Each board has one president and two vice-presidents, with the
exception of the Wai-wu Pu, which has a comptroller-general and two
presidents, and the Boards of War and Education, each of which has a
comptroller-general in addition to the president. According to the
decree of 1906 no distinction, in filling up the various boards, is to
be made between Manchu and Chinese.
Besides the boards named there are other departments of state, some of
them not limited to any one branch of the public service. The more
important are those that follow:--
The Censorate (_Tu Ch'a Yuen_).--An institution peculiar to China. The
constitution provides a paid body of men whose duty it is to inform
the emperor of all facts affecting the welfare of the people and the
conduct of government, and in particular to keep an eye on the
malfeasance of his officers. These men are termed _Yue shih_ (imperial
recorder), generally translated censors. Their office has existed
since the 3rd century B.C. The body consists of two presidents, a
Chinese and a Manchu, 24 supervising censors attached to the
ministries at Peking, and 56 censors, divided into fifteen divisions,
each division taking a particular province or area, so as to embrace
the whole eighteen provinces, besides one metropolitan division. The
censors are privileged to animadvert on the conduct even of the
emperor himself; to censure the manner in which all other officials
perform or neglect their duties and to denounce them to the throne.
They receive appeals made to the emperor, either by the people against
the officials or by subordinate officials against their superiors.
They exercise, in accord with the Board of Justice, an oversight over
all criminal cases and give their opinion whenever the death penalty
is to be pronounced. They superintend the working of the different
boards and are sometimes sent to various places as imperial
inspectors, hence they are called _erh mu kuan_ (the eyes and ears of
the emperor). The censors exercise their office at times with great
boldness;[35] their advice if unpalatable may be disregarded and the
censor in question degraded. The system of the censorate lends itself
to espionage and to bribery, and it is said to be more powerful for
mischief than for good. With the growth in influence of the native
press the institution appears to lose its _raison d'etre_.
The grand court of revision (_Ta-li sze_) or Court of Cassation
exercises, in conjunction with the Board of Justice and the Censorate,
a general supervision over the administration of the criminal law.
These bodies are styled collectively _San-fah sze_ (the Three High
Justices).
The Hanlin College (_Hanlin Yuen_, literally Forest of Pencils) is
composed of all the literate who have passed the palace examination
and obtained the title of _Hanlin_ or imperial academist. It has two
chancellors--a Manchu and a Chinese. Its functions are of a purely
literary character and it is of importance chiefly because the heads
of the college, who are presumably the most eminent scholars of the
empire, have the right of advising the throne on all public affairs,
and are eligible as members of the grand council or of the Wai-wu Pu.
The Chinese set fire to it during the fighting in Peking in June 1900
in the hope of burning out the adjoining British legation. The whole
of the library, containing some of the most valuable manuscripts in
the world, was destroyed.
Provincial government.
Each of the eighteen provinces of China proper, the three provinces of
Manchuria and the province of Sin-kiang are ruled by a viceroy placed
over one, two and in one instance three provinces, or by a governor
over a single province either under a viceroy or depending directly on
the central government, the viceroy or the governor being held
responsible to the emperor for the entire administration, political,
judicial, military and fiscal. The most important viceroyalties are
those of Chih-li, Liang-kiang and Liang-kwang. The viceroyalty of
Liang-kiang comprises the provinces of Kiang-su, Ngan-hui and
Kiang-si. The viceroy resides at Nanking and hence is sometimes called
the viceroy of Nanking. Similarly the viceroy of Liang-kwang
(comprising the provinces of Kwang-tung and Kwang-si) through having
his residence at Canton is sometimes styled the viceroy of Canton. The
three provinces adjoining the metropolitan province of
Chih-li--Shan-tung, Shan-si and Ho-nan--have no viceroys over them;
seven provinces--including Chih-li--have no governors, the viceroy
officiating as governor. In provinces where there are both a viceroy
and a governor they act conjointly, but special departments are
administered by the one rather than the other. The viceroy controls
the military and the salt tax; the governor the civil service
generally.
The viceroy or governor is assisted by various other high officials,
all of whom down to the district magistrate are nominated from Peking.
The chief officials are the treasurer, the judicial commissioner or
provincial judge, and the commissioner of education (this last post
being created in 1903). The treasurer controls the finances of the
whole province, receiving the taxes and paying the salaries of the
officials. The judge, the salt commissioner, and the grain collector
are the only other officials whose authority extends over the whole
province. Each province is subdivided into prefectures ruled by
prefects, and each prefecture into districts ruled by a district
magistrate, _Chih-hsien_, the official through whom the people in
general receive the orders of the government. Two or more prefectures
are united into a _tao_ or circuit, the official at the head of which
is called a _Taot'ai_. Each town and village has also its unofficial
governing body of "gentry."[36] The officials appointed from Peking
hold office for three years, but they may be re-appointed once, and in
the case of powerful viceroys they may hold office for a prolonged
period. Another rule is that no official is ever appointed to a post
in the province of his birth; a rule which, however, did not apply to
Manchuria. The Peking authorities take care also in making the high
appointments to send men of different political parties to posts in
the same province.
The edict of the 6th of November 1906 initiating changes in the
central administration was accompanied by another edict outlining
changes in the provincial government, and an edict of the 22nd of July
1908 ordered the election of provincial assemblies. The edict made it
clear that the functions of the assemblies were to be purely
consultative. The elections took place according to the regulations,
the number of members allotted to each province varying from 30 (Kirin
province, Manchuria, and two others) to 140 in Chih-li. The franchise
was restricted, but the returns for the first elections showed nearly
1000 voters for each representative. The first meetings of the
assemblies were held in October 1909.
