—in bad cases, such as parricides, "cutting to pieces," and for less aggravated crimes either strangulation or decapitation. The culprit who is condemned to be "cut to pieces" is fastened to a cross, and while thus suspended cuts are made by the executioner on the fleshy parts of the body; and he is then beheaded. Strangulation is reserved for lesser degrees of guilt, it being considered a privilege to pass out of life with a whole body. When it has been granted to a criminal of rank thus to meet his end, a silken cord is sent to him at his own home. No explanatory message is considered necessary, and he is left to consummate his own doom. Popular sentiment regards decapitation as a peculiarly disgraceful mode of death. Constant practice makes the executioners wonderfully expert in the performance of their office. No block or resting-place for the head is used. The neck is simply outstretched to its full length by the aid of an assistant, and one blow invariably leaves the body headless.

Consular jurisdiction.

The laws are in accord with the principle which regards the family as a unit. Thus there is no bankruptcy law—if a debtor's own estate will not suffice to pay his debts the deficiency must be made good by his relatives; if a debtor absconds his immediate family are imprisoned. By analogy if one member of a party commits an offence and the guilty person cannot be detected, the whole party must suffer. Foreigners residing in China resented the application of this principle of law to themselves. As a result extra-territorial rights were sought by European powers. They were secured by Russia as early as 1689, but it was not until 1843 that any other nation acquired them. In that year Great Britain obtained the right to try British subjects by its own consuls, a right secured in more explicit terms by the United States and France in 1844. Now eighteen powers, including Japan, have consular courts for the trial of their own subjects according to the laws of their native lands. Mixed courts have also been established, that is, a defendant is tried in the court of his own nationality, the court giving its decision under the supervision of a representative of the plaintiff's nationality. In practice the Chinese have seldom sent representatives to sit on the bench of consular courts, but, as the Europeans lack confidence in the administration of Chinese justice, no suit brought by a foreigner against a Chinese is decided without the presence of an assessor of the plaintiff's nationality.

Army.

Defence.—The Chinese constitution in the period before the reform edicts of 1905-1906 provided for two independent sets of military organizations—namely, the Manchu army and the several provincial armies. On the establishment of the dynasty in 1644 the victorious troops, composed mainly of Manchus, but including also Mongols and Chinese, were permanently quartered in Peking, and constituted a hereditary national army. The force was divided into eight banners, and under one or other of these all Manchus and all the descendants of the members of other nationalities were enrolled. They form the bulk of the population of the "Tatar city" of Peking. Each adult male was by birth entitled to be enrolled as a soldier, and by virtue of his enrolment had a right to draw rations—i.e. his allowance of the tribute rice, whether on active service or not. Detachments from one or other of the banners were stationed as garrisons in the chief provincial centres, as at Canton, Fuchow and Hang-chow, &c., and their descendants still occupy the same position. As a fighting force the Manchu garrisons both in the capital and in the provinces had long become quite effete. In the capital, however, the elite of the Manchu soldiery were formed into a special corps termed the Peking Field Force. Its nominal strength was 20,000, the men were armed and drilled after the European fashion, and fairly well paid. There were other corps of picked Manchus better paid and better armed than the ordinary soldier, and it was computed that in 1901 the Manchu army in or near Peking could muster 40,000, all more or less efficient.

The second organization was termed the army of the Green Standard, being the Chinese provincial forces. The nominal strength was from 20,000 to 30,000 for each province, or about 500,000 in all; the actual strength was about one-third of this. They were enrolled to keep the peace within their own province, and resembled a militia or local constabulary rather than a national army. They were generally poorly paid and equally badly drilled and armed.

The only real fighting force which China possessed at the beginning of the 20th century was made up of certain special corps which were not provided for in the constitution, and consequently used to be termed yung, "braves," or irregulars, but had acquired various distinctive names. They were enlisted by provincial governors, and all had some smattering of foreign drill. They were also fairly well paid and armed. After the Chino-Japanese War of 1894-95 some of these corps were quartered near Peking and Tientsin, and came generally to be spoken of as the Army of the North.

An imperial decree issued in 1901 after the Boxer rising ordered the reorganization of the military forces of the empire, and on provincial lines something was accomplished—especially in Chih-li under Yuan Shih-k'ai, who practically created "the Army of the North." It was not, however, until after the Russo-Japanese War that determined efforts were made to organize a national army on western lines; an army which should be responsible to the central government and not dependent upon the provincial administrations. A decree of 1905 provided (on paper) for training schools for officers in each of the provinces, middle grade military schools in selected provinces, and a training college and military high school in Peking. The Army Board was reorganized and steps taken to form a general staff. Considerable progress had been made by 1910 in the evolution of a body of efficient officers. In practice the administration remained largely provincial—for instance the armament of the troops was provided by the provincial governors and was far from uniform. The scheme[39] contemplated the creation of a force about 400,000 strong in 36 divisions and in two armies, the northern and the southern. Recruitment is on the voluntary principle, except in the case of the Manchus, who apparently enter the new army instead of the "eight banners." The terms of service are three years with the colours, three in the reserve and four in the territorial army. The Japanese system of training is followed. Reservists are called out for 30 days every year and the territorialists for 30 days every other year.

