374
SHANGHAI
fineness 0.916, but reckoned at 98. That is to say, that an actual weight of 98 taels is counted as 100. The Shanghai tael thus contains, or should contain, 520.43 gr. troy of pure silver, but varies owing to the crude methods of assay. This is, however, the mean.
The silver known as "sycee" is cast into "shoes" of fifty taels, more or less. The foreign banks issue notes of the value of one dollar and upwards for both taels and dollars. Smaller transactions are conducted in clean Mexican dollars, or equivalent dollars from the various provincial mints, smaller subsidiary provincial silver coins and copper cash. There are eight foreign and numerous native banks in the settlement. In 1896 the Imperial Chinese Bank, under Chinese and European management, was opened by Imperial Decree.
TRADE AND COMMERCE
Shanghai is the great emporium for the trade of the Yangtsze and Northern and Corean ports, and to some extent for Japan. The total import and export trade of 1868 amounted to sixty-five million taels. It steadily increased each year until 1881, when it reached Hk. Tls. 141,921,357, but afterwards showed a great decline, the total for 1884 having been twenty per cent. less than that of 1881. There was, however, a rapid recovery up to 1905; the total trade import and export, for the last seven years, as given by the Customs Statistical Department, being :-
1906... Hk. Tls. 421,956,496 at Ex. 1.54 Mex. $649,813,033 at Ex. 3s. 3d., £69,447,006
1907...
392,731,600
1.51
"1
>>
1908...
397,106,850
1.48
"1
"}
1909...
99
449,242,406
1.48
""
""
1910... 1911...
1912...
471,071,623
1.48
""
""
31
484,202,222 491,485,487
1.48
">
1.52
"}
*9
$593,024,716 8587,718,138 8664,878,760 $701,896,718 $716,619,288 8747,057,940
71
??
""
19
""
3s. 3d., £63,818,885 3s. 8d., £52,947,580 2s. 7d., £58,378,114 2s. 8d., £94,317,071 2s. 84d., £96,295,716 3s. 0., £114,004,154
The following tables show the export of Tea and Silk for eight years:—
Tea- Black Brick
1905...piculs 104,323
Green
Silk
1906...
งา
1907... 1908...
""
1909...
1910... 1911... 1912...
""
??
98,389 175,803 269,485 197,824 311,138 168,835 214,297 295,862 140,121 247,067 297,860 173,100 308,528 264,752 177,294 37.688 307,917 220,190 364,420 314,396
259,077 ₫ 1905...45,766
223,837 1906...50,520
Wild Waste Cocoons 19,201 55,570 9,247 18,865 49,708 8,443
279,031
1907...54,031 16,952 71,438 1908...58,875 26,593 51,492 1909...60,301 26,996 52,487 1910...66,116 23,379 1911...59,224 27,679 1912...86,554 14,899
8,850
9,308
15,083
75,360 13,948
81,064 16,313 76,301 18,792
The Import trade in Foreign Goods for 1912 was as follows:- From Foreign Countries and Hongkong
From Chinese Ports
...
•
Hk. Tls. 210,071,837 1,697,766
Hk. Tls. 211,769,603
The following were the values of the principal classes of Foreign Goods imported during that year :---
Cotton Goods. Tls. 53,270,553 | Machinery... Tls. 1,171,964 Birds Nests
Opium...
1,047,890 Soda
Cotton Yarn ... 30,560,269 | Spirits, Wine & Beer 1,003,663 Glass
Sundries
Sugar...
Dyes and Colours 8,342,379 Matches
Kerosene Oil, &c.
1,003,129 Needles
...Tls. 453,963
...
31,706,292 | Paper
433,334
416,218
28,374,735 Timber
361,474
-
8,958,286 | Electrical M'tal., &c. 973,365 Sandalwood
353,308
...
939,741 Candles
305,321
6,441,981 Seaweed
|
834,223 Household Stores
247,252
644,407 Sharks' Fins
209,045
640,672 Condensed Milk
172,060
546,929 Cement
158,998
118,339
Railway Materials 100,211
Total Hk. Tls. 211,769,603
5,937,049 Cotton Socks
Tobacco,Cigars, &c. 5,788,228 Medicines
Cotten, Raw
Metals...
Coal
5,771,153 | Fish, Salted,&c....
...
...
4,980,822 Umbrellas ...
509,237 Rattans
Woollen Goods... 4,922,446 Lamps & Lampware 485,037 Soap
1,384,339 Beche de Mer... 484,107 Gunny&Cton.Bgs. 1,262,703 Haberdashery, &c. 454,481
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