At the northern capital I spent forty years;
and I have recently passed three years at Wuchang on the banks
of the Yang-tse Kiang, a special coign of vantage for the study
of central China. While residing in the above-mentioned foci it
was my privilege to visit six other provinces (some of them more
than once), thus gaining a personal acquaintance with ten out of
the eighteen and being enabled to gather valuable information at
first hand.
A glance at the subjoined table (from the report of the China Inland
Mission for 1905) will exhibit the magnitude of the field of
investigation before us. The average province corresponds in extent
to the average state of the American Union; and the whole exceeds
[Page 6]
that portion of the United States which lies east of the Mississippi.
CHINA PROPER
---------------------------------------------
PROVINCES | AREA | POPULATION
| SQ. MILES |
-------------------|-----------|-------------
Kwangtung (Canton) | 99,970 | 31,865,000
Kwangsi | 77,200 | 5,142,000
Fukien | 46,320 | 22,876,000
Chehkiang | 36,670 | 11,580,000
Kiangsu | 38,600 | 13,980,000
Shantung | 55,970 | 38,248,000
Chihli | 115,800 | 20,937,000
Shansi | 81,830 | 12,200,000
Shensi | 75,270 | 8,450,000
Kansuh | 125,450 | 10,385,000
Honan | 67,940 | 35,316,000
Hupeh | 71,410 | 35,280,000
Hunan | 83,380 | 22,170,000
Nganhwei(Anhwei) | 54,810 | 23,670,000
Yuennan | 146,680 | 12,325,000
Szechuen | 218,480 | 68,725,000
Kiangsi | 69,480 | 26,532,000
Kweichau | 67,160 | 7,650,000
-------------------|-----------|-------------
Totals | 1,532,420 | 407,331,000
[Page 7]
CHAPTER II
A JOURNEY THROUGH THE PROVINCES--KWANGTUNG AND KWANGSI
_Hong Kong--A Trip to Canton--Macao--Scenes on Pearl River--Canton
Christian College--Passion for Gambling--A Typical City--A Chief
Source of Emigration_
Let us take an imaginary journey through the provinces and begin
at Hong Kong, where, in 1850, I began my actual experience of life
in China.
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