640
·
CHINA
200 modern field guns,and to be replete with machine weapons, very few were forth- coming in the day of battle. These arsenals, together with the forts at Taku, and all camps and fortifications between Peking and the sea, have now been demolished. Since 1903 the national Army as represented by the Northern divisions has undergone a great change and Yuan Shi Kai's forces now number some 40,000 very fairly efficient troops; but at the manoeuvres in the autumn of 1906 only some 24,000 men took part including the Southern divisions, and the efficient force has been greatly over estimated. Great difficulty is found in keeping even 40,000 properly paid and equipped.
The Chinese navy consisted, prior to the Franco-Chinese war of 1884, mainly of small gunboats built at the Mamoi Arsenal, Foochow, and _at_Shanghai, on the foreign model, but was afterwards greatly strengthened. Five ships were lost, however, in the battle of the Yalu, when the Japanese inflicted" a severe defeat upon the Chinese, and the remainder of the fleet was captured or destroyed at the taking of Weihaiwei in February, 1895, Three cruisers of 2,950 tons displacement were secured in 1895 from the Vulcan Works at Stetten, and two very fine Elswick sloops of the same size were added in 1899. These, with two corvettes and two training vessels, supplemented by four Elbau destroyers, comprised the Pei Yang Squadron or Northern Fleet. These vessels might be of real value for convoying troop- ships, shelling rebellious towns, etc., but as the Chinese have no naval base and no docking facilities in Northern waters, and as the ships are ill-found and with indifferent personnel, they would be of little use against a resolute foreign enemy. The destroyers were captured at Taku on June 17th, 1900, by the British destroyers Fame and Whiting and appropriated by the allies. The Chinese flagship at the Bar, while not actually seized, was rendered useless by removing the breech-blocks of the guns and by being placed under rigorous supervision. The remainder of the Fleet fled to the Yangtsze. Sir Robert Hart in a scheme of military reorganisation prepared in 1904 recommended the creation of three naval squadrons, the Northern, the Southern and the Central, each to consist of 10 battleships and first-class cruisers, 10 second-class cruisers, 10 torpedo-boat destroyers, and 50 torpedo-boats, with a crew of 10,500 men. The scheme is apparently pigeon-holed at Peking for the present, but six torpedo-boat destroyers have recently been built for China in Japanese yards.
TRADE AND Industry
The ports open to trade are:-Newchwang, Chinwantao, Tientsin, Chefoo, Shanghai, Soochow, Chinkiang, Nanking, Wuhu, Kewkiang, Hankow, Yochow, Changsha, Shasi, Ichang, Chungking, Hangehow, Ningpo, Wenchow, Santu, Foochow, Amoy, Swatow, Canton, Samshui, Wuchow, Kongmoon, Nanning, Kiungehow, and Pakhoi. Lungehow, Mêngtsz, Szemao and Tengyueh, on the frontiers of Tonkin and Burmah, and Yatung in Tibet, are stations under the cognisance of the Foreign Customs. The import trade, exclusive of the Colony of Hongkong, centres chiefly at Shanghai, Tientsin, Hankow and Canton, while the bulk of the exports pass through the ports of Shanghai and Canton. The annual value of the trade of China coming under the supervision of the Imperial Maritime Customs was as follows:-
Net Imports from Foreign Countries.
Net Exports to Foreign Countries.
Total of Foreign trade.
Net Imports of Native Goods
1902...Hk. Tls. 315,363,905 Hk. Tls. 214,181,584 Hk. Tls. 529,545,489 Hk. Tls. 136,259,955
1903... 1904... 1905... 1905 equals at-
326,739,133
""
19
344,060,608 447,100,791
""
99
214,352,467 239,486,683 227,888,197
""
99
541,091,600 583,574,291 674,988,988
""
""
19
161,312,323 163,073,177 166,884,461
Mex. $353,226,705 Mex. $1,046,232,931
£34,2781,83
Mex. 8258,270,914 £25,102,204
Ex. 1.55, Mex. 8693,006,226 Ex. 3s. 0,d., £67,251,411
£101,529,594
The following was the net value of commodities imported direct from and exported direct to Foreign Countries in 1905. These figures do not include the trade carried on with neighbouring countries in Chinese junks, which does not come within the control of the Foreign Customs :--
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