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should be well worth while for some firm interested in the Burmah-China trade to send a representative to this great annual fair. Hundreds of Yunnanese coolies were hurrying into China along the main road as I returned to Tengyueh. They were on their way home after a winter's work in Burmah, and each one brought with him some foreign tool--a saw, a hammer, a ploughshare or a spade, a blanket or a water- bucket or an enamelled basin-and it is evident that there is a demand for foreign goods of many descriptions, if they can be supplied at prices which are within the reach of the people. Another opening for foreign enterprise might be in the way of amusements, which seemed strangely lacking when one saw this great crowd of holiday-makers and remembered an English fair. The few simple toys were eagerly bought for the children, and a gramophone on a Cantonese stall attracted large crowds. There was, however, no theatre on the ground, and the only means of relaxation appeared to be in the refreshment booths, which plied a roaring trade and were centres of constant merriment.
Medicines ---Clothes, boots, copper-ware, and saddlery were shown in large quantities, and a long street, chiefly in the hands of Szuchuanese merchants, was given up to medicines both from Thibet and Burmah. The scent of rhubarb hung over the whole fair, and gypsum, safflower, nutmeg, deers' horns and sinews, almonds, pepper, jujubes, liquorice, iris roots, and numerous other roots and herbs which I was unable to identify, were evidences of the mystery and terrors of the local pharmacopoeia. A number of Thibetan furs and skins were for sale, and some sturdy ponies and mules, of which over 500 were sold, 100 going to the military authorities for the new cavalry levy at prices varying from 20 to 30 taels-say, 31. to 41.
Musk.-The fair was formerly a great musk market, the tribesmen bringing down stocks of considerable value from the neighbourhood of A-tun-tze and Wei-hsi. A French gentleman, however, engaged by the firm of Pinaud, has been for several years to the collecting centres and in consequence the supplies no longer come to Talifu. This year he is taking 80,000 taels into the interior to make his purchases, and the low custows tariff in force at Tengyueh is no doubt a factor which has considerable influence on the profitable export of musk by the Burmah route.
Jade and Marble.--A considerable trade was being done in jade ornaments, which are cut in Tengyueh from the Burmese stone, and many beautiful slabs of Tali marble were also exhibited. This marble, quarried in the Tsang Shan mountains, is mounted and framed, and is much prized by the Chinese in all parts of the Empire. It is ground and polished in such a way as to accentuate the natural markings of the stone and many quaint effects are obtained, the rough forms of birds and animals being specially prized. Many of them have a distinct artistic merit in their representations of Yunnanese scenery, and on some may be seen dark mountain peaks and wind-swept pines half-hidden by the whirling mists, which might have been reflected in the heart of the mountain from many a chilly dawn.
Business done. This year the gravest apprehensions were felt with regard to the success of the meeting, for the local traders have always depended on their supply of opium to tempt the buyers from Canton and Hunan, who have in the past brought as much as 30,0001. a-year in silver, taking mainly opium in exchange. This year the crowds at the fair were reported to be unusually large, but the local merchants stated that the business done was the smallest known for many years and it was generally felt that the great fair, as the commercial feature of the frontier districts, would be doomed unless they could find some new product which would bring silver into the country. The total turnover this year was reported to be only 80,000 to 90,000 taels--say, 12,000-and the merchants scattered to their homes in great depression, with large quantities of their goods unsold.
Effect of Opium Prohibition on the Fair-As far as could be ascertained practically no opium changed hands; the dealers did not attend the fair and there was great difficulty in obtaining silver from the local banks. It was generally admitted by merchants, officials, and people that the trade of the annual fair had been revolutionised by this one factor.
Although not more than half last year's cotton goods were sold in Tali there appear to have been unusually large sales of yarn in the district, a fact which is accounted for locally by the fact that the opium-collecting agents have been obliged to seek for other employment and have been touring the country with yarn, which is manufactured into cloth in the native villages.
There is now an urgent need for the development of exports from the district and the production of hemp, wheat, bristles. straw-braid, and ducks' feathers all have possibilities of considerable expansion. Nothing, however, can take the place of the
light and easily transported opium until the introduction of a railway provides a profitable outlet for the bulkier products of the province. There is no real poverty among the Chinese of Yunnan; food is cheap and plentiful, but the people can produce no material which is suitable for clothes. They are dependent for summer and winter garments and for bedding on raw cotton and cotton yarn, which come mainly from Burmah, and there is urgent need for some native product which will restore the balance of trade.
ARCHIBALD ROSE.
Tengyueh, June 9, 1909,
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