CHAPTER  VIII
THE  PROVINCES  AND  THE  TREATY  PORTS

China  Proper  is  divided  into  eighteen  provinces,  and  to
distinguish  it  from  the  rest  of  the  Empire  this  part  is
commonly,  and  even  officially,  referred  to  by  the  Chinese
as  “  The  Eighteen  Provinces.”  The  events  of  the  last
dozen  years,  since  1894,  have  brought  into  commercial  and
political  prominence  the  region  which  we  call  collectively
Manchuria,  divided  for  administrative  purposes  into  three
provinces  ;  these  are  called  by  the  Chinese  “  The  Three
Eastern  Provinces,”  lying  east  of  the  eastern  end  of  the  Great
Wall,  where  it  comes  to  the  sea  at  Shanhaikwan,  built  to
protect  the  Eighteen  Provinces  forever  from  invading  hordes
from  the  north,  whether  Mongol  or  Manchu.  The  estimated
area  of  the  Empire,  based  not  on  any  cadastral  survey  but
on  the  simple  process  of  multiplying  degrees  of  longitude
by  degrees  of  latitude  may  be  put  as  follows  :—
China  Proper  ..  ..  ..  1,535,000  Eng.  sq.  miles
Manchuria  ..  ..  ..  365,000  „  ,,
Mongolia,  Tibet,  Turkestan,  etc.  2,400,000  ,,  ,,

Total  ..  4,300,000  ,,  „
The  population  is  variously  estimated  from  270,000,000
(Rockhill  1904,  and  Hippisley  1876)  to  421,800,000  (Popoff
1894)  ;  Parker's  estimate  *  of  385,000,000  is  probably  the
safest  to  follow.  For  China  “outside  the  Wall  ”  the  safest
estimates  are  16,000,000  for  Manchuria  and  10,000,000  for
Mongolia,  Tibet,  etc.,  making,  with  Parker’s  estimate  for
China  Proper,  a  total  of  411,000,000.
The  Eighteen  Provinces  extend  roughly  from  latitude
20°  to  40  '  N.  and  from  longitude  98"  to  122 0  E.,  comprising
*  “  China  :  Past  and  Present  ”  (1903).
203