y of the Manchu garrison in
and about Peking; (3) costs of the civil administration in the
capital; (4) cost of the army so far as the expenses are not borne by
the provinces; (5) naval expenses;[46] (6) foreign loans--interest and
sinking fund. To meet all these charges the Peking government for
several years up to 1900 drew on the provinces for about taels
20,000,000 (L3,000,000), including the value of the tribute rice,
which goes to the support of the Manchu bannermen.[47] No estimates
are furnished of the sums allowed under such heading. The imperial
household appears to receive in silver about taels 1,500,000
(L225,000) but it draws besides large supplies in kind from the
provinces, e.g. silks and satins from the imperial factories at
Su-chow and Hangchow, porcelain from the Kiang-si potteries, &c., the
cost of which is defrayed by the provinces. The imperial government
has also at its disposal the revenue of the foreign customs. Prior to
the Chino-Japanese war of 1894-95 this revenue, which, after allowing
for the costs of collection, amounted to about 20,000,000 taels
(L3,000,000), was nominally shared with the provinces in the
proportion of four-tenths and six-tenths. The whole of the customs
revenue is now pledged to foreign bondholders and absorbed by the
service of the several loans. Besides supplying its own wants the
imperial government has to provide for outlying portions of the empire
which are unable to maintain themselves--(1) Manchuria, (2) Kan-suh
and the central Asian dominion, (3) the south-western provinces of
Yun-nan, Kwei-chow and Kwang-si. Manchuria, or, as it is termed, the
north-east frontier defence, costs about taels 2,000,000 over and
above its own resources. The central Asian territories constitute a
drain on the imperial government of about taels 4,000,000 a year. This
is met by subsidies from Sze-ch'uen, Shan-si, Ho-nan and other wealthy
provinces. Yun-nan, Kwei-chow and Kwang-si require aids aggregating
taels 2,000,000 to keep things going.

_External Debt._--Prior to the war with Japan in 1894 the foreign debt
of China was almost nil. A few trifling loans had been contracted at 7
and 8%, but they had been punctually paid off, and only a fraction of
one remained. The expenses of the war, however, and the large
indemnity of taels 230,000,000 (L34,500,000) which Japan exacted,
forced China for the first time into the