Hopper 
 
 " Review of 
 
 Dr. S.W. Williams' 
 Middle Kingdom 
 
 D5709 
 
 .W72H25 
 
: ' >: 
 
 
 A REVIEW. DR. S. W. WILLIAMS’ MIDDLE KINGDOM, CHAPTER Y. 
 
 AND STATISTICS. 
 
 V 
 
 By Rev. A. P. Happer, D.D. 
 
 POPULATION 
 
 Warfield Library 
 
 M 0ST readers who take up this elegant reissue of a standard 
 work on China will naturally turn to the chapters which 
 discuss the subjects in which they feel a special interest. Many 
 will turn first to the last chapters in the 2nd Vol., which continue 
 the history of the intercourse with Foreign nations till the present 
 time. Some will turn with special interest to the chapters on the 
 nature of the Chinese Language and its Literature, seeing that the 
 learned author is now the Professor of the Chinese Language and 
 Literature in one- of 'the oldest Colleges in the U.S.A. At this parti- 
 cular juncture, when a war with France is much discussed, some 
 readerswill tu#i first to those chapters which giye some details 
 of the wars of 1840 and of 1860 in order that they may form some 
 correct opinion in reference to the knowledge which the Chinese 
 have of military science and art. It is only the truth to say that 
 on most things pertaining to China, those who consult this revised 
 edition of a valuable work will find the information they seek. 
 
 It is not my purpose to give any general review of the whole 
 range of subjects that are treated of in this cyclopedic work. My 
 purpose is to present to our readers a statement of the results of the 
 latest investigations of the learned Professor on the population of 
 China followed with further discussion of the subject. The author 
 has made fewer changes in this chapter than perhaps in any other 
 of equal interest in the two volumes. These pages are occupied 
 with a detailed presentation of the censuses of the population which 
 have been taken from the ninth century B. C., and in subsequent 
 periods down to 1868, with discussions on various matters connected 
 with them. Those discussions take a wide range presenting reasons 
 for regarding some of the censuses as more reliable than others, 
 stating considerations intended to show that the productions of the 
 country could support such a population as is tlieri stated to exist 
 and comparing the density of the population in China with that in 
 other countries in Europe and Asia. Dr. Williams adheres to the 
 opinion which he expressed in the first edition that the census of 
 1872 which makes the population at that time to be 362,447,183, is 
 the most reliable census which has been, made known to Foreigners. 
 
 He then gives from Almanac cle Gotha 1882, as taken from Chinese 
 Customs’ Reports the population of each separate province, making 
 the aggregate population of the eighteen provinces in 1881 to be 
 
 380,000,000. 
 
2 
 
 Professor Williams expresses his opinion in reference to the 
 population of the Empire and the reliabibly of the -censuses thus, 
 
 “ The subject of the population of China has engaged the attention 
 of the monarchs of the present dynasty, and their censuses have 
 been the best sources of information in making up an intelligent 
 opinion upon the matter. Whatever may be our views of the actual 
 population, it is plain that these censuses, with all their discrepancies 
 and inaccuracies, are the only reliable sources of information. The 
 conflicting opinions and conclusions of foreign writers neither give i 
 any additional weight to them, nor detract from their credibility. As the 
 question stands at the present, they can be doubted, but they : 
 cannot be denied ; it is impossible to prove them, while there are i 
 many grounds for believing them ; The enormous total which they j 
 exhibit can be declared to be improbable, but not shown to be 
 impossible.” Yol. 1. pp. 258-9. “ From 1792 to 1812 the increase j 
 
 of the population [as shown by the censuses of these dates] was 
 54,126,679 or an annual advance of 2,706,338, not quite one per 
 cent per annum for twenty years. At the same ratio of progress i 
 the present population would amount to over 450,000,000 ; and this 
 might have been the case had not the Tai-ping rebellion reduced 
 the numbers. An enumeration, No. 22 [referring to the number 
 in the list of censuses giving the population as 404,946,514] was 
 published in 1868 by the Russian Professor of Chinese Vassibivitch 
 as a translation from official documents. Foreigners have had 
 greater opportunities for travel through the country between the 
 years 1840-1880 and have ascertained the enormous depopulation 
 in some places caused by wars, short supplies of food in consequence 
 of scarcity of laborers, famines, brigandage, each adding its own 
 power of destruction at different times and places. The conclusion 
 will not completely satisfy any inquirer, but the population of the 
 empire cannot now reasonably be estimated as high as the census 
 of 1812 by at least twenty-five millions. The last in the list of the 
 censuses, No 28, is added as an example of the efforts of intelligent 
 persons residing in China to come to a definite and independent j 
 conclusion on this point from such d^ita as they can obtain. The 
 Imperial Customs Service has been able to command the best native 
 assistance in their researches and the table of population given 
 above from the Gotha Almanac is the summary of what has been j 
 ascertained. The population of extra-provincial China is really 
 unknown at present. Manchuria is put down at twelve millions 
 by one author, and at three or four millions by another, without 
 any official authority for either; and all those vast regions in Hi and 
 Thibet may be easily set down at from twelve to fifteen millions.! 
 
