CHINESE EMPIRE (Fr. Chine, Med. Lat. China, Ar. Nin, Pers. Chia, Skt. rine; Gk., for the people, r,irat, Sinai, 7.fjpes, Beres, Lat. Beres; Turk. Khatel. Alongol. Kitat, whence Engl. Cathay, Russ. Kitai, from the race, generally held to be Tungusic, of Kilun, or Khitan, who ruled in the north of China from the Tenth to the Twelfth Century: the natives call their country rhany K wo, 'Midland,' poetically ('hung-11 wa, 'Flower of the Middle.' or 7'a-Tsing-Kiro, 'Realm of the Great Light,' an appellation applied to the empire in into, and one which shows the origin of the word China). An imperial domain extending over most of the southeastern third of Asia, and em bracing the whole area of continental drainage into the Pacific south of the Amur River. with the exception of Indo-China. It has au esti mated circa of about 4,225,000 square miles. and an estimated population of 400.000,000 souls. It is irregularly circular in shape, lying between latitudes 18° and 54° N. and longitudes 74° and 135° E.: and it includes, China proper and Tibet, Eastern Turkestan, Mongolia. and
churia. These dependencies are described under their names, and need here only a few words.
Tibet is an elevated, cold. and largely sterile pla lean. surrounded by lofty mountains: and Eastern Turkestan is an elevated and almost waterless ha-in (the Tarim) northwest of Tibet. Its northern border is the gigantic Tian Shan range. An area of elevated desert plateaus ( including the Desert of Gobi. or Shamo) north of Tibet and China proper is known as :\longo lia (or Sungaritt at its western end). It is bounded on the east by the north and south Khingan Mountains, between which and the coast lies Manchuria. All of these regions are hab itable only in limited districts, and support a scattered native population under the nominal control of China: while they represent in space two-thirds of the Chinese Empire, they amount hardly to a tenth of its population or resources, the other nine-tenths belonging to China in the common and restricted meaning of the term.