CHINA. 



159 



Commerce and Production. China is an 

 agricultural country, in which cultivation in most 

 places is highly intensive. All land is owned by 

 families of cultivators, who pay an annual tax 

 to the Government. No man may sell his farm to 

 a stranger unless there is no member of the fam- 

 ily who can purchase it, and when the transfer 

 is made the seller pays 6 per cent, of the price 

 to the Government. The farms are nearly all 

 small> and are cultivated with primitive imple- 

 ments by the aid of oxen or buffaloes. In the 

 south rice is the main crop; in the north wheat, 

 millet, maize, barley, and other grains are grown, 

 also beans and peas; in the western provinces 

 opium is an important crop. The tea provinces 

 are Fukien, Hupei, Hunan, Kiangsi, Chekiang, 

 Anhui, Kwangtung, and Szechuen, in the west 

 and south. The silkworm is raised in all parts of 

 China, but the best "silk, and the greatest quantity 

 of it, comes from the province of Kwangtung. 

 Silk-spinning mills have recently been established 

 in Canton and Shanghai. Chinese capitalists 

 started cotton mills at Shanghai in 1890, and 

 since then four foreign companies have been 

 founded. Under a clause in the Japanese treaty 

 of peace it is permissible for foreigners to em- 

 bark in industrial enterprises in the treaty ports. 

 Coal is found in every province. In Shansi an- 

 thracite beds extend over an area of 13,500 square 

 miles, and among them are abundant deposits of 

 iron ore, which have been worked from early 

 times. The bituminous coal fields in the same 

 province are of vast extent. In the southeast of 

 Hunan coal, both bituminous and anthracite, is 

 found over an area of 21,700 square miles. In 

 Szechuen there are enormous deposits which are 

 worked by native methods. The coal in Man- 

 churia is used for the smelting of iron. The coal 

 mines of Kaiping, in the northern part of Pechili, 

 are operated under European supervision by mod- 

 ern machinery, and are connected with the sea- 

 board by a railroad. Anthracite coal is brought 

 into Pekin from the mines at Fang-Shanhsien. 

 Coal is found in Kansuh, and in Shantung are sev- 

 eral coal fields that the Germans hope to utilize, 

 and one already productive at Poshan. Copper 

 is mined in Yunnan, and has been from early 

 times; also there are mines of tin and silver lead. 



The total value of imports in 1897 was 212,- 

 235,000 taels. The re-exports amounted to 9,406,- 

 000 taels, making the imports for domestic con- 

 sumption 202,829,000 taels. The total value of 

 domestic exports was returned as 103,501,000 

 taels. These values include the costs of landing, 

 storing, and selling the imports, and do not in- 

 clude the costs of packing, storing, and shipping 

 the exports nor the export duty. The actual 

 value of the imports for domestic consumption at 

 the moment of landing was only 177,915,163 taels, 

 while that of the exports, with the costs of sell- 

 ing, shipping, etc., added, was 181,769,995 taels. 

 The imports of cotton cloth in 1897 were 44,233,- 

 000 taels as officially valued; of cotton yarns, 

 34,430,000 taels; of raw cotton, 2,260,000 taels; 

 of opium, 27,901,000 taels; of petroleum, 13,299,- 

 000 taels; of sugar, 10,226,000 taels; of woolens, 

 4,558,000 taels; of rice, 4,011,000 taels; of coal, 

 3,693,000 taels; of fish, 3,445,000 taels; of ma- 

 chinery, 2,717,000 taels; of iron, 2,486,000 taels; 

 of tin, 2,230,000 taels; of ginseng, 2,149,000 taels; 

 of matches, 2,051,000 taels. The exports of raw 

 silk were valued at 44,461,000 taels; of tea, 29,- 

 217,000 taels; of silks, 10,790,000 taels; of cotton, 

 7,393,000 taels; of straw braid, 6,659,000 taels; of 

 hides, 6,154,000 taels; of beans, 5,945.000 taels; 

 of matting, 2,970,000 taels ; of wool, 2,390,000 taels ; 

 of coal, 2,212,000 taels; of shoes and garments. 



2,178,000 taels; of paper, 2,122,000 taels; of to- 

 bacco, 1,944,000 taels; of sugar, 1,778,000 taels; 

 of fireworks, 1,746,000 taels; of chinaware, 1,384,- 

 000 taels. The quantity of tea exported was 

 1,532,158 piculs of 133J pounds, of which 813,494 

 piculs went to Kussia, 244,480 piculs to Great 

 Britain, 207,888 piculs to the United States, 119,- 

 723 piculs to Hong-Kong, and 33,327 piculs to 

 Australia. Hong-Kong is the place where ves- 

 sels from Europe and America discharge goods 

 for China and load up with China goods, but 

 the source and the destination of these goods can 

 not be determined. The extent of the trade with 

 the principal foreign countries and places in 1897 

 is shown in the following table, giving values in 

 haikwan taels: 



Customhouses have been established since 1887 

 in Macao and in the vicinity of Hong-Kong with 

 the object of intercepting the contraband junk 

 trade in opium and other commodities. The trade 

 of Shanghai in 1897 was 132,219,000 taels of im- 

 ports and 78,395,000 taels of exports; of Kowloon, 

 13,027,000 taels of imports and 23,024,000 taels of 

 exports; of Canton, 13,730,000 taels of imports 

 and 19,930,000 taels of exports; of Tientsin, 9,169,- 

 000 taels of imports and 10,192,000 taels of ex- 

 ports; of Amoy, 11,336,000 taels of imports and 

 1,712,000 taels of exports; of Swatau, 9,441,000 

 taels of imports and 3,322,000 taels of exports; 

 of Lappa, 3,515,000 taels of imports and 5,894,000 

 taels of exports; of Fuchau, 4,342,000 taels of 

 imports and 4,305,000 taels of exports; of Niu- 

 chwang, 1,641,000 taels of imports and 5,548,000 

 taels of exports; of Chifu, 3,685,000 taels of im- 

 ports and 1,389,000 taels of exports; of Hang- 

 chau, 175,000 taels of imports and 3,421,000 taels 

 of exports; of Pakhoi, 2,657,000 taels of imports 

 and 1,502,000 taels of exports; of Kiungchau, 

 1,465,000 taels of imports and 1,779,000 taels of 

 exports; of Mengtse, 2,394,000 taels of imports 

 and 1,058,000 taels of exports; of the other ports, 

 2,138,000 taels of imports and 4,314,000 taels of 

 exports. The imports of English gray and white 

 cotton goods have fallen off from 11,037,745 piculs 

 in 1887, valued at 3,767,700, to 9,517,098 piculs, 

 valued at 3,470,200, while American imports 

 have risen from 1,874,274 piculs, valued at 

 1,095,500, to 4,143,971 piculs, valued at 1,746,- 

 800. Half the yarns imported in 1887 came from 

 England and half from India, but in 1897 only 

 51,298 piculs, valued at 189,400, came from 

 England, while Japan furnished 283,817 piculs, 

 valued at 948,000, and India 1,235,537 piculs, 

 valued at 3,932,100. 



The total value of imports into China in 1898 

 was 209,500,000 taels, and that of exports 159,- 

 000,000 taels. The export of tea was 1,538.600 

 piculs, compared with 2,167,552 piculs in 1888. 

 The silk trade also is declining, but exports of 

 hemp, hides and leather, oils, tobacco, feathers, 

 beans, and other products are steadily growing. 

 The totals given above are not corrected by add- 

 ing port charges, etc., to exports and deducting 