3 
 
 To sum up, one must confess that if the Chinese censuses are worth 
 but little, compared with those taken in European states, they are 
 better than the guesses of foreigners who have never been in the 
 country, or who have travelled only partially in it.” pp. 270-1. 
 
 We think alj our readers will agree in the opinion which Dr. 
 Williams has himself expressed viz. “ that the conclusion will not 
 completely satisfy any inquirer , but the population of the empire 
 cannot now reasonably be estimated as high as the census of 1812 
 by at least twenty-five millions.” And most readers will, I think, 
 agree in the opinion that the chapter on the population of China is 
 the most unsatisfactory one in the whole book. Dr. Williams has 
 indicated very clearly the source whence valuable materials for 
 confirming or disproving the figures as given in the censuses might 
 be obtained, viz, from the observation of foreign travellers. Up to 
 1848 the exclusion of foreigners was so complete that there was no 
 opportunity of gaining information of the state of the country by 
 such observation. Hence those who investigated such questions as 
 the number of the population, were shut up to the statements of 
 Chinese censuses and native writers, and surmises as to the probable 
 correctness of their statements ; and the possibilititus of the 
 productions of the country being sufficient to support a population 
 so numerous as it was reported to be. The consideration of such 
 probabilities does not satisfy inquirers; and when there is the oppor- 
 tunity of travelling in the country and comparing the appearance of 
 things and the evidences of the populousness of the provinces with 
 that of western countries where the correct number of the popula- 
 tion is fully known, we are not restricted to statements given in 
 the censuses, and by native writers. Notwithstanding Professor 
 Williams’ declaration that the censuses cannot be disproved most 
 persons will admit that the statements of intelligent travellers do 
 greatly discredit their figures. 
 
 But before proceeding to present the observations of travellers 
 in China we must draw attention to a census of the population of 
 China to which Dr. Williams has not referred. This is the census of 
 1842 as reported by Mr. Sacharoff member of the Imperial Russian 
 Embassy in Peking and translated into English by the Rev. W. 
 Lobscheid and published in Hongkong in 1862. In this census the 
 population is given at 414,686,994. This number was made out, 
 the author says from “the rolls for the years A.D. 1841 and 1842, 
 which were obtained ” the writer says “ from the Minister of 
 Finance. According to this list the population of China amounted 
 to 178,634,087 families and 418,457,311 individuals for 1841 
 and 179,554,967 families, and 414,686,994 individuals in 1842.” 
 
4 
 
 English Translation p. 49, Mr. Sacharoff says, “We find in the 
 census of twenty six years from A.D. 1757 to 1783, an increase 
 of 98,685,457 individuals, i.e. nearly 3,603,287 annually. From 
 A.D. 1782 to 1812, i.e. within a period of twenty-nine years, we 
 find an increase of 77,685,394, or at the rate of 2,677,914 indi- 
 viduals annually. From A.D. 1812 to 1842 thirty years elapsed, 
 and the increase of the population within this period] is only 
 53,993,797 or an average annual increase of 1,799,797 individuals.” 
 
