A4
CHINA
no agreement being arrival at. The Dalai Lama visited Peiping in 1921 and was received in audience by President Hsu Shih-chang.
FOREIGN TRADE IN 1938
VALUE OF TRADE
The net value of the foreign trade of China for the years 1936, 1937 and 1938 is given in the following table:
NET VALUE OF THE FOREIGN TRADE OF CHINA, 1936-38
Imports Exports
Total
Excess of Imports
1936. Million $ Million $
1937.
1938.
Million $
941
953
886
706
838
763
1,647
1,791
1,649
235
115
123
As will be seen from the above, the net value of the trade of China, import and export, expressed in terms of standard dollars, was for the year 1938 $1,649 million as compared with $1,791 million during 1937. Imports declined from $953 million to $886 million, a decrease of 7 per cent, with exports also falling from $838 million to $763 million, a decline of 8.95 per cent. In this connexion it should be noted that, for purposes of conversion into standard dollars of the declared gold unit valuation of imports, the Government having retained for 1938 the average official daily rate for duty-paying purposes, based on the average official daily rates for foreign exchange of Pence Sterling 14, U.S. $0.30, Japanese ¥1.03, etc., or the average official rate of Gold Unit 1=St. $2.30, the standard dollar valuation of imports as shown above for the year 1938 is not augmented by the rising value on the open market of the foreign exchanges in terms of dollars.
The following table illustrates the adverse balance of trade in standard dollars during the past 29 years since 1910:
NET VALUE OF THE FOREIGN TRADE OF CHINA LESS THE MANCHURIAN TRADE WITH ABROAD, 1910-38
Adverse Imports. Exports. Balance of
Trade. Million $ Million $ Million $
Year.
Year.
Adverse Imports. Exports. Balance of
Trade, Million $ Million $ Million $
1910.....
649
503
146
1925.
1,242 876
366
1911..
650
482
168
1926..
1,473 934
539
1912...
644 485
159
1927.
1,298
980
318
1913... 1914..
788
523
265
1928.
1,530 1,047
483
780 449
331
1929.
1,620 1,070
550
1915...
619
546
73
1930...
1,723
944
779
1916....
678
612
66
1931
2,002
915
1,087
1917....
697 570
127
1932..
1,524
569
955
1918.....
707
587
120
1933..
1,345
612
733
1919...
785
739
46
1934.
1,030
535
495
1920...
997
614
383
1935.
919
576
343
1921...
1,233 698
535
1936
941
706
235
1922.
1,284 764
520
1937
953 838
115
1923..
1,251
868
383
1938...
886
763
123
1924...
1,389 878
511
The steady reduction in the adverse balance of trade since 1931, although the figure for the year 1938 is subject to certain revision as pointed out below, presents a striking feature and is the result largely of a decline in the value of imports rather than of any particular growth in the value of exports. though in recent years the export trade has exhibited a healthy tendency towards