972 CHINA 



909,194; sesamum seed, 1,580,465; straw-braid, 1,385,863; vegetable oils (other than 

 bean oil), 1,067,152, or with bean oil 1,854,465. 



Before the outbreak of the Revolution considerable progress had been made with the 

 suppression of opium growing. By September 1911 it had been established that Manchuria, 

 Shansi and Szechuan were rid of the poppy plant, and in virtue of the agreement between 

 Great Britain and China signed in Peking on May 8, 1911, the importation of Indian opium 

 into these provinces was prohibited. The Revolution checked and in many districts put 

 an end to the crusade against opium, but with the gradual re-establishment of authority 

 throughout the country the veto on the poppy was restored. Under the Imperial Govern- 

 ment cotton was largely taking the place of the poppy, particularly in the north of China, 

 where official assistance was given in experimenting with American seeds and in other ways. 

 The export of raw cotton from Tientsin rose from 149,102 cwt. in 1910 to 461,239 cwt. in 

 1911; at Tsingtau it rose from 588 cwt. in 1909 to 18,514 cwt. in 1910 and 47, 822 cwt. in 19.11. 



China in 1910 contributed 31 per cent to the world's trade in silk. Of the quantity 

 exported, silk and silk products, 68 per cent came from the northern half of the country, 

 including the Yangtze Valley and Chekiang, and 32 per cent from the south. 



Straw-braid is manufactured mainly from a wheat with long straw grown on the plain 

 bordering the Yellow river in Western Shantung and Southern Chihli. The export, which 

 reached 18,484,000 Ib. in 1909, declined to 18,027,466 Ib. in 1910 and 16,101,067 Ib. in 1911. 



Industries and Manufactures. The number of factories in China is still limited enough 

 to make a steady annual increase a feature of the conditions of the country. The new enter- 

 prises are both foreign and Chinese, but the Revolution has not modified so far the general 

 antagonism to foreign capital. Among the chief industries, in order of the number of fac- 

 tories, etc., devoted to each, may be mentioned: Distilleries and breweries (53), cotton 

 spinning and weaving mills (41), flour mills (40), oil mills (31), electric light works 

 (31), docks, shipbuilding and engineering works (24), soap and candle factories (19), 

 mining companies (18), silk filatures (17), tobacco factories (16), arsenals (15), cement 

 and brick works (15), waterworks (14). 



The 1 8 mining concerns include foreign concessions and Chinese mines worked with 

 foreign machinery. The annual output of thirteen coal mines worked by foreign machinery 

 is approximately 5,000,000 tons, with capacity for considerably more. From mines worked 

 by native methods the annual output is probably another 5,000,000 tons. The Ministry 

 of Commerce and Industry publishes a list of mining permits issued by the Ministry as 

 follows: Coal, 163 (including 29 in Mongolia, all bearing date May II, 1911); antimony, 

 60; gold, 18; sulphur, 12; zinc, 12; lead, li; copper, 6; iron, 5. The output of the Tayeh 

 Iron Mines, 70 miles below Hankow, was in 1910 303,000 tons of magnetic ore. The export 

 of tin from the Kochiu Mines near Mengtze, Yunnan, has risen from 84,314 cwt. in 1909 

 to 122,958 cwt. in 1910 and 133,792 cwt. in 1911. With the help of additional machinery 

 the antimony refining works at Changsha raised their export from 6,983 tons in 1909 to 

 9,239 tons in 1910 and 9,312 tons in 1911, regulus, crude and ore. The export of orpiment 

 through the Customs at Tengyueh (Yunnan) was in 1909, 8,764 cwt.; in 1910, 10,710 cwt.; 

 in 1911, 6,540 cwt. 



Commerce. Tables are given dealing with the foreign trade of China in 1910 and 1911. 

 The average exchange value of the Haikwan tael for both years is reckoned at 2s. 8 T 5 B d. 

 (Consular reports use this value for 1911, although the Maritime Customs subsequently 

 fixed the average exchange at 2s. 8|d. 



Table I. Gross Value of the Foreign Trade. 



Table II. Net Value of the Foreign Trade. 



1 Net imports, i. e. the value of the foreign goods imported direct from foreign countries 

 less the value of the foreign goods re-exported to foreign countries during the year. The 

 amounts given do not include the value of the goods carried coastwise. 