 + p. 50. In this census of 1842 the population of Chihli province 
 is stated to be 36,879,838 and that of Chekiang is stated to be 
 30,437,974; Kiangsu 39,646,924; Nganhwei 3ff,596,968 ; Fuhkien 
 25,799,556; Kansuh 19,512,716. The author after presenting these 
 figures for the census of 1842 says, “ In conclusion, and in confir- 
 mation of what we have said, we will give a few extracts from 
 native Reports and Reivews, which, during the last century and in 
 different times, have been collated in the work entitled Chuan-chan 
 Tsin-shi Wan-pan ; — To ascertain the amount of the population is 
 not a very easy task. Eight persons are in general counted to each 
 family. But with this computation we get only an approximative 
 and hypothetical increase of the population. We only know the 
 population has considerably increased ; but it is difficult to prove the 
 exact number of its increase. You examine the rolls and suddenly 
 discover fresh abuses. A large number live in villages and distant 
 regions. Were we to command all the inhabitants to appear with 
 their families before the magistrates, that would become intolerable 
 to the people ; were we to command the magistrates to proceed in 
 person into the villages and settlements, in order to ascertair 
 the number of inhabitants in every house, that would become too 
 burdensome to the officers. The district magistrates never get 
 through their judicial proceedings and the levying of taxes, and 
 have not n single holiday which they could devote to the revision. 
 The most diligent and most acute is incompetent to verify the 
 census. Hence their inferiors have treated the subject with the 
 utmost indifference; and entirely neglected their duty. The verifica- 
 tion of the census for every five years is also no easy task. If we 
 cannot have the verification of former censuses, then it is impossible 
 to ascertain the truth with accuracy; for it is neither easy nor 
 possible to enroll the merchants and the remainder of the fluctuat- 
 ing population, who to-day arrive at place and quit it to-morrow. 
 Hence the clerks are commissioned with taking the census as 
 formerly and with this the matter drops.” p. 52. 
 
 The writer at page 50 in referring to the census of 1842, says, 
 “ These figures show that, the same abuses which characterized the 
 
5 
 
 reign of the Sung prevail also in our days. For the present census 
 gives only two souls to one family. When and under what unhappy 
 circumstances can such a state of things exist ? Husband and wife 
 are two persons but where are the children ?” And yet in the pass- 
 age quoted above from Chinese writers it is stated that — “ Eight 
 persons are in general counted to each family.” These statements 
 bring forward one great cause of the uncertainty of the Chinese 
 censuses, and the reason of the discrepancies that appear in the 
 figures as given by different writers. Dr. Williams says ; “ In the 
 tables, for example, they employ the phrase Jin-ting for a male over 
 15 years of age as the integer; this has then to be multiplied by some 
 factor of increase to get at the total population; and this figure 
 must; be obtained elsewhere. It must not be overlooked that the 
 object in taking a census being to calculate the probable revenue by 
 enumerating the taxable persons, the margin for error and deficiency 
 depends on the peace of the state at the time, and not chiefly on 
 the estimate of five or more to a household.” Vol. I. p. 268. 
 
 We would say the margin for error is very great from better 
 sources. For first, each taxable person that is omitted does not 
 withdraw one from the aggregate number, but the number which is 
 fixed upon for a family, whether that number may be 3 or 5, and, 
 second, when the number of taxable persons is given it makes a 
 very great difference in the aggregate of individuals whether that 
 number is multiplied by 3 or 5. And to this day, after some 200 
 years of discussion, the various writers are not agreed as to which 
 figure should be used. Some multiply the number of taxable 
 persons by 8 and some by 5, and hence the discrepancies in the 
 statement of the aggregates, and yet Mr. Sacharoff says; “that in 
 the census of 1842, the number of individuals is only a few more 
 than double the number given as the integers. And the Chinese 
 author quoted by him says “ the number reckoned to a family,” 
 is neither 3, nor 5 but 8. This statement throws the aggregates 
 of the individuals as given into great confusion and uncertainty. 
 It would appear most obvious, that in order to have any certainty 
 in the matter we must know what is the purpose for which a 
 given census is taken. If it is to know the taxable inhabitants then 
 it must be settled by some recognized Chinese authorities what 
 proportion of the whole number are taxable, and then multiply 
 the number of taxables by the ratio to get the whole number, and 
 even then it will only be an approximation to the actual number. 
 
 Mr. Sacharoff accepts the census of 1812 as reliable and bases 
 his arguments in favor of the correctness of the census of 1842 
 largely on the fact that the ratio of the increase of population from 
 
6 
 
 1.812 to 1842 was nearly the same as that which had occurred from 
 1782 to 1812 and hence the reasons for accepting the reported 
 figures of the population in 1842 are in the main the same as 
 accepting those of 1812. These give the population in 1842 to be 
 414,686,994. It appears strange that Dr. Williams should not 
 have alluded at all to this census. To complete the List of censuses 
 he should have given the numbers of the population as published 
 by Mr. Sacharoff. I proceed now to present the observation of 
 travellers in China during these latter years. 
 
