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THE

QUARTERLY REVIEW.

ART. I.-1. The Chinese Repository. Hongkong, 1851. 2. The Middle Kingdom. By S. Wells Williams. New York,

1861.

3. The Chinese and their Rebellions. By Thomas Taylor Meadows. London, 1856.

4. The Tea-districts of China and India. By Robert Fortune. London, 1853.

5. China, from a Medical point of view, in 1860 and 1861. By Charles Alexander Gordon, M.D., C.B. London, 1863.

6. Documents Statistiques Officiels sur l'Empire de la Chine. Traduits du Chinois. Par G. Pauthier. Paris, 1841.

7. Annales de la Propagation de la Foi. Lyon.

8. Parliamentary Papers relating to China. London, 1853

1862.

THE

9. Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, Vol. 172. London, 1863. THE resources and political condition of the Chinese Empire are at the present time subjects of much interest and of very serious importance; and the rapid extension of our respective commercial relations makes it expedient for us to examine with careful attention the capabilities and internal state of a nation with whose prosperity or decay we are becoming most intimately concerned.

In this article we purpose to confine our attention to that part of the empire known to Europeans under the name of China Proper, and to the Chinese as the Central Kingdom; for, although the possessions of the reigning Manchu dynasty embrace immense tracts of country in Central and Northern Asia, these have but very slight influence over the fortunes or condition of China, and we shall therefore dismiss from our consideration the lofty and barren table-lands of Tibet and the sandy wastes and deserts of Mongolia. Manchuria, as being the original seat of those Tartars who are now ruling the empire, has of late been brought into prominent notice; but, as far as the Chinese are concerned, it is only important because it affords an outlet for the superabundant population of the northern maritime provinces.

The geographical situation of China has had a special influence over the character and institutions of its inhabitants. The diffiVol. 115.-No. 229. cult

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