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
coll