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THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[OcTOBLft I, 1884. 



THE COMMERCE OF CHINA WITH BRITAIN: 

 ESPECIALLY ITS TEA TRADE. 



In the London Times of August 8th, there is a very 

 interesting and at this juncture a very important 

 paper, one of a series, evidently, by .Mr. Colquhoun 

 on the "Condition of China." The year 1882 has 

 been chosen to tvpivstnt the c< rnmeree of the Empire 

 because speculation largely upset the conditions of 

 trade iu 1883. I'his being kept in view we learn that 

 in 1882 the tonnage engaged in the foreign and coast- 

 lug trade was equal to 17 388,852 tons, of which 



01 47 per cent was borne by English vessels, while China 

 took 26'16, Germany 080, France 355, America 92, and 

 Japan 1-81. The total value of the trade was, in round 

 numbers :— Foreign trade, imports, £22,550,000 ; foreign 

 trade exports, £19,500,000 ; coasting trade, inwards, 

 £42,160.000 coasting trade, outwards, £36,100,000 J total 

 £120,370,000. 



Of the percentage put down to China, England has a 

 very large interest, the precise proportion of which is not 

 to be determined. It may safely be asserted, however, 

 that England, with the aid of her colonies India, Australia, 

 Hongkong, and Singapore, and the markets of Africa and 

 America, has absorbed four-fifths of the whole trade done by 

 China withthe foreign countries. Continental Europe takes 

 only S41 and Russia 1-17 pet cent To the Anglo-Chinese 

 trade, as thus calculated, must be added nearly all the 

 considerable and growing trade with Indo-China— Singa- 

 pore, ' angkok, Saigon, Java — which centres iu Hongkong, 

 and to this list may also be added Ton. pun. The greater 

 portion of this Indo-Chinese trade consists of the import 

 of rice to Hongkong, and the export, in return, of in- 

 dustrial products from that great free enlsepdl of trade. 

 Unfortunately no figures are available to indicate thevol- 

 ume of this commerce, nor, of course, to show the amount 

 uf the fraudulent junk traffic along the coast which, how- 

 ever, is known to be considerable. 



There are figures then given to show the changes 

 sine- 1851, when the balance of trade between China 

 and Great Britain was £2 000.000 against Cbiua. Iu 

 1854, the imports of British goods were to the value 

 of £0,000,000, the figures for 18S2 being £21,000,000, 

 an increase of 34-fold. The value of opium sent to 

 China had gone up from 15^ millions of taels in 1854 

 to 10,746,297 in 1882. Cotton, woollen and other 

 piece goods were valued iu 1882 at about a million 

 taels iu excess of this amount, metals 4,700,533 taels 

 and sundries 18,773,466 taels, while in 1854 the 

 figures for cotton goods were only 2,609,000 taels and 

 all other articles (except opium) 3,040,000 taels. Iu 

 exports from China to Britain the value has risen 

 from £4.681,043 to £19 084,439. The leading article, 

 tea, increased in value (quantity being much greater 

 in proportion) fiom 9,700,000 taelsiu 1854 to 31, 332,207 in 

 1882: that is from £3,258 593 to £10,525,593 15 0. 

 Silk .0 e from a value of 5 350,000 taels to 22,837,252 ; 

 sugar from blank to 3,103.010; and sundries from 

 975,000 taels t' 10,064,010. The increase in the total 

 trad' between the two countries has been from £10, 681,000 

 in 1854 in £40,084,000, or nearly 4-fold. But Mr. 

