602
Year.
1903
CHINA
1904
...
2
1905 1906 1907
...
...
3
...
...
...
1908
1909
1910
1911...
1912
1913§...
2
...
...
2
3
3
...
2
2
À GIA CÔNG GIGA CÓ GÌ GÌ
Average Exchange.
s. d.
7 102
Imports.
Exports.
Hk. Tls.
£
Hk. Tls.
£
343,300,115
45,296,542
214,352,467 28,282,616
348,603,090
49,966,442
239,486,683 34,326,424
3 0-
458,340,485
68,942,047
227,888,197
34,278,183
414,184,061
68,167,793 236,456,739
38,916,838
422,838,531 68,711,261 264,380,697 396,261,991 52,834,932 276,660,403 417,586,237
42,961,863
36,888,053
54,264,460 338,992,814
44,051,410
462,437,260
62,260,433
380,833,328
51,273,653
473,517,685
63,628,938
377,338,166
50,704,816
471,809,192
72,000,048
370,520,403
56,542,957
570,064,611
86,103,508 403,305,546
60,915,941
546,425,296
74,564,285
345,280,874
47,116,453
454,475,719
58,939,820
418,861,164
54,321,057.
...
...
...
3
516,406,995
131,923,159
481,797,266
123,081,661
1914... 1915 1916
...
7
It is interesting to observe in this table that an increase in silver values does not always mean an increase in trade when measured in sterling.
RAILWAYS
Although China is traversed in all directions by roads, they are usually mere tracks, or at best footpaths, along which the transport of goods is a tedious and difficult undertaking. A vast internal trade is, however, carried on over the roads, and by means of numerous canals and navigable rivers. The most populous part of China is singularly well adapted for the construction of a network of railways, and a first attempt to introduce them into the country was made in 1876, when a line from Shanghai to Woosung. ten miles in length, was constructed by an English company. This little railway was subsequently purchased by the Chinese Government and closed by them on the 21st October, 1877. Since that time the principle of railways has been fully accepted. The railway from Shanghai to Woosung was re-opened in 1898, as forming part of a line to Soochow, which the provincial authorities had obtained per- mission from the Throne to construct. A tramway, a few miles in length, begun in 1881 to carry coal from the Kaiping coal mines, near Tongshan, to the canal bank, has been extended to Tientsin and Taku on the one hand, and to Kinchow and Newchwang on the Gulf of Liao-tung on the other. This track was only completed in the early part of 1900, and during the summer inonths was, between Kinchow and Newchwang, largely destroyed by the Chinese so as to preclude the advance of Russian forces on Peking via Manchuria. A line from Peking to Tientsin was opened in 1897, the Peking terminus being at Machiapu, a point two miles from the Tartar city, whence a short electric line connected it with one of the principal gates: the traffic developed so rapidly that in 1898-9 the line had to be doubled. From Lukouchiao (or Marco Polo's Bridge) a line of about eighty miles in length was constructed southward to Paoting- fu, the capital of the province of Chihli; this line, in October, 1899, was handed over by the British constructors to the Belgian Syndicate as an integral factor in the great trans-continental line from Peking to Hankow. These lines were all inore or less deliberately and in some parts completely destroyed by the Chinese during 1900. The Railways, as foreign innovations, were particularly hateful to the Boxers, who in many cases attacked the lines with a fury as intense as it was insensate : burning the stations, destroying bridges, firing the sleepers and carrying off the metals. Later on, track destruction was a strong feature of the strategy of the Imperial troops, and from their point of view, wisely so. It was the cutting of the Railway that was the sole cause of Admiral Seymour's failure in his gallant attempt to rescue the Legations. All the lines in North China were attacked and badly cut. Since then the terminus at Peking has been brought inside the Chinese City at the Chien Men or Southern Gate of the Manchu City, and the construction of a circular railway to link up the various grand trunk termini in Peking has made progress, the railway running round three parts of the city. Later, it is proposed to erect a grand central station. A branch fine has been made from the Chien Men terminus to Tung Chow, the head of the water-ways; and both the French and Germans pushed on the trunk lines being built under their exclusive auspices in Chihli, Honan, and in Shantung, respectively but this work has been suspended since the outbreak of the European war. Railway vandalism was the first evidence of the savagery and magnitude of the Boxer sedition. It is significant that
+ Revolution in October. European war from August. § Rebellion in summer.