92

THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE

applied  far  less  stringent  rules  to  the  remoter  provinces
than  to  those  within  easy  reach  of  the  capital.  Chihli,  the
metropolitan  province,  has  nearly  half  its  area  outside
the  Wall,  under  the  Mongolian  system,  and  nearly  half  the
area  within  the  Wall  was  granted  in  military  tenure  to
Manchu  princes  and  nobles,  exempt  from  land  tax  ;  and
yet  this  province  is  third  in  the  amount  of  land  tax  r e '
turned,  collected  from  less  than  a  third  of  its  area.  The
three  provinces  (Shansi,  Shantung,  and  Honan)  immediately
adjoining  Chihli,  and  within  the  more  direct  reach  of  the
Peking  garrison,  are  respectively  first,  second  and  fourth
on  the  list  ;  Shansi,  rated  above  all  other  provinces,  is  poor
and  exposed  to  climatic  vicissitudes,  but  is  attackable  from
Peking  and  from  Mongolia  as  well.  Of  the  remoter  pr°'
vinces  it  is  sufficient  to  mention  Kwangtung,  one  of  the
richest  provinces  of  the  Empire,  rated  tenth  among  the
eighteen  provinces  ;  and  Hupeh,  with  great  agricultural
wealth,  rated  thirteenth.  It  is  not  for  a  moment  to  he
supposed  that  the  self-denying  magnanimity  of  the  Em'
peror,  seated  on  his  throne  at  Peking,  is  imitated  by  his
representatives  to-day,  far  removed  from  the  control  of
their  overlord.  Of  Szechwan,  Mr.  Parker  says  :  “I  spe#t
a  year  in  that  province,  and  found  that  customary  rating 5 '
allowances,  etc.,  practically  made  the  land  tax  in  som e
districts  ten  times  its  nominal  charge.”  In  Kwangtung
we  have  regularly  applied  to  three  districts  in  the  vicinity
of  Canton  the  phrase  shui  shui,  iso  shui,  tsou  shui,  literally
"  sleeping  in-come,  sitting  in-come,  walking  in-come,”  which
may  be  thus  explained  :  the  incumbent  of  the  first  may  go
sleep,  while  his  emoluments  come  rolling  in  ;  in  the  second
he  may  sit  still,  and  his  emoluments  come  rolling  in  ;  h 1
the  third  he  must  trot  around,  but  his  emoluments  com e
rolling  in.  It  is  difficult  to  know  just  what  allowance  t°
make  for  this  diversity  of  treatment  in  applying  the  Ilona#
figures  to  the  rest  of  the  Empire,  but  we  shall  be  well  with# 1
the  mark  if  we  take  the  reported  return  for  the  four  neaf el
provinces,  and  twice  the  reported  return  for  the  remoter
provinces,  as  the  basis  from  which  to  calculate  the  amou#^