_The Civil Service._--The bureaucratic element is a vital feature in
the government of China, the holding of office being almost the only
road to distinction. Officials are by the Chinese called collectively
_Kwan_ (rulers or magistrates) but are known to foreigners as mandarins
(q.v.). The mandarins are divided into nine degrees, distinguished by
the buttons worn on the top of their caps. These are as follows:--first
and highest, a plain red button; second, a flowered red button; third, a
transparent blue button; fourth, an opaque blue button; fifth, an
uncoloured glass button; sixth, an opaque white shell button; seventh, a
plain gilt button; eighth, a gilt button with flowers in relief; ninth,
a gilt button with engraved flowers. The buttons indicate simply rank,
not office. The peacock feathers worn in their hats are an order granted
as reward of merit, and indicate neither rank nor office. The Yellow
Jacket similarly is a decoration, the most important in China.
The ranks of the civil service are recruited by means of examinations.
Up to the beginning of 1906 the subjects in which candidates were
examined were purely Chinese and literary with a smattering of history.
In 1906 this system was modified and an official career was opened to
candidates who had obtained honours in an examination in western
subjects (see Sec. _Education_). The old system is so closely identified
with the life of China that some space must be devoted to a description
of it.
As a general rule students preparing for the public examination read
with private tutors. There were neither high schools nor universities
where a regular training could be got. In most of the provincial
capitals, and at some other places, there were indeed institutions
termed colleges, supported to some extent from public funds, where
advanced students could prosecute their studies; but before the
movement initiated by the viceroy Chang Chih-tung after the
China-Japan War of 1894, they hardly counted as factors in the
national education. The private tutors, on the other hand, were
plentiful and cheap. After a series of preliminary trials the student
obtained his first qualification by examination held before the
literary chancellor in the prefecture to which he belonged. This was
termed the _Siuts'ai_, or licentiate's degree, and was merely a
qualification to enter for the higher examinations. The number of
licentiate degrees to be given was, however, strictly limited; those
who failed to get in were set back to try again, which they might do
as often as they pleased. There was no limit of age. Those selected
next proceeded to the great examination held at the capital of each
province, once in three years, before examiners sent from Peking for
the purpose. Here again the number who passed was strictly limited.
Out of 10,000 or 12,000 competitors only some 300 or 350 could obtain
degrees. The others, as before, must go back and try again. This
degree, termed _Chue jen_, or provincial graduate, was the first
substantial reward of the student's ambition, and of itself qualified
for the public service, though it did not immediately nor necessarily
lead to active employment. The third and final examination took place
at Peking, and was open to provincial graduates from all parts of the
empire. Out of 6000 competitors entering for this final test, which
was held triennially, some 325 to 350 succeeded in obtaining the
degree of _Chin shih_, or metropolitan graduate. These were the
finally selected men who became the officials of the empire.
Several other doors were, however, open by which admission to the
ranks of bureaucracy could be obtained. In the first place, to
encourage scholars to persevere, a certain number of those who failed
to reach the _chue jen_, or second degree, were allowed, as a reward of
repeated efforts, to get into a special class from which selection for
office might be made. Further, the government reserved to itself the
right to nominate the sons and grandsons of distinguished deceased
public servants without examination. And, lastly, by a system of
"recommendation," young men from favoured institutions or men who had
served as clerks in the boards, might be put on the roster for
substantive appointment. The necessities of the Chinese government
also from time to time compelled it to throw open a still wider door
of entry into the civil service, namely, admission by purchase. During
the T'aip'ing rebellion, when the government was at its wits' end for
money, formal sanction was given to what had previously been only
intermittently resorted to, and since then immense sums of money have
been received by the sale of patents of rank, to secure either
admission to office or more rapid promotion of those already employed.
As a result of this policy, the country has been saddled with
thousands of titular officials far in excess of the number of
appointments to be given away. Deserving men were kept waiting for
years, while inferior and less capable officials were pushed ahead,
because they had money wherewith to bribe their way. Nevertheless the
purchase system admitted into the service a number of men free from
that bigoted adherence to Confucian doctrine which characterizes the
literary classes, and more in touch with modern progress.
All candidates who succeed in entering the official ranks are eligible
for active employment, but as the number of candidates is far in
excess of the number of appointments a period of weary waiting ensues.
A few of the best scholars get admitted at once into the Hanlin
college or into one or other of the boards at Peking. The rest are
drafted off in batches to the various provinces to await their turn
for appointment as vacancies occur. During this period of waiting they
are termed "expectants" and draw no regular pay. Occasional service,
however, falls in their way, as when they are commissioned for special
duty in outlying districts, which they perform as _Wei yuens_, or
deputies of the regular officials. The period of expectancy may be
abridged by recommendation or purchase, and it is generally supposed
that this last lever must invariably be resorted to to secure any
lucrative local appointment. A poor but promising official is often,
it is said, financed by a syndicate of relations and friends, who look
to recoup themselves out of the customary perquisites which attach to
the post. Appointments to the junior provincial posts are usually left
to the provincial government, but the central government can always
interfere directly. Appointments to the lucrative posts of customs,
_taot'ai_, at the treaty ports are usually made direct from Peking,
and the officer selected is neither necessarily nor usually from the
provincial staff. It would perhaps be safe to say that this
appointment has hitherto always been the result of a pecuniary
arrangement of greater or less magnitude.
Bribery and torture.
During the first five years (1906-1910) of the new method, by which
candidates for the civil service were required, in addition to Chinese
classics, to have a knowledge of western science, great efforts were
made in several provinces to train up a better class of public
official. The old system of administration had many theoretical
excellencies, and there had been notable instances of upright
administration, but the regulation which forbade a mandarin to hold
any office for more than three years made it the selfish interest of
every office-holder to get as much out of the people within his
jurisdiction as he possibly could in that time. This corruption in
high places had a thoroughly demoralizing effect. While among the
better commercial classes Chinese probity in business relations with
foreigners is proverbial, the people generally set little or no value
upon truth, and this has led to the use of torture in their courts of
justice; for it is argued that where the value of an oath is not
understood, some other means must be resorted to to extract evidence.
