CHINESE EMPIRE.
An immense empire of Eastern Asia; in territorial extent, the second in the world; in population, the largest. Area, 4,419,150 square miles. Pop., 371,180,000.
Longest rivers: Yang-tse-kiang, 3,320 miles; with basin, 950,000 sq. miles. Hoang-ho, 2,800 miles; with basin, 715,000 sq. miles.
Capital Pekin; pop., 500,000. Twenty-three cities have more than 100,000 population; and 66, more than 50,000.
The state religion has no outward ceremonial, except a few symbolical rites observed at New Year. It consists in the study of the teachings of Confucius and Lao-tse. The majority of the people are Buddhists. Education is almost universal, there being few adults unable to read and write. The Chinese have had newspapers at least ten centuries.
Value of imports, 1883, $103,071,415; exports, $98,349,895. The chief imports were: opium, valued at $35,510,260; and cotton goods, valued at $30,888,465. Chief exports: tea,—value, $45,077,135; and silk, chiefly raw, $33,537,990. The coal fields of China are among the first in the world; about 3,000,000 tons are mined each year. The mines at Kai-p'ing, in 1883, produced 600 tons per day.
In June, 1876, a railway of twenty miles, between Shanghai and Woosung, was opened for traffic; but the following year it was purchased by the Chinese authorities, and closed. There are 20,000 Imperial roads in the empire. In 1884 there were 3,089 miles of telegraph line, with 5,482 miles of wire.
