Chapter IV: Government and Administration (1)

Changes in the traditional form of government in China--an autocracy based on parental rule--were initiated in 1905 when a commission was appointed to study the forms of government in other countries.[26] On the 1st of September 1906 an imperial edict was issued in which the establishment of parliamentary institutions in China was foreshadowed. In 1907 an advisory council--as a sort of stepping-stone to representative government--was established by another edict. On the 27th of August 1908 an edict announced the convocation of a parliament in the ninth year from that date. An edict of the 3rd of December 1908 reaffirmed that of the 27th of August. An edict of the 31st of October 1909 fixed the classes from which an Imperial Assembly (or Senate) was to be selected, and an edict of the 9th of May 1910 gave the names of the senators, all of whom had been nominated by the throne. The assembly as thus constituted consisted of 200 members drawn from eight classes: (1) princes and nobles of the imperial house--16 members; (2) Manchu and Chinese nobles--12 members; (3) princes and nobles of dependencies--14 members; (4) imperial clansmen other than those mentioned--6 members; (5) Peking officials--32 members; (6) eminent scholars--10 members; (7) exceptional property owners--10 members; (8) representatives of provincial assemblies--100 members. The national assembly, which was opened by the regent on the 3rd of October 1910, thus contained the elements of a two-chambered parliament. The edict summoning the assembly contained the following exhortations:--

The members should understand that this assemblage of the senate is an
unprecedented undertaking in China and will be the forerunner of the
creation of a parliament. They are earnestly desired to devote to it
their patriotism and sincerity, to observe proper order, and to fulfil
their duties in representing public opinion. Thus it is hoped that our
sincere wish to effect constitutional reforms in their proper order
and to aim at success may be duly satisfied.

Concurrently with these steps towards a fundamental alteration in the method of government, changes were made in many departments of the state, and an elective element was introduced into the provincial administrations. The old conception of government with such modifications as had been made up to 1910 are set forth below.

The Chinese conception of government.

The laws of the state prescribe the government of the country to be
based on the government of the family.[27] The emperor is the sole and
supreme head of the state, his will being absolute alike in the
highest affairs and in the humblest details of private life. The
highest form of legislation was an imperial decree, whether
promulgated in general terms or to meet a special case. In either form
it was the law of the land, and no privilege or prescriptive right
could be pleaded against it. All officers of state, all judges and
magistrates, hold their offices entirely at the imperial pleasure.
They can be dismissed, degraded, punished, without reason assigned and
without form of trial--even without knowing by whom or of what they
are accused. The monarch has an advisory council, but he is not bound
by its advice, nor need he pretend that he is acting by and with its
advice and concurrence. This condition of affairs dates back to a
primitive state of society, which probably existed among the Chinese
who first developed a civilized form of government. That this system
should have been maintained in China through many centuries is a fact
into the causes of which it is worth while to inquire. We find it
pictured in the records which make up the _Book of History_, and we
find it enforced in the writings of the great apostle of patriarchal
institutions, Confucius, and in all the other works which go to make
up the Confucian Canon. The reverence with which these scriptures are
viewed was the principal means of perpetuating the primitive form of
Chinese imperialism. The contents of their pages formed the study of
every schoolboy, and supplied the themes at the competitive
examinations through which every one had to pass who sought an
official career. Thus the mind of the nation was constantly and almost
exclusively turned towards them, and their dogmas became part and
parcel of the national training. The whole theory of government is the
embodiment of parental love and filial piety. As the people are the
children of the emperor, so is he the _T'ien-tsze_ or the Son of
Heaven.

The emperor.

In practice the arbitrary power of the emperor is tempered in several
ways. Firstly, although the constitution conferred this absolute and
unchecked power on the emperor, it was not for his gratification but
that he might exercise it for the good of his people. He rules by
divine authority, and as the vicegerent of heaven upon earth. If he
rules corruptly or unjustly, heaven will send disasters and calamity
on the people as a reproof; if the rule becomes tyrannical, heaven may
withdraw its favour entirely, and then rebellion may be justified. The
Manchu dynasty came to the throne as foreign conquerors, nevertheless
they base their right to rule, not on the power of the sword, but on
divine approval. On this moral ground they claim the obedience of
their subjects, and submit themselves to the corresponding
obligations. The emperor, unless he has gained the throne by conquest,
is selected by his predecessor or by the imperial family in conclave.
He is usually a son (but seldom the eldest son) of his predecessor,
and need not be the child of the empress-consort,[28] though (other
things being equal) a son of the empress is preferred. Failing a son
another prince of the imperial house is chosen, the choice being
properly among the princes of a generation below that of the preceding
emperor, so that the new emperor may be adopted as the son of his
predecessor, and perform for him the due ceremonies at the ancestral
tablets. Apart from this ancestor-worship the emperor worships only at
the Altar of Heaven, leaving Buddhism, Taoism, and any other form of
worship to his subjects. The emperor's sacrifices and prayers to
heaven are conducted with great parade and ceremony. The chief of
these state observances is the sacrifice at the winter solstice, which
is performed before sunrise on the morning of the 21st of December at
the Temple of Heaven. The form of the altar is peculiar.

