Show i yf china alseen as seen by sir john bowring bowrin population or OF THE EMPIRE STRICT CENSUS TATION MORTALITY statistics LAW FOOD SUPPLIES emig emigration nation RATION RETURNS RIVER navigation AND INLAND TRADE agriculture AND TILLAGE SYSTEM WHAT THE PEOPLE nat EAT AND thein THEIR TASTES AT TABLE taule EFFECTS OF uhe THE CIVIL WARS HOW now THE PEOPLE DIE man MAR riago niage THE thu ARMY AND NAVY the following letter addressed to the ilia registrar General London by sir john bowring has been published in a the tho journal of the statistical society ei V government NT IT HOUSE hong KONG hong july 13 sin SIR I 1 wish it were possible to give a r tori tork reply to your inquiries as to the real population tuon of china there has lias been no official census taken since sinca the time timo of kia king forty three years ago much doubt douht has been thrown apon the accuracy of these returns which gave as the total number of the inhabitants of china I 1 think our greater knowledge of the country increases the che evidence in favor of the approximate ingate correctness of the official document and that we may way with tolerable safety estimate the present population of the chinese empire as between beti veen and of human belu bein beings the penal laws of china make provision for a general eneyat system of registration and corporeal edip oreal generally amounting to one undred hundred 11 blows lows of the ba bamboo are to be inflicted on those who neglect to make maka the proper returns the T machinery abd a gl ry is confided to the elders of tha the district aud the census is required to 1 ba annually taken but laivo no reason to belp belf believe belleve eve lye that the law is obeyed or the neglect of it punished 1 1 in the englise Eng lisl translation of father alvares armedos Rm edos history sory of china 5 published in lon lou don AD A D 1655 is 13 the following passage c this kingdom is so exceedingly populous that lived there twenty two years I 1 was in no less lasa amazement at my coming away than in the beginning at the multitude of the people certainly ta ini y the truth exceed eth all hyperboles hyper boles not rot in the cities towns and public places but also in the tile highways there is as great a concourse cs s is is usual in europe on some great festival j andia and if we refer ourselves to the general regis terr lei leibrook book wherein only the common men are en ea rolled railed leaving out women children eunuchs pro fowers towers of letters and arms there are reckoned of them ther to be gifty fifty eight millions fifty five thousand one hundred hu adred and fourscore four foun geore score the minuteness of the enumeration would seem to show that the tire father quoted boma soma official document I 1 forward herewith two tabular statements which I 1 have co copied p led from dr williams middle Jindo rit rrt one of the bast best books on china the first gives a list of the tha vailous various various estimates from A D 1393 to 1812 1813 with the authorities quoted the rhe second is a arranged rearranged re statement of censuses v uthen at different periods As there are few men man in ja china moore mora diligent di igent ligen t or botter better instructed than mr williams I 1 th though 0 aught eit elt tit V it aasi desirable dusl dasi rable nabie to communicate with him in order to tb ascertain asb aso ertain his present views as to the credit which ulay properly be attached to the official statistics of china I 1 send a r copy of his letter I 1 do not know that there is any safer course than to reason from details to generals from the known L to the unknown and I 1 have taken every opportunity which my intercourse with the chinese dianese has afforded me to obtain if not corree correct corrects tp at least approximate information as to the true statistics of the country it may maybe be affirmed with ont any heel beel hesitation tation that as regards the five port ports and the adjacent districts to which we have access the vie population is po fo numerous es as to fi arguments that the number of inhabitants of the entire empire is ii vry much greater than is represented by the official returns these localities cannot be taken as dir mir averages for naturally enough increased commercial activity has brought with it a flow of new settlers and iud there can cin be no doubt that some of or the seats seats of or commerce have lost much of leir acir population in losing their trade but whether nii nil the tho causes of decline in particular spots bave have much counteracted nie hie fecundity of the chinese races considered as a whole pay nias 13 questioned ill some ma years ago I 1 had an art opportunity of discussing 11 the subject of chinese population with the tho mandarin at who was charged with P leking the llie returns for that district I 1 can escarc r ly be ia called a progressive place it is decidedly 1 the least last so of the five treaty ports but I 1 found generally speaking that the real returns avers were considerably in excess of the official estimates and I 1 would remark that in taking the area of the 18 provinces of china at oto square stiles the census of 1812 would give persons to a square mile which is considerably less th thau than a 11 the population of the densely peopled countries of europe Accor according diug dlug to ancient usage usage the population in china ghina is grouped under four heads I 1 scholars 2 husbandmen 3 mechanics 4 merchants there bera hera is a numerous class who are considered almost as its social outcasts such as stage players professional gamblers beggars convicts outlaws hud hod ad others and thega thesa probably form no part of the population returns in the tha more remote rural district on the other haud hand the returning officer most ost probably contents himself with giving the Fi of more acce accessible sEible and better peopled localities cali ties I 1 have no means of obtaining any i was titles to show the proportions which different agas bear tar ear to on another in china chini or the average mortality t lity at dif dlf different periods of or human ilfe life yet to every decade of life the tha chinese Chirip se apply some soine special t aks aas the vre of 10 is called the Oi bining ning pegi degi olp flo 11 20 youth Erp expired ired ined 30 sireno Sirens th and Mar marriage rima rivA 40 officially ant A V a 60 cicle cycle cl closing 70 1 aw rare bird of age 80 rusty 90 delayed Delay edV ages extremity among the chinese the amount of reverence grows with the number of years I 1 made some years ago the tile acquaintance of a buddhist priest living in the convent of tien taug near who was more than a century old and whom people of rank were in the habit of visiting in order to show their respect and to obtain his autograph he ile had the civility to give me a fair fain specimen of hia bis handwriting there are not only many establishments for the reception of the aged but tho tha code provides severe punishments for those wio who refuse to relieve th tho the poor 00 r in their declining years age may also be pleaded