_Justice._--The _Chih-Hsien_ or district magistrate decides ordinary
police cases; he is also coroner and sheriff, he hears suits for
divorce and breach of promise, and is a court of first instance in all
civil cases; "the penalty for taking a case first to a higher court is
fifty blows with the bamboo on the naked thigh."[37] Appeal from the
_Hsien_ court lies to the _Fu_, or prefectural court, and thence cases
may be taken to the provincial judge, who signs death warrants, while
there are final courts of appeal at Peking. Civil cases are usually
settled by trade gilds in towns and by village elders, or by
arbitration in rural districts. Reference has been made to the use of
torture. Flogging is the only form of torture which has been allowed
under the Manchus. The obdurate witness is laid on his face, and the
executioner delivers his blows on the upper part of the thighs with
the concave side of a split bamboo, the sharp edges of which mutilate
the sufferer terribly. The punishment is continued until the man
either supplies the evidence required or becomes insensible.
Punishment by bamboo was formally abolished by imperial edict in 1905,
and other judicial reforms were instituted. They remained largely
inoperative, and even in Shanghai, under the eyes of foreign
residents, gross cases of the infliction of torture occurred in
1909.[38]
For capital offences the usual modes of inflicting the extreme penalty
of the law are--in bad cases, such as parricides, "cutting to pieces,"
and for less aggravated crimes either strangulation or decapitation.
The culprit who is condemned to be "cut to pieces" is fastened to a
cross, and while thus suspended cuts are made by the executioner on
the fleshy parts of the body; and he is then beheaded. Strangulation
is reserved for lesser degrees of guilt, it being considered a
privilege to pass out of life with a whole body. When it has been
granted to a criminal of rank thus to meet his end, a silken cord is
sent to him at his own home. No explanatory message is considered
necessary, and he is left to consummate his own doom. Popular
sentiment regards decapitation as a peculiarly disgraceful mode of
death. Constant practice makes the executioners wonderfully expert in
the performance of their office. No block or resting-place for the
head is used. The neck is simply outstretched to its full length by
the aid of an assistant, and one blow invariably leaves the body
headless.
Consular jurisdiction.
The laws are in accord with the principle which regards the family as
a unit. Thus there is no bankruptcy law--if a debtor's own estate will
not suffice to pay his debts the deficiency must be made good by his
relatives; if a debtor absconds his immediate family are imprisoned.
By analogy if one member of a party commits an offence and the guilty
person cannot be detected, the whole party must suffer. Foreigners
residing in China resented the application of this principle of law to
themselves. As a result extra-territorial rights were sought by
European powers. They were secured by Russia as early as 1689, but it
was not until 1843 that any other nation acquired them. In that year
Great Britain obtained the right to try British subjects by its own
consuls, a right secured in more explicit terms by the United States
and France in 1844. Now eighteen powers, including Japan, have
consular courts for the trial of their own subjects according to the
laws of their native lands. Mixed courts have also been established,
that is, a defendant is tried in the court of his own nationality, the
court giving its decision under the supervision of a representative of
the plaintiff's nationality. In practice the Chinese have seldom sent
representatives to sit on the bench of consular courts, but, as the
Europeans lack confidence in the administration of Chinese justice, no
suit brought by a foreigner against a Chinese is decided without the
presence of an assessor of the plaintiff's nationality.
Army.
_Defence._--The Chinese constitution in the period before the reform
edicts of 1905-1906 provided for two independent sets of military
organizations--namely, the Manchu army and the several provincial
armies. On the establishment of the dynasty in 1644 the victorious
troops, composed mainly of Manchus, but including also Mongols and
Chinese, were permanently quartered in Peking, and constituted a
hereditary national army. The force was divided into eight banners,
and under one or other of these all Manchus and all the descendants of
the members of other nationalities were enrolled. They form the bulk
of the population of the "Tatar city" of Peking. Each adult male was
by birth entitled to be enrolled as a soldier, and by virtue of his
enrolment had a right to draw rations--i.e. his allowance of the
tribute rice, whether on active service or not. Detachments from one
or other of the banners were stationed as garrisons in the chief
provincial centres, as at Canton, Fuchow and Hang-chow, &c., and their
descendants still occupy the same position. As a fighting force the
Manchu garrisons both in the capital and in the provinces had long
become quite effete. In the capital, however, the _elite_ of the
Manchu soldiery were formed into a special corps termed the Peking
Field Force. Its nominal strength was 20,000, the men were armed and
drilled after the European fashion, and fairly well paid. There were
other corps of picked Manchus better paid and better armed than the
ordinary soldier, and it was computed that in 1901 the Manchu army in
or near Peking could muster 40,000, all more or less efficient.
The second organization was termed the army of the Green Standard,
being the Chinese provincial forces. The nominal strength was from
20,000 to 30,000 for each province, or about 500,000 in all; the
actual strength was about one-third of this. They were enrolled to
keep the peace within their own province, and resembled a militia or
local constabulary rather than a national army. They were generally
poorly paid and equally badly drilled and armed.
The only real fighting force which China possessed at the beginning of
the 20th century was made up of certain special corps which were not
provided for in the constitution, and consequently used to be termed
_yung_, "braves," or irregulars, but had acquired various distinctive
names. They were enlisted by provincial governors, and all had some
smattering of foreign drill. They were also fairly well paid and
armed. After the Chino-Japanese War of 1894-95 some of these corps
were quartered near Peking and Tientsin, and came generally to be
spoken of as the Army of the North.