Up to 1909 six divisions and one mixed brigade of the northern army had been organized in Shan-tung, Chih-li and Ho-nan; elsewhere three divisions and six mixed brigades; total strength about 60,000 with 350 guns. (These figures do not include all the provincial foreign trained troops.) The efficiency of the troops varied; the northern army was superior to the others in training and armament. About a third of the 60,000 men of the new army were in 1909 stationed in Manchuria (See also Sec. History.)

An imperial edict of the 15th of September 1907 reorganized the army of the Green Standard. It was placed under the control of the minister of war and formed in battalions and squadrons. The duty of the troops in peace time remained much as previously. In war they pass under the control of regular officers, though their use outside their own provinces does not seem to be contemplated.

Navy.

The Chinese navy in 1909 consisted of the 4300 ton cruiser "Hai Chi" (two 8-in., ten 4.7-in. guns) of 24 knot original speed, three 3000 ton cruisers, "Hai Yung," "Hai Schew" and "Hai Shen" (three 6-in., eight 4-in. guns) of 19.5 knot original speed, some modern gunboats built in Japan, a few miscellaneous vessels and some old torpedo boats. With the destruction of the northern fleet by the Japanese at the capture of Wei-hai-wei in 1895, the Chinese navy may be said to have ceased to exist. Previously it consisted of two divisions, the northern and southern, of which the former was by far the more formidable. The southern was under the control of the viceroy of Nanking, and took no part in the Chino-Japanese War. While the northern fleet was grappling in a death-struggle, the southern was lying snugly in the Yangtsze waters, the viceroy of Nanking apparently thinking that as the Japanese had not attacked him there was no reason why he should risk his ships.

The New Scheme.—An edict of the 15th of July 1909 created a naval and military advisory board. Nimrod Sound, centrally situated on the coast of Cheh-kiang, was chosen as naval base, and four naval schools were ordered to be established; a navigation school at Chifu, an engineering school at Whampoa, a school for naval artificers at Fuchow, and a gunnery and musketry school at Nimrod Sound. A superior naval college was founded at Peking. The coast defences were placed under the control of the naval department, and the reorganization of the dockyards undertaken. During 1910 orders for cruisers were placed abroad.

Arsenals and Dockyards.—After the loss of Port Arthur, China possessed no dockyard which could dock vessels over 3000 tons. Many years ago the Chinese government established at Fuchow a shipbuilding yard, placing it in the hands of French engineers. Training schools both for languages and practical navigation were at the same time organized, and a training ship was procured and put under the command of a British naval officer. Some twenty-five or thirty small vessels were built in the course of as many years, but gradually the whole organization was allowed to fall into decay. Except for petty repairs this establishment was in 1909 valueless to the Chinese government. There were also small dockyards at Kiang-nan (near Shanghai), Whampoa and Taku. There are well-equipped arsenals at Shanghai and at Tientsin, but as they are both placed up shallow rivers they are useless for naval repairs. Both are capable of turning out heavy guns, and also rifles and ammunition in large quantities. There are also military arsenals at Nanking, Wuchang, Canton and Chengtu.

Forts.—A great number of forts and batteries have been erected along the coast and at the entrance to the principal rivers. Chief among these, now that the Taku forts formerly commanding the entrance to Tientsin have been demolished, are the Kiangyin forts commanding the entrance to the Yangtsze, the Min forts at the entrance of the Fuchow river, and the Bogue forts at the entrance to the Canton river. These are supplied with heavy armament from the Krupp and Armstrong factories.

Finance.

In fiscal matters, as for many other purposes, the Chinese empire is an agglomeration of a number of quasi-independent units. Each province has a complete administrative staff, collects its own revenue, pays its own civil service, and other charges placed upon it, and out of the surplus contributes towards the expenses of the imperial government a sum which varies with the imperiousness of the needs of the latter and with its own comparative wealth or poverty. The imperial government does not collect directly any part of the revenues, unless the imperial maritime customs be excepted, though these, too, pass through the books of the provincial authorities.[40]

It has hitherto been extremely difficult to obtain anything like trustworthy figures for the whole revenue of China, for the reason that no complete statistics are published by the central government at Peking.[41] The only available data are, first, the returns published by the imperial maritime customs for the duties levied on foreign trade; and, secondly, the memorials sent to Peking by the provincial authorities on revenue matters, certain of which are published from time to time in the Peking Gazette. These are usually fragmentary, being merely reports which the governor has received from his subordinates, detailing, as the case may be, the yield of the land tax or the likin for his particular district, with a dissertation on the causes which have made it more or less than for the previous period. Or the return may be one detailing the expenditure of such and such a department, or reporting the transmission of a sum in reply to a requisition of the board of revenue, with a statement of the source from which it has been met. It is only by collating these returns over a long period that anything like a complete statement can be made up. And even then these returns do not represent anything like the total of taxation paid by the people, but, as far as they go, they may be taken to represent the volume of taxation on which the Peking government can draw revenue.

