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Article THE GENERAL HISTORY OF CHINA: ← Page 2 of 5 →
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The General History Of China:
The Emperor of China is no less formidoible on account of the great revenues which he draws from the empire , than thcvast extent of it ; but it is not easy to give a just account of them , because the annual tribute is paid partly in money , and partly in commodities , and they are collected from all sorts of land , from salt , silks , stuffs , linen and cotton , and other commodities ; from the ports , customs , barks ; from the sea , from the forests , royal
gardens , and confiscations , & c . The personal tribute , which those that are from twenty to sixty years of age pay , amounts to immense sums of mone } r , because of the great number of inhabitants which are in the empire . They say that formerly there were upwards of 58 , 000 , 000 of persons that paid this tribute . In the numbering of the people , which was made in the beginning of the reign of the late Emperor
Cang hi , there were found 11 , 052 , 872 families , and 59 , 7 88 , 36 4 men able to bear arms , and yet neither the princes nor officers of the court , nor mandarins , nor the soldiers who have served and have been discharged , nor the licentiates , the doctors , the bonzes , nor young persons under twenty years of age , nor the great multitudes that live in barks either on the rivers or on the seaare
compre-, hended in this number . The number of bonzes exceed 1 , 000 , 000 , of which there are 2 , 000 unmarried at Pekin ; besides that there are 350 , 000 more in the idol temples in divers places , who are settled by the Emperor ' s patents ; the number of bachelors alone
are about 90 , 000 . There are besides 10 , 000 barks belonging to the Emperor , which are employed to bring to court the tribute of rice , stuffs , silks , & c . The Emperor receives annually 40 , 155 , 490 sacks of rice , wheat , and millet , each sack weighing 120 pounds ; 1 , 315 , 937 loaves of salt , each loaf weighing 50 pounds ; 210 , 470 sacks of beansand 22 59 8 597 bundles of straw for his horses ; in wrought
, , , silks and stuffs 190 , 530 pounds weight , each pound of twenty ounces ; 409 , 8 9 6 pounds of unwrought silk , 39 6 , 4 80 pieces of callico , 5 60 , 280 p ieces of linen cloth , besides vast quantities of velvet , satin , damask , and the like ; also varnish , oxen , sheep , hogs , geese , ducks , wild-fowl , fish , herbs , fruits , spices , and many sorts of winewhich are continually brought into the imperial palace :
, the whole revenues of the Emperor , being computed in French money , amount to near 200 , 000 , 000 of taels , each tael is an ounce of silver , whose intrinsic value amounts to 100 French sols . The Emperor may raise new taxes if the occasions of the state should require it , but he very seldom uses this power , the yearly tributes being considerable enough to defray his expences : there is
scarcely a year he does not remit the whole tribute to some province , if it happens to be afflicted with any kind of calamity . As the lands are surveyed , and the number of families are known , as also what is due to the Emperor , the officers of each town gather his taxes with ease ; and those that are negligent in paying of them are punished by the mandarins , either by the bastinado , or sending
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The General History Of China:
The Emperor of China is no less formidoible on account of the great revenues which he draws from the empire , than thcvast extent of it ; but it is not easy to give a just account of them , because the annual tribute is paid partly in money , and partly in commodities , and they are collected from all sorts of land , from salt , silks , stuffs , linen and cotton , and other commodities ; from the ports , customs , barks ; from the sea , from the forests , royal
gardens , and confiscations , & c . The personal tribute , which those that are from twenty to sixty years of age pay , amounts to immense sums of mone } r , because of the great number of inhabitants which are in the empire . They say that formerly there were upwards of 58 , 000 , 000 of persons that paid this tribute . In the numbering of the people , which was made in the beginning of the reign of the late Emperor
Cang hi , there were found 11 , 052 , 872 families , and 59 , 7 88 , 36 4 men able to bear arms , and yet neither the princes nor officers of the court , nor mandarins , nor the soldiers who have served and have been discharged , nor the licentiates , the doctors , the bonzes , nor young persons under twenty years of age , nor the great multitudes that live in barks either on the rivers or on the seaare
compre-, hended in this number . The number of bonzes exceed 1 , 000 , 000 , of which there are 2 , 000 unmarried at Pekin ; besides that there are 350 , 000 more in the idol temples in divers places , who are settled by the Emperor ' s patents ; the number of bachelors alone
are about 90 , 000 . There are besides 10 , 000 barks belonging to the Emperor , which are employed to bring to court the tribute of rice , stuffs , silks , & c . The Emperor receives annually 40 , 155 , 490 sacks of rice , wheat , and millet , each sack weighing 120 pounds ; 1 , 315 , 937 loaves of salt , each loaf weighing 50 pounds ; 210 , 470 sacks of beansand 22 59 8 597 bundles of straw for his horses ; in wrought
, , , silks and stuffs 190 , 530 pounds weight , each pound of twenty ounces ; 409 , 8 9 6 pounds of unwrought silk , 39 6 , 4 80 pieces of callico , 5 60 , 280 p ieces of linen cloth , besides vast quantities of velvet , satin , damask , and the like ; also varnish , oxen , sheep , hogs , geese , ducks , wild-fowl , fish , herbs , fruits , spices , and many sorts of winewhich are continually brought into the imperial palace :
, the whole revenues of the Emperor , being computed in French money , amount to near 200 , 000 , 000 of taels , each tael is an ounce of silver , whose intrinsic value amounts to 100 French sols . The Emperor may raise new taxes if the occasions of the state should require it , but he very seldom uses this power , the yearly tributes being considerable enough to defray his expences : there is
scarcely a year he does not remit the whole tribute to some province , if it happens to be afflicted with any kind of calamity . As the lands are surveyed , and the number of families are known , as also what is due to the Emperor , the officers of each town gather his taxes with ease ; and those that are negligent in paying of them are punished by the mandarins , either by the bastinado , or sending