An imperial decree issued in 1901 after the Boxer rising ordered the
reorganization of the military forces of the empire, and on provincial
lines something was accomplished--especially in Chih-li under Yuan
Shih-k'ai, who practically created "the Army of the North." It was
not, however, until after the Russo-Japanese War that determined
efforts were made to organize a national army on western lines; an
army which should be responsible to the central government and not
dependent upon the provincial administrations. A decree of 1905
provided (on paper) for training schools for officers in each of the
provinces, middle grade military schools in selected provinces, and a
training college and military high school in Peking. The Army Board
was reorganized and steps taken to form a general staff. Considerable
progress had been made by 1910 in the evolution of a body of efficient
officers. In practice the administration remained largely
provincial--for instance the armament of the troops was provided by
the provincial governors and was far from uniform. The scheme[39]
contemplated the creation of a force about 400,000 strong in 36
divisions and in two armies, the northern and the southern.
Recruitment is on the voluntary principle, except in the case of the
Manchus, who apparently enter the new army instead of the "eight
banners." The terms of service are three years with the colours, three
in the reserve and four in the territorial army. The Japanese system
of training is followed. Reservists are called out for 30 days every
year and the territorialists for 30 days every other year.
Up to 1909 six divisions and one mixed brigade of the northern army
had been organized in Shan-tung, Chih-li and Ho-nan; elsewhere three
divisions and six mixed brigades; total strength about 60,000 with 350
guns. (These figures do not include all the provincial foreign trained
troops.) The efficiency of the troops varied; the northern army was
superior to the others in training and armament. About a third of the
60,000 men of the new army were in 1909 stationed in Manchuria (See
also Sec. _History_.)
An imperial edict of the 15th of September 1907 reorganized the army
of the Green Standard. It was placed under the control of the minister
of war and formed in battalions and squadrons. The duty of the troops
in peace time remained much as previously. In war they pass under the
control of regular officers, though their use outside their own
provinces does not seem to be contemplated.
Navy.
The Chinese navy in 1909 consisted of the 4300 ton cruiser "Hai Chi"
(two 8-in., ten 4.7-in. guns) of 24 knot original speed, three 3000
ton cruisers, "Hai Yung," "Hai Schew" and "Hai Shen" (three 6-in.,
eight 4-in. guns) of 19.5 knot original speed, some modern gunboats
built in Japan, a few miscellaneous vessels and some old torpedo
boats. With the destruction of the northern fleet by the Japanese at
the capture of Wei-hai-wei in 1895, the Chinese navy may be said to
have ceased to exist. Previously it consisted of two divisions, the
northern and southern, of which the former was by far the more
formidable. The southern was under the control of the viceroy of
Nanking, and took no part in the Chino-Japanese War. While the
northern fleet was grappling in a death-struggle, the southern was
lying snugly in the Yangtsze waters, the viceroy of Nanking apparently
thinking that as the Japanese had not attacked him there was no reason
why he should risk his ships.
_The New Scheme._--An edict of the 15th of July 1909 created a naval
and military advisory board. Nimrod Sound, centrally situated on the
coast of Cheh-kiang, was chosen as naval base, and four naval schools
were ordered to be established; a navigation school at Chifu, an
engineering school at Whampoa, a school for naval artificers at
Fuchow, and a gunnery and musketry school at Nimrod Sound. A superior
naval college was founded at Peking. The coast defences were placed
under the control of the naval department, and the reorganization of
the dockyards undertaken. During 1910 orders for cruisers were placed
abroad.
_Arsenals and Dockyards._--After the loss of Port Arthur, China
possessed no dockyard which could dock vessels over 3000 tons. Many
years ago the Chinese government established at Fuchow a shipbuilding
yard, placing it in the hands of French engineers. Training schools
both for languages and practical navigation were at the same time
organized, and a training ship was procured and put under the command
of a British naval officer. Some twenty-five or thirty small vessels
were built in the course of as many years, but gradually the whole
organization was allowed to fall into decay. Except for petty repairs
this establishment was in 1909 valueless to the Chinese government.
There were also small dockyards at Kiang-nan (near Shanghai), Whampoa
and Taku. There are well-equipped arsenals at Shanghai and at
Tientsin, but as they are both placed up shallow rivers they are
useless for naval repairs. Both are capable of turning out heavy guns,
and also rifles and ammunition in large quantities. There are also
military arsenals at Nanking, Wuchang, Canton and Chengtu.
_Forts._--A great number of forts and batteries have been erected
along the coast and at the entrance to the principal rivers. Chief
among these, now that the Taku forts formerly commanding the entrance
to Tientsin have been demolished, are the Kiangyin forts commanding
the entrance to the Yangtsze, the Min forts at the entrance of the
Fuchow river, and the Bogue forts at the entrance to the Canton river.
These are supplied with heavy armament from the Krupp and Armstrong
factories.
_Finance._
In fiscal matters, as for many other purposes, the Chinese empire is an
agglomeration of a number of quasi-independent units. Each province has
a complete administrative staff, collects its own revenue, pays its own
civil service, and other charges placed upon it, and out of the surplus
contributes towards the expenses of the imperial government a sum which
varies with the imperiousness of the needs of the latter and with its
own comparative wealth or poverty. The imperial government does not
collect directly any part of the revenues, unless the imperial maritime
customs be excepted, though these, too, pass through the books of the
provincial authorities.[40]
It has hitherto been extremely difficult to obtain anything like
trustworthy figures for the whole revenue of China, for the reason that
no complete statistics are published by the central government at
Peking.[41] The only available data are, first, the returns published by
the imperial maritime customs for the duties levied on foreign trade;
and, secondly, the memorials sent to Peking by the provincial
authorities on revenue matters, certain of which are published from time
to time in the _Peking Gazette_. These are usually fragmentary, being
merely reports which the governor has received from his subordinates,
detailing, as the case may be, the yield of the land tax or the likin
for his particular district, with a dissertation on the causes which
have made it more or less than for the previous period. Or the return
may be one detailing the expenditure of such and such a department, or
reporting the transmission of a sum in reply to a requisition of the
board of revenue, with a statement of the source from which it has been
met. It is only by collating these returns over a long period that
anything like a complete statement can be made up. And even then these
returns do not represent anything like the total of taxation paid by the
people, but, as far as they go, they may be taken to represent the
volume of taxation on which the Peking government can draw revenue.
