Fixed Rates of Taxation-Items of Expenditure-Salaries. 355 Total taels. or..... 4,000,000 3,800,000 71,339,500 $98,452,633 If this calculation be correct, there is an annual deficit of about 20,000,000 of taels; but the outlays for quelling insurrections and transporting troops, the deficiency from bad harvests, the defalcation of officers, payments to the tribes and princes in Mongolia and Ili, and other unusual demands, more than exceed this surplus. It is thought that a considerable amount of the revenue is made away with by fraud and peculation on the part of government officers, who, "from revenue. All these calculations, how- Canals, and transportation of revenue. ever, are based on approximations, the Forts, artillery, and munitions of war.. truth of which does not admit of verification. All writers agree, however, in placing the total revenue of China below that of any European government in proportion to the population. The Manchu emperors of China have never shown the desire so often manifested by nations claiming a higher civilization (Spain, for instance,) to extort as much revenue as possible from their subjects. They laid down fixed rates of taxation, from which, for a long series of years, there has been no deviation. The extraordinary sources of revenue, which are resorted to by the Chinese govern- the injudicious system which exists of ment in time of war or of bad harvests, combining fiscal, legislative, and judiare the sales of offices and honors, tem- cial functions and control in the same porary increase of duties, and demands person," are subject to the strongest tempfor contributions from wealthy mer- tations to practice peculation largely. chants and landholders. The first source The salaries of provincial officers are is the most fruitful, and is a permanent not high. The governor-generals reexpedient resorted to for replenishing ceive 20,000 taels; lieutenant-governthe treasury. We must also add, that ors, 16,000; treasurers, 9,000; provincial the gold and silver mines and pearl judges, 6,000; prefects, 3,000; district fisheries of Manchuria and elsewhere, magistrates, from 800 to 2,000; literary together with the precious stones from chancellors,3,000; commanders-in-chief, Ili, Khoten, and other sources, furnish 4,000; generals, 2,400; colonels, 1,300; several millions annually. and gradually decreasing, according to rank, down to 130 taels per annum. No estimate can be made of the perquisites of officers. Their exactions are often considerable. The expenditures of the Chinese government exceed the revenue almost every year; and how the deficit is supplied does not clearly appear. In 1832 the emperor announced that the excess of disbursements was 28,000,000 of taels; * and in 1836 the deficit was still greater, and offices and titles to the amount of 10,000,000 of taels were put up for sale to supply it. This deficiency in the revenue has become more and more alarming since the great drain of specie, annually sent abroad in payment for opium, has attained its present amount; and the shifts of the government to provide for its ordinary expenses have been more varied, and oftener resorted to. The principal items of the expenditure of the government, are stated by De Guignes as follows: Salary of the civil and military officers, Arms and ammunition. The land-tax is the principal source of revenue in the rural districts. It is from 1% to ten cents a man, or from ten to sixty-six cents per acre, according to At an average the quality of the land. of twenty-five cents per acre, the reve nue from the land-tax would be more than $150,000,000. The clerks, constables, lictors, and underlings of the courts and prisons, are the "claws" of their superiors, as the Chinese aptly call them, and perform most of their extortions. A Chinese proverb calls them "rats under the altar." Their number is very great, and the responsibility of their proceedings devolves upon their superiors. They are universally despised by the people. The officers make their exactions chiefly 7,773,500 on the wealthy in the cities and trading 21,600,000 places; but in the country the rich often 11,616,000 hire bodies of retainers to defy the po4,840,000 lice, and practice robbery and extortion themselves. Like other Asiatic govern842,000 ments, China suffers from the consequen13,500,000 ces of bribery, peculation, extortion, and poorly-paid officers; but she has no pow * Chinese Repository, vol. i., p. 159. VOL. XIV. 3,368,000 4 erful aristocracy to retain the money thus squeezed out of the people, and it soon finds its way back again into their hands.* MONEY.