Dwelling-houses are generally of one story. The common building materials are bricks, sifted earth, matting or thatch for the walls, stone for the foundation, brick tiling for the roof and wood for the inner work. The fronts present no opening but the door. The walls are often stuccoed, but not painted, and the bricks are occasionally rubbed smooth with stones and the interstices pointed with fine cement. The general internal arrangement of a Chinese dwelling of the better sort is that of a series of rooms of different dimensions, sepa rated and lighted by intervening courts, and accessible along a covered corridor, communi cating with each, or by side passages leading through the courts. Streets are generally so narrow as to be mere lanes. The most charac teristic Chinese structures are the pagodas, built generally with a number of stories, each marked off from the rest by a peculiar projecting por tion.
Government, Laws, Army and Navy, etc.
— In our supplementary remarks we have glanced at the abolition of the Manchu system of government, which was a modification of the older Chinese system and at the reforms made under the republic, but it is more than prob able that much of the old routine in adminis tration will remain. The provinces, either singly or by twos, are under a governor and sub governor, and each province has also a chief criminal judge and a treasurer. Particular magistrates preside over particular districts and cities, and instead of being permanent are changed about once in three years. The great object aimed at is to maintain a strict surveil lance and mutual responsibility among all classes; in other words, to imbue them with fear of the government and infuse a universal distrust. The chief protection of the people is in a body of laws, called Ta-Tsing-Liuh-Li, that is, •statutes and rescripts of the great pure dynast'y° which are held in high regard, and agreeably to which, with occasional violations, all public functions are discharged. The neW code of laws that is being drawn up for the Chinese republic is to be the work of a Japanese professor of law. The old distinctions of Man chu and Chinese have, however, been abolished and the reorganized national army, equipped with modern weapons and appliances, has shown its effectiveness in recent years quite satisfactorily. Numbers of Krupp guns are mounted on the fortifications,• and there are arsenals superintended by Europeans. The navy contains several cruisers and other war vessels of the modern type, but the Chinese lost i their most powerful ships in the war with the Japanese, and their navy is now of comparatively little strength. Three protected cruisers were built in 1897 in Germany for the Chinese fleet, and several sea-going torpedo boats, ordered be fore the war, have been also added. The reve nue of the republic is derived from customs, ex cise and the land and salt taxes. Calculating on the basis of statistics for 1901, if the cus toms duties, including the sum payable in lieu of the likin or in land-transit dues, be computed i at about 10 per cent, the revenue, if payable in gold, would be about $20,000,000.
China had a national debt before the war of 1894-95, and at the close of that contest she assumed a new indebtedness of $187,500,000. The aggregate amount which the foreign powers were to receive by way of indemnity for the Boxer outrages in 1900 was $337,500,000, payable in 39 annual instalments. The whole of the Chinese customs revenue, if payable in gold, would be equivalent to about 6 per cent of the indemnity.
History.—The early history of the Chinese is shrouded in fable, but it is certain that civili zation had advanced much among them when it was only beginning to dawn on the nations of Europe. The names of numerous dynasties be longing to a period two or three thousand years before Christ are still preserved, but how much, if any, of their early history is authentic, can not be determined. The Chow dynasty, which was founded by Wu Wang, and lasted from about 1100 ac. to 255 ac., is perhaps the earliest that can be regarded as historic, and even of it not much more is historic than. the name. , Wu Wang is said to have divided the kingdom into 22 feudal states, and the continual internal ri valries which resulted from this policy encour aged Tartar raids and invasions. Under Ling Wang, one of the sovereigns of this dynasty, Confucius is said to have been born in 551 ac. During the latter half of the period in which this line of sovereigns held control there appear to have been a number of rival kings in China, who lived in strife with one another. Chow siang-Wang, who was the founder of the Tsin dynasty, attempted to bring all China under his rule, but he was unsuccessful. His great grandson, however, a national hero of the Chi nese, who was the first to assume the title of aWhane (emperor), and henceforth galled himself Tsin-Shi Whang Ti, succeeded in ac complishing this. He ascended the throne at the age of 13 and fixed his capital at what is now Segan-Fu. Besides building a great palace there, he constructed numerous roads, canals and buildings throughout the country. He com pletely defeated several Tartar and other neigh boring tribes and suppressed a revolt in his own country. The Great WaIl of China was begun by his command, and it was he who ordered all books treating o the past history of China to be destroyed. The present name of China is derived from the name of this dynasty. The Tsin dynasty ended with Whang Ti's grandson, who gave way in 206 B.C. to Lew Pang or Kaou-Te, the founder of the Han dynasty. Toward the end of the 2d century, or soon after the beginning of the 3d century, of the Christian era, the empire was divided into three states, which were again united under one ruler before the end of the 3d century. Dur ing the 10th century the right to the throne was disputed, and civil war raged till an adjustment took place by the establishment of the Tsung dynasty under Tae-Tsu 960 Ali Under this dynasty great progress was made in literature and art. Inroads of Tartar hordes now pressed the Chinese so hard that the called in the aid of the Mongols or western Tartars, who freed them from their oppressors, but gave them a new master in the celebrated Kublai Khan who founded the Mongol dynasty, and removed the capital from Nankin to Peking. His ninth de scendant was driven from the throne and a native dynasty called Ming again succeeded in 1368 in the person of Hungwu. A long period