The following table, taken from a memorandum by Sir Robert Hart, dated
the 25th of March 1901, shows the latest official estimate (up to 1910)
of the revenue and expenditure of China:--
_Revenue._
Taels.[42]
Land tax 26,500,000
Provincial duties 1,600,000
" receipts (various) 1,000,000
Grain commutation 3,100,000
Salt gabelle 13,500,000
Li-kin 16,000,000
Native customs 2,700,000
Maritime customs:--
General cargo 17,000,000
Foreign opium 5,000,000
Native opium 1,800,000
----------
Total 88,200,000
_Expenditure._
Taels.
Provincial 20,000,000
Military and naval 35,000,000
Metropolitan 10,000,000
Bannermen (Manchu "soldiers") 1,380,000
Palace 1,100,000
Customs 3,600,000
Legations 1,000,000
River works 940,000
Railways 800,000
Loans 24,000,000
Contingent reserve 3,300,000
-----------
Total 101,120,000
A calculation of revenue from all sources published by the Shanghai
_Shen Pao_ in 1908, apparently derived from official sources, gave a
total revenue of 105,000,000 taels, or about 15 million sterling. This
sum is obviously less than the actual figures. In 1907 Mr H.B. Morse,
commissioner of customs and statistical secretary in the inspectorate
general of customs, drew up the following table based on the amounts
presumed to be paid by the tax payer:--
+-----------------------+------------+-------------+------------+
| | Imperial | Provincial | Local |
| | Adminis- | Adminis- | Adminis- |
| | tration. | tration. | tration. |
+-----------------------+------------+-------------+------------+
| | Taels. | Taels. | Taels. |
| I. Land Tax | 25,887,000 | 67,060,000 | 9,315,000 |
| II. Tribute | 7,420,000 | 15,582,000 | 2,300,000 |
| III. Native Customs | 3,790,000 | 1,290,000 | 249,000 |
| IV. Salt Gabelle | 13,050,000 | 26,000,000 | 25,000,000 |
| V. Miscellaneous | 3,856,000 | 5,998,000 | 985,000 |
| VI. Foreign Customs | 31,169,000 | 3,942,000 | 1,230,000 |
| VII. Li-kin | 13,890,060 | 22,502,000 | 3,639,000 |
+-----------------------+------------+-------------+------------+
| Total | 99,062,000 | 142,374,000 | 42,718,000 |
+-----------------------+------------+-------------+------------+
Mr Morse adds that the grand total shown, taels 284,150,000[43] "is an
obviously insufficient sum on which to maintain the fabric of government
in an empire like China, but it has been reached by calculations based
on a few known facts and ... is offered as throwing some light on a
subject veiled in obscurity."[44]
The service of the foreign debt, together with the pressure of other
needs--such as the cost of education and the army--made more manifest
than previously the chaos of the Chinese fiscal system. A scheme to
reform the national finances was promulgated under an edict of the 11th
of January 1909, but it did not appear to be of a practical character.
_Sources of Revenue_. I. _Land Tax_.--In China, as in most oriental
countries, the land has from time immemorial been the mainstay of the
revenue. In the early years of the present dynasty there was levied
along with the land tax a poll tax on all adult males, but in 1712 the
two were amalgamated, and the whole burden was thrown upon land,
families not possessing land being thereafter exempted from taxation.
At the same time it was decreed that the amount of the land tax as
then fixed should be permanent and settled for all time coming. It
would appear from the records that this promise has been kept as far
as the central government has been concerned. In all its many
financial difficulties it does not seem ever to have tried to increase
the revenue by raising the land tax. The amount of tax leviable on
each plot is entered on the title deed, and, once entered, it cannot
be changed.[45] The tax on almost all lands is thus stated to be so
much in silver and so much in rice, wheat or whatever the principal
crop may be. Except in two provinces, however, the grain tax is now
commuted and paid in silver. The exceptions are Kiang-su and
Cheh-kiang, which still send forward their taxes in grain. The value
of the grain forwarded (generally called tribute rice) is estimated at
taels 6,500,000. The total collection in silver, as reported by the
responsible officials, amounts in round numbers to taels 25,000,000.
The total yield of the land tax, therefore, is taels 31,500,000, or
say L4,725,000. It will readily be granted that for such a large
country as China this is a very insignificant one. In India the land
tax yields about L20,000,000, and China has undoubtedly a larger
cultivated area, a larger population, and soil that is on the whole
more fertile; but it is certain that this sum by no means represents
the amounts actually paid by the cultivators. It is the sum which the
various magistrates and collectors have to account for and remit in
hard cash. But as nothing is allowed them for the costs of collection,
they add on a percentage beforehand to cover the cost. This they
usually do by declaring the taxes leviable not in silver, but in
copper "cash", which indeed is the only currency that circulates in
country places, and by fixing the rate of exchange to suit themselves.
Thus while the market rate is, say, 1500 cash to the tael, they
declare by general proclamation that for tax-paying purposes cash will
be received at the rate of 3500 or 4000 to the tael. Thus while the
nominal land tax in silver remains the same it is in effect doubled or
trebled, and, what is worse, no return is made or account required of
the extra sums thus levied. Each magistrate or collector is in effect
a farmer. The sum standing opposite the name of his district is the
sum which he is bound to return under penalty of dismissal, but all
sums which he can scrape together over and above are the perquisites
of office less his necessary expenses. Custom, no doubt, sets bounds
to his rapacity. If he went too far he would provoke a riot; but one
may safely say there never is any reduction, what change can be
effected being in the upward direction. According to the best
information obtainable a moderate estimate of the sums actually paid
by the cultivators would give two shillings per acre. This on an
estimate of the area under cultivation should give for the eighteen
provinces L19,000,000 as being actually levied, or more than four
times what is returned.
