ABSTRACT
THE Chinese Republic extends over an area which _L probably exceeds 4 million square miles, and has a population within the boundaries of China proper of 400 million. Parts of it have already been discussed, others will form the subject-matter of subsequent chapters ; here I propose to discuss Old China proper, that is, the eighteen provinces, and to exclude the three eastern provinces of Manchuria and the New Dominion of Chinese Turkestan, which the Chinese call Sinkiang, and Mongolia and Tibet, over the two latter of which states the Chinese claim a varying amount of authority. Except for a small tongue of land at the north end of the Gulf of Liao Tung, China is bounded on the cast by the sea. In the north part this has, on the whole, formed a boundary which docs not appear to be traversed very frequently, except, possibly, at an early period. Chinese influence, however, certainly extended from early times eastward through the “Korean gate,” and cither by sea or land, as we shall sec later, Chinese influence both cultural and ethnical reached Japan.