of peace ensued, but was broken about 1618, when the Manchus gained the ascendancy, and after a war of 27 years established the Tartar dynasty in the person of Tung-Tchi, which came to an end in 1911. According to the Chi nese, their dynasties, 26 in number, embrace a period of about 5,000 years, during which be tween 200 and 300 sovereigns have held the throne. The earliest authentic accounts of China published in Europe are those of Marco Polo, who visited the country in the 13th cen tury. The first British intercourse was at tempted under Queen Elizabeth in 1596, but the vessel sent did not reach its destination. A trade was subsequently established at Canton by the East India Company, but no direct in tercourse between the governments took place till the embassy of Lord Macartney in 1793, which was well received li,y, the Emperor Keen Lung. A second embassy in 1816 of Lord Am herst was treated with insolence, and returned with a letter from the emperor to the prince regent, bearing among other things, °I have sent thine ambassadors back to their own country without punishing them for the high crime they have committed?' The arrogance thus manifested could not fail, sooner or later, to bring on a collision; and accordingly, in 1841, the British, on being refused redress for injuries, partly real and partly alleged, proceed ed to hostilities, and 'after scattering almost without a struggle every force which was op posed to them, were preparing to lay siege to Nankin, when the Chinese found it necessary to sue for peace. A treaty was then concluded, by which the five ports of Canton, Amoy, Fu Chau, Ningpo and Shanghai were opened to British merchants, the island of Hongkong ceded to the British in perpetuity and the pay ment of $21,000,000 agreed to be made by the Chinese. In 1850 an insurrection headed by Hung-seu-Tseuan or Tien-Te, who gave him self out as a descendant of die dynasty, broke out in the provinces adjoining Canton, with the object of expelling the Chinese Tar tar dynasty from the throne, as well as of re storing the ancient national religion of Shan Ti, and of making Tien-Te the founder of a new dynasty, which he called that of Tae-Ping, or Universal Peace. After the capture and execution of Tien-Te his place was taken by Hong-Sin, who identified Shan-Ti with the God of Christianity, and regarded himself as called of God to make the old true religion of China again predominant. For a long period the insurgents succeeded in maintaining their ground against the imperial forces, and it was not till after the lapse of several years that the latter were enabled in some degree to quell the rebellion. Notwithstanding the cruel retali ation by the victorious party, and the wholesale massacres perpetrated on the insurgents, they were unable to stifle the spirit of revolt. In October 1856 the crew of a vessel belonging to Hongkong were seized by the Chinese on the allegation that they had been concerned in a piratical attack on a Chinese vessel. The men, on the remonstrance of the British authorities, were afterward brought back, but all reparation or apology was refused. The attitude taken by the Chinese in this matter led to a declara tion of war, and in 1857 the Chinese fleet was almost totally destroyed, and Canton was taken by the French and English troops. A treaty was at length concluded with Lord Elgin on behalf of the British by which important privi leges were secured; tut an attack on the French and English ambassadors who were on their way to Peking to have the treaty ratified by the Emperor led to the renewal of the war. The allied forces marched toward Peking, and after twice defeating the Chinese troops entered the city. This brought the Chinese to their senses, and the treaty was ratified. Meantime the Tai Ping rebellion had been gaining strength, and the trade of Shanghai and Canton was materi ally interfered with. The British thereupon de cided to assist the Chinese in quelling the in surrection, and the services of a young engi neer officer, Capt. Charles Gordon ("Chinese Gordon,)) afterward so well known in connec tion with the Sudan), were lent to the govern ment for that purpose. The rebels were gradu ally driven from their posts and in July 1864 Nanking, their last stronghold, was taken. But the empire was still disturbed by rebellion in other parts. The Mohammedans in Chinese Turkestan, wishing to take advantage of the weakness to which the Chinese government had been reduced by the rebellion, revolted almost simultaneously, but apparently ' inde pendently, with those in theprovince of Yun nan in the southwest. In both cases the rebel lion resulted in the temporary separation of the provinces from the empire. In 1883 hostilities broke out between China and France in conse quence of the warlike operations of the latter in Tonkin and her claim to the protectorate of the country; but the matter was arranged early in 1885. In 1894 war broke out with Japan in connection with Chinese misgovern ment in Korea, and in this struggle Japan had almost an uninterrupted success both by land and sea, driving the Chinese out of Korea and in vading China at several points. Peace was concluded in 1895, China agreeing to give up Formosa and pay a large indemnity to Japan, to open additional ports to foreign commerce and to recognize the independence of Korea. In the autumn of 1897 two German mission aries were murdered in the province of Shan Tung, and the admiral commanding the Ger man squadron on the China station immediately effected a landing in the bay of Kiao-Chau, which, after much discussion, was finally leased to Germany early in January 1898. This acquisition of Chinese territory by Germany attracted much attention among other powers whose interests were likely to be affected, and was followed at brief intervals by the leasing of the town and harbor of Port Arthur in the Liao-Tung Peninsula to Russia, and the leas ing of the bay of Wei-hai-Wei to Great Britain. On 22 September a coup &Bat was effected by the dowager-empress of China, who had acted as guardian to the Emperor Kwang-Su during his minority, by which the emperor was again placed under her dominion. The prompt remonstrances of the representatives of the powers at Peking served to prevent any extreme procedure on the part of the Empress and her advisers, and the Emperor afterward nominally regained power, but early in 1900 was reported to have abdicated.