The following table, taken from a memorandum by Sir Robert Hart, dated the 25th of March 1901, shows the latest official estimate (up to 1910) of the revenue and expenditure of China:—

Revenue. Taels.[42] Land tax 26,500,000 Provincial duties 1,600,000 " receipts (various) 1,000,000 Grain commutation 3,100,000 Salt gabelle 13,500,000 Li-kin 16,000,000 Native customs 2,700,000 Maritime customs:— General cargo 17,000,000 Foreign opium 5,000,000 Native opium 1,800,000 ————— Total 88,200,000

Expenditure. Taels. Provincial 20,000,000 Military and naval 35,000,000 Metropolitan 10,000,000 Bannermen (Manchu "soldiers") 1,380,000 Palace 1,100,000 Customs 3,600,000 Legations 1,000,000 River works 940,000 Railways 800,000 Loans 24,000,000 Contingent reserve 3,300,000 —————- Total 101,120,000

A calculation of revenue from all sources published by the Shanghai Shen Pao in 1908, apparently derived from official sources, gave a total revenue of 105,000,000 taels, or about 15 million sterling. This sum is obviously less than the actual figures. In 1907 Mr H.B. Morse, commissioner of customs and statistical secretary in the inspectorate general of customs, drew up the following table based on the amounts presumed to be paid by the tax payer:—

- - + Imperial Provincial Local Adminis- Adminis- Adminis- tration. tration. tration. + - - Taels. Taels. Taels. I. Land Tax 25,887,000 67,060,000 9,315,000 II. Tribute 7,420,000 15,582,000 2,300,000 III. Native Customs 3,790,000 1,290,000 249,000 IV. Salt Gabelle 13,050,000 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. Li-kin 13,890,060 22,502,000 3,639,000 - - + Total 99,062,000 142,374,000 42,718,000 + - -

Mr Morse adds that the grand total shown, taels 284,150,000[43] "is an obviously insufficient sum on which to maintain the fabric of government in an empire like China, but it has been reached by calculations based on a few known facts and ... is offered as throwing some light on a subject veiled in obscurity."[44]

The service of the foreign debt, together with the pressure of other needs—such as the cost of education and the army—made more manifest than previously the chaos of the Chinese fiscal system. A scheme to reform the national finances was promulgated under an edict of the 11th of January 1909, but it did not appear to be of a practical character.

Sources of Revenue. I. Land Tax.—In China, as in most oriental countries, the land has from time immemorial been the mainstay of the revenue. In the early years of the present dynasty there was levied along with the land tax a poll tax on all adult males, but in 1712 the two were amalgamated, and the whole burden was thrown upon land, families not possessing land being thereafter exempted from taxation. At the same time it was decreed that the amount of the land tax as then fixed should be permanent and settled for all time coming. It would appear from the records that this promise has been kept as far as the central government has been concerned. In all its many financial difficulties it does not seem ever to have tried to increase the revenue by raising the land tax. The amount of tax leviable on each plot is entered on the title deed, and, once entered, it cannot be changed.[45] The tax on almost all lands is thus stated to be so much in silver and so much in rice, wheat or whatever the principal crop may be. Except in two provinces, however, the grain tax is now commuted and paid in silver. The exceptions are Kiang-su and Cheh-kiang, which still send forward their taxes in grain. The value of the grain forwarded (generally called tribute rice) is estimated at taels 6,500,000. The total collection in silver, as reported by the responsible officials, amounts in round numbers to taels 25,000,000. The total yield of the land tax, therefore, is taels 31,500,000, or say L4,725,000. It will readily be granted that for such a large country as China this is a very insignificant one. In India the land tax yields about L20,000,000, and China has undoubtedly a larger cultivated area, a larger population, and soil that is on the whole more fertile; but it is certain that this sum by no means represents the amounts actually paid by the cultivators. It is the sum which the various magistrates and collectors have to account for and remit in hard cash. But as nothing is allowed them for the costs of collection, they add on a percentage beforehand to cover the cost. This they usually do by declaring the taxes leviable not in silver, but in copper "cash", which indeed is the only currency that circulates in country places, and by fixing the rate of exchange to suit themselves. Thus while the market rate is, say, 1500 cash to the tael, they declare by general proclamation that for tax-paying purposes cash will be received at the rate of 3500 or 4000 to the tael. Thus while the nominal land tax in silver remains the same it is in effect doubled or trebled, and, what is worse, no return is made or account required of the extra sums thus levied. Each magistrate or collector is in effect a farmer. The sum standing opposite the name of his district is the sum which he is bound to return under penalty of dismissal, but all sums which he can scrape together over and above are the perquisites of office less his necessary expenses. Custom, no doubt, sets bounds to his rapacity. If he went too far he would provoke a riot; but one may safely say there never is any reduction, what change can be effected being in the upward direction. According to the best information obtainable a moderate estimate of the sums actually paid by the cultivators would give two shillings per acre. This on an estimate of the area under cultivation should give for the eighteen provinces L19,000,000 as being actually levied, or more than four times what is returned.