 No traveller in China has had better opportunities of observa- 
 tion, or has been better qualified to give reliable opinions on the 
 state of the country and its population that Baron Yon Bichthoven. 
 In his Letter on the Provinces of Chekiang and Nganhwei of 1871 
 he says : “ It is with some hesitation that I undertake to present 
 an attempt at estimating the population of the province of Che- 
 kiang. But it is desirable that we should arrive at some correct 
 figures in respect to the statistics of China, and I cordially invite 
 contradiction to statements if it tends to correct them. If the area 
 of Chekiang is computed on the great map of China as published at 
 Wuchang, we arrive at the following detailed figures; total area 
 35,425 statute miles, or about 36,000 square miles, if the islands are 
 included. [The Baron divides the whole into some 8 sub-areas 
 according to natural divisions as the alluvial plain and the basins of 
 different rivers and the number of square miles in each subdivision]. 
 Those portions of this area comprised under the numbers 1 and 4, 
 and having an aggregate area of 3,750 square miles, are the 
 southern extremity of the plain of the lower Yang-tze, and, like 
 the other parts of it, are densely populated. Although it was 
 undoubtedly more populous in former times, an average of 500 
 inhabitants to a square mile is probably a very high estimate, if we 
 include in it the country and the district cities. I add besides, for 
 the five departmental cities. It results from my preceding descrip- 
 tion of Chekiang, that the rest of the province is very hilly; and 
 although it contains about 2000 square miles of tolerably well 
 populated broad valley land, this is more than counter-balanced by 
 large tracts of country which are nearly uninhabited. I believe I do 
 not underrate the population of this hilly part in putting it down at 
 100 to the square mile. We have then 3750 square miles with 500 
 inhabitants to the square mile 1,875,000 : 32,250 square miles 
 with 100 inhabitants per square mile 3,225,000 : Population of 
 Hangchow, Kiahing, Huchow, Shaohing, and Ningpo, 2,000,000. 
 If we add for the fishing population on the coast and the islands 
 1,000,000 we have a total of 8,100,000 inhabitants, or 225 to a 
 square mile. a It is my opinion that these figures are too high, and 
 
7 
 
 that an actual census would show no more than five or six millions. 
 To refer to only once instance. The basin of the Fansui river 
 covers about 1200 square miles. At the above rate for the hilly 
 districts of 100 to the square mile, it should contain 120,000 
 inhabitants. But in attempting to compute their actual number 
 on the basis of personal observation, I got to consider 13,000 
 inhabitants as the highest limit within the range of probability .” 
 “Dr. Williams puts the area of Chekiang at 39,150 square 
 miles, and the number of inhabitants, according to the census of 
 1812, at 26,000,000; this gives an average of 671 inhabitants to a 
 square mile. The discrepancy between this statement and my own 
 is due, in part, to the destruction of life by the Tai-ping rebels. But 
 it should teach us, at the same time, to accept with distrust statistical 
 figures made up by the Chinese Government. The number of 617 
 inhabitants to the square mile exceeds by more than one half the 
 density of population of Belgium, the most thickly settled country 
 of Europe, and nearly four times the average density of France. 
 These proportions appear quite unnatural, if it is borne in mind 
 that Belgium is eminently an agricultural, manufacturing and mining 
 country, while Chekiang, with the exception of one ninth of its area, 
 which undoubtedly was formerly among the most densely inhabited 
 portions of the globe, is covered with hills interspersed with a few 
 valleys. Whoever has travelled through the province must consider 
 the number given by the so called census as perfectly absurd. If 
 the number of twenty-six millions is reduced by one half, or thirteen 
 millions, the average density of the population would still have 
 exceeded that of Belgium. It is not probable that it ever has been 
 up to so favorable a proportion in the most flourishing times.” 
 
 Mr. Hippesley of the Customs service published in his report 
 from Chekiang of 1879, that he “had read in the Peking Gazette of 
 March, 17th, 1880, a postcript memorial from the Governor of this 
 province reporting the result of a general census held in the Autumn 
 of the fifth year of the present reign (1879). The population of 
 Chekiang which I had estimated as slightly over 15,000,000 is given 
 according to this census at 11,541,054. The census of 1812 having 
 stated the then population at 29,256,784 the present returns show 
 a reduction of 14,700,000 souls, or nearly 60 per cent and an 
 average to the square mile of 265, instead of 671, [which was the 
 average according to the census of 1812].” 
 
 The reduction in the number of the population of this one 
 province as stated by an official census of 1876 is nearly 3/5 of 
 25 millions, the number of reduction which Dr. Williams supposes 
 might have occurred in the whole eighteen provinces by the causes 
 referred to. 
 
