CHINA
ROADS
A13
While details of further construction of highways since the outbreak of hos- tilities are not available for publication, one of the most outstanding achieve- ments in this connexion has been the completion of the new Yunnan-Burma road. As early as 1925 surveys were made of the route between Yunnanfu (Kunming) and Kweiyang, and upon completion of this section the road was extended from Kweiyang to Chungking. The new section of the road from Kunming to Sia- kwan was roughly constructed some few years ago, but work on the remaining section from Siakwan to the Burma frontier was not started until after the out- break of hostilities. The road from Kunming to the Burma frontier is some 650 miles in length. At the frontier the highway connects with the recently improved Burmese highway to Lashio, where railroad connexion with the port of Rangoon via Mandalay, a distance of some 625 miles, is made. Thus freight from Ran- goon to Kunming by rail and truck covers close on 1,300 miles. While the highway may be subject to damage during the rainy season from May to November, there is little doubt that in course of time all difficulties will be overcome and that this highway, following the old trail over which Marco Polo travelled, will be of considerable aid in opening up the Western provinces of China.
CONDITIONS IN 1938
Apart from the decline in China's foreign trade and the loss in Customs revenue collection, estimates of other property and industrial losses sustained as a result of hostilities cover at a present only limited areas, are largely conjec- tural and vary to an astonishing degree. In Shanghai, for instance, estimates of losses have been various assessed at $800 million, at $1 billion and at $4 billion. Damages at Nanking have been estimated at $246 million, and direct losses to Chinese shipping at $70 million. Of foreign investments in China valued at the start of hostilities at approximately U.S. $3,500 million, U.S. $800 million are claimed to have been irrevocably lost, American losses up to July being assessed at U.S. $200 million, British losses at probably double that figure, while lossest to German entreprises have been equally impressive.
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During the three months' hostilities in and around Shanghai, destruction to Chinese industrial establishments is estimated to have been from 30 to 100 per cent, according to district. Of the 90 odd Chinese cotton mills in China, 31 were in the Shanghai area, of which 23 were damaged to varying extent. Destruction here was not as serious as in the case of the 15 mills in industrial areas on the Shanghai-Nanking Railway, which suffered severe losses. Out of a total of 47 Japanese cotton mills in China, 30 are located in Shanghai, but, in contrast to the entire destruction of Japanese mills in Tsingtao, only one of the Japanese mills in Shanghai suffered damages necessitating a stoppage of work. machine dyeing, printing and weaving concerns were stated by the Dyeing and Weaving Association to have been completely destroyed, with estimated losses of over $9 million. Silk filatures in and around the Shanghai area suffered losses cstimated at $100 million, while at Wusih 46 filatures were damaged during the hostilities. Estimated losses in the comparatively recent rubber industry. amounted to $5 million. Of the numerous bigger flour mills in China, only 15 were in Shanghai, eight of which were known to have been destroyed. Capital invested in tobacco factories was over $12 million. Out of the 18 bigger con- cerns, eight were destroyed with a loss of over $5 million. The Commercial Press, which suffered a $16 million loss in 1932, suffered again to the extent of between million to 1 million dollars. The Kai Min Book Company's premises. in Hongkew, capitalised at $300,000, were completely destroyed, while some 200 small printing establishments were also ruined. Thirteen of the larger Chinese timber mills in Nantao and eight in Chapei were damaged or destroyed. The Shanghai Portland Cement Company, with a $2 million investment in machinery alone, was badly damaged. The Kiangwan Chemical Works in Chapei reported a 40 per cent loss; the Alcohol Plant at Pootung was damaged; while numerous other chemical and paint and varnish works suffered severely. Chinese soap works and tanneries lost extensively, while the machine-made paper industry,