2. The Salt Duty.—The trade in salt is a government monopoly. Only licensed merchants are allowed to deal in it, and the import of foreign salt is forbidden by the treaties. For the purpose of salt administration China is divided into seven or eight main circuits, each of which has its own sources of production. Each circuit has carefully defined boundaries, and salt produced in one circuit is not allowed to be consigned into or sold in another. There are great differences in price between the several circuits, but the consumer is not allowed to buy in the cheapest market. He can only buy from the licensed merchants in his own circuit, who in turn are debarred from procuring supplies except at the depot to which they belong. Conveyance from one circuit to another is deemed smuggling, and subjects the article to confiscation.

Duty is levied under two heads, the first being a duty proper, payable on the issue of salt from the depot, and the second being likin levied on transit or at the place of destination. The two together amount on an average to about taels 1.50 per picul of 133-1/2 lb or 3s. 9d. per cwt. The total collection returned by the various salt collectorates amounts to taels 13,500,000 (L2,025,000) per annum. The total consumption of salt for all China is estimated at 25 million piculs, or nearly 1-1/2 million tons, which is at the rate of 9 lb per annum per head of the population. If the above amount of taels 1.50 were uniformly levied and returned, the revenue would be 37-1/2 million taels instead of 13-1/2. In this calculation, however, no allowance is made for the cost of collection.

3. Likin on General Merchandise.—By the term likin is meant a tax on inland trade levied while in transit from one district to another. It was originally a war tax imposed as a temporary measure to meet the military expenditure required by the T'aip'ing and Mahommedan rebellions of 1850-1870. It is now one of the permanent sources of income, but at the same time it is in form as objectionable as a tax can be, and is equally obnoxious to the native and to the foreign merchant. Tolls or barriers are erected at frequent intervals along all the principal routes of trade, whether by land or water, and a small levy is made at each on every conceivable article of commerce. The individual levy is small, but over a long transit it may amount to 15 or 20%. The objectionable feature is the frequent stoppages with overhauling of cargo and consequent delays. By treaty, foreign goods may commute all transit dues for a single payment of one-half the import tariff duty, but this stipulation is but indifferently observed. It must also be remembered, per contra, that dishonest foreign merchants will take out passes to cover native-owned goods. The difficulty in securing due observance of treaty rights lies in the fact that the likin revenue is claimed by the provincial authorities, and the transit dues when commuted belong to the central government, so that the former are interested in opposing the commutation by every means in their power. As a further means of neutralizing the commutation they have devised a new form of impost, viz. a terminal tax which is levied on the goods after the termination of the transit. The amount and frequency of likin taxation are fixed by provincial legislation—that is, by a proclamation of the governor. The levy is authorized in general terms by an imperial decree, but all details are left to the local authorities. The yield of this tax is estimated at taels 13,000,000 (Ll,950,000), a sum which probably represents one-third of what is actually paid by the merchants, the balance being costs of collection.

4. Imperial Maritime Customs.—The maritime customs is the one department of finance in China which is managed with probity and honesty, and this it owes to the fact that it is worked under foreign control. It collects all the duties leviable under the treaties on the foreign trade of China, and also all duties on the coasting trade so far as carried on by vessels of foreign build, whether Chinese or foreign owned. It does not control the trade in native craft, the so-called junk trade, the duties on which are still levied by the native custom-house officials. By arrangement between the British and Chinese governments the foreign customs levy at the port of entry a likin on Indian opium of taels 80 per chest, in addition to the tariff duty of taels 30. This levy frees the opium from any further duty on transit into the interior. The revenue of the maritime customs rose from taels 8,200,000 in 1865 to taels 35,111,000 in 1905.

5. Native Customs,—The administration of the native customs continues to be similar to what prevailed in the maritime customs before the introduction of foreign supervision. Each collector is constituted a farmer, bound to account for a fixed minimum sum, but practically at liberty to retain all he may collect over and above. If he returns more he may claim certain honorary rewards as for extra diligence, but he generally manages to make out his accounts so as to show a small surplus, and no more. Only imperfect and fragmentary returns of the native collectorates have been published, but the total revenue accruing to the Chinese government from this source did not appear up to 1900 much to exceed two million taels (L300,000). In November 1901 native customs offices within 15 m. of a treaty port were placed under the control of the maritime customs, their revenues having been hypothecated for the service of the Boxer indemnity. The result was that the amount of the native customs collected by the commissioners of customs increased from taels 2,206,000 in 1902 to taels 3,699,000 in 1906.

6. Duty on Native Opium.—The collection of the duty on opium is in the hands of the provincial officials, but they are required to rendera separate account of duty and likin collected on the drug, and to hold the sum at the disposal of the board of revenue at Peking. The annual import into China of Indian opium used to amount to about 50,000 chests, the exact amount of opium imported in 1904 being 54,750 piculs, on which the Chinese government received from duty and likin combined about 5-1/2 million taels (L825,000). The total amount of native-grown opium was estimated in 1901 at about 400,000 chests (53,000,000 lb), and if this were taxed at taels 60 per chest, which in proportion to its price was a similar rate to that levied on Indian opium, it should give a revenue of 24 million taels. Compared with this the sums actually levied, or at least returned by the local officials as levied, were insignificant. The returns gave a total levy for all the eighteen provinces of only taels 2,200,000 (L330,000). The anti-opium smoking campaign initiated by the Chinese government in 1905 affected the revenue both by the decreased importation of the drug and the decrease in the area under poppy cultivation in China. In 1908 the opium likin revenue had fallen to taels 3,800,000.