8 
 
 I proceed to present statements showing depopulation in the 
 province of Nganhwei. Baron Yon Richthoven says in the same 
 letter quoted from above of 1871 “ Nganhwei is known to be among 
 the most populous provinces of China ; and although the Tai-ping 
 rebellion was attended by at least as great a destruction of life and 
 property as in Chekiang, the productive power of the country is still 
 great. * * * If one considers the state of utter depopulation of the 
 provinces infested by the Tai-ping rebels;” &c. p. 18. In Chinas 
 Millions for July 1875, p. 44, a writer describing the horrors of 
 civil war in China says; “ Nganhwei province had for merely a 
 population of 39 millions. During the latter part of the Tai-ping 
 rebellion it suffered most severely. Twice did the rebel hordes 
 pass through its fertile valleys, carrying off its possessions and with 
 them multitudes of the people, never alas ! to return to their 
 desolated home. A great part of the population fled at the approach 
 of the rebels. Famine followed and pestilence in its wake. Thirty 
 out of the thirty-nine millions were swept away to their eternal 
 destiny. So complete in some districts was the destruction, that 
 for miles not a man, nor woman, nor child, not a hamlet, nor cottage, 
 nor hut was left behind : and years after, heaps of unburied bones 
 told the passers by of the fate of the hapless inhabitants.” In 
 Chinas Millions for 1878, Mr. J. J. Turner, when making a journey 
 through the north part of Nganhwei, says ; C( crossing the Yang-tze 
 we soon entered the road in a north-western direction. The 
 northern part of this province through which our road lay is very 
 desolate. Here and there are signs of cultivation, but the greater 
 part of it is lying -waste. There were some well built bridges partly 
 destroyed, a few villages of mud huts among heaps of ruins and 
 very few people are to be seen. I believe thirty millions from this 
 province perished in the rebellion. We passed through their 
 villages, and saw the ruins ; we passed by some of their cities and 
 saw marks of violence on every hand.” p. 10. 
 
 In Chinas Millions for April 1880, p. 45. Mr. Pearse writes, 
 <<By means of visiting we have during the last two years visited all 
 the prefectural and district cities but seven, [north of the Yang-tze 
 river] besides a large number of other small places in the south 
 part of Nganhwei, as well as several cities and town in the north of 
 the province and in Kiangsi and in Chekiang. So far as I have 
 had opportunity for judging, the present population of Nganhwei is 
 small compared with some of the other provinces. Previous to the 
 Tai-ping rebellion, no doubt it was much greater ; for but with few 
 exceptions every city, town or, village through which I have passed is 
 more or less in ruins. In some parts, which present the appearance 
 
9 
 
 of having once been large and flourishing villages, the buildings have 
 all been destroyed, and scarcely a single house now remains entire, 
 whilst not a dozen of people are ta be seen in the place. Further 
 on one may see large and solidly built houses, apparently in good 
 preservation, but unoccupied, the owners or tenants having in the 
 troublous times been either killed, or fled for safety to quieter 
 regions, and never returned * * In the villages but a small number 
 of the original inhabitants remain, the land being mostly tilled by 
 immigrants from Hupeh and Kiangsi; whilst in the cities also, 
 men from a distance often out-number the natives of the place. 
 Although there has been such a large influx of agriculturalist from 
 other provinces, much of the land both on the hill-sides and in the 
 plains, that was formerly cultivated, is now lying waste for the 
 want of some one to work it.” These statements are made of the 
 province fifteen years after the retaking of Nanking and the disper- 
 sion of the insurgents. The statements will fully support the 
 supposition that more than one-half if not two-thirds of the popula- 
 tion of Nganhwei perished during the ten years that it was overrun 
 and plundered by the insurgents and the mandarin soldiers. As 
 the number of the inhabitants is stated in the census of 1812 to be 
 84,168,052, and by the census of 1842 to be 36,596,988, we may 
 suppose that some 20 millions of the people perished. 
 