"It consists of a triple circular terrace, 210 ft. wide at the base,
150 in the middle, and 90 at the top.... The emperor, with his
immediate suite, kneels in front of the tablet of Shang-ti (The
Supreme Being, or Heaven), and faces the north. The platform is laid
with marble stones, forming nine concentric circles; the inner circle
consists of nine stones, cut so as to fit with close edges round the
central stone, which is a perfect circle. Here the emperor kneels, and
is surrounded first by the circles of the terraces and their enclosing
walls, and then by the circle of the horizon. He then seems to himself
and to his court to be in the centre of the universe, and turning to
the north, assuming the attitude of a subject, he acknowledges in
prayer and by his position that he is inferior to heaven, and to
heaven alone. Round him on the pavement are the nine circles of as
many heavens, consisting of nine stones, then eighteen, then
twenty-seven, and so on in successive multiples of nine till the
square of nine, the favourite number of Chinese philosophy, is reached
in the outermost circle of eighty-one stones."

On this occasion, also, a bullock of two years old, and without
blemish, is offered as a whole burnt-offering in a green porcelain
furnace which stands close beside the altar. The emperor's life is
largely occupied with ceremonial observances, and custom ordains that
except on state occasions he should not leave the walls of the palace.

For his knowledge of public affairs the emperor is thus largely
dependent upon such information as courtiers and high officers of
state permit to reach him.[29] The palace eunuchs have often exercised
great power, though their influence has been less under the Manchus
than was the case during previous dynasties. Though in theory the
throne commands the services and money of all its subjects yet the
crown as such has no revenues peculiarly its own. It is dependent on
contributions levied through the high officials on the several
provinces, subject always to the will of the people, and without their
concurrence and co-operation nothing can be done.[30] The power of the
purse and the power of the sword are thus exercised mediately, and the
autocratic power is in practice transferred to the general body of
high functionaries, or to that clique which for the time being has
the ear of the emperor, and is united enough and powerful enough to
impose its will on the others.

China governed by its civil service.

The functionaries who thus really wield the supreme power are almost
without exception civil officials. Naturally the court has shown an
inclination to choose Manchu rather than Chinese, but of late years
this preference has become less marked, and in the imperial
appointments to provincial administrations the proportion of Manchus
chosen was at the beginning of the 20th century not more than
one-fifth of the whole number. The real reason for this change is the
marked superiority of the Chinese, in whose hands the administration
is stated to be safer for the Manchu dynasty. Practically all the high
Chinese officials have risen through the junior ranks of the civil
service, and obtained their high position as the reward--so it must be
presumed--of long and distinguished public service.

Functions of the central government.

Through the weakness of some of the emperors the functions of the
central government gradually came to be to check the action of the
provincial governments rather than assume a direct initiative in the
conduct of affairs. "The central government may be said to criticize
rather than to control the action of the provincial administrations,
wielding, however, at all times the power of immediate removal from
his post of any official whose conduct may be found irregular or
considered dangerous to the stability of the state."[31] This was
written in 1877, and since then the pressure of foreign nations has
compelled the central government to assume greater responsibilities,
and the empire is now ruled from Peking in a much more effective
manner than was the case when Lord Napier in 1834 could find no
representative of the central government with whom to transact
business.

If the central authorities take the initiative, and issue orders to
the provincial authorities, it, however, does not follow that they
will be carried out. The orders, if unwelcome, are not directly
disobeyed, but rather ignored, or specious pleas are put forward,
showing the difficulty or impossibility of carrying them out at that
particular juncture. The central government always wields the power of
removing or degrading a recalcitrant governor, and no case has been
known where such an order was not promptly obeyed. But the central
government, being composed of officials, stand by their order, and are
extremely reluctant to issue such a command, especially at the bidding
of a foreign power. Generally the opinion of the governors and
viceroys has great weight with the central government.

Departments of the central administration.

