Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/747

CHINESE EMPIRE. 649 CHINESE EMPIRE. cede so large a figure. It is certain that while the fertile plain region is over-populated, two- thirds of the empire, and even of rliina proi)or, could maintain a nuich greater population. In 1894 the population of China projier, according to K. H. Parker, one of the ablest economic students of the Chinese, was 4-21.S00.000; 8ze- chuen, the most populous province, having 7!*.- .lOO.OOO inhabitants, and Kwei-chow. the least populoiLs. 4.800.000. The population of Great Britain and Hengal probably exceeds in density that of the average po()ulation of China, though no Eurojiean State except Belgium can reach the average of the eastern Chinese provinces. If the Chinese should develop their energies by the in- troduction of scientific farming, mining, engineer- ing, and railways. China proper could easily double its population without endangering its food-supply. The following is a list of provinces, with the meanings of their appellations: PROVINCES Meaning of name Pe-chi-li River Su Ngan-hwei Peace Glory River West Che-kiang Che River Happiness Established Lake North Shen West Kan-au Sweet — Sed ate Kwaug-tung. Broad East Kwei-chow..,^ Noble Tract Cloudy South The population of the Chinese Empire has generally been greatly overestimated. Recent careful estimates give a total of 309,080.000. as- signing to China proper 383.000.000. The Chinese abroad are found in every civilized and uncivil- ized country — there being in the Americas, in- eluding Hawaii, about 140,000: in the Dutch. British, and American East Indies and French Indo-China, between 5,000.000 and 7.000.000, with many also in Australia, .Japan, and Korea. In 1900 there were 10,811 foreigners resident in the treaty ports of China, of whom 3471 were British, 2900 ".Japanese. 1908 Americans, 1941 Russians, 117.5 Portuguese, 1054 French, and 1343 Germans. Etii.voi.ogy. In common parlance the term Chinese is applied indiscriminately to the gen- eral population of the Chinese Empire. By some ethnologists 'Sinitic' ('Chinese') is used in the sense in which others employ 'Tibetn-Chinese,' 'Tibeto-Indo-Chinese,' etc., to designate that great branch of the Jlongolian or yellow race which has peopled China. Tibet, and Farther India, and of which the Chinese proper are the oldest, most cultured, most numerous, and most important representatives. The Chinese proper, with whom thousands of j'ears of civilization and the possession of common signs for a written language have masked to a considerable extent somatic and linguistic diversities, are the result of a fusion of peoples, few of whom were far re- moved from one another in speech or in blood, though in the process of conquering the vast ter- ritory which they now control, they have re- ceived the blood of a number of more primitive rai-es, not all of whom are with certainty to be credited to the Jlongolian stock. Tlicir earliest home seems to have been in the region to the north of the present Province of Kansu. and ex- tending to the -Altai, where, about B.C. 5000. they had, as a more or less agricultuial people, de- veloped the elements of their racial culture. About B.C. 3000 (stimulated, pcrliaps, by the pressure of Aryan tribes on the southwest, and more primitive hordes on the northwest), they began the descent of the great river-valleys of the Ho-ang-ho and Yang-tse-kiang and their trib- utaries to the shores of the Pacific. This prog- ress was slow, as the 'savages' ( the original inhabitants) were very numerous, but by B.C. 1000-700 the greater part of the work was done, the pre-Cbinese aborigines between the Pei-ho and the Yang-tsekiang having been exterminated, assimilated, or driven into the mountains of the west and south, where they still survive. WTiile this expansion was going on, the northwest and north of the empire were invaded by a succession of barbaric Sibiric tribes, from which quarter came also the Mongol conquerors of the Chinese in the Tliirteenth Centun' of our era. and the Manchu dynasty that since 1044 has reigned over the people. In general the Chinese present the characteris- tic features of the Mongolian race, its yellowish skin, lank, coarse black hair, almost rudimentar_v beard and whiskers, scanty growth of hair on the rest of the body, prominent cheek-bones, black eyes lacking somewhat in lustre and expression and sloping obliquely toward the nose, which is broad-nostriled with little or no bridge, round face, small hands and feet, long and tapering fingers. The features are square, angular, and flattened, the cheek-bones high, the ears usually large and standing out from the head, the chin usually small, the neck short and thickset, and the expression of the face monotonously uniform, although familiarity with the type shows that amid a general uniformity there are many points fif difference. The average height is 5 feet 4 inches. The cranial capacity is from 1200 to 1300 cubic centimeters, or about 100 cubic centi- meters below the Caucasian average. (For illus- tration, see Colored Plate of Ykllow Races of Asi..) Closer study tends to show that among the Chinese projier three physical types may per- haps be distinguished: (1) A northern, t^iller, lighter-skinned, less brach.ycephalie group. Badz (1901) considers this type to he 'ilanchu-Korcan' in origin, in part at least, with perhaps proto- Aryan admixture. (2) A central group, which Deniker (1900) thinks has preserved best the original Chinese type. (3) A sotithern, shorter, darker-skinned, partly brachycephalic and partly nicsocephalic type, presenting generally an ap- jiroximation to the physical type of southern Jlon- golia, according to Deniker, with many sug- gestions of Malayan admixture. In the opinion of Baelz. the ilongol type prevails in central and southern China, while in the extreme south Ma- layan influences are very perceptible. Underlying nil the non-Chinese admixtures Baelz believes there is an element derived from a quasi-Cauca- sinn race (the Aino of .Japan, etc., are perhaps a distant offshoot), once widespread over north- eastern .Asia, and split in two by the advancing Mongol-Tartar tribes, but this theory needs proof. Zaborowski (19C0) holds that the Hak-