 I have not been able to find any detailed statements of travellers 
 through the parts of Kiangsu and Kiangsi provinces which lie near 
 to Nanking and which were for a longer or shorter period of time 
 subject to the same marauding and plundering expeditions of "the 
 insurgents during the time that they occupied that city. They 
 were entirely supported by plundering from the residents of those 
 places into which they made incursions. Bijt we may suppose that 
 in the parts of these provinces there was the same destruction 
 of life and property as was experienced in Chekiang and Nganhwei 
 provinces, and twenty millioms will probably be a low estimate for 
 the number of lives lost in Kiangsu and Kiangsi. Some eleven 
 other provinces, besides the few in the immediate vicinity of Nan- 
 king, were more or less ravaged by the Tai-ping insurgents. I have 
 not seen any detailed statements of the extent of the desolation 
 effected by them in their course. But judging from what they did 
 elsewhere we may suppose it was very great. Honan, Hupeh and 
 Hunan suffered greatly, but Kwangsi suffered more than any 
 of them, as the insurrection commenced there and enlarged its 
 operations for three successive years till it gained sufficient strength 
 to start on its march. Mr. Cameron of the Inland Mission and 
 Mr. Colquhoun have made incidental references to the depopulation 
 
 0 
 
10 
 
 of Kwangsr and of extensive districts lying uncultivated in it. 
 And other members of the Inland Mission have referred to the 
 same scenes of desolation as in the other named provinces. More 
 than twenty years ago the Kweichow province suffered from the 
 outbreaks of the Miao-tsz tribes : and subsequent to that Hunan 
 in the south-west and Kansuh in the south-west were desolated 
 by the Mohammedan rebellions. Of the desolation and depopula- 
 tion effected in the provinces of Kweichow and Yunnan we find 
 these statements by Mr. Margary in the account of his journey 
 from Shanghai to Bhamo in 1874. Of the Shih-ping district city 
 he says “ the city was, like the rest, reduced by devastation to 
 a straggling, hamlet. The Yamen itself was newly built, and 
 stood alone, as it were out in the country on a site once surrounded 
 by a busy population.” p. 179. “ Every village I passed through 
 
 showed sad signs of the savage havoc made by the raid of the 
 Miao-tze. Every where extensive remains of good substantial store- 
 houses pointed out the prosperity that must have been, and in 
 their stead twenty years of peace and quiet had only produced a 
 huddled group of straw thatched huts, inhabited by immigrants 
 from Szch'uan and Kiangsi.” p. 182. “ The road passed through 
 
 a very ferttle and beautiful, but wholly deserted, region. Large 
 tracts of good arable land were given up to grass and wild weeds. 
 This fact alone speaks very plainly of the wide spread desolation .” 
 p. 183. “This province of Kweichow is sadly devastated, all 
 the cities are reduced to mere villages and the villages to a 
 mere collection of straw huts. Everywhere ruins of good sub- 
 stantial houses abound, and show what a prosperous region this 
 once was before the wild men of the hills came down en masse and 
 butchered the whole population. This occurred twenty years ago and 
 still the devoted cities remain as cities of the dead, with extensive 
 walls surrounding acres of ruins.” p. 187. “The country (after 
 passing the capital city) was rather more colonized than on the east 
 side of the capital, but still vast tracts of level arable land, bearing 
 distinct signs of former tillage were completely deserted and 
 covered with long grass. The villages on the main road are of a 
 most miserable description. They were far apart and contained few 
 inhabitants who where mostly immigrants from Szchluan.” p. 202 
 “ The whole route to-day passed through a fertile valley perfectly 
 level and some six to eight miles wide. It was only partially 
 cultivated, for the country has not yet had time to recover from its 
 twenty years of desolation. It was only last year that this road 
 became free from dangers and obstructions, and immigrants could 
 come with safety to occupy the deserted wastes.” p. 203. Having 
 
11 
 
 passed the boundary into Yunnan, he writes, “on leaving Yang-lin 
 the ruins caused by the war were sadly prominent. The area which 
 had been covered by houses was evidently very large.” p. 231. 
 “ Since the war brought ruin on every town there has not been 
 sufficient time for resuscitation. The country to-day showed signs 
 of past cultivation but now lies utterly deserted .” p. 246. “ The city 
 walls £of An-ning chow] were completely destroyed, and nothing 
 had been done yet to rebuild them.” p. 248. “All the villages are 
 in ruins, and the valleys, of which we crossed three or four, are 
 sparsely populated.” pp. 253. “The country on this side [the west] 
 of Yunnan Fu is sadly deserted.” p. 255. “The city walls [of 
 Chio-hsiung] enclosed almost a houseless waste.” p. 259. “It is 
 melancholy to see these fine valleys given up to rank grass, and the 
 ruined villages and plainly distinguishable fields lying in silent 
 attestation of former prosperity. Every day I come to what was a 
 busy city, but now only containing a few new houses, inside walls 
 which surround a wide space of ruins, swept empty of many 
 hundred habitations.” p. 262. This is Mr. Magary’s statement of 
 the appearance of the country as he passed through the whole 
 extent from North-east to the South-west of the two provinces. 
 
