The numerous rivers form an important means of communication. The Yangtze is now available to commerce a distance of 2,000 miles, and the opening of the Si Kiang (West River) adds a large area that is commercially tributary to Canton and Hongkong. The most important water-way is the Grand Canal, extending from Hang Chow to Tientsin. This canal is by no means a good one as compared with American and European standards. It was built not so much for the necessities of traffic, as to avoid the numerous pirate vessels that infest the coasts. Junks, row-boats, house-boats, and foreign steam craft are all employed for traffic. The internal water-ways aggregate about fifteen thousand miles in length. [Illustration: A TEA-PLANTATION--PICKING THE LEAVES] [Illustration: PREPARING THE LEAVES FOR ROASTING] [Illustration: TEA-BALES FOR EXPORT THROUGH RUSSIA] Of railways there were less than three hundred and fifty miles at the close of the century, the most important being the line from Tientsin to Peking. About five thousand miles are projected and under construction by American and European companies. A branch of the Transsiberian railway is under construction to Port Arthur. Telegraph and telephone lines have become popular and have been extended to the interior a considerable distance. There are upward of twenty thousand miles of wire communication, the most important, in many respects, being a direct overland line between Peking and European cities. Inasmuch as there are no letters in the Chinese language, the difficulties in using the Morse code of telegraphy are very great. In some cases the messages are translated into a foreign language before they are transmitted; in others, a thousand or more words in colloquial and commercial use are numbered, and the number is telegraphed instead of the word. Most of the business between the natives and foreigners is carried on by means of middlemen, or "compradors," and these include both the commission merchants and the native bankers. They are intelligent, thrifty, and trustworthy. They are the most capable merchants in Asia, and have few if any superiors among the merchants of western nations. A very large part of the retail trade of the Philippine Islands is carried on by Chinese merchants. The Chinese Empire consists of China and the five dependencies, as shown in the following table: ---------------------+-------------+------------- | | CAPITAL OR STATE | POPULATION | CHIEF TOWN ---------------------+-------------+------------- China proper | 380,000,000 | Peking Manchuria | 7,500,000 | Kirin Tibet | 6,000,000 | Lassa Mongolia | 2,000,000 | Urga Jungaria | 600,000 | Kur-kara-usu Eastern Turkestan | 600,000 | Yarkand ---------------------+-------------+--------------