CHINA
63.5
a great change and Yuan Shi Kai's forces are supposed to number some 40,000 troops; but at the manoeuvres in the autumn of 1906 only some 24,000 men took part, including the Southern divisions, and the efficient force has been greatly over-estimated. Great difficulty is found in keeping even 40,000 properly paid and equipped.
The Chinese navy consisted, prior to the Franco-Chinese war of 1884, mainly of small gunboats built at the Mamoi Arsenal, Foochow, and at Shanghai, on the foreign model, but was afterwards greatly strengthened. Five ships were lost, however, in the battle of the Yalu, when the Japanese inflicted" a severe defeat upon the Chinese, and the remainder of the fleet was captured or destroyed at the taking of Weihaiwei in February, 1895. Three cruisers of 2,950 tous displacement were secured in 1895 from the Vulcan Works at Stetten, and two very fine Elswick sloops of the same size were added in 1899. These, with two corvettes and two training vessels, supplemented by four Elbau destroyers, comprised the Pei Yang Squadron or Northern Fleet. These vessels might be of real value for convoying troop- ships, shelling rebellious towns, etc., but as the Chinese have no naval base and no docking facilities in Northern waters, and as the ships are ill-found and with indifferent personnel, they would be of little use against a resolute foreign enemy. The destroyers were captured at Taku on June 17th, 1900, by the British destroyers Fame and Whiting and appropriated by the allies. The Chinese flagship at the Bar, while not actually seized, was rendered useless by removing the breech-blocks of the guns and by being placed under rigorous supervision. The remainder of the Fleet fled to the Yangtsze. Robert Hart in a scheme of military reorganisation prepared in 1904 recommended the creation of three naval squadrons, the Northern, the Southern and the Central, each to consist of 10 battleships and first-class cruisers, 10 second-class cruiers, 10 torpedo-boat destroyers, and 50 torpedo-boats, with a crew of 10,500 men. The scheme is apparently pigeon-holed at Peking for the present, but six torpedo-boat destroyers have recently been built for China in Japanese yards,
TRADE AND INDUSTRY
Sir
The ports open to trade are:---Newchwang, Chinwantao, Tientsin, Chefoo, Shanghai, Soochow, Chinkiang, Nanking, Wuhu, Kewkiang, Hankow, Yochow, Changsha, Shasi, Ichang, Chungking, Hangchow, Ningpo, Wenchow, Santu, Foochow, Amoy, Swatow, Canton, Samshui, Wuchow, Kongmoon, Nanning, Kiungehow, and Pakhoi. Lungehow, Mêngtsz, Szemao and Tengyuch, on the frontiers of Tonkin and Burmah, and Yatung in Tibet, are stations under the cognisance of the Foreign Customs. Mukden, Antung and Tatiengkow and many other inland places in Manchuria have recently been opened to foreign trade. The import trade, exclusive of the Colony of Hong kong, centres chiefly at Shanghai, Tientsin. Hankow and Canton, while the bulk of the exports pass through the ports of Shanghai and Canton. The annual value of the trade of China coming under the supervision of the Imperial Maritime Customs was as follows:-
Net Imports from Foreign Countries.
Net Exports to Foreign Countries.
Total of Net Imports of Foreign trade. Native Goods
1904...Hk. Tls. 344,060,608 Hk. Tis. 239,486,683 Hk. Tls. 583,574,291 Hk. Tls. 163,073,177
"
1905...
1906...
447,100,791 410,270,082
"
227,888,197
236,456,739
19
1906 equals at-
Ex. 1.54, Mex. $631,815,926 Ex. 38. 3 d., £67,523,618
"}
"
674,988,988 646,726,821
"
19
Mex. $364,143,378 Mex. $995,959,304 £106,440,456
£38,916,838
166,884,461 158,276,126
Mex. $243,7 15,239
£26,053,780
The following was the net value of commodities imported direct from and exported direct to Foreign Countries in 1906. These figures do not include the trade carried on with neighbouring countries in Chinese junks, which does not come within the control of the Foreign Customs :--
Hongkong
Imports Exports
Total
Hk. Tls. 144,936,957
82,740,427
227,677,384
Japan (including Formosa)
61,052,356
"
33,304,931
94,357,287
Great Britain
"
78,738,292
13,298,315
92,036,607
United States of America
"
44,436,209 25,671,428
70,107,637
India
32,318,732
"}
1,750,020
34,068,752
France
19
4,281,674
25,358,964
29,640,638
Germany
"
17,341,768
5,763,386
23,105,154
Russia, Siberia & Russian Pacific Ports...
554,289
18,786,738
19,341,027
Belgium
12,594 880
"
2,801,832
15,396,712
Straits and other British Colonies..
"J
9,062,427
4,600,867
13,663,294
Macao...
Italy
5,780,198
4,614,785
10,394,983
"}
406,742
8,316,199
8,722,941
Digitized by
21*