SHANGHAI
649
a port of Registry for British ships in 1874. All foreign hongs and even private houses have to give themselves fancy Chinese names, by which only they are known to the natives. The system is, however, found to have its conveniences. The number of jinrickshas has been temporarily limited to 8,000; there were
were also
also 8,404 passenger and cargo wheelbarrows, and 253 public carriages in the Settlement besides large numbers outside. Of private vehicles there were licensed in 1917, 5.737 rickshas, 688 carriages, 713 motor-cars, and 688 ponies. No fewer than 69,089,432 passengers used the tramcars in 1916. The water conveyances licensed numbered 61 foreign cargo boats, 1,636 native cargo boats, 64 ferry and passenger boats, 1,531 other boats, 232 sampans and 115 steam launches. There are 21 foreign and 17 native theatres, 303 pawn, 128 opium and 1,161 wine shops registered within the Anglo- American Settlement.
The currency of Shanghai is the tael weight of silver-equal to 579'84 grains troy, of fineness 0.916, but reckoned at 98. That is to say, 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 fourteen 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 :
1911... Hk. Tls. 484,202,222 at Ex. 1.48 Mex.
1912...
""
491,485,487
1.52
>>
""
1913...
533,534,878
1.51
"1
**
1914...
498,695,147
1.47
19
1915... 1916... 1917...
99
549,379,765
1.41
"
99
571,245,672
1.54
"
77
15
580,232,838
1.63
"
2)
$716,619,288 at Ex. 2s. $747,057,940 $805,637,665 $733,081,866 $774,625,468 $879,718,335 $945,779,526
8d., £96,295,716
3s.
02d., £114,004,154
3s.
04d., £121,684,855
**
2s.
8d., £100,035,129
""
2s.
7 d., £100,459,240
>>
3s. 313d., £145,932,442-
4s. 3d., £181,304,261
The following tables show the export of Tea and Silk for eight years:—
Tea- Black Brick Green
1911...
1912... 1913... 1914... 1915... 1916... 1917...
""
""
>>
51
>>
1910...piculs 173,100 308,528 264,752 177,294 37,688 307,917 220,190 364,420 314,396 141,711 502,460 290,985 196,817 400,015 277,565 273,076 434,466 311,605 222,384 404,910 296,214
Silk Wild
1910...66,116 23,379 75,360 13,948 1911...59,224 27,679 81,064 16,313 1912...86,554 14,899 76,301 18,792
Waste Cocoons
1913...73,446 23,762
76,480 19,530
1914...54,927 13,727
52,474 20,863
""
24,200 10,986 175,232 214,570 208,292 1917...66,837 11,826
1915...79,089
39,879 31,170
1916...66,609
106,448 23,398
71,451 29,428
The Import trade in Foreign Goods for 1917 was as follows:-
From Foreign Countries and Hongkong
From Chinese Ports
...
...
..
***
...
+4
Hk. Tls. 210,085,990*
...
4,604,029
Hk. Tls. 214,690,019*
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