Forest Administration in China 583 



greatest, the annual precipitation along the Pacific coast in China 

 has just the reverse order; it decreases northward from 79 inches 

 in Pakhoi to 3? inches in Pekin. This may be shown by the fol- 

 lowing table : 



Locality Latitude Ann. Precipitation, 



in Inches 



Pakhoi 21° 29' 79.0 



Amoy 24° 27' 43.0 



Shanghai 31° 12' 40.4 



Tsingtau 36° 4' 27.3 



Peking 39° 57' 27.0 



The annual precipitation also decreases from the cost to the 

 interior, as the following figures tend to indicate : 



Locality Longitude (E) Ann. Precipitation 



in Inches 



Chinkiang 119° 30' 41 . 



Wuhu 118° ■ 



Kuikiang 115° 



Hankow 114° 



Ichang 111° 



Chunkiang 104° 



Though rich in many other natural resources, China is sadly 

 lacking in forests. On account of the lack of a survey of natural 

 resources, the forest area in China cannot be given, although the 

 general impression received by travelers in China is that the whole 

 country is practically devoid of any good-sized forests. The only 

 extensive tract of forest is in the northern mountains of Man- 

 churia. Here pine, spruce, oak, birch, elm, walnut and willow 

 are found in abundance. Timber from here supplies mostly 

 local demand in Manchuria and supplies only limited amounts to 

 the northern part of China. In Mongolia and in the provinces 

 north of the Yellow River, forests may be said to be entirely 

 lacking. Whatever remnant there is of forests in the central and 

 in the southwestern part of China is indicated only by the pres- 

 ence of a small amount of timber trade. This is chiefly in the 

 provinces of Hunan, Anhwei and Kweichow. Small-sized timber 

 of hardwood comes from these provinces. Fokien is the only 

 province along the eastern and the southwestern coast that has 

 some wooded slopes on the steep headwaters of the streams. 

 Forest conditions being such, is it any wonder that even with her 

 extremely economic use of timber and the presence of many kinds 

 of wood substitutes in building and in constructions, China is 