 In Chinas Millions for December, 1880, p. 161. Mr. Bailer 
 writes, “ The poverty stricken appearance of the country we passed 
 through [in Kweichow] in our nine days journey contrasted 
 unfavourably with the well-to-do air of Hunan. The city wore a 
 desolate appearance, being in places little better than heaps of ruins, 
 with one street running down the middle. In these towns even in 
 the way of provisions but little could be bought ; indeed, they were 
 the most woe-begone cities I have seen any where in China, with 
 the exception of some of the cities in Honan during the time of the 
 famine. Judging from the present scantiness of population and 
 the devastated state of the country, a large proportion of the inhabi- 
 tants must have been slain.” In Chinas Millions for September, 1881, 
 p. 105, Mr. H. Soltau says, “There has been, and there still is, a 
 large influx of people from the adjacent over-crowded province of 
 Si-chuen, and marks of the terrible Mohammedan rebellion [in 
 Yunnan] are gradually disappearing. Many districts which, in Mr. 
 Baber's report are noted as being uncultivated and without population y 
 have now been brought under cultivation and are being rapidly 
 repopulated.” Similar statements in regard to the evidences of 
 depopulation are found in Mr. Colquhoun's book in regard to 
 Yunnan; but it is not necessary to multiply quotations. Mr. George 
 Parker, of the China Inland Mis^on who had read my remarks in 
 the article on the “ Population of China, in the March- April number 
 
12 
 
 of the Recorder for 1883, “we have no detailed statement of the 
 depopulation of the country in Kansuh province by European 
 travellers” has sent me the following statements of his own observa- 
 tions in that part of China. On September 23rd, 1883, he writes, 
 " I subjoin items of information gathered from personal inquiry in 
 every part of the province and leave you to form your own con- 
 clusions. The Tai-ping rebels only destroyed one department, Kian- 
 chow in the south, and a district city Liang-tang in the Tsin-chow 
 department. The Mohammedans rose up in the first year of Tung- 
 chi and were pacified by arbitration in the first year of Kwang-sii. 
 Until the last year of Tung-chi they were unresisted in their bloody 
 career. The provincial capital was not destroyed, and Tsinchow-fu 
 city also escaped; but the rest of the province was given up to their 
 butchery for more than ten years. When the Honan soldiers came 
 to get back the land for the Emperor they came too late to save the 
 people. Lang-tai-hien in the South-east, the smallest and most ' 
 out-of-the way city in Kansuh lost 7000 people by slaughter when 
 the city was taken. “ Ku-iien, the residence of the chief military 
 officer of the province (Tituh) is said to have been second only to 
 Lancliow, the capital, in numbers, and to have had a population of 
 220,000 souls. I said to my informer, perhaps there are 2 or 3 
 thousand families now. He laughed at my exorbitant estimate. 
 The Tsinchow Department suffered less than any other part. At 
 the examination for degrees this year there were said to be about 
 4000 candidates for the first degree from its six counties. I have 
 just returned from Eastern Kansuh having visited several depart- 
 ment cities just after the examinations had been held in them. At 
 Kiang-iang Fu city there were only one hundred student attended 
 the examination for civil honors, and eighty military candidates, 
 from the five counties connected with the department. The one 
 hundred candidates were not sufficient to receive all the degrees due 
 to the department. [Before the war the number of candidates 
 would have been nearly four thousand]. From the four counties of 
 the Kin-chow department there were one hundred candidates present 
 at the examination. From the six counties of the Ning-hia depart- 
 ment there were six hundred candidates attended the examinations. 
 Chong-sin district in the Kin-chow department is almost without 
 inhabitants. Kiang-iang city, once the residence of the Chow Kings, 
 has only four hundred families. Hoh-chow city and the valley in 
 which it is situated, which is more than 30 miles in length, cannot 
 make up one hundred families. Ning-chow city and suburbs has 
 60 or 70 families. Ching-ning city has 60 families. Eastern Kansuh 
 before the rebellion was the most populous part of the province. 
 