-We may here introduce a few notices of the money of China. Money among the Chinese consists of taels, mace, candareens, and cash. 10 cash =1 candareen, 10 candareens=1 mace, 1 tael =$1 33, according to Williams. ing is a large business in China, and is usually connected with banking. The coin called cash is the only native coin now current. The other three are nominal. It is thin and circular, about 34 of an inch in diameter, and has a square hole in the middle for stringing them. On one side is the name of the reigning monarch and dynasty; on the other the words, Tan-kwang tung pan, i. e., Tan-kwang's current money. Mints for coining cash are established in each provincial capital, under the direction of the board of revenue. The coin should The coin called cash is of copper, and about the size of an English farthing. ed with sand, iron filings, and tutenague, consist of pure copper, but it is so mixFrom 720 to 1,100 of them, according to their quality, equal a dollar. Silver an alloy of copper, zinc, and nickel, that is employed rather as an article of traf- it is one of the basest coins found in any fic than as a circulating medium; that country. In spite of all government efused as money is cast into the shape of sued to a great amount, and sometimes forts to prevent it, private coinage is isa horse's hoof, and called tael, being with the connivance of the mint master. equal to a little over 6 shillings sterling, The genuine coin is now so debased that according to McCulloch. Gold is seldom counterfeiters find it an unprofitable buused as a currency, but when it is, it comes into market beaten into thin siness to imitate it; and this is the chief leaves. Credit is little known except at security the government has for retaining it in its hands. The impossibility of Canton. Paper money has not an extensive circulation, it being confined to preventing counterfeiting is the reason the large commercial towns, in which why the Chinese have no silver curthere are banks issuing paper. Charter- rency. ed banking companies are unknown, but private bankers are found in all large towns, some of whom pay interest on money deposited on security. Paper money is no modern invention, either in China or in Europe. It was formerly issued in immense quantities under the Mongol dynasty, and its convenience is highly praised by Marco Polo. It is highly probable, says Mr. Williams, that the repudiation of paper money by the Mongol emperors, who succeeded Kublai, and the loss, in consequence, to the people when his dynasty was expelled, effectually destroyed all the credit of Chinese imperial honesty with the people. And thus, too, we see that government repudiation is no new thing. Repudiation and the "shin-plaster" system have all had their day long ago in China. Pawnbrokers' tickets, and promissory notes circulate a little in China among the people; bills of exchange are common, drawn by one broker upon another in favor of the bearer in any part of the empire, affording a convenient remittance to merchants and an accommodation to travelers. Pawnbrok * Williams's China, vol. i., pp. 234-239. Spanish and South American dollars are in general use along the coasts; but they are soon reduced to bullion. The counterfeiting of bullion, too, is extensive, as also that of dollars. The Chinese have a printed counterfeit detector, like Sylvester's, giving an account of the process of manufacturing each variety of false money, describing its appearance, and rules for detecting the forgery.† In the city of Fuhchan, private banking, unrestrained by any of our checks of civilization, is carried on very extensively. The leading commercial firms issue" shin-plasters," varying in value from 40 cents to $1000. The blue, red, and black colors, blended together on, them, present a gay appearance of sig natures and indorsings. They bear the name of the issuing house, and a number of characters traced around the edges in bright blue ink. The date, and some ingeniously wrought cyphers for the reception of signatures and the prevention of forgeries, are of a deep red; while the entry of the sum, and the names of the partners and receiver, stand forth in large + Williams's China, vol. ii., p. 156-7. Denominations of Money-Bank-notes-Industrial Occupations. 357 black characters. On the back are the save life, and vast numbers die of hunindorsements of various individuals who have received the bill.* ger. The Chinese are rather gardeners, says Mr. Williams, than farmers, not only in the small size of their grounds, but in their ignorance of those operations whereby soils naturally unfruitful are made fertile. Scientific agriculture is unknown to them. At Pe PRODUCTIVE INDUSTRY.-The industry of the Chinese is proverbial. Every foot of the soil is tilled, except where the lands require draining, an operation which the Chinese do not practice, and hence vast tracts of land lie uncultivated, in spite of the dense population. Agriculture The annual ceremony of plowing is holds the first place in their estimation, of very ancient origin in China. and hence the high honors paid to it by king it consists in plowing a sacred field the emperor, in holding the plow public- with a highly ornamented plow, kept ly once a year. All of the instruments for the purpose, the emperor holding it of the Chinese, whether of agriculture or while turning over three, furrows, the of the arts, are extremely rude, and of princes five, and the high ministers nine. the most primitive character. Centuries These furrows were, however, so short, have passed by without their making that the monarchs of the present dynasthe slightest improvement either in their ty altered the ancient rule, plowing four utensils or in the arts. Progress is a thing unknown to them; and indeed the very letter and spirit of their laws forbid it. It is a great misfortune of