Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1900-10-12
INTENSITY OF CHINA.
ONE PROVINCE HAS AS MANY PEOPLE
AS THE UNITED STATES.

Decrease In Number Is Not Apparent.
For two and half centuries the tail
has been wagging the dog in the Gel
estid empire. The ruling dynasty Is
Manchurian, the emperor and those
debating in his name representing d
minority of, say, S,0o0,000 in a total
Of 400,000,000.
How many people there are in China
can, however, no more be stated ap-
proximately. with ordinary presump-
ton as basis, than it can definitely
with anything official to go upon. 1t
Is true that in 1912 the Pekin authori-
ties issued what they termed an oft-
cial statement of the population by
provinces. Forty years later, or inl6S2,
there was another publication osten-
sibly going into detail after the usual
census fashion. But the inconsistent
cies, incongruities and general hap
hazard manner characteriZing these
emanations stamped them upon a par
with all the utteranceS which the
Chinese official succeeds In inducing
himself to father.
Such q thing as q house-to-house
canvas, and an enumeration, however
meagre in actual detail, has never been
known throughout China. To attempt
it would straightway cause trouble,
every Chinaman thinking it new
scheme to extort money and conduct
ing himself accordingly.
Some outside authorities estimate
the population Of the empire as high
as 450, ,000,0 ,000-others as low as 30O,-
100000.
The Chinese empire in its entirety
Is a gigantic thing geographically, ex-
tending as 1t does from the 18th to the
9th degree north, and from the I'D
to the 1921 east Three thousand
miles one way and 1000 the other
-Four and quarter million square
miles, or nearly million more than
our own total area.
The two provinces in the South,
Kwangtung and Kwang-se, over
which Ii Hung Chang exercises des-
potic sway as Encouragement or
viceroy, have an aggregated area of
15S,O00 miles-a territory larger than
Ohio, Illinois and Michigan combined
and an estimated population of 3d.
100000, which Is greater than the total
IF our population west of the Allie
ghany mountains. Canton and Swa-
tow are in Kwang tung and the prov
lnce Is renowned for its silk products.
The Province of Pechili, in which are
both Pekin and Tientsin, has an area
of 60,000 square miles equal, say, to
that of New York, Connecticut and
Massachusetts-and a population of
20,000,000, or three times that of the
states named. SZechuen in the west
is the largest province in the empire,
having an area of 10000 square
Understanding that of New England
and the middle states-and n popula-
tion of 70,000,000, or equal to that Of
our entire country. Hoopih, in Cen
tral China, is another big province,
with 10000 square miles and 35,o00-
600 population. Hankow is It's great
city. Shantung in the northwest
with Fifty odd thousand square miles,
has o population of 36,000,000, while
anu 1AtullS Ill lDe SOull.
Fukien In the southeast, Nyan-wei In
the east and Human in middle China,
oil exceed 100000 population.
A hundred people to square mile
which would be the average for the
entire empire on basis of 400,000000
the way the Chinese pack in, would
not be at all out of reason, for, sar-
dimes in a box, could never be more
tritely employed as a simile than in il
Illustrating the manner in which the
Celestials domicile themselves.
AS matter of fact, excluding the
dependencies of East Turkestan, Jun
gavia, Tibet, Mongolia, and Manchuria
taking in consideration only the 1S
provinces of China proper, and the
density Of her population equals that
of Japan, viz, 300 to the square mile.
This, on the basis of the population
in China proper being 3S5,0000 900,
which is the total indorsed by Sir Rob
ert Hart-the best posted English
man in the empire-ls approximately
correct. Two of the provinces exceed
300 to the mile, Fukien with an area
of $4,000 square miles averaging 574,
and Shantung, with $4,000 square
miles averaging 557 to the mile. Two
others exceed 450 and a couple run
over 400.
Japan has only 14S000 square miles,
all told, and a population of about
44,0o0,000. The one province of SEE
chuen alone, in China, is nearly 10 per
cent. higher than that of the Mikado's
kingdom.
Cholera, the genuine Asiatic article,
Is regular summer visitation in Chi
ma; is in fact more or less visitant 10
| of the u months, while smallpox is
present all the year round. Little real
attention Is paid to either.
At Shanghai, where, In July and
August, the thermometer climbs over
| the 100 above mark and stays there
through the "a hours, the Chinese die
by the hundreds daily. The mortality