2. _The Salt Duty._--The trade in salt is a government monopoly. Only
licensed merchants are allowed to deal in it, and the import of
foreign salt is forbidden by the treaties. For the purpose of salt
administration China is divided into seven or eight main circuits,
each of which has its own sources of production. Each circuit has
carefully defined boundaries, and salt produced in one circuit is not
allowed to be consigned into or sold in another. There are great
differences in price between the several circuits, but the consumer is
not allowed to buy in the cheapest market. He can only buy from the
licensed merchants in his own circuit, who in turn are debarred from
procuring supplies except at the depot to which they belong.
Conveyance from one circuit to another is deemed smuggling, and
subjects the article to confiscation.
Duty is levied under two heads, the first being a duty proper, payable
on the issue of salt from the depot, and the second being likin levied
on transit or at the place of destination. The two together amount on
an average to about taels 1.50 per picul of 133-1/2 lb or 3s. 9d. per
cwt. The total collection returned by the various salt collectorates
amounts to taels 13,500,000 (L2,025,000) per annum. The total
consumption of salt for all China is estimated at 25 million piculs,
or nearly 1-1/2 million tons, which is at the rate of 9 lb per annum
per head of the population. If the above amount of taels 1.50 were
uniformly levied and returned, the revenue would be 37-1/2 million
taels instead of 13-1/2. In this calculation, however, no allowance is
made for the cost of collection.
3. _Likin on General Merchandise_.--By the term likin is meant a tax
on inland trade levied while in transit from one district to another.
It was originally a war tax imposed as a temporary measure to meet the
military expenditure required by the T'aip'ing and Mahommedan
rebellions of 1850-1870. It is now one of the permanent sources of
income, but at the same time it is in form as objectionable as a tax
can be, and is equally obnoxious to the native and to the foreign
merchant. Tolls or barriers are erected at frequent intervals along
all the principal routes of trade, whether by land or water, and a
small levy is made at each on every conceivable article of commerce.
The individual levy is small, but over a long transit it may amount to
15 or 20%. The objectionable feature is the frequent stoppages with
overhauling of cargo and consequent delays. By treaty, foreign goods
may commute all transit dues for a single payment of one-half the
import tariff duty, but this stipulation is but indifferently
observed. It must also be remembered, per contra, that dishonest
foreign merchants will take out passes to cover _native-owned_ goods.
The difficulty in securing due observance of treaty rights lies in the
fact that the likin revenue is claimed by the provincial authorities,
and the transit dues when commuted belong to the central government,
so that the former are interested in opposing the commutation by every
means in their power. As a further means of neutralizing the
commutation they have devised a new form of impost, viz. a terminal
tax which is levied on the goods after the termination of the transit.
The amount and frequency of likin taxation are fixed by provincial
legislation--that is, by a proclamation of the governor. The levy is
authorized in general terms by an imperial decree, but all details are
left to the local authorities. The yield of this tax is estimated at
taels 13,000,000 (Ll,950,000), a sum which probably represents
one-third of what is actually paid by the merchants, the balance being
costs of collection.
4. _Imperial Maritime Customs_.--The maritime customs is the one
department of finance in China which is managed with probity and
honesty, and this it owes to the fact that it is worked under foreign
control. It collects all the duties leviable under the treaties on the
foreign trade of China, and also all duties on the coasting trade so
far as carried on by vessels of foreign build, whether Chinese or
foreign owned. It does not control the trade in native craft, the
so-called junk trade, the duties on which are still levied by the
native custom-house officials. By arrangement between the British and
Chinese governments the foreign customs levy at the port of entry a
likin on Indian opium of taels 80 per chest, in addition to the tariff
duty of taels 30. This levy frees the opium from any further duty on
transit into the interior. The revenue of the maritime customs rose
from taels 8,200,000 in 1865 to taels 35,111,000 in 1905.
5. _Native Customs_,--The administration of the native customs
continues to be similar to what prevailed in the maritime customs
before the introduction of foreign supervision. Each collector is
constituted a farmer, bound to account for a fixed minimum sum, but
practically at liberty to retain all he may collect over and above. If
he returns more he may claim certain honorary rewards as for extra
diligence, but he generally manages to make out his accounts so as to
show a small surplus, and no more. Only imperfect and fragmentary
returns of the native collectorates have been published, but the total
revenue accruing to the Chinese government from this source did not
appear up to 1900 much to exceed two million taels (L300,000). In
November 1901 native customs offices within 15 m. of a treaty port
were placed under the control of the maritime customs, their revenues
having been hypothecated for the service of the Boxer indemnity. The
result was that the amount of the native customs collected by the
commissioners of customs increased from taels 2,206,000 in 1902 to
taels 3,699,000 in 1906.
6. _Duty on Native Opium_.--The collection of the duty on opium is in
the hands of the provincial officials, but they are required to
rendera separate account of duty and likin collected on the drug, and
to hold the sum at the disposal of the board of revenue at Peking. The
annual import into China of Indian opium used to amount to about
50,000 chests, the exact amount of opium imported in 1904 being 54,750
piculs, on which the Chinese government received from duty and likin
combined about 5-1/2 million taels (L825,000). The total amount of
native-grown opium was estimated in 1901 at about 400,000 chests
(53,000,000 lb), and if this were taxed at taels 60 per chest, which
in proportion to its price was a similar rate to that levied on Indian
opium, it should give a revenue of 24 million taels. Compared with
this the sums actually levied, or at least returned by the local
officials as levied, were insignificant. The returns gave a total levy
for all the eighteen provinces of only taels 2,200,000 (L330,000). The
anti-opium smoking campaign initiated by the Chinese government in
1905 affected the revenue both by the decreased importation of the
drug and the decrease in the area under poppy cultivation in China. In
1908 the opium likin revenue had fallen to taels 3,800,000.