Under the Ming dynasty the _Nuiko_ or Grand Secretariat formed the
supreme council of the empire. It is now of more honorific than actual
importance. Active membership is limited to six persons, namely, four
grand secretaries and two assistant grand secretaries, half of whom,
according to a general rule formerly applicable to nearly all the high
offices in Peking, must be Manchu and half Chinese. It constitutes the
imperial chancery or court of archives, and admission to its ranks
confers the highest distinction attainable by Chinese officials,
though with functions that are almost purely nominal. Members of the
grand secretariat are distinguished by the honorary title of
_Chung-t'ang._ The most distinguished viceroys are usually advanced to
the dignity of grand secretary while continuing to occupy their posts
in the provinces. The best known of recent grand secretaries was Li
Hung-chang.

Under the Manchu dynasty the Grand Council (_Chuen Chi Ch'u_) became
the actual privy council of the sovereign, in whose presence its
members daily transacted the business of the state. This council is
composed of a small knot of men holding various high offices in the
government boards at Peking. The literal meaning of Chuen Chi Ch'u is
"place of plans for the army," and the institution derives its name
from the practice established by the early emperors of the Manchu
dynasty of treating public affairs on the footing of a military
council. The usual time of transacting business is from 4 to 6 a.m. In
addition to the grand council and the grand secretariat there were
boards to supervise particular departments. By a decree of the 6th of
November 1906 the central administration was remodelled, subsequent
decrees making other changes. The administration in 1910 was carried
on by the following agencies:--

A. _Councils._--(1)The grand council. Its title was modified in 1906
and it is now known as the Grand Council of State Affairs or Privy
Council. It has no special function, but deals with all matters of
general administration and is presided over by the emperor (or
regent). (2) The Grand Secretariat. This body gained no increase of
power in 1906. (3) The advisory council or senate (_Tu Cheng Yuen_)
created in 1907 and containing representatives of each province. It
includes all members of the grand council and the grand secretariat
and the heads of all the executive departments.[32] The members of
these three bodies form advisory cabinets to the emperor.

B. _Boards._--Besides boards concerned with the affairs of the court
there were, before the pressure of foreign nations and the movement
for reform caused changes to be made, six boards charged with the
conduct of public affairs. They were: (1) _Li Pu_, the Board of Civil
Appointments, controlling all appointments in the civil service from
the rank of district magistrate upwards. (2) _Hu Pu_, the Board of
Revenue, dealing with all revenues which reached the central
government. (3) _Li Pu_, the Board of Ceremonies. (4) _Ping Pu_, the
Board of War. It controlled the provincial forces. The Manchu forces
were an independent organization attached to the palace. (5) _Hsing
Pu_, the Board of Punishments. It dealt with the criminal law only,
especially the punishment of officials guilty of malpractices. (6)
_Kung Pu_, the Board of Works. Its work was limited to the control of
the construction and repair of official residences.

As rearranged and enlarged there are now the following boards, given
in order of precedence:--

1. _Wai-wu Pu_.--This was established in 1901 in succession to the
_Tsung-li Yamen_,[33] which was created in 1861 after the
Anglo-Chinese War in 1860 as a board for foreign affairs. Previous to
that war, which established the right of foreign powers to have their
representatives in Peking, all business with Western nations was
transacted by provincial authorities, chiefly the viceroy at Canton.
The only department at Peking which dealt specially with foreign
affairs was the _Li Fan Yuen_, or board of control for the
dependencies, which regulated the affairs of Mongolia, Tibet and the
tributary states generally. With the advent of formally accredited
ambassadors from the European powers something more than this was
required, and a special board was appointed to discuss all questions
with the foreign envoys. The number was originally four, with Prince
Kung, a brother of the emperor Hien Feng, at their head. It was
subsequently raised to ten, another prince of the blood, Prince Ching,
becoming president. The members were spoken of collectively as the
prince and ministers. For a long time the board had no real power, and
was looked on rather as a buffer between the foreign envoys and the
real government. The importance of foreign affairs, however,
especially since the Japanese War, identified the _Yamen_ more with
the grand council, several of the most prominent men being members of
both. At the same time that the _Tsung-li Yamen_ was created, two
important offices were established in the provinces for dealing with
foreign commercial questions, viz. the superintendencies of trade for
the northern and southern ports. The negotiations connected with the
Boxer outbreak proved so conclusively that the machinery to the
_Tsung-li Yamen_ was of too antiquated a nature to serve the new
requirements, that it was determined to abolish the _Yamen_ and to
substitute for it a board (_Pu_) to be styled the _Wai-wu Pu_, or
"board of foreign affairs."

2. Board of Civil Appointments.

3. Board of Home Affairs.

4. Board of Finance and Paymaster General's Department.

5. Board of Ceremonies.

6. Army Board or Ministry of War (instituted 1906).[34]

7. Board of Judicature.

8. Board of Agriculture, Works and Commerce (instituted 1903).

9. Board of dependencies.

10. Board of Education (instituted 1903).

11. Board of Communications (instituted 1906).

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.