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972
CHINA.
TRADE AND INDUSTRY.
Great Britain has, in virtue of various treaties with the Chinese Government- the first and most important signed August 29th, 1842—the right of access to twenty- five ports and cities of the Empire. The ports known as Treaty ports are Canton, Hoihow (in Hainan), Pakhoi, Swatow, Amoy, Foochow, Takao, Tamsui, and Keelung, Wenchow, Ningpo, Shangbai, Chinkiang, Wubu, Kiukiang, Hankow, Ichang, Chefoo, Tientsin, and Nowchwang. Under the provisions of the Chefoo Convention, permission is a'so accorded to British merchants to trade at Chungking and Yunnan-fu, at which places British Consular Residents reside. The import trade from Great Britain, exclusive of the Colony of Honging, centres at Shanghai, Hankow, and Tientsin, while the bulk of the exports to Great Britain pass through the ports of Shanghai, Foochow, Hankow, and Canton. The annual value of the foreign trade of China was as follows in each of the fifteen years from 1865 to 1879:
1865... 1866.
1867..... 1868...
1869..
YEAR.
NET IMPORTS.*
Haikwan Tls.
55,715,458 67 174,481
EXPORTS.
Haikuan Tls.
54,203,274
TOTAL.
Haikwan Tls.
109,818,732
50,596,223
117,770,704
62,459,226
52,158,300
114,617,526
63,281,804
61,826,275
125,108,079
67,108,533
60,139,237
127,247,770
1870..
63,693,268
55,294,866
118,988,134
1871.
70,103,077
66,853,161
136,956,238
1872.
67,317,049
75,288,125
142,605,174
1873..
66,637,209
69,451,277
136,088,485
1874..
64,360,864
66,712,868
131,073,732
1875..
67,803,247
68,912,929
136,716,176
1876.
70,269,574
80,850,512
151,120,086
1877.
73,253,170
67,445,022
140,698,192
1878.
70,804,027
67,172,179
137,976,206
1879..
82.227,424
72,281,262
154,508,686
Of the total value of the imports and ex] orts to foreign countries for 1879- Tls. 154,508,686-Tls. 121,829,380 must be credited to Great Britain and her colonies, including India. The remainder is thus divided among other countries:-United States, Tls. 11,507,456; South America, Tls. 24,872; Continent of Europe, Tls. 11,901,873; Russia, viá Odessa, Tls. 11,769; Siberia and Russia, via Kiachta, Tls. 3,988,269; Russian Manchuria, Tls. 477,264; Japan, Tls. 5,649,663; Philippine Islands, Tls. 251,494; Cochin China, Tls. 361,352; Siam, Tls. 588,891; Java, Tls. 413,762; Suez, Tls. 53,422 and Hawaii, Tis. 18,283. Among the exports, tea and silk take the first places. In 1879 the export of tea amounted to 1,987,462 piculs, of which 1,284,646 piculs went to Great Britain and British possessions. Manufactured Cotten and Woollen Goods and Opium constitute the bulk of the imports of foreign produce into China. The value of Cotton Goods imported in 1879 was Tls. 22,599,679; that of Woollen Goods, Tls. 4,954,472; and of Miscellaneous Piece Goods, Tls. 124,359. Most of these goods came from British looms. The value of the Opium imported in 1879 was Tls. 36,536,617.
Although China is traversed in all directions by roads, they are usually mere tracks, or at best footpaths, along which the transport of goods is a tedious and difficult undertaking. It was owing to the imperfect means of communication that such a fearful mortality attended the recent famines in Shansi, Honan, and Shantung. A vast internal trade is, however, carried on over the roads, and by means of numerous canals and navigable rivers. The most populous part of China is singularly well adapted for the construction of a network of railways, and a first attempt to introduce them into the country was made in 1876, when a line from Shanghai to Woosung, ten miles in length, was constructed by an English Company. The little railway was subsequently purchased by the Chinese Government and closed by them on the 21st October, 1877, when the rails were taken up and the line with rolling stock shipped to Formosa, where it has since been lying idle and rapidly spoiling.
* Net Imports, .e., the value of the Foreign Goods imported direct from Foreign Countries, less the value of the Foreign Goods re-exported to Foreign Countries during the year.
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