7. _Miscellaneous_.--Besides the main and regular sources of income,
the provincial officials levy sums which must in the aggregate amount
to a very large figure, but which hardly find a place in the returns.
The principal are land transfer fees, pawnbrokers' and other licences,
duties on reed flats, commutation of corvee and personal services, &c.
The fee on land transfers is 3%, and it could be shown, from a
calculation based on the extent and value of the arable land and the
probable number of sales, that this item alone ought to yield an
annual return of between one and two millions sterling. Practically
the whole of this is absorbed in office expenses. Under this heading
should also be included certain items which though not deemed part of
the regular revenue, have been so often resorted to that they cannot
be left out of account. These are the sums derived from sale of office
or of brevet rank, and the subscriptions and benevolences which under
one plea or another the government succeeds in levying from the
wealthy. Excluding these, the government is always ready to receive
subscriptions, rewarding the donor with a grant of official rank
entitling him to wear the appropriate "button." The right is much
sought after, and indeed there are very few Chinamen of any standing
that are not thus decorated, for not only does the button confer
social standing, but it gives the wearer certain very substantial
advantages in case he should come into contact with the law courts.
The minimum price for the lowest grade is taels 120 (L18), and more of
course for higher grades. The proceeds of these sales go directly to
the Peking government, and do not as a rule figure in the provincial
returns. The total of the miscellaneous items accruing for the benefit
of the government is estimated at taels 5,500,000.
_Expenditure._--In regard to expenditure a distinction has to be drawn
between that portion of the revenue which is controlled by the central
government, and that controlled by the several provincial authorities.
As the provinces collect the revenue, and as the authorities there are
held responsible for the peace, order and good government of their
respective territories, it follows that the necessary expenses of the
provinces form a sort of first charge on the revenue. (As the tables
given show, the provinces spend the greater part of the revenue
collected.) The board of revenue at Peking, which is charged with a
general supervision of finance matters all over the empire, makes up
at the end of the year a general estimate of the funds that will be
required for imperial purposes during the ensuing year, and apportions
the amount among the several provinces and the several collectorates
in each province. The estimate is submitted to the emperor, and, when
sanctioned, instructions are sent to all the viceroys and governors in
that sense, who, in turn, pass them on to their subordinate officers.
In ordinary times these demands do not materially vary from year to
year, and long practice has created a sort of equilibrium between
imperial and provincial demands. The remittances to the capital are,
as a rule, forwarded with reasonable regularity, mostly in the form of
hard cash. There is, however, a constant pull going on between Peking
and the provinces--the former always asking for more, the latter
resisting and pleading impecuniosity, yet generally able to find the
amounts required. The expenses which the central government has to
meet are:--(1) Imperial household; (2) pay of the Manchu garrison in
and about Peking; (3) costs of the civil administration in the
capital; (4) cost of the army so far as the expenses are not borne by
the provinces; (5) naval expenses;[46] (6) foreign loans--interest and
sinking fund. To meet all these charges the Peking government for
several years up to 1900 drew on the provinces for about taels
20,000,000 (L3,000,000), including the value of the tribute rice,
which goes to the support of the Manchu bannermen.[47] No estimates
are furnished of the sums allowed under such heading. The imperial
household appears to receive in silver about taels 1,500,000
(L225,000) but it draws besides large supplies in kind from the
provinces, e.g. silks and satins from the imperial factories at
Su-chow and Hangchow, porcelain from the Kiang-si potteries, &c., the
cost of which is defrayed by the provinces. The imperial government
has also at its disposal the revenue of the foreign customs. Prior to
the Chino-Japanese war of 1894-95 this revenue, which, after allowing
for the costs of collection, amounted to about 20,000,000 taels
(L3,000,000), was nominally shared with the provinces in the
proportion of four-tenths and six-tenths. The whole of the customs
revenue is now pledged to foreign bondholders and absorbed by the
service of the several loans. Besides supplying its own wants the
imperial government has to provide for outlying portions of the empire
which are unable to maintain themselves--(1) Manchuria, (2) Kan-suh
and the central Asian dominion, (3) the south-western provinces of
Yun-nan, Kwei-chow and Kwang-si. Manchuria, or, as it is termed, the
north-east frontier defence, costs about taels 2,000,000 over and
above its own resources. The central Asian territories constitute a
drain on the imperial government of about taels 4,000,000 a year. This
is met by subsidies from Sze-ch'uen, Shan-si, Ho-nan and other wealthy
provinces. Yun-nan, Kwei-chow and Kwang-si require aids aggregating
taels 2,000,000 to keep things going.
_External Debt._--Prior to the war with Japan in 1894 the foreign debt
of China was almost nil. A few trifling loans had been contracted at 7
and 8%, but they had been punctually paid off, and only a fraction of
one remained. The expenses of the war, however, and the large
indemnity of taels 230,000,000 (L34,500,000) which Japan exacted,
forced China for the first time into the European market as a serious
borrower. The sum of L6,635,000 was raised in 1894-1895 in four small
loans at 6 or 7% interest. In 1895 a Franco-Russian loan of fr.
440,000,000 (L15,820,000) was raised in Paris. Two Anglo-German loans,
each of L16,000,000 (one in 1896, the other in 1898) were raised
through the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. The Franco-Russian loan bears
4% interest, the first Anglo-German 5%, the second 41/2%. The foreign
loans contracted up to 1900 amounted altogether to L54,455,000. The
charges for interest and sinking fund, which amounted to over
L3,000,000, were secured on the revenue of the maritime customs, and
on the likin taxes of certain specified provinces. The net income from
these two sources amounted to over taels 24,000,000, equivalent at
existing rate of exchange to L3,400,000, which was amply sufficient.
