Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 2.djvu/50

eastern and western, those in the eastern section being incomparably richer and more thickly peopled than those in the Western, with the single exception of Szchuan. If the Yellow River continued its due southerly direction from the Great Wall down to the Gulf of Tonquin, instead of turning east at the point where it receives its principal tributary, the Wei, it would divide the Empire into two groups of provinces, twelve on the east and six on the west, the eastern having a total area of three-quarters of a million of square miles, a total population of 304 millions and a total revenue of seventy-eight millions of taels, the western having an area of less than half a million square miles, a population of 117 millions and a revenue of nineteen millions. Thus, while the areas are in the ratio of seven to three, the populations are in the ratio of nine to three and the revenues in the ratio of twelve to three, approximately. For the sake of convenience the table on the following page shows the areas, populations, public revenues and capitals of the eighteen provinces.

With regard to the climate of China the isothermal lines show that the average temperature is below that of any other country in the same latitude. Thus Peking, Vienna, and Dublin are nearly on the same line (50° F.), as are also Shanghai and Marseilles (60° F.), whereas the line (70° F.) passing south of Canton runs eight degrees north of New Orleans. In other words,