in extenuation of crime and in lit mitigation of punishment imperial decrees sometimes order presents to be given to all indigent old people in the empire I 1 am not aware of f any detailed statistics giving the number of such recipients since a return published in the time of hanhi 1657 klen Kien Ki hing 1785 directed that ail alt those claimants whose age exceeded 60 should receive 5 bushels of rice and a apiece piece of linen those above 80 boio bolo 10 bushels of rice and two pieces of linen men those above SO 90 30 bushels bushela of rice rice and two pieces piece of common silk and those above 50 bushels of jf rice and two pieces oae one 0 of fine and one of common ellk elik ile he ordered all the elders to be enumerated who were at the li head ad of five generations of whom there were and in gratitude to heaven summoned of the oldest men of the empire to receive imperial 1 presents which con consisted slated principally of embro embroidered purses and baag badges e 9 bearing in the thi character shau meaning ty the kanchi tables show the numbers of those who enjoyed the benefit of the edict but aa as the ret rei returns irrin bear no proportion to the general population of the th country or to the relative extent of the various provinces many for tulous and local circum circumstances must fiust have caused the tha obvious incongruities for example in the adjacent provinces of rwan kwan Kwang tung and Kwang kwantse se in which the whole mass of bf population is in the pr proportion op of two to td one the recipients are as 46 to 1 and aa as regards age while the proportion of those above 80 50 is represented at 10 to 1 those above 90 are only a little more than 5 to 1 in au all these matters mailers the greater or less leas compera tiou of or the local authorities is one of the most moat elements in producing a result eano kauo se is extremely mountainous ald and aid bordered en on ther the tha northwest by the couii couil country try of the meafou meson tsz or zb aD origines hies the districts adjoining which are but in a hal hall reclaimed state and aad governed by officers of a character and denomination distinct from those of the provinces but it is inexplicable bl that the province of in which pekin is situate situated d should exhibit but a small proportional return especially as compared with the adjacent pr province otince of shantung Hook with a population pu lation of has indigent persons above 70 while Sze chuen the population of which in pre presents only persons in that category I 1 think hink there is abundant evidence of redundant population p rinsing pressing more and more heavily upon and summering suffering more and more severely from an inadequate supply of food though there are perio perlo periods ds when extraordinary ex tra ordinary harvests enable the Chine chinesa bey sei to transport rice the principal food of the people from one province to another and sometimes even to foreign countries yet of late the importations from foreign countries have been enormous and chloa china has drawn largely on the straits the tha philippines siam slam and other places to fill uli uil up a vast deficiency in fin supply famine has notwithstanding committed dreadful ravages and the proy provisions ismons of the imperial granaries have been wholly inadequate t to 0 provide for the public wants it is is true that cultivation has been greatly with by intestinal disorders and that the re has been much destruction by inundations and other accidental or transitory causes lilt kut without reference to these I 1 am disposed to be believe ii e VO that there is ja A greater increase ia the numbers of the population than in the home horne production of food for their use it must be remembered too tco that while tl e race is thus augmenting the cause which lead to the destruction of food such as the overflow t if f of rivers fires ravages ravage s of locusts bad sea seasons and other calamities are to fo a great extent exten t be beyond the tha control of human prudence or human exertion it would be difficult to show what liew llew new element could be introduced which would raise u up the native supply of food beyond its present productiveness considering that hald hand r husbandry has given to cultivation cult mation more of a horticultural than an agricultural charac character ter the constant flow of erni emigration ration from china contrasted with the complete absence of emigration into china is r striking evidence of the population t ion lon for though that emi emigration ration is almost wholly canfil confined ried tied to two provinces namely Kwan tung and fooklin Fo oklen okien represent tup tug together a p population opu lation of probably from to 1 am disposed to think that a number nearer Oon than 2000 from these provinces alone are located ic in foreign countries in the kingdom of siam it is 13 estimated that therb there are at least chines of w lich anre in the capital bangkok they crowd all the islands of the indian archipelago in juva java we know by a correct census biere ll 11 ere eie are OCO cochin china teems with chinese in this colony we are ara seldom without one two or three vessels taking chinese emigrants to california and other places multitudes go go to australia to the the sandwich Island sto the wes wee western leril lerit coast of central and southern america some have made their way to british india the thet em am gration to the british west indies has hag bapa considerable sid erable to tho lh havana greater still the annual in f I 1 are fire estimated at an average of and a ld 2000 is IR the number that are ara gaid said annually to return tp to ching chino there is not only this enormous maritime emi ut it inland flaud li efflux of chinese towards and thabet and it may be added that the large and fertile islands of formosa and hainan have hava been to a great extent won from the ho aborigines by successive inroads of chinese settler settlers now these are all males there is not a woman to ten thousand men hence perhaps the small social value of the female infant yet this perpetual flowing of people seems in no respect to diminish the number of those who are left behind few leave their country without a fixed to return to worship in the ancestral hal hai to bring sacrifices to the tomba tombs of their fathers but it may be doubted if one in ten revisits his native land the loss of life from disease from shipwreck and other casualties amount amo tinte to a frightful per percentage cent ageon on those who wio emigrate the multitudes of persons who live by the fisheries in china afford evidence not only that the he land is cultivated to the greatest possible extent but fiut that it is insufficient to supply the necessities of the he overflowing population for agri agriculture cuie cule ia a held hold in high honor i in chin and the husbandman stands next in rank to we the sage saga or literary manin man in the social hierarchy it has hab been supposed that nearly a tenth of the po population derive their means of support from fisheries to be 16 continued |