the Chinese that they believe themselves arrived at perfection. With instruments so rude, it is astonishing that they are still enabled to produce so many exquisitely wrought productions; but their patience and enduring industry make up for the deficiency in their tools and their lack of sciA subdivision of labor always leads to greater perfection in the arts; but owing to the smallness of their farms there is no room for the subdivision of employments. They spare no pains in the collection and preparation of manure, and they are superior to every other people in the irrigation of lands. By means of rude chain-pumps they draw water from the canals and rivers; whilst the highest mountains are cut into terraces so constructed as to retain the requisite quantity of water, and to allow what is superfluous to pass off. By these means and manuring they produce two crops a year without intermission. But notwithstanding their remarkable industry and economy, the bulk of the population have usually so little to spare, and are so completely without the ability to retrench in times of distress, or to resort to a less expensive species of food, that the failure of a crop always involves them in the extremity of want; and notwithstanding the supplies brought from other parts of the country, the famine produced is so great that all sorts of outrages on one another are committed to ence. *Smith's China, p. 364. furrows and returning again over the ground. The ceremony finished, the emperor and his ministers repair to the terrace, and there remain till the whole field has been plowed. The ground belongs to the temples of Heaven and Earth, on the south of the city, and the crop of wheat raised in the sacred field is used in idolatrous services. The rank of the actors renders the ceremony more imposing at Peking, and the people of the capital make more of it than they do in the provinces. A monstrous clay image of a cow is carried to the spot, containing or accompanied by hundreds of little similar images. After the field is plowed the image of the cow is broken up, and the pieces and small images are carried off by the crowd to scatter the power on their own fields, in the hope of thereby securing a good crop. The heads of the provincial governments, the prefects and district magistrates go through a similar ceremony on the same day, all engaging in a solemn worship of a clay image of a buffalo and an idol of a cowherd. In the temples, also, the "fathers of the people" recite prayers, and make a series of prostrations with deep reverence.t The Chinese have ever been highly distinguished for their manufactures. The fabric of porcelain originated with them exclusively. The porcelain manufactures of Kingtehchin were established in A. D. 1004, and now furnish all the fine porcelain used in China and exported. Upwards of 1,000,000 of workmen † Williams's China, vol. ii., p. 108-9. La Chine Ouverte, p. 345-6. Chinese Repository, vols. ii., iii and v. chamois leather are unknown to them. Furs and skins are dressed by them very scft for garments. The only woolen fabrics made by the Chinese, are felt for the soles of shoes and winter hats, and a sort of rug or carpet. The art of knitting is unknown. In carving the Chinese excel. Fans, card-cases, and a hundred other things are carved in wood, ivory and mother-of-pearl, in alto relievo, with wonderful skill and elaborateness. are said to be employed at that place in tion of it is small. Morocco, buckskin and its manufacture. The exportation of porcelain ware from China is very ancient. Chinese snuff bottles have been found in the tombs of Egypt, containing quotations from a Chinese poet of the 12th century, showing that there was communication between China and Egypt in the 10th or 11th centuries, before China was known to Europeans. Rosellini states that he found a Chinese snuff bottle in a little palm-leaf basket,* with other objects of Egyptian manufacture, in a tomb whose date he places between 1800 B. C. and 1100 B. C. The date of their being deposited in the tombs is a question. The lacquered ware of China, though inferior to that of Japan, is very beautiful; but it is in the minute arts of carving and inlaying that the Chinese excel. The art of spinning and weaving was derived from China. Paper is the invention of the Chinese; also gunpowder, and the mariner's compass. The manufacture of silk is original among the Chinese. They ascribe the art of manufacturing it to Yuenfi, wife of the Emperor Hwangti, B. C. 2602. The Chinese, says De Guignes, attribute, like all other ancient nations, the invention of spinning to females. The Chinese invented paper in the first century after Christ. They manufacture it from a variety of substances. That kind of Chinese paper known by us as rice paper, is manufactured from the pith of a plant allied to the Artocarpus or bread-fruit. The pith is carefully taken out and cut into sheets. In the arts of metallurgy the Chinese enjoy only a mediocrity. The manufacture of glass is carried on chiefly at Canton, and the gradual increase in its use for windows, tumblers, lamps, &c., shows that the Chinese are quite willing to borrow whatever they discover useful, even from the outside barbarians. Looking