13 
 
 The extended table land that stretches away to Mongolia is cut up 
 by deep gullies and these had been terraced from to top to bottom. 
 You may search these gullies one after another and not find one plat 
 under cultivation. The numerous cave villages are also without an 
 inhabitant except the wolves, which find a comfortable place to breed 
 in, in what were once human habitations. Great market towns like 
 I-ma-kuan and Si-hua-chih are now without an inhabitant. The 
 rebels pulled down every wall of the houses as well as put the 
 inhabitants to the sword. At the large town of Ping-uen-so, which 
 formerly had 13 pawnshops, 23 wine stores, and 36 oil vats or 
 ware-houses, now not one of either remains ; at a stage further to 
 the north is Hia-ma-kuan, which was entered after a six months 
 siege and the population put to death. Out of the 800 families then 
 within the walls only the representatives of 4 families have since 
 turned up. Not far south of Singchow near the Yellow River is 
 Shih-kwei. This place had 36 potteries to supply the north of the 
 province with large jars. Now only three are at work. You can 
 form your own conclusions. I am quite sure that my estimate of 
 one million for the whole province is near the truth instead of the 
 ordinarily quoted one, of fifteen millions.” 
 
 From the statements made by those who have travelled through 
 the whole length and breadth of the three provinces in the South- 
 west and North-west, viz, Yunnan, Kweichow and Kansuh, it is 
 evident that more than one-half of the population of the two former 
 must have perished, and more than four-fifths of the latter , Kansuh, or 
 some 18 or 20 millions during the fifteen years of war and butchery. 
 
 The dreadful scenes witnessed in the four adjacent provinces of 
 Chihli, Shansi, Shensi and Honan including a population of some 
 seventy millions during the recent great famine are toe fresh in the 
 memory of all to require any detailed statements to satisfy all of the 
 terrible loss of life, which resulted from it. The famine relief 
 committee give their estimate of the loss of life at thirteen millions 
 while others gave the estimate at twenty millions. The probability 
 of this latter number would appear to be confirmed by the state- 
 ments which travellers have given of the extensive depopulation 
 which is everywhere manifest thoughout the districts in which the 
 famine and the subsequent pestilence prevailed. These statements 
 of travellers and others, of the depopulation of the country by 
 insurrections and wars, by famine and pestilence more than justify 
 the opinion that the loss of life in China has been more than one 
 hundred million. But happily we will soon no longer be under 
 the necessity of depending upon conjecture in regard to the present 
 population of China, It is well known that the German minister 
 
14 
 
 at the Court of Peking, more than a year ago obtained from the 
 Boards at the capital the details of a census taken very recently, 
 and that these details are in the course of publication by M. Von 
 Brandt, during his visit to Germany.* 
 
 They may be expected now very soon. It has been stated by 
 rumor that the aggregate population of eighteen provinces as 
 reported in this census is in the neighborhood of 260 millions. The 
 above statements by persons who have travelled through so many of 
 the provinces will, we think, prepare all who read them to receive 
 the figures of this recent census as nearly correct. All will wait the 
 publication of the details in regard to each province with great 
 interest. For, however strong the arguments of Dr. Williams may be 
 for the correction of the census of 1812 at the time when it was taken, 
 in the face of the facts, which have been made known by travellers 
 and others, no one can be satisfied with it as giving us a knowledge 
 of the present population of this country. And there is just the same 
 reason to suppose that a census taken in 1881, or 1882 is taken as 
 carefully and as accurately as the one taken 1812. The difference 
 in the number of the population as given, by report, in this late 
 census, and that of 1812, is very great; but much greater between 
 it and the number given in the census of 1842. The difference 
 between 260 millions and 362 millions is very great when it refers 
 to the population of the same country. The difference between 260, 
 millions and 380 millions or 414 millions the number given in other 
 censuses, is still greater. In this practical age it would be produc- 
 tive of little good to institute special inquiries in order to decide the 
 question whether this difference in the present number of tha 
 population, as given in this last census, from what it was at the time 
 the former censuses were taken, arises from the great destruction 
 of life in the country during the intervening years ; or whether it 
 has arisen from inaccuracy in the mode of computing the aggregate 
 of individuals compassed in the population. In my opinion the 
 difference is due neither to one nor the other cause exclusively bui 
 largely to both causes. It is true beyond all doubt that there has 
 been a great destruction of life in China during these last forty 
 years, and it is most probably true that there have been great 
 inaccuracies in the method of making up the aggregate of the 
 population in the different censuses. We may hope that M. Von 
 Brandt has so presented the details of the census which he has 
 prepared and is publishing to the world, as will commend the 
 results to the credence of all, and thus settle this long disputed 
 and yet interesting question. 
 
 • See N. C. Herald, April 4th, 1883, p. 369.