CHINA 



1344 



CHINA 



after all he is a man and not a horse, and he 

 inevitably pays the penalty with relatively- 

 short life for the too-hard work which is laid 

 upon him. 



Manufactures. That the Chinese are not 

 behind other races in their inventive faculty is 

 proven by the fact that they were the first to 

 use gunpowder, paper, silk, movable blocks for 

 printing, porcelain, the magnetic needle and 

 many other things which were later introduced 

 into Europe or independently discovered there. 

 But in the later centuries the inventive faculty 

 has been hampered by the conservatism and 

 ancestor worship so characteristic of China. 

 No premium is placed on the discovery of new 

 and simpler methods the acceptable thing is 

 to carry on a process just as it has been car- 

 ried on in ages past. Thus it happens that the 

 Chinese have been slow to introduce machinery 

 and that many of their products continue to be 

 made in the homes of the people or in very 

 small establishments. Even so, their silk is 

 better than any made elsewhere, while their 

 embroideries are marvels of beauty and skill. 



Gold and silver filigree work, lacquer ware, 

 wood and ivory carving and bronze casting 

 show not only the remarkable ability of the 

 people, but their artistic sense as well. Of 

 recent years more and more machinery has 

 been introduced and some of the old hand 

 work, as the most intricate embroidering and 

 carving, has been forbidden by law because of 

 its bad effect on the eyes. Certain students 

 of economic questions have expressed the fear 

 that the time may come when Chinese fac- 

 tories will be able to produce goods so cheaply 

 that American and European products cannot 

 compete with them, for the Chinese laborer is 

 content with a wage incredibly lower than that 

 of the Western workman. For reeling silk for 

 eleven hours in the factories women get from 

 eight to eleven cents a day, and workers at 

 almost any trade may be secured by the thou- 

 sands for a like wage. 



Important Mineral Resources. That mineral 

 deposits are enormous has long been known, 

 but the research made has not been thorough 

 enough to determine their exact extent. Of chief 

 importance is coal, of which the largest field in 

 the world, so far as known, exists in the prov- 

 ince of Shan-si in the Hoang-ho basin. This is 

 anthracite (hard coal) of high quality, and 

 near it is a great bed of bituminous (soft) coal. 

 Iron, too, occurs in great quantities, some of it 

 so near the' coal fields that considerable iron 

 industries have sprung up, but mining, like 



most of the other industries of China, has never 

 reached a high stage of development because 

 of lack of transportation facilities. If metals 

 exist near the great waterways, well and good 

 they can be transported with ease and widely 

 used ; if not, they are of service only in the sec- 

 tions in which they are found. Apparently in- 

 exhaustible beds of kaolin, or porcelain clay, 

 early gave rise to the china-making industry, 

 and this clay still forms one of the most valu- 

 able mineral resources. Some gold, silver, cop- 

 per and lead are mined by primitive or surface 

 methods, but how rich the deposits may be has 

 never been determined. 



Commerce and Transportation. Though 

 China has long had commercial relations with 

 foreign countries, it was only after the open- 

 ing of the treaty ports in 1842 that its foreign 

 commerce became extensive. To-day its for- 

 eign trade amounts to about $625,000,000 annu- 

 ally, the imports making up rather more than 

 half that amount. By far the largest exports 

 are silk, raw and manufactured, while cotton 

 and cotton goods constitute the chief imports. 

 Everywhere in China are to be seen the blue 

 cotton garments of the people, and it is esti- 

 mated that the amount of cotton goods used 

 each year in the country would carpet a road- 

 way sixty feet wide from the earth to the moon. 

 It is slight wonder that over $100,000,000 worth 

 of cotton goods must go into the country annu- 

 ally. The foreign trade is carried on in forty- 

 eight cities known as treaty ports, some of 

 them on the coast, some hundreds of miles 

 inland on the great rivers. 



Of the vast interior trade of China it is im- 

 possible to make even a fair estimate, and it 

 is carried on under difficulties. In the well- 

 settled parts of the country there are many 

 roads, built centuries ago, but these are in very 

 bad condition, for the Chinese expend no 

 energy in repairing them. Some of the towns 

 have paved streets, but out on the plains and 

 between the villages, especially in the rice zone, 

 the farmers have gradually encroached upon the 

 roads until to-day mere footpaths are left, wide 

 enough for a man with a pack or with wheel- 

 barrow, but not for vehicles. 



Railway-building has made but compara- 

 tively slight headway, for the government from 

 the first set itself strongly against it. The 

 people, too, objected, for the desired right of 

 way otten ran through graveyards, and to dese- 

 crate a grave is to the Chinese the height of 

 impiety. But every line of railway built has 

 proved its value so conclusively that construe- 



