Chi-Li

or Chih-Li, one of the 18 provinces into which China proper ts divided. It has an area of 58,949 square miles. It is in many respects the most important of the Chinese provinces, containing as it does the imperial capital, Peking, the treaty port of Tien-Tsin, and the only completed line of railway in the Empire. The Great Wall runs acro the whole of the N. part of Chi-Li, while on the coast are the forts of Taku, and the nearest approach to a naval station belonging to the Chinese government. There are Christian mi ionaries of many denominations throughout the province. No census has been taken since 1879, when the population was returned as 17,937,000. In 1900 the ‘population was estimated at 25,000,- 000, including a large Manchu element.