THE

CHINESE REPOSITORY.

VOL. I. JANUARY, 1833.-No. 9.

1

POPULATION OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE.

GEOGRAPHERS and historians, statesmen and political economists, have differed widely in their views of the population of the Chinese empire. With few exceptions, when they have written on this subject, they have been alike perplexed and perplexing, affording very little satisfaction either to themselves or to others. "Of the bolder and more confident writers, some have gone to one extreme, and some to the other;" while "cool and impartial men" have taken a middle course. The tendency of all these various and contradictory accounts has been, to confound and embarrass, and unsettle the opinions of all. In this way it has become fashionable to doubt, to question, and to deny, without any reference to the evidence by which they are supported, all the accounts that have been published on the subject; and in short, to dismiss the consideration of the question by affirming, that nobody knows, or can know, "for certainty," aught about the matter.

It is manifestly impossible to reconcile all the statements and opinions, which have been advanced on this topic; yet, as it is one of considerable interest, as well as of difficulty, we doubt not that there are many, who, like ourselves, are desirous

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of knowing the simple facts of the case, and the foundation on which the various published accounts are based. In this investigation we must, ultimately, rest the decision of the question on Chinese authorities; because no foreigner knows, or has the means of knowing, by personal inspection, or by any calculations which he can make, what is the population of the empire. But as these published accounts, though usually referring to Chinese authorities, are so contradictory, it is necessary that we should bring them, or some of them, into review; examine them; trace them up, if we can, to their origin; and value them according to the amount of testimony by which they are supported.

We commence with the works of the abbé Grosier, which appeared in France about half a century ago, and a translation of them in London, in 1788. Concerning the population of China, he says:

"One of those things which have been thought most inere dible and contradictory by Europeans, is the prodigious popu› lation of China. Father Amiot has been at great pains to investigate this point, which hitherto has been examined with too little attention. It is evident from his calculations, that China contains at present two hundred millions of inhabitants. This enormous population may appear astonishing; but, when

we

have weighed the proofs, and followed the reasoning, which this learned missionary makes use of, we shall find that his account is by no means exaggerated. The lists and documents on which this interesting discussion is founded, are taken from a Chinese book, entitled Ta Tsing y-toung Tche [Ta Tsing-yih-tung Che],-An account of what is essential to be known respecting China. This work was composed and arranged by order of the present emperor Kienlong, and published in the eighth year of his reign.'

Amiot published his book about the year 1770. Grosier, in order "to justify the assertion of this learned missionary, and to free him from all supsicion of exaggeration," found it necessary "to enter into details," and to make sundry observations. In doing this he remarks, that the Yih-tung Che shows only

the number of those who are taxable in each province of the empire; and that these amounted to 28,516,488; and adds, that by the word taxable, jin ting, heads of families only are understood; while the word mouth, kow, is used for individuals. He then supposes that there are five individuals in each family; and with the addition of considerable numbers of civil and military officers, literati, &c. ; by including the population of Fuhkeën, seven millions and odd, which on accouut of "haste or forgetfulness," Amiot omitted to mention, he raises the sum total to 157,301,755.

In order to complete the complement of two hundred millions, Amiot (according to our author) thinks he may be permitted to follow the suggestion of "a German professor named Paw," and gather them from the robbers, troglodytes, wandering families, mendicant monks, eunuchs, slaves, blind females, and bonzesses, who inhabit the Celestial empire. And lest there should yet be a deficiency, he adds the "inhabitants of those floating cities, who live in barks or on rafts, and seem to form a distinct nation in the middle of the empire." Such, according to Grosier and with his corrections, was Amiot's view of the population of China in 1743.

As the facts here adduced "may, perhaps, still leave some doubts, on the minds of our readers, of the possibility of making the inhabitants of China amount to two hundred millions," Grosier subjoins a "more complete enumeration," which was made in the twenty-seventh year of Keenlung. This estimate of the population was taken from the "Tribunal of lands," in Peking, and was received in France in 1779. It was written both in Chinese and French, having been translated into the latter, at Peking. According to this account, the empire contained 198,214,553 inhabitants, "men, women, and children." There is still a deficiency in the total number; but as twenty years had elapsed since the epoch of this numeration, and as it could

be proved by facts, that the population, for a long time past, had been progressively increasing, Grosier thought it safe to "presume" that the empire, at the time he wrote, contained two hundred millions of inhabitants.

But whence proceeds this increase of people in this "remote corner" of Asia? Is it owing to physical causes, or are these only second, and assisted by the influence of moral and political institutions? To this question Grosier supposed it difficult to give a precise answer; and advanced the following as the most apparent causes of this extraordinary population :

1. The strict observance of filial duty throughout this vast nation, and the prerogatives of paternity, which make a son the most valuable property of a father.

2. The infamy attached to the memory of those who die without posterity.

3. The universal custom which makes the marriage of children the principal concern of fathers and mothers.

4. The honors bestowed by government on those widows who do not enter a second time into the state of marriage.

5. The frequent adoptions, which prevent families from becoming extinct.

6. The return of wealth to its original stock by the disinheriting of daughters.

7. The retirement of wives, which renders them more com. plaisant towards their husbands, saves them from a number of accidents when big with child, and constrains them to employ themselves with the care of their children.

8. The marriage of soldiers.

9. The fixed state of taxes, which, being always laid upon land, never fall but indirectly upon the trader and merchant. 10. The small number of sailors and travelers.

11. The great number of people who reside in China only by intervals.

12. The profound peace which the empire enjoys.

13. The frugal and laborious manner in which the great live.

14. The little attention that is paid to the vain and ridiculous prejudice of not marrying below one's rank.

15. The ancient policy of giving distinction to men and not to families, by attaching nobility only to employments and ta lents, without suffering it to become hereditary.

16. The decency of the public manners, and a total igno. rance of scandalous intrigues and gallantry.

We have been thus particular in noticing the opinions and statements of Grosier, chiefly because they have been so often referred to, and quoted by those who have written concerning China. But as we have not at hand, "An account of what is essential to be known respecting China," which "Chinese book is one of those which are to be found in the king's library at Paris," and as foreigners are not now pivileged to take statistics from the Tribunals at Peking, it is not in our power to verify or disprove the accounts of Amiot and Grosier, by comparing them with their originals. We shall have occasion, however, in another part of this paper, to refer to these accounts, and to compare them with those which have been given by other writers; we shall also, before we dismiss the subject, allude to Grosier's remarks concerning the increase and amount of population in this country..

Sir George Staunton, in his account of the embassy of lord Macartney to China, in 1793, has given, "for the reader's information," a table of the population and extent of China Proper, "taken in round numbers from the statements of Chow ta-zhin." This officer, he says, was a man of business and precision, cautious in advancing facts, and proceeding generally upon official documents. The statemnt was taken from one of the public offices in the capital, and shows the amount of population according to the returns made from the provinces the preceding year. As the table is one of much importance, we will introduce it here; and with it, Grosier's account of the population of China, in the twenty-seventh year of Keënlung. Fungteën, in Grosier's account is often called Leaoutung, and is so written on most of the European maps. The population on each square mile, is taken from Barrow's work. We would here advertise the reader, that we have changed the orthography of the names of the provinces, and have employed that given in Morrison's Dictionary.