Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/745

* CHINESE EMPIRE. 647 CHINESE EMFIBE. the expense of the foreign shipping, as shown by the following table of vessels entered and cleared, 1894- 1811!): YEAB Total Shipping Chinese Shipping No. Tons No. Tons 1894 38,063 37,132 40,495 i4.500 5-.>,661 65,418 29,622.001 29,737.078 33.490.857 33,7.52,362 34.233,580 39,268,330 13,126 13,0U 15.969 18.889 23,547 31.009 5,539,246 ISilo 5.220,121 1S% IMitT 7,251,292 7.819.980 1S» - 1S1I9 8,187,472 9.349.247 These tables of Chinese shipping do not em- brace the shipping of the ports of Kow-lim, Lappa, Meng-tsze, Lungchow, Chung-king, Su- chow. Hang-chow, and Riao-chau. Leaving these out of consi'der.Ttion, the above figures show that while, in the period of 1894-99, the total tonnage had increased less than 33 per cent., the gain in Cliinese tonnage was more than 68 per cent. GovERXiiEXT. China is not an empire in the Occidental sense of the term, nor is there a cen- tral Government as there is a German, a Russian, and a British Government, with respective cen- tres of authority in Berlin, Saint Petersburg, and London. The Chinese are held together not by political force, but by a religious, social, and educational system. The general constitution of China proper is that of a confederation of homo- geneous provinces. The ilanchu power, that is tiie clan of conquerors numbering 6,000,000 who govern the empire, is simply a regulating ma- chine. In olficial documents the ancient and purely territorial names of provinces (significant of entities not safe to interfere with) are used as often as are their modern geographical names, very much as though Xew England, Xew Xetherlands. and Xew Spain still existed as realities in America. As a matter of fact, the Emperor rules in the empire, the Governors in the provinces, and the ilagistrates in the dis- tricts. If these do not rule according to general custom and acknowledged principles, rebellion soon empties the throne or the seat of the official. Each provincial Governor reports on all formal matters to the boards of Civil Appointments, Revenue, Rites, War and Xavy, Public Works, and .Tustice in Peking. Superior to these boards in theory, as a sort of supreme court, is the censorate, or office of general inspection, whose members act as checks on tlie ministers and who can at any time send petitions or remonstrances to the sovereign, criticising any official. In matters that are out of the usual routine, a provincial Governor can petition the Emperor directly. Between the Emperor and provincial Governors is the Viceroy. This peculiar office, like that of High Commissioner, gives scope to men of special abilities, and this explains the fact that in recent years foreigners have been familiar with the names only of two or three prominent Viceroys. The viceroyalties consist of two or three provinces, and there are thus ten or twelve Viceroys or GovernorsCieneral, who may work together with or independently of the pro- vincial Governors. Usually the Governor and the Viceroy are the sole mediums of comnumication between the capital and province, though the provincial treasurer and the provincial judge are powerful assistants or checks, as the case mav be. Thus these four functionaries form the ex- ecutive, consultative, and, in a measure, even the judicial and legislative bodies — in a word, "the government' of each province — and may be said to represent the nation, which makes up the federation known as the Chinese Empire. Each province has its army and na-y, and in time of war may be utterly uninterested and take no part in what is going on in a distant part of tlie empire. The highest viceroyalty is that of the two Kiangs, with its seat at Nanking; the second is that of Pe-chi-li, with its seat at Peking, the national capital: the third viceroyalty is that of the two Kwangs, with its lieadquarters at Canton, the other important capitals being at Fu-chow, Hang-chow. Wu-chang, Cliang-sha, Vun-nan, and Ku-yang. The provinces of Shan- tung, Shan-si, and Ho-nan, the oldest parts of China, have no Viceroy, while Sze-Chuen has no Governor, but only a Viceroy. Thus each of the eighteen provinces, with its o^vn army, navy, system of taxation, and its own social customs, is a complete State in itself, whose corporate existence is in no way dependent upon any other State. Only in the regulation of the salt trade, the management of the naw, and occasional 'imperial' appropriations are they under im- perial control. In late years the pressure of for- eign comi)lications has created two viceregal High Commissioners, with tacit diplomatic powers over other Viceroys and Governors. The Peking Government makes no new laws, leaves each prov- ince to its own devices, and is rather of the nature of a general staff of an army, which ab- sorbs into itself and gives out, when necessity calls, able men for the administration of affairs. Each province is thus a State in itself and bases its administrative system upon the real official unit of Chinese corporate life, the hieii, or city district. Of these there are 1300 in the empire. Each province has from 70 to 100 or more hicn, a term which Europeans translate 'district,' 'department,' 'canton,' or 'prefec- ture.' Thus the half-barbarian Kwei-chow has but 34 hioi, with numerous districts in which dwell half-civilized natives, while Pe-chi-li has 140 hien, the total including the Peking and Mongol districts. The hien always consists, in pure Chi- nese tracts, of a walled city and an area of 500 or 1000 square miles around the town. The hien magistrate is the heart and soul of all official life. The people call him 'father and mother officer.' for he has, or may have, relations direct with the Emperor and is always close to the masses. Usually entering otlicc with literary or scholastic qualifications only, he is assisted by a permanent staff of trained specialists. He must keep also from 30 to 300 runners, collectors, lictors, and policemen for the administration of justice. Every group of two or more hien is under a fu. or city of the first class, and each province has from five to ten fu. The ancient customs and privileges of each province, district, and city are still potent in practical politics and make it utterly impossible to give a uniform description of the .system of administration, for in reality this federation of States and cities is more like the mediaeval Grermany than like the modern centralized German Empire. The empire is studded with villages and hamlets, and, as in European nomenclature, many popular names for places are words denoting shop, temple, nunnery, rapids, schools, inn, fair, market, bend, etc. The