6,562 Salt duty and Likin.. Likin on merchandise.. 12,952 25,088 Metropolitan administration, Manchu 19,478 5,000 5,000 Foreign maritime customs (1893). 21,989 Forts, guns, and coast defense. 8,000 Native custom-houses... 1,000 Defense of Manchuria. 1,848 5,550 Aids to Yunnan and Kweichow.. 1,655 Interest and repayment of foreign loans.. 2,500 500 Public works, river embankments, sea wall, etc.... 1,500 Customs administration, including main- 2,478 Administration of 18 provinces, including 36,220 Total... 88,979 Total 88,979 The receipts from the foreign customs alone are made public. They amounted to 7,872,257 haikwan taels, or £2,361,677 (ex. 6s.), in 1864, and, gradually increasing, have risen to 23,518,021 haik wan taels (including 6,197,906 taels, opium Likin), or £5,781,513 (ex. 4s. 11d.), in 1891; to 22,689,054 haikwan taels (including 5,667,007 taels, opium Likin), or £4,939,596 (ex. 4s. 44d.), in 1892; and to 21,989,300 haikwan taels (including 5,362,733 taels, opium Likin), or £4,329,143 (ex. 3s. 114d.), in 1893; and to 22,523,605 haikwan taels (including 5,050,303 taels, opium Likin), or £3,601,430 (ex. 3s. 23gd.), in 1894; 21,385,000 haikwan taels in 1895 (including 4,104,145 taels, opium Likin), or £3,497.402 (ex. 3s. 64d.); in 1896, to 22,579,366 haik wan taels (including 3,919,759 taels, opium Likin), or £3,763,227 (ex. 3s. 4d.); in 1897, 22,742,104 haikwan taels (including 3,947,607 taels opium Likin, or £3,387,626, ex. 2s. 1134d.); in 1898, 22,503,397 (including 3,983,182 taels, opium Likin) or £3,249,584 (ex. 2s. 105%d.). The expenditure of the Government is mainly for the army. The existing debt of China has arisen almost entirely out of the recent war with Japan. In December, 1894, a foreign silver loan of £1,635,000 was raised at 7 per cent,, and in February, 1895, a gold loan of £3,000,000, both on the security of the customs revenue, while other advances, on the same security, amounting to over £2,000,000 were obtained from local banks and foreign syndicates. Internal loans were also obtained amounting to nearly £5,000,000. Thus the total debt was increased to about £13,000,000. The war indemnity to be paid to Japan amounts to 200,000,000 kuping, or Imperial Treasury taels (1 kuping tael = 1.096 Shanghai taels), and the compensation for the retrocession of the Leao-tong peninsula to 30,000,000 taels, together equivalent to about £40,000,000. To pay off the remaining war indemnity to Japan an additional loan of £16,000,000 was concluded on March 1, 1898, with the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and the Deutsch-Asiatische Bank, so that the total debt of China now reaches the sum of £54,000,000. Industries. China is essentially an agricultural country, but no data as to areas or crops exist. Wheat, barley, maize, and millet, and other cereals, are chiefly cultivated in the north, and rice in the south. Sugar is cultivated in the south provinces. Opium has become a crop of increasing importance. Tea is cultivated exclusively in the west and south, in Fu-Chien, Hû-pei, Hû-Nan, Chiang-hsi, ChehChiang, An-hui, Kuangtung, and Sze-ch'wan. The culture of silk is equally important with that of tea. The best and the most silk comes from Kuangtung, Sze-ch'wan, and Cheh-Chiang. China may be regarded as one of the first coal countries of the world. The coal mines at Kaip'ing, Northern Chihli, under foreign supervision, have been very productive: at Hankow coal mines have also been worked. There are also considerable stores of iron and copper remaining to be worked. Commerce. The imports (less re-exports) and exports, in haikwan taels, are shown as follows: The trade with the principal countries is shown as follows, in thousands of haikwan taels: The chief imports and exports are shown as follows, in thousands of haikwan taels: --Imports 1896. 1897. 1898. 28,652 27,901 29,256 79,243 78,663 77,619 1,308 2,260 2,840 5,363 4,838 3,190 9,759 8,147 9,787 3,540 3,693 5,281 9,083 13,299 11,915 Exports1896. 1897. 1898. Tea.. 22,217 30,157 28,879 Silk, and manufactures of, 55,251 42,089 56,104 1,777 1,478 2,446 Straw braid.. 6,659 3,907 3,132 Hides, cow and buffalo 3,070 1,826 3,747 Paper....... 2,122 1,858 1,742 Clothing.. 2,178 2,088 1,983 Chinaware and pottery.... The status of American cottons and the kerosene industry is illustrated by the following showing the imports of all merchandise which expressly names the country of its origin for the twelve months ended December 31, 1898, and for the same period of 1899: For 1896 and 1897, see "Year Book," Volume V, page 72. The following table shows the net value of the import trade of the Yangtze-Kiang: 31,725,393 10,941,193 13,285,419 5,781,199 3,700,373 1,955,867 3,913,420 Kiukiang. Hankow. Shasi. 6,563,311 1,221,676 Ichang.. 647,902 722,528 490,282 285,015 74,251 1,589,737 37,210 1,482,704 Chungking. 