Sacredness of the Emperor's Person—Empress Dowager. centuries, and were driven into Liantung by the Mongols. Nothing is omitted which can add to the dignity and sacredness of the Emperor's person or character. Almost everything used by him is tabooed from the common people, and distinguished by some peculiar mark or color, so as to keep up the impression of awe with which he is regarded, and which is so powerful an auxiliary to his throne. Every device is employed to create the impression of awe. Dressed in a robe of yellow, the color worn, say the Chinese, by the sun, the emperor is surrounded by all the pageantry of the highest dignity in the world that Chinese ingenuity can devise. The outer gate of his palace must always be passed on foot, and the paved entrance-walk leading up to it can only be used by himself. All ranks must bow the head to his vacant throne, or even a screen of yellow silk thrown over a chair, the same as if he were actually present. In his presence no one dares speak but in a whisper, and his person is considered too sacred to be often exhibited in public. An imperial dispatch is received in the provinces with the burning of incense and with prostrations. But, with all this, his dignity does not allow him to lean back in public; to smoke; to change his dress; or in fact to indulge in the least relaxation from the fatiguing support of his imperial dignity. The celebration of his birthday is conducted in a manner, as described by Mr. Staunton, calculated to convey the awful impression of his being regarded more as a god than a man. He preserves an invisibility, as if in imitation of the Deity.* In every provincial capital there is a hall dedicated solely to the honor of the emperor, in which, three days before and after his birthday, all the most distinguished citizens do him homage, the same as if he was present. The right of succession to the throne is by custom hereditary in the male line; but it is always in the power of the sovereign to nominate his successor, either from among his own children, or any of his subjects. The heir-apparent is not always known during the lifetime of the incumbent, though there is a titular office of guardian of the heir-apparent. * Staunton's Embassy; vol. iii., p. 63. Williams's China, voi. i., p. 314. Davis' China. Ellis's Lord Amherst's Embassy, p. 397. 353 The present Emperor of China is the fourth son of the late Emperor, who died in February, 1850. He has assumed the title of Szehing, and was only 19 years of age when he ascended the throne. The titular nobility of the empire, as a whole, is a body whose members are without power, lands, wealth, or influence. Some of the titles are more or less hereditary, but the whole system has been so devised, and the titles so conferred, as to tickle the vanity of those who receive them, without granting them any real power. There are twelve orders of nobility, conferred solely on the members of the imperial house and clan, all of which are to some extent hereditary. There are also several classes of the imperial princesses, whose tutelage and disposal is under the control of the empress and the court. Besides the above, there are five ancient orders of nobility, some of them the descendants of Confucius. There are attached to the palace, a corps of 5,000 eunuchs. In 1829, a law was promulgated, ordering that the sons of a murderer who had killed all the heirs of a family, should be given to the keeper of the harem to be emasculated, as one means of replenishing the number of eunuchs of the palace. The number of females attached to the harem is unknown. All of them are under the nominal discretion of the empress. Every third year, his majesty reviews the daughters of the Manchu officers over 12 years of age, and chooses such as he pleases for concubines; there are only seven legal concubines, but an unlimited number of illegal. The latter are restored to liberty when they reach the age of 25, unless they have borne children to his majesty. It is generally considered an advantage to a family, to have a daughter in the harem, especially by the Manchus, who endeavor to rise to favor and power by this sort of backstairs influence.† Office-seekers have in all ages, and still continue to resort to every species of available means of currying favor with the great. The empress dowager is the most important person within the palace, and his majesty does homage to her at frequent intervals, by making the highest ceremony of nine prostrations before her. REVENUES. The central government + Williams's China, vol. i., p. 318. of China requires each province to support itself, and furnish a certain amount for the emperor and his court; bnt it is well known, says Mr. Williams, that his majesty is continually embarrassed for the want of funds, and that all the provinces do not supply enough revenue to meet their own outlays. It is believed that the precious metals are at present less abundant in China, as a circulating medium, than 30 years ago. The Chinese government, as is well known, is entirely without national credit. The revenues consist principally of tithes, not paid in the nature of taxation, but as rent, the Emperor uniting the character of universal landlord with that of king and father; but though the whole population be tenants at will, ejectment is seldom resorted to, and it is his own fault if a Chinese be ever deprived of his lands. There are no great estates in China; but if one happens to hold more land than he can conveniently cultivate, he lets it to another, on condition of his receiving half the produce, out of which he pays the whole taxes. A great part of the poorer peasantry hold land in this way.* The Emperor's rent amounts to onetenth of all the products of the soil. The revenue is paid partly in money and partly in kind. The estimates made by different authors of the total revenues of China are exceedingly various. Dr. Medhurst, who drew his information from original sources, and who is, perhaps, as worthy of credit as any one who has written on the subject, gives the following statement of the principal items of the revenue: According to this each person in China is taxed on an average only about 60 cents per annum. Mr. Barrow estimates the capitation at about 90 cents. The official account of the revenues for 1840, as given in the government Red Book, for all of the eighteen provinces, shows the revenue for that year to have amounted to 58,097,000 taels of $1 33c. each, equal to $77,462,666.