7. Miscellaneous.—Besides the main and regular sources of income, the provincial officials levy sums which must in the aggregate amount to a very large figure, but which hardly find a place in the returns. The principal are land transfer fees, pawnbrokers' and other licences, duties on reed flats, commutation of corvee and personal services, &c. The fee on land transfers is 3%, and it could be shown, from a calculation based on the extent and value of the arable land and the probable number of sales, that this item alone ought to yield an annual return of between one and two millions sterling. Practically the whole of this is absorbed in office expenses. Under this heading should also be included certain items which though not deemed part of the regular revenue, have been so often resorted to that they cannot be left out of account. These are the sums derived from sale of office or of brevet rank, and the subscriptions and benevolences which under one plea or another the government succeeds in levying from the wealthy. Excluding these, the government is always ready to receive subscriptions, rewarding the donor with a grant of official rank entitling him to wear the appropriate "button." The right is much sought after, and indeed there are very few Chinamen of any standing that are not thus decorated, for not only does the button confer social standing, but it gives the wearer certain very substantial advantages in case he should come into contact with the law courts. The minimum price for the lowest grade is taels 120 (L18), and more of course for higher grades. The proceeds of these sales go directly to the Peking government, and do not as a rule figure in the provincial returns. The total of the miscellaneous items accruing for the benefit of the government is estimated at taels 5,500,000.

Expenditure.—In regard to expenditure a distinction has to be drawn between that portion of the revenue which is controlled by the central government, and that controlled by the several provincial authorities. As the provinces collect the revenue, and as the authorities there are held responsible for the peace, order and good government of their respective territories, it follows that the necessary expenses of the provinces form a sort of first charge on the revenue. (As the tables given show, the provinces spend the greater part of the revenue collected.) The board of revenue at Peking, which is charged with a general supervision of finance matters all over the empire, makes up at the end of the year a general estimate of the funds that will be required for imperial purposes during the ensuing year, and apportions the amount among the several provinces and the several collectorates in each province. The estimate is submitted to the emperor, and, when sanctioned, instructions are sent to all the viceroys and governors in that sense, who, in turn, pass them on to their subordinate officers. In ordinary times these demands do not materially vary from year to year, and long practice has created a sort of equilibrium between imperial and provincial demands. The remittances to the capital are, as a rule, forwarded with reasonable regularity, mostly in the form of hard cash. There is, however, a constant pull going on between Peking and the provinces—the former always asking for more, the latter resisting and pleading impecuniosity, yet generally able to find the amounts required. The expenses which the central government has to meet are:—(1) Imperial household; (2) pay of the Manchu garrison in and about Peking; (3) costs of the civil administration in the capital; (4) cost of the army so far as the expenses are not borne by the provinces; (5) naval expenses;[46] (6) foreign loans—interest and sinking fund. To meet all these charges the Peking government for several years up to 1900 drew on the provinces for about taels 20,000,000 (L3,000,000), including the value of the tribute rice, which goes to the support of the Manchu bannermen.[47] No estimates are furnished of the sums allowed under such heading. The imperial household appears to receive in silver about taels 1,500,000 (L225,000) but it draws besides large supplies in kind from the provinces, e.g. silks and satins from the imperial factories at Su-chow and Hangchow, porcelain from the Kiang-si potteries, &c., the cost of which is defrayed by the provinces. The imperial government has also at its disposal the revenue of the foreign customs. Prior to the Chino-Japanese war of 1894-95 this revenue, which, after allowing for the costs of collection, amounted to about 20,000,000 taels (L3,000,000), was nominally shared with the provinces in the proportion of four-tenths and six-tenths. The whole of the customs revenue is now pledged to foreign bondholders and absorbed by the service of the several loans. Besides supplying its own wants the imperial government has to provide for outlying portions of the empire which are unable to maintain themselves—(1) Manchuria, (2) Kan-suh and the central Asian dominion, (3) the south-western provinces of Yun-nan, Kwei-chow and Kwang-si. Manchuria, or, as it is termed, the north-east frontier defence, costs about taels 2,000,000 over and above its own resources. The central Asian territories constitute a drain on the imperial government of about taels 4,000,000 a year. This is met by subsidies from Sze-ch'uen, Shan-si, Ho-nan and other wealthy provinces. Yun-nan, Kwei-chow and Kwang-si require aids aggregating taels 2,000,000 to keep things going.