Between 1899 and 1907 (both years inclusive) L12,200,000 was raised on
loan for railway purposes. The charges on the first loan--for
L2,300,000--were secured on the revenue of the Imperial Northern
railway, the interest being 5%. The same interest was secured on the
other loans, save one for L1,000,000 in which the Hong Kong government
was concerned, which bears 4% interest.
The foreign debt also includes the indemnities exacted in 1901 by the
powers for the Boxer outrages. These indemnities, secured on imperial
revenue, are divided into five series amounting altogether to
L67,500,000, the amount payable on these indemnities (at 4% interest)
in 1907 being L2,824,425. The burden of meeting this amount was
apportioned between the eighteen provinces--the sums allocated ranging
from taels 2,500,000 for Kiang-su to taels 300,000 for Kwei-chow. In
1909 the grand total of China's indebtedness exceeded L140,000,000 and
the interest called for the payment of L7,427,450 in gold.
_Banks and Banking._--Native banks for purposes of inland exchange are
to be found in most large cities. They are private banks using their
own capital, and seldom receiving deposits from the public. The best
known are the Shan-si banks, which have branches all over the empire.
They work on a small capital, seldom over L50,000 each, and do a small
but profitable business by selling their drafts on distant places.
None of them issues notes, although they are not debarred from doing
so by law. They lend money on personal security, but do not advance
against shipments of goods. In some places there are small local
banks, usually called cash shops, which issue paper notes for small
sums and lend money out on personal security. The notes never reach
more than a very limited local circulation, and pass current merely on
the credit of the institution. There is no law regulating the
formation of banks or the issue of notes. _Pawnshops_ occupy a
prominent position in the internal economy of China. They lend on
deposit of personality at very high rates, 18 and 24%, and they
receive deposits of money from the public, usually allowing 6 to 10%.
They are the real banks of deposit of the country, and the better
class enjoy good credit. _Foreign Banks_ do a large business at
Shanghai and other treaty ports, and a _Government Bank_ has been
established at Peking.
_Currency._--In the commercial treaty between Great Britain and China
of 1902 China agreed to provide a uniform national coinage. An
imperial decree of October 1908 commanded the introduction of a
uniform tael currency; but another decree of May 1910 established a
standard currency dollar weighing 72 candareens (a candareen is the
100th part of the tael ounce) and subsidiary coins of fixed values in
decimal ratio. This decree properly enforced would introduce a much
needed stability into the monetary system of China.
The actual currency (1910) consists of (l) _Silver_, which may be
either uncoined ingots passing current by weight, or imported coins,
Mexican dollars and British dollars; and (2) _Copper_ "cash," which
has no fixed relation to silver. The standard is silver, the unit
being the Chinese ounce or tael, containing 565 grains. The tael is
not a coin, but a weight. Its value in sterling consequently
fluctuates with the value of silver; in 1870 it was worth about 6s.
8d., in 1907 it was worth 3s. 3d.[48] The name given in China to
uncoined silver in current use is "sycee." It is cast for convenience
sake into ingots weighing one to 50 taels. Its average fineness is
916.66 per 1000. When foreign silver is imported, say into Shanghai,
it can be converted into currency by a very simple process. The bars
of silver are sent to a quasi-public office termed the "Kung K'u," or
public valuers, and by them melted down and cast into ingots of the
customary size. The fineness is estimated, and the premium or
betterness, together with the exact weight, is marked in ink on each
ingot. The whole process only occupies a few hours, and the silver is
then ready to be put into use. The Kung K'u is simply a local office
appointed by the bankers of the place, and the weight and fineness are
only good for that locality. The government takes no responsibility in
the matter, but leaves merchants and bankers to adjust the currency as
they please. For purposes of taxation and payment of duties there is a
standard or treasury tael, which is about 10% heavier than the tael of
commerce in use at Shanghai. Every large commercial centre has its own
customary tael, the weight and therefore the value of which differ
from that of every other. Silver dollars coined in Mexico, and British
dollars coined in Bombay, also circulate freely at the open ports of
trade and for some distance inland, passing at a little above their
intrinsic value. Carolus dollars, introduced long ago and no longer
coined, are retained in current use in several parts of the interior,
chiefly the tea-growing districts. Being preferred by the people, and
as the supply cannot be added to, they have reached a considerable
premium above their intrinsic value. Provincial mints in Canton,
Wuchang, and other places have issued silver coins of the same weight
and touch as the Mexican dollar, but very few have gone into use. As
they possess no privilege in debt-paying power over imported Mexican
dollars there is no inducement for the people to take them up unless
they can be had at a cheaper rate than the latter, and these are laid
down at so small a cost above the intrinsic value that no profit is
left to the mint. The coinage has in consequence been almost
discontinued. Subsidiary coins, however, came largely into use, being
issued by the local mints. One coin "the hundredth part of a dollar"
proved very popular (the issue to the end of 1906 being computed at
12,500,000,000), but at rates corresponding closely to the intrinsic
value of the metal in it. The only coin officially issued by the
government--up to 1910--was the so-called copper _cash_. It is a small
coin which by regulation should weigh 1/16 of a tael, and should
contain 50 parts of copper, 40 of zinc, and 10 of lead or tin, and it
should bear a fixed ratio to silver of 1000 cash to one tael of
silver. In practice none of these conditions was observed. Being
issued from a number of mints, mostly provincial, the standard was
never uniform, and in many cases debased. Excessive issues lowered the
value of the coins, and for many years the average exchange was 1600
or more per tael. The rise in copper led to the melting down of all
the older and superior coins, and as for the same reason coining was
suspended, the result was an appreciation of the "cash," so that a
tael in 1909 exchanged for about 1220 cash or about 35 to a penny
English. Inasmuch as the "cash" bore no fixed relation to silver, and
was, moreover, of no uniform composition, it formed a sort of mongrel
standard of its own, varying with the volume in circulation.
(G.J.; X.)