† This, however, was * Barrow's China, p 398. De Guignes, vol. iii., p. 341. Williams's China, vol. ii., p. 100. † Annales de la Foi, tome xvi. p. 440. This, however, is only the amount actually sent to the imperial treasury, after deducting all charges. The real receipts, says Mr. Williams, for any province, cannot well be ascertained by foreigners; it is, however, known that in former years the collector of customs at Canton was obliged to remit annually from 800,000 to 1,300,000 taels, and the gross receipts of his office were not far from 3,000,000 of taels. ‡ De Guignes, perhaps the highest authority on Chinese affairs, has examined the revenue system of the Chinese with his usual ability and caution, basing his calculations on a proclamation of Kienlung, in 1777, in which it was stated that the total income in bullion at that period was 27,967,000 taels. He gives the following statement for that year: Income in money, as above..... Equal revenue in kind from grain Tax on the second crop in the Gabel, coal, transit duties, &c... or 27,967,000 taels. 27,967,000 66 21,800,000 66 6,479,400 800,000 7,000,000 4,000,000 66 89,713,400 $119,617,866 The difference of about $80,000,000 between this statement and that given above by Dr. Medhurst, may be explained by considering that De Guignes' statement is for 1777, and that of Dr. Medhurst for 1838, we believe; during which period the notable increase of population might explain the increase of The TAEL, $1 33. Chinese Commercial Guide, 2nd edition, p. 143. Fixed Rates of Taxation-Items of Expenditure-Salaries. 355 Total taels. ог ..... 4,000,000 3,800,000 71,339,500 $98,452,633 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 If this calculation be correct, there is that of any European government in an annual deficit of about 20,000,000 of proportion to the population. The Man- taels; but the outlays for quelling insurchu emperors of China have never rections and transporting troops, the shown the desire so often manifested by deficiency from bad harvests, the defalnations claiming a higher civilization cation of officers, payments to the tribes (Spain, for instance,) to extort as much and princes in Mongolia and Ili, and revenue as possible from their subjects. other unusual demands, more than exceed They laid down fixed rates of taxation, this surplus. It is thought that a consifrom which, for a long series of years, derable amount of the revenue is made there has been no deviation. The away with by fraud and peculation on the extraordinary sources of revenue, which part of government officers, who, "from 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 the gold and silver mines and pearl fisheries of Manchuria and elsewhere, together with the precious stones from Ili, Khoten, and other sources, furnish several millions annually. 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. ors, 16,000; treasurers, 9,000; provincial judges, 6,000; prefects, 3,000; district magistrates, from 800 to 2,000; literary chancellors, 3,000; commanders-in-chief, 4,000; generals, 2,400; colonels, 1,300; 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 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 govern3,368,000 842,000 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. 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, 10 mace =1 tael, 1 tael =$1 33, according to Williams. The coin called cash is of copper, and about the size of an English farthing From 720 to 1,100 of them, according to their quality, equal a dollar. Silver is employed rather as an article of traffic than as a circulating medium; that used as money is cast into the shape of a horse's hoof, and called tael, being equal to a little over 6 shillings sterling, according to McCulloch. Gold is seldom used as a currency, but when it is, it comes into market beaten into thin leaves. Credit is little known except at Canton. Paper money has not an extensive circulation, it being confined to the large commercial towns, in which there are banks issuing paper. Chartered 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. 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 consist of pure copper, but it is so mixed with sand, iron filings, and tutenague, an alloy of copper, zinc, and nickel, that it is one of the basest coins found in any country. In spite of all government efsued to a great amount, and sometimes forts to prevent it, private coinage is iswith the connivance of the mint master. The genuine coin is now so debased that counterfeiters find it an unprofitable business to imitate it; and this is the chief security the government has for retaining it in its hands. The impossibility of preventing counterfeiting is the reason why the Chinese have no silver cur rency. 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.t 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 signatures 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. 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. At Peand 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 furrows and returning again over the unknown to them; and indeed the very ground. The ceremony finished, the emletter and spirit of their laws forbid it. peror and his ministers repair to the terIt is a great misfortune of the Chinese race, and there remain till the whole that they believe themselves arrived at field has been plowed. The ground beperfection. With instruments so rude, it longs to the temples of Heaven and is astonishing that they are still enabled Earth, on the south of the city, and the to produce so many exquisitely wrought crop of wheat raised in the sacred field productions; but their patience and enis used in idolatrous services. The rank during industry make up for the defi- of the actors renders the ceremony more ciency in their tools and their lack of sci- imposing at Peking, and the people of A 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. 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. |