External Debt.—Prior to the war with Japan in 1894 the foreign debt of China was almost nil. A few trifling loans had been contracted at 7 and 8%, but they had been punctually paid off, and only a fraction of one remained. The expenses of the war, however, and the large indemnity of taels 230,000,000 (L34,500,000) which Japan exacted, forced China for the first time into the European market as a serious borrower. The sum of L6,635,000 was raised in 1894-1895 in four small loans at 6 or 7% interest. In 1895 a Franco-Russian loan of fr. 440,000,000 (L15,820,000) was raised in Paris. Two Anglo-German loans, each of L16,000,000 (one in 1896, the other in 1898) were raised through the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. The Franco-Russian loan bears 4% interest, the first Anglo-German 5%, the second 41/2%. The foreign loans contracted up to 1900 amounted altogether to L54,455,000. The charges for interest and sinking fund, which amounted to over L3,000,000, were secured on the revenue of the maritime customs, and on the likin taxes of certain specified provinces. The net income from these two sources amounted to over taels 24,000,000, equivalent at existing rate of exchange to L3,400,000, which was amply sufficient.

Between 1899 and 1907 (both years inclusive) L12,200,000 was raised on loan for railway purposes. The charges on the first loan—for L2,300,000—were secured on the revenue of the Imperial Northern railway, the interest being 5%. The same interest was secured on the other loans, save one for L1,000,000 in which the Hong Kong government was concerned, which bears 4% interest.

The foreign debt also includes the indemnities exacted in 1901 by the powers for the Boxer outrages. These indemnities, secured on imperial revenue, are divided into five series amounting altogether to L67,500,000, the amount payable on these indemnities (at 4% interest) in 1907 being L2,824,425. The burden of meeting this amount was apportioned between the eighteen provinces—the sums allocated ranging from taels 2,500,000 for Kiang-su to taels 300,000 for Kwei-chow. In 1909 the grand total of China's indebtedness exceeded L140,000,000 and the interest called for the payment of L7,427,450 in gold.

Banks and Banking.—Native banks for purposes of inland exchange are to be found in most large cities. They are private banks using their own capital, and seldom receiving deposits from the public. The best known are the Shan-si banks, which have branches all over the empire. They work on a small capital, seldom over L50,000 each, and do a small but profitable business by selling their drafts on distant places. None of them issues notes, although they are not debarred from doing so by law. They lend money on personal security, but do not advance against shipments of goods. In some places there are small local banks, usually called cash shops, which issue paper notes for small sums and lend money out on personal security. The notes never reach more than a very limited local circulation, and pass current merely on the credit of the institution. There is no law regulating the formation of banks or the issue of notes. Pawnshops occupy a prominent position in the internal economy of China. They lend on deposit of personality at very high rates, 18 and 24%, and they receive deposits of money from the public, usually allowing 6 to 10%. They are the real banks of deposit of the country, and the better class enjoy good credit. Foreign Banks do a large business at Shanghai and other treaty ports, and a Government Bank has been established at Peking.

Currency.—In the commercial treaty between Great Britain and China of 1902 China agreed to provide a uniform national coinage. An imperial decree of October 1908 commanded the introduction of a uniform tael currency; but another decree of May 1910 established a standard currency dollar weighing 72 candareens (a candareen is the 100th part of the tael ounce) and subsidiary coins of fixed values in decimal ratio. This decree properly enforced would introduce a much needed stability into the monetary system of China.

The actual currency (1910) consists of (l) Silver, which may be either uncoined ingots passing current by weight, or imported coins, Mexican dollars and British dollars; and (2) Copper "cash," which has no fixed relation to silver. The standard is silver, the unit being the Chinese ounce or tael, containing 565 grains. The tael is not a coin, but a weight. Its value in sterling consequently fluctuates with the value of silver; in 1870 it was worth about 6s. 8d., in 1907 it was worth 3s. 3d.[48] The name given in China to uncoined silver in current use is "sycee." It is cast for convenience sake into ingots weighing one to 50 taels. Its average fineness is 916.66 per 1000. When foreign silver is imported, say into Shanghai, it can be converted into currency by a very simple process. The bars of silver are sent to a quasi-public office termed the "Kung K'u," or public valuers, and by them melted down and cast into ingots of the customary size. The fineness is estimated, and the premium or betterness, together with the exact weight, is marked in ink on each ingot. The whole process only occupies a few hours, and the silver is then ready to be put into use. The Kung K'u is simply a local office appointed by the bankers of the place, and the weight and fineness are only good for that locality. The government takes no responsibility in the matter, but leaves merchants and bankers to adjust the currency as they please. For purposes of taxation and payment of duties there is a standard or treasury tael, which is about 10% heavier than the tael of commerce in use at Shanghai. Every large commercial centre has its own customary tael, the weight and therefore the value of which differ from that of every other. Silver dollars coined in Mexico, and British dollars coined in Bombay, also circulate freely at the open ports of trade and for some distance inland, passing at a little above their intrinsic value. Carolus dollars, introduced long ago and no longer coined, are retained in current use in several parts of the interior, chiefly the tea-growing districts. Being preferred by the people, and as the supply cannot be added to, they have reached a considerable premium above their intrinsic value. Provincial mints in Canton, Wuchang, and other places have issued silver coins of the same weight and touch as the Mexican dollar, but very few have gone into use. As they possess no privilege in debt-paying power over imported Mexican dollars there is no inducement for the people to take them up unless they can be had at a cheaper rate than the latter, and these are laid down at so small a cost above the intrinsic value that no profit is left to the mint. The coinage has in consequence been almost discontinued. Subsidiary coins, however, came largely into use, being issued by the local mints. One coin "the hundredth part of a dollar" proved very popular (the issue to the end of 1906 being computed at 12,500,000,000), but at rates corresponding closely to the intrinsic value of the metal in it. The only coin officially issued by the government—up to 1910—was the so-called copper cash. It is a small coin which by regulation should weigh 1/16 of a tael, and should contain 50 parts of copper, 40 of zinc, and 10 of lead or tin, and it should bear a fixed ratio to silver of 1000 cash to one tael of silver. In practice none of these conditions was observed. Being issued from a number of mints, mostly provincial, the standard was never uniform, and in many cases debased. Excessive issues lowered the value of the coins, and for many years the average exchange was 1600 or more per tael. The rise in copper led to the melting down of all the older and superior coins, and as for the same reason coining was suspended, the result was an appreciation of the "cash," so that a tael in 1909 exchanged for about 1220 cash or about 35 to a penny English. Inasmuch as the "cash" bore no fixed relation to silver, and was, moreover, of no uniform composition, it formed a sort of mongrel standard of its own, varying with the volume in circulation. (G.J.; X.)

