Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/746

* CHINESE EMPIRE. 648 CHINESE EMPIRE. various Chinese districts less than provinces may be likened to the capital, cathedral town, State capital, municipality of the lirst rank, inunicii)al- ity of the second rank, abbey town, and borough of Kuroi)u. dillering greatly in territory and popu- hition, how^ever, anil also in relative Instorical or commercial iuiportance. But, on the whole, China is an empire of villages, three-fourths of the people dwelling in these. Uelatively to the whole population, there are fewer large cities in China than in Western lands. The various grades of ofTicers are distinguished by the color and material of the tiny knob sur- mounting the cap. The only |)eriiianiiit nobility consists of the descendants of Confucius. lii the imperial or Manchu class there are nine orders of nobility, but with every generation the holder of title declines in dignity until he reaches the common people. There are also five ancient orders open to the civil and military servants of the State. The existing Chinese system of conferring patents of nobility and honorary titles lias descended from the feudal States of the Si.xth Century B.C. The government of China, then, is a harmoni- ous blending of local liberty with centralized authority. The general maxim of jjolitics is to rule the nation l)y moral agency rather than by physical force, relying on education more thaii on arms, keeping the line of promotion open to the wisest and ablest men, who may come from any social level or position in life. Thus China is a great democracy, and the Chinese in a «ay one of the freest people in .-Vsia. Even an aborig- inal savage n>ay become a Viceroy. Though in theory the Emperor is the Son of Heaven, if he does not reign wisely, or is wicked, or indolent, the people may depose him. and if their rebellion succeeds it is because Heaven has willed it so.' Chinese law is the growth of many centuries, and is based on innnemorial custom. Though voluminous and complex, it is regulated by the fundamental [)rinciple of parental authority, which has been the great conserving force and unifying power throughout the ages. Tradition- ally referred in their origin to the sovereigns Yao and Shun (n.c. 2.357-220S), the laws have been repromulgated in modified forms with every change of dynasty, until, with all their faults, they are admirably adapted to the requirements of China's teeming population of peace-loving subjects. The laws are dixiiled into bit and lai, that is, fundamental and supplemental, the former permanent, the latter liable to revision every few years. They may be classified as gen- eral, civil, fiscal, military, criminal, and those relating to public works. The criminal code is remarkable for the conciseness and simplicity of its language, yet the actual pmishment infiicted depends very nnich upon the judge. Torture is used to extract testimony. Theoretically no one is condemned until he has confessed liis crime, though often, doubtless, the innocent will confess to any charge to escape torture and die qiickly: for as a rule the Chinese prefer death to long confinement, and capital ptmishnu'nt follows quickly after sentence. The punishments in- flicted are (logging with the bamboo, banishment, and death by strangling or decapitation. Man- acles of wood, iron fetters, the rnnfiur or portable pillory, and not a few other instruments of tor- inre are in use. Lawyers, in the Western sense of the term, are unknown, and those aiding prison- ers form a disreputable class not allowed in court. Oaths are taken on a cock's head chopped from it,s body. In theory the accused is already guilty, and a Chinese judge, like the French, ad's as i)rcisecntor as well as arbiter. In spite of the prevalence of l)ribery, judges are apt to give com- mon-sense decisions. Akmy a.M) Navy. No one knows the real strength of the Chinese army, not even the Chi- nese Government itself, for there is no such thing as a national army. The .Manchu and Chinese soldiers are in difTerent divisions, the former sup- posed to number 170,000, quart<'red in most of the large cities under conunand of .Manchu gen- erals, each soldier receiving his rice and three taels a month. The jirovincial armies, with the exception of the Manchu garrisons, are main- tained at the expense of the Viceroys. Official figures are utterly deceptive, for the commanding oflicers receive only nominal salaries and 'save the face' of things at an inspection, by hiring men temporarily. Officially there are the army under tlic Eight Banners and the "ling I'ing or national army, which on pa]icr numbers over a million men. One may divide the available forces into the active army, including the army of Man- churia, the army of the centre, the army of Turkestan, and, as a reserve force, the territorial army, which is supposed to number in war GOO,- 000 men. While modern rifles and cannon have been made in China, or imporfed in great abun- dance, the bow and arrow are still in use. Lord Heresford, in 189S, inspected fourteen difTerent 'armies,' and counted as numy diirerenl kinds of rifles, finding only one army complete in detail according to Western ideas, most of the others being in the rudimentary stages of organization and without transport or medical service. Yet all testimony seems to show that the Chinese need but good training, equipment, and leader- ship to make excellent soldiers or sailors. The Chinese navy is divided into two squad- rons, the Pei-yang and the Nan-Yang, or North and South. The former consists of three cruisers ot 3-100 tons, German built, and two torju'do boats; the other vessels, cruisers and torpedo destroyers, ordered in Europe, being unpaid for. The southern squadron consists of si. cruisers of 3,500 tons, one cruiser of smaller tonnage, four old-fashioned gunboats of 400 tons, and four torpedo-boats, all built in Europe. -Vt least forty forts and batteries, some of them inuncnsely powerful, have been l)uilt and .armed with modern high-power giuis from ICurope, and the artillerists are men of fine physical appear- ance. There are also seven arsenals in the em- pire, at Tientsin, Shanghai, Nanking, Uang-kow, Fu-chow, Canton, and Cheng-tu, the one at Shang- hai, where there is also a naval school, being finely equipped. Poi'ui.ATioN. Beyond rough estimates made for ])urposes of taxation and tributes, no official census of ("liina has ,vet been taken, and anything like an oflieinl enumeration of the cmjiirc is un- known. Considerations of revenue make the counting rather of the nature of an assessment, for young children and aged men were not in- cluded. War, rebellion, famine, and flood have produced great fluctuations in the popiilati(Ui. The Taiping Kebellion reduced the registration by two-fifths. Tt may be stated that -100.000,000 in round numbers approximates the (ruth, al- though some authorities are not willing to con-