glasses are gradually taking the place of their metallic mirrors. The cutting and setting of hard precious stones is carried on to some extent. Lenses for spectacles they cut from quartz crystals. The Chinese excel in embroidery. Leather and its various manufactures are not so extensively used by them. Their leather is poor, and the entire consump His words are: "Ayant penétré dans un de ces trois tombeaux. j'y ai trouvé dans un petit panier tissu de feuilles de palmier," &c. The Chinese are not unwilling to adopt foreign improvements. They have introduced three new manufactures during the present century, that of glass, bronze and Prussian blue; also watches and clocks; and a few ships on the European plan have been built. The opium war learned them to make brass cannon. The art of printing has undergone little improvement in China. The pages of books are engraved upon blocks of wood, of the pear or plum tree. The blocks are about three-quarters of an inch thick, and planed for cutting on both sides. Two pages are usually cut on a side, with a heavy double line surrounding them. The title of the work, chapter and page are cut between the pages. Marginal notes are placed at the top of the pages. Comments, when greatly extended, occupy the upper part, sepa rated from the text by a heavy line. Scholia are interlined in the same column as the text, in characters of half the size. Sometimes two works are printed together, one running through the volume on the upper half of the leaves, and separated from the lower half by heavy lines. The mode of working the blocks ready for the press, is as follows: The pages are first written out on thin paper, and then pasted upon the block face downwards. When the paper is perfectly dry on the block, it is carefully rubbed off with the wetted finger, leaving every character plainly delineated upon the block. The cutter then, with his chisels, cuts away all the blank spots in and around the characters, to the depth of a line or more, after which the block is ready for the printer. Books in China are very cheap. The poorest can have them. Books of all sizes are printed, from 32mos. up to quartos, 14 inches square. A volume seldom contains more than 100 leaves, printed on one side. Imports and Exports—Foreign Consumption of Tea. 359 The prices of books vary. A volume of 30 pages is sometimes afforded for one cent. The San Kwoh Chi, or History of the Three States, in 24 volumes, 12mo., printed on white paper, is usually sold for 75 cents or $1. Kanghi's Dictionary, in 21 volumes 8vo., on yellow paper, sells for $4; and all the nine Chinese classics can be bought for less than $2. Books are hawked about the streets, circulating libraries are carried from house to house, upon movable stands, and the shops of booksellers are frequent in large towns.* United States are tea, silks, nankeens, chinaware, &c. Our exports to China are furs, ginseng, raw cotton and cotton goods, specie, &c. Our trade with China began in 1784; and though it has been rather stationary since 1836, we may from this time onward look for a rapid increase of our trade with that vast empire. Our route to China is now by the way of California, as well as by the Cape of Good Hope. With even our present facilities of reaching the Pacific by Panama, our trade with the eastern shores of Asia must rapidly increase; but the opening of the Tehuantepec routewhich our government is bound in honor to effect, by enforcing the obligations of Mexico-would render the transit to China complete, and soon double our trade with that country. We trust that our Tehuantepec Company are not entirely discouraged and asleep on this subject, but that the energies of the forthcoming Pierce administration will be aroused by them, aided by all the South, and be brought to bear forcibly and definitively on the subject. The honor of the country requires that Mexico should be made to abide by her engagements; and we have only to insist upon it to effect it. TRADE OF CHINA. The trade of China is for the most part internal, the country supplying most articles necessary for the subsistence or luxury of its inhabitants. The mode of trade is that of barter chiefly, owing to the nature of the circulating medium. Salt is an article of the most extensive trade. The English embassy found at Tiensing piles of it, which contained 600,000,000 lbs. The foreign trade of China is subject to troublesome restrictions, and is chiefly confined to the English and Americans. The principal items of export and import have not materially changed during the last century. The chief articles imported, are opium, rice, raw cotton, long-cloths, domestics and sheetings, ginseng, tin, lead, iron in bars, rods and hoops, and woolen goods. Other articles imported, are betel-nuts, edible birds'-nests, lignum vitæ, ivory, pepper, steel, tin, and wax. Calicoes and chintzes are also imported. The chief exports are tea and silk, 1839. with the former of which China supplies the whole world. The foreign consumption of tea is estimated by Mr. Williams as follows: Our trade with China since 1836 as given in De Bow's Industrial Resources,‡ has been as follows: Years. 1838. 1837 1840. 1841 1842. 1843. 1844. 1845 18,000,000+ 1847 5,000,000 66 |