V. HISTORY

(A)—European Knowledge of China up to 1615.

China as known to the Ancients.—The spacious seat of ancient civilization which we call China has been distinguished by different appellations, according as it was reached by the southern sea-route or by the northern land-route traversing the longitude of Asia. In the former aspect the name has nearly always been some form of the name Sin, Chin, Sinoe, China. In the latter point of view the region in question was known to the ancients as the land of the Seres, to the middle ages as the empire of Cathay. The name of Chin has been supposed (doubtfully) to be derived from the dynasty of Ts'in, which a little more than two centuries before the Christian era enjoyed a vigorous existence, uniting all the Chinese provinces under its authority, and extending its conquests far beyond those limits to the south and the west. The mention of the Chinas in ancient Sanskrit literature, both in the laws of Manu and in the Mahābhārata, has often been supposed to prove the application of the name long before the predominance of the Ts'in dynasty. But the coupling of that name with the Daradas, still surviving as the people of Dardistan, on the Indus, suggests it as more probable that those Chinas were a kindred race of mountaineers, whose name as Shinas in fact likewise remains applied to a branch of the Dard races. Whether the Sinim of the prophet Isaiah should be interpreted of the Chinese is probably not susceptible of any decision; by the context it appears certainly to indicate a people of the extreme east or south. The name probably came to Europe through the Arabs, who made the China of the farther east into Sin, and perhaps sometimes into Thin. Hence the Thin of the author of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, who appears to be the first extant writer to employ the name in this form (i.e. assuming Max Mueller's view that he belongs to the 1st century); hence also the Sinae and Thinae of Ptolemy.

It has often indeed been denied that the Sinae of Ptolemy really represented the Chinese. But if we compare the statement of Marcianus of Heraclea (a mere condenser of Ptolemy), when he tells us that the "nations of the Sinae lie at the extremity of the habitable world, and adjoin the eastern Terra Incognita," with that of Cosmas, who says, in speaking of Tzinista, a name of which no one can question the application to China, that "beyond this there is neither habitation nor navigation"—we cannot doubt the same region to be meant by both. The fundamental error of Ptolemy's conception of the Indian Sea as a closed basin rendered it impossible but that he should misplace the Chinese coast. But considering that the name of Sin has come down among the Arabs from time immemorial as applied to the Chinese, considering that in the work of Ptolemy this name certainly represented the farthest known East, and considering how inaccurate are Ptolemy's configurations and longitudes much nearer home, it seems almost as reasonable to deny the identity of his India with ours as to deny that his Sinae were Chinese.

If we now turn to the Seres we find this name mentioned by classic authors much more frequently and at an earlier date, for the passages of Eratosthenes (in Strabo), formerly supposed to speak of a parallel passing through Thinae—[Greek: dia Thinon]—are now known to read correctly [Greek: di'Athenon]. The name Seres indeed is familiar to the Latin poets of the Augustan age, but always in a vague way, and usually with a general reference to Central Asia and the farther East. We find, however, that the first endeavours to assign more accurately the position of this people, which are those of Mela and Pliny, gravitate distinctly towards China in its northern aspect as the true ideal involved. Thus Mela describes the remotest east of Asia as occupied by the three races (proceeding from south to north), Indians, Seres and Scyths; just as in a general way we might still say that eastern Asia is occupied by the Indies, China and Tartary.

Ptolemy first uses the names of Sera and Serice, the former for the chief city, the latter for the country of the Seres, and as usual defines their position with a precision far beyond what his knowledge justified—the necessary result of his system. Yet even his definition of Serice is most consistent with the view that this name indicated the Chinese empire in its northern aspect, for he carries it eastward to the 180th degree of longitude, which is also, according to his calculation, in a lower latitude the eastern boundary of the Sinae.

