Manu- factures.
Kueichou.
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said in later years that, speaking generally, European industry has no great chances of realising profits by exploiting the Yunuan mines. Although, considering the great returns to small capital and primitive appliances, large capital and scientific engineering should give greater results, he thinks that the want of easy access to markets and the risk that companies will be unable to secure honest returns upon their capital must handicap effective enterprise.
There can be no doubt that the mineral resources of Yunnan are con- siderable, but there is little immediate prospect that Yunnan will become rich and prosperous on account of its mineral resources. The Chinese them. selves, quite apart from the obstructive Government policy which represses mining throughout China, have not the capital, the knowledge, or the energy required to develop their mines, and the commoner metals will not repay long transportation by land. But the exorbitant fiscal demands alone are sufficient to retard development.
If it is impossible to prophesy fair things of agriculture and mining in Yunnan, the case of manufactures is not much better. The metallurgical industry is said to have flourished before the rebellion, and to have largely decayed upon the abandonment of the mines. Foundries still exist at Linan and Yunnan-Fu for brass and iron utensils, &c., while copper foundries at Yunnan-Fu turn out ingots for coinage purposes. There are said to he several workshops for treating argentiferous galena. Ningchow produces earthenware, and steel is made at Laolukuan and Chintong. Mr. Turner says that an immense quantity of good strong paper is made from bamboo and gaupi, and is by far the largest article of manufacture in Yunnan, while fibrous products (twine, string, and rope) made at Yungchang probably form the only articles of local manufacture exported from Yunnan in any considerable quantities. Silk reeling and the weaving of silk goods once flourished, but were ruined by the rebellion. Signs of revival, however, are reported by the French Consul at Meugtsz, especially in the prefecture of Tsou-Hsion. The authorities have set up looms in Yunnan-Fu, and brought weavers from Ssuchuan to instruct the inhabitants. Coarse flannels and strong silks are manufactured from native produce, Raw cotton from the Shan States is transported on pack animals to various parts of Yunnan. Cotton cloths of narrow width, of coarse texture, and of light or dark blue colour, are worn almost universally. The natives prefer home-made to foreign cotton cloths. Foreign (Bombay) yarn is used as the warp in weaving cloth, thread spun locally from imported cotton forming the weft. The native cloths differ; some of native yarn are extremely coarse, while those with an intermixture of foreign yarn are said to be superior in warmth, regularity, and strength. Rocher says that the cloths of Hohsipu are famous throughout Yunnan for fineness, durability, and regular texture. Although the native cloths are said to be warmer and more durable than foreign shirtings, foreign goods, at present little used, would find a market if they could be sold cheaply, for native cloths are dear and often beyond the means of the people, who consequently appear ill-clad. Grey shirtings are gaining on white, which are tending to disappear. The Blackburn Mission report a remarkable increase of weaving in Yunnau-Fu in recent years, owing to the large importation of Indian yarns and the immigration of Ssuchuanese, and a benevolent society undertakes to teach the art. The Indian yarns come chiefly vid Mengtsz, and in S. Yunnan generally cotton weaving is rapidly progressing. The light taxation imposed both on the raw materials and the finished articles tends to encourage the industry, which is capable of still further growth. Sinhingchow, Kutsing-Fu, and Hosi are the largest weaving centres. They make light, plain, narrow cloths. Ssumao is also a centre for spinning and wearing cotton. Mr. Turner says that Tali-Fu has recently become a centre for calico-weaving from Bombay yarns under the direction of Ssuchuanese weavers, and looms and other appliances are being made at that place. The calico they manufacture is very narrow, 14 inches. He suggests that the supply of Bombay yarns should be better organised by the establishment of a house at Momien.
A few words about Kucichou must conclude this section. In Kueichou there is little cultivation except in the bottoms of the valleys, and only enough grain is grown to feed the population. Opium is as prominent a crop
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as in Yunnan, but inferior in quality. Many of the indigenous tribes now grow it. Other important crops are rice, maize, wheat, beans, and millet; cotton, sugar, and indigo in the south towards Kwangsi, tung oil and varnish trees in the north, coarse tea on the Yunnan frontier, tussa silk at Tsuni, paper mulberry producing pith for paper in the south, and white wax. Coal, iron, copper, and mercury are especially abundant, and lead, zinc, silver, and mineral oil are found. The broken nature of the ground often brings the minerals to the surface. All the minerals, however, are imperfectly worked, and many coal and iron mines are hopelessly flooded. There is no ready outlet for mining produce. In Kucichou people prefer native cloths to finer and better finished imported goods. Every town and village manu- factures cloth from raw cotton or from Indian yarn. The Bombay yarn, cheap, coarse, and easy to manipulate, has ousted the hand-spun native yarn, and is used for both warp and weft. Counts of 12 and 14 are preferred. The Miaotzu and other aborigines engage in weaving. The chief centre is Anshun, where the looms turn out several thousand pieces weekly, and the demand for yarn exceeds the supply. Hpangtsaopa is said to import 400,000 lbs. of Indian yarn annually via the West River, and to employ 2,500 looms. Other weaving centres are Hsincheng and Tushan. Bark paper is an important staple of production. Ipangtsaopa has a large manu- facture of sun hats. In Kueichou, as in Yunnan, capital and labour are greatly needed, together with improved communications. The tools of agriculture and industry, buildings, &c., were largely destroyed in the rebellions, and the replacement of capital out of meagre savings from insignificant incomes must be a tardy process.
(3.) Trade.
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Just as the physical features of the country determine the agricultural and Obstacles to other industrial conditions of Yunnan, so do these conditions determine its trade. trade. If rich natural resources really exist they are undeveloped, and trade is consequently backward. The ruins of towns and villages, abandoned irrigation and mining works, and partly uncultivated valleys bear silent witness to the devastation wrought by civil strife and by frequent visitations of pestilence. Owing to the rudimentary material development, the poverty of the sparse population, the official discouragement of mining, and the vexatious taxation of goods in transit, there can be no important exchange of commodities. Even if these radical causes of restricted com- merce were removed, the lack of favourable openings for the sale of products would be a serious hindrance. All transport is by means of coolies or pack animals, except in certain districts. Richthofen says that the trade of Yunnan has never been great.
Again, Yunnan possesses only a small number of routes, which the Communi- traveller must necessarily follow. According to Mr. Turner, land that is cations. taken for roads is not paid for, so that landholders are not likely to encourage the cutting of broad highways. A good authority states that there is no road in the European meaning of the term from one end of China to another. Those used are merely customary tracks, never macadamised, and affected by all the natural irregularities of the surface. They follow the lines of least resistance through valleys, across plateaux, and up and down the most feasible mountain passes. They are never bounded by fences, are often undefined and tortuous, and generally undrained. In Yunnan the roads, or rather pathways, are bad, steep, and toilsome, and during the rainy season (May to September) they are often impassable for days together. They are usually ill-paved and neglected paths, although there is said to be official provision for their repair. They require to be straightened, widened, and levelled. Some of the chief trade routes are impracticable for horses, and coolies must be employed. The accommo- dation for man and beast is inadequate and wretched everywhere, and brigands attack the caravans on some of the main tracks. The malarial fevers engendered by the marshy ground on some of the routes hinder trade at certain seasons.
When we consider these numerous obstacles to traffic, the force of External Richthofen's remark becomes apparent, that the general trade of Western trade, China must be excluded from consideration, and Yunnan commerce regarded
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