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THE CHINESE TOWNS. 285
United States, and even of Australia. There are doubtless many large cities, such as
Canton, Hankow, Changchew, Fuchew, Singan, Tientsin, and Peking ; but even
these only take the second rank compared with London, or even with Paris.
While the urban exceeds the rural population in manufacturing countries, the
reverse is the case in China, still mainly an agricultural region. Nor can its
political centralization be compared with that of most European states, the want of
Fig.
137. DENSITY OF THE CHINESE POPULATION IN 1842.
Scale 1 : 80,000,000.
QFG. Off
D
Inbab. to in.
TOWM with over 1,000,000 Inhabitants.
Per Square Kilometre.
10 to 20. SO to 100. 100 to 200. 200 and upwards.
Towns with orer 500,000 Inhabitants.
______ 1,200 Miles.
communication preventing the great emporiums from developing such a vast trade
as that enjoyed by the leading cities of the West.
THE CHINESE TOWNS.
Speaking generally, the Chinese towns, of which the ancient Singan-fu may be
taken as the type, belong to a different period of evolution from those of Europe.
Their quadrangular enclosures of lofty castellated walls still attest the frequent
recurrence of civil wars, while the inner city, lying within a second enclosure,
recalls llie ilanchu conquest. On the least alarm the four or eight gates of the city
are closed, and the towers occupied by armed men. The Munchu quarter is in the