Ammianus Marcellinus devotes some paragraphs to a description of the Seres and their country, one passage of which is startling at first sight in its seeming allusion to the Great Wall, and in this sense it has been rashly interpreted by Lassen and by Reinaud. But Ammianus is merely converting Ptolemy's dry tables into fine writing, and speaks only of an encircling rampart of mountains within which the spacious and happy valley of the Seres lies. It is true that Ptolemy makes his Serice extend westward to Imaus, i.e. to Pamir. But the Chinese empire did so extend at that epoch, and we find Lieut. John Wood in 1838 speaking of "China" as lying immediately beyond Pamir, just as the Arabs of the 8th century spoke of the country beyond the Jaxartes as "Sin," and as Ptolemy spoke of "Serice" as immediately beyond Imaus.

If we fuse into one the ancient notices of the Seres and their country, omitting anomalous statements and manifest fables, the result will be somewhat as follows: "The region of the Seres is a vast and populous country, touching on the east the ocean and the limits of the habitable world, and extending west to Imaus and the confines of Bactria. The people are civilized, mild, just and frugal, eschewing collisions with their neighbours, and even shy of close intercourse, but not averse to dispose of their own products, of which raw silk is the staple, but which included also silk-stuffs, fine furs, and iron of remarkable quality." That is manifestly a definition of the Chinese.

That Greek and Roman knowledge of the true position of so remote a nation should at best have been somewhat hazy is nothing wonderful. And it is worthy of note that the view entertained by the ancient Chinese of the Roman empire and its inhabitants, under the name of Ta-thsin, had some striking points of analogy to those views of the Chinese which are indicated in the classical descriptions of the Seres. There can be no mistaking the fact that in this case also the great object was within the horizon of vision, yet the details ascribed to it are often far from being true characteristics, being only the accidents of its outer borders.

The Medieval Cathay.—"Cathay" is the name by which the Chinese empire was known to medieval Europe, and it is in its original form (Kitai) that China is still known in Russia and to most of the nations of Central Asia. West of Russia this name has long ceased to be a geographical expression, but it is associated with a remarkable phase in the history of geography and commerce. The name first became known to Europe in the 13th century, when the vast conquests of Jenghiz Khan and his house drew a new and vivid attention to Asia. For some three centuries previously the northern provinces of China had been detached from indigenous rule, and subject to northern conquerors. The first of these foreign dynasties was of a race called Khitan issuing from the basin of the Sungari river, and supposed (but doubtfully) to have been of the blood of the modern Tunguses. The rule of this race endured for two centuries and originated the application of the name Khitat or Khitai to northern China. The dynasty itself, known in Chinese history as Liao, or "Iron," disappeared from China 1123, but the name remained attached to the territory which they had ruled.

The Khitan were displaced by the Nuechih (Nyuche or Churche) race, akin to the modern Manchus. These reigned, under the title of Kin, or "Golden," till Jenghiz and his Mongols invaded them in turn. In 1234 the conquest of the Kin empire was completed, and the dynasty extinguished under Ogdai (Ogotai), the son and successor of Jenghiz Khan. Forty years later, in the reign of Kublai, grandson and ablest successor of Jenghiz, the Mongol rule was extended over southern China (1276), which till then had remained under a native dynasty, the Sung, holding its royal residence in a vast and splendid city, now known as Hang-chow, but then as Ling-nan, or more commonly as King-sze, i.e. the court. The southern empire was usually called by the conquerors Mantzi (or as some of the old travellers write, Mangi), a name which western Asiatics seem to have identified with Machin (from the Sanskrit Mahachin), one of the names by which China was known to the traders from Persian and Arabian ports.

The conquests of Jenghiz and his successors had spread not only over China and the adjoining East, but westward also over all northern Asia, Persia, Armenia, part of Asia Minor and Russia, threatening to deluge Christendom. Though the Mongol wave retired, as it seemed almost by an immediate act of Providence, when Europe lay at its feet, it had levelled or covered all political barriers from the frontier of Poland to the Yellow Sea, and when western Europe recovered from its alarm, Asia lay open, as never before or since, to the inspection of Christendom. Princes, envoys, priests—half-missionary, half-envoy—visited the court of the great khan in Mongolia; and besides these, the accidents of war, commerce or opportunity carried a variety of persons from various classes of human life into the depths of Asia. "'Tis worthy of the grateful remembrance of all Christian people," says an able missionary friar of the next age (Ricold of Monte Croce), "that just at the time when God sent forth into the Eastern parts of the world the Tatars to slay and to be slain, He also sent into the West his faithful and blessed servants, Dominic and Francis, to enlighten, instruct and build up in the faith." Whatever on the whole may be thought of the world's debt to Dominic, it is to the two mendicant orders, but especially to the Franciscans, that we owe a vast amount of information about medieval Asia, and, among other things, the first mention of Cathay. Among the many strangers who reached Mongolia were (1245-1247) John de Plano Carpini and (1253) William of Rubruk (Rubruquis) in French Flanders, both Franciscan friars of high intelligence, who happily have left behind them reports of their observations.