13,075,176 3,884,702 81,587,124 Total...... H. taels 31,493,395 5,990,000 The value of the exports in the same three years from the Yangtze ports was as follows: 77,320,049 32,126,647 104,755,946 39,797,528 TRADE AND SHIPPING OF THE TREATY PORTS OF SOUTHERN CHINA. The net values of the imports into these ports, excepting Yatung (distinguishing foreign and native imports) for each of the years 1897, 1898, and 1899 were as follows: Ports. Canton... Wuchow. Samshui. Foreign. Kowloon. Lappa.. Kiungchow. Pakhoi. Lungchow.. 13,027,228 6,269,732 17,138,751 6,049,749 24,500,910 5,810,261 3,514,878 3,734,582 1,461,940 16,061 35,552 The total values of the native produce of local origin exported from the same 10 ports in 1897' 1898, and 1899 were as in the following table: TRADE AND SHIPPING OF THE TREATY Ports of CENTRAL CHINA (EXCLUSIVE OF THE The net values of the imports into these ports (distinguishing foreign and native imports) for each of the years 1897, 1898, and 1899 were as follows: Ports. Soochow.. Ningpo.. .... -1897 Foreign. Native. 921,034 Foreign. 1899 Foreign. Native. 359,134 -1898 644,837 Native. H. Taels. 213,314 8,217,007 2,208,750 9,208,444 394,744 2,740,467 1,259,544 241,703 2,084,875 2,363,183 849,645 284.837 The total values of the native produce of local origin exported in 1897, 1898, and 1899 from the same seven ports were as follows: 12,783,657 10,635,277 13,698,435 17,292,718 37,969,765 19,119,920 43,590,854 29,732,522 5,478,000 2,758,000 Shipping, Railroads, Coins, Monetary System, Weights and Measures. (See Index.) *To Macao only. FRENCH INDO-CHINA. French Indo-China extends for 14° along the left bank of the Mekong (9° to 32° N.), and its total rea is half as large again as that of France, so that its different parts present many varieties in every respect. Under the above designation, the French dependencies of Cochin-China, Tonkin, Annam, and Cambodia have to a certain extent been incorporated, while the Laos territory, which is a large and somewhat undefined portion of the Shan States between Siam, British Burmah, and China proper, has been a French protectorate since 1893. The area of French Cochin-China is estimated at 23,000 square miles, the whole being divided into four provinces-Saigon, Mytho, Vinh-Leng, and Bassac; the total population was estimated in 1897 at 2,034,453. Cambodia has an area of 46,000 square miles and a population of about 1,500,000, while Laos is estimated to contain from 90,000 to 110,000 square miles and about 270,000 inhabitants. The territory of Tonkin, which has an area of 34,740 square miles, is divided into 14 provinces, and has an estimated population of 9,000,000. The area of Annam is about 81,042 square miles, with a population estimated by some at 2,000,000 and by others at 6,000,000, the latter being considered the more probable figure. Commerce. The trade statistics of Indo-China are far from complete, but some figures have lately been published in the Bulletin Economique de l'Indo-Chine showing the value of the imports and exports. The imports from "other countries" come chiefly from Hong Kong and Singapore. PRINCIPAL ARTICLES IMPORTED INTO FRENCH INDO-CHINA IN 1898. Value. Farinaceous substances (flour of all kinds, vermicelli, etc., potatoes, etc.).. 103,000 The area and population of the six divisions, as returned January 1, 1895, were as follows: In 1898, the census gave the population as 44,733,379. The number of foreigners in 1895 was 8,246, of whom 3,642 were Chinese, 1,878 English, 1,022 Americans, 493 Germans. 391 French, 127 Portuguese, 80 Dutch, 222 Russians, and 391 others. In 1888, the population numbered 39,607,234. Fiscal Affairs. The following are the Imperial revenues and expenditures, the amounts for the years 1898-99 and 1899-1900 being estimates: 1898-99. Yen. 219,866,000 219,452,000 1899-1900. Yen. 246,953,000 246,452,000 The public debt was as follows on March 31, 1898: Home debt, 5 per cent., 386,205,670 yen; no interest, 27,047,454 yen; total, 413,253,124 yen. Paper currency, 5,112,265 yen. Agriculture. The land is cultivated chiefly by peasant proprietors. The land was officially in 1894 thus: Public land, used for Government purposes, 9,575 acres; forests, 2,885,776: open field, 1,412,179 acres; miscellaneous (1893-94), 17,420 acres: total, 4,325,050 acres. Private land: Under cultivation, 1,235,917; homesteads, 93,365; forests, 1,789,438; open fields, 262,774; miscellaneous, 6,718; total, 3,388,212 acres. The public lands include only those surveyed, and the private only those taxed. The following are some agricultural statistics: 1898. Rice, acres........................ Rice, bushels.. Wheat, acres. 1890. 6,681,929 163,813,249 1,068,851 1894. 6,692,971 207,776,255 1,081,914 Wheat, bushels.... 1895. 7,015,712 198,127,873 1,093,008 19,719,457 1,600,808 42,367,136 Rye, acres.. 1,434,170 1.621.232 1,646,256 6,904,179 236,935,000 1,140,840 18,902,560 20,905,000 1,567,716 1,616,255 39,822,342 44.565,000 1,596,060 1,669,342 Rye, bushels. Tea (in kwan*).. Sugar (in kwan *)... 23,203,963 14,402,588 13.397,873 Silk, cocoons (in koku +).. Silk, raw (in kwan*).... 2,299,688 2,052,803 2,166,936 In 1897 the number of cattle was 1,149,761; horses, 1,578,117. * 1 kwan=8.28 lbs. avoirdupois. +1 koku=5.13 bushels. |