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smuggling was being carried on.
There matters have rested until now;
but new possibilities have been opened
by the fall of the old regime in Canton
and the recently acquired ascendancy
of the Central Government in the South.
The former Provincial authorities
deeply involved in the status quo have
to some extent been replaced by
officials, who, if not necessarily
pro-British, are at any rate likely to
view the question of trade with Hong
Kong from the point of view of its
importance to China as a whole rather
than to Canton.
!