Directory_and_Chronicle_1916 — Page 777

684

CHINA

America, where the price was attractive, is partly to be explained by the fact that there was no possibility of remitting to Germany by bills of exchange after the stoppage of German trade. The most convenient way, therefore, of remitting such funds as those required for the service of loans and the Boxer Indeninity was to ship gold to a neutral country where credits could be arranged. Japan took Hk. Tls. 6,198,061, some of which was said to be also destined for America. To Europe there was an export to the value of Hk. Tls 2,704,447.

Balance of Trade-An adverse balance of 103 million Haikwan taels in 1912 and of 167 million Haikwan taels in 1913 have now been followed by one of 212 million Haikwan taels. The plausible conclusion is that silver must be flowing out of the country to pay for the excess of in ports. But when the recorded movements of silver for these three years are examined, it is found that the net import of silver, that is, the excess of imports over exports, has amounted to Hk. Tls. 4,594,067, while the stocks of silver in the local banks are so large that they cannot be made use of. Hongkong has also to be taken into consideration There are no official figures. available, but, so far as is known, in 1914 the imports of gold exceeded the exports by nearly 6 million dollars, while the imports of silver exceeded the exports by over one million dollars. These facts make it quite clear that the balance of trade is not adjusted by the export of treasure, and justify the statement made by Mr. Morse in 1905 that China's liabilities are balanced by the assets. There is, moreover, reason to think that the Customs valuation of exports is generally too low. Finally, it may he pointed out that the result of intercourse with foreign nations has led to a large industrial development that is increasing every year, and that China now possesses not only railways and mines, but cotton mills, albumen factories, cement and brick works, chemical works, distilleries, docks, shipbuilding and engineering works, electric light works, flour mills, match factories, oil mills, paper mills, sawmills, silk filatures,. smelting works, soap and candle factories, and many other industrial establishments. So far from foreign trade impoverishing the country, China is growing richer every year in consequence of the development of her resources -a development that will progress with rapid strides with the expansion of the railway system, the establishment of a standard currency, and the abolition of taxation on goods in transit.

RAILWAYS

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. A vast internal trade is, however, carried on over the roads, and by means of nun.erous 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. This little railway was subsequently purchased by the Chinese Government and closed by them on the 21st October, 1877. Since that time the principle of railways has been fully accepted. The railway from Shanghai to Woosung was re-opened in 1898, as forming part of a line to Soochow, which the provincial authorities had obtained per- mission of the Throne to construct. A tramway, a few miles in length, begun in 1881 to carry coal from the Kaiping coal mines, near Tongshan, to the canal bank, has been extended to Tientsin and Taku on the one hand, and to Kinehow and Newchwang on the Gulf of Liao-tung on the other. This road was only completed in the early part of 1900, and during the summer months was, between Kinchow and Newchwang, largely destroyed by the Chinese so as to preclude the advance of Russian forces on Peking via Manchuria. A line from Peking to Tientsin was opened in 1897, the Peking terminus being at Machiapu, a point two miles from the Tartar city, whence a short electric line connects it with one of the principal gates; the traffic developed so rapidly that in 1898-9 the line had to be doubled. From Lukouchiao (or Marco Polo's Bridge) a line of about eighty miles in length was constructed southward to Paoting- fu, the capital of the province of Chihli ; this line, in October, 1899, was handed over by the British constructors to the Belgian Syndicate as an integral factor in the great trans-continental line from Peking to Hankow. These lines were all more or less deliberately and in some parts completely destroyed by the Chinese during 1900. The Railways, as foreign innovations, were particularly hateful to the Boxers, who in many cases attacked the lines with a fury as intense as it was insensate : burning the stations, destroying bridges, firing the sleepers and carrying off the metals. Later on, track