 Colquhoun says that the total for 1882 is lire lowest 

 unc- 1878, when the rigmes for aggregate imports 

 and up r s w re £39, 100,000. I 1 1- added: — 



In imports there has of late years been a remarkable 

 decrease in Indian opium, the deficit for the year 1381-2 

 amounting to nearly £2,000,000 for JIalwa, and £850,000 

 for Bengal, opium, iu all, £2,850.000. Cottons and woolens 

 showed a decrease of £1.500,00'). Iu opium and piece 



Is alone, therefore, there was n decrease of over 4j 



millions. The year to piece goods importers was the most 



unsatisfactory since 1877. The reasons assigned, all reason- 

 able, were the less prosperous condition of the country 

 people, the droughts in Shansi and Mongolia, the Hoods 

 in Shantung and along the Yangtse, and the small sugar 

 and rice crops iu the south. The most powerful reason, 

 however, probably was that the year was everywhere a 

 bad year for tea aud silk. Consequently China, the pro- 

 ducer, was notable to invest so freely as usual. The sale of 

 piece goods has not increased largely, and will not in- 

 crease, until the cost of production is reduced to a poiut 

 within the purchasing power of the consumer. The factors 

 in the question are the yield of the cotton crop and the 

 cost of labour in the United States aud England. Mr. Drew, 

 the able statistical secretary to the Customs, asserts that 

 in the wake of a superabundant harvest of cotton will 

 surely follow a large influx of cotton goods into China. 

 It is no question of American verstts English makes, not of 

 sizing or not sizing — for Chinamen have reasons for buying 

 both — it is merely a question of bringing the cost within 

 the limits of the Chinaman's purse. The reason for the 

 steady decrease in the opium import, most marked in the 

 north, is without doubt mainly due to the increased area 

 of poppy cultivation in China, and the improved quality of 

 the drug. Into this question I shall, however, examine at 

 greater length later on. 



In exports the value of silk decreased over £1,000,000, 

 though the quantity remained the same. Tea is steadily 

 falling otf, showing a decrease for the year of nearly half- 

 a-million. Thus silk and tea account for a deficit of over 

 £1,500,000. 



And then comes the portiou most interesting to tea 

 planters in" Ceylon and India: — 



The decrease in tea is in small part due to certain alter- 

 ations in the conduct of the United States trade, whereby 

 the green teas are now " rushed off " by auction to the 

 lowest bidder. The trade has thus become concentrated in 

 the hands of a few houses, who having large capital work 

 on very low profits, or solely on commission. But the su- 

 preme reason is competition, as regards green tea from 

 Japan and black tea from Assam. At Foochow I found 

 that tea, for which the grower receives only Id per pound, 

 costs over Is when delivered in London, of this 2§d goes 

 in China for duties aud fail in England. The. tea export 

 will certainly decrease until free transit and Fmropean 

 methods of cultivation and curing are introduced. With- 

 out such reforms the Japan and Assam teas will annually 

 drive the China article more aud more from the foreign 

 market. 



Much might be written on the' subject of the tea trade, 

 but space forbids. A few particulars, not usually known, 

 must be mentioned, however. In the trade it is roughly 

 divided into black, green, and brick tea. The first two goto 

 Europe aud America, the brick tea being sent by Russian 

 merchants established in China to Mongolia, Manchuria, 

 and Siberia. The natural tea, the most delicate and best 

 perfumed, made with the leaves of the extremities of the 

 branches plucked before the first rains, known under the 

 name of yu-tui/enu, is kept by the Chinese for themselves. 

 Highly esteemed by the richer classes, it sells at heavy 

 prices. The so-called " Puerk," known also in China as 

 Yunnan tea, but which comes from the Shan States south 

 of Yunnan, is highly prizeii for its pharmaceutical qualit- 

 ies, being reputedly a certain cure for spleen, bile, and 

 haemorrhoids. One fact regarding tea may astonish many 

 people not a little, not only in England but in China. 

 .Its use among the 300,000,000 of Chinese is by no means 

 si common as supposed.- Asa fact, the poorest classes iu 

 Shansi. Honan, Shantung, Yunnan, and Kwang-si, know it 

 only as a luxury. The peasantry of these provinces, es- 

 pecially the uorth, sip hot water with the same relish as a 

 Fokieu man taking his infusion of Bohea, and try to cheat 

 themselves by giving the innocent beverage the name of 

 tea. In south-western China I found hot water thus used, 

 and have drunk it myself iu Western Yiinuan. 

 It will thus be seen that the competition of Japan, 

 to some extent, but far more lhat of Assam — that 

 is of Indian teas — is telling very seriously on the great 

 (although grossly exaggerated) tea produce of China. 

 We need scarcely tell our readers that India laud 

 Ceylon) tea is destined still more to compete with 

 aid supercede the Oolongs of Japan as well as the 



