CHINA
605+
mainly caused by a diminished demand for Chinese produce from abroad, where large stocks are held, which, in the actual conditions of the hoine markets, are found well- nigh unsaleable, but the resultant decline in prices has necessarily had an important bearing on the smaller value totals recorded. As at the present time values are no indication of quantities, the following table shows the volume of 10 of China's principal. exports in 1913, 1919 and 1920:-
Beans and bean products
Cereals of all kinds Raw cotton
Egg albumen and yolk Sesamum seed
Raw silk
Silk piece goods
Tea
...
Wheat flour
Goat skins
...
...
...
...
...
1913
1919
1920
Piculs 22,636,000 38,771,000 31,300,000
4,037,000
10,209,000 12,315,000
739,000
1,072,000
376,000
...
156,000
606,000
423,000
""
...
"
2,035,000
2,839,000
2,056,000
149,000
165,000
104,000
""
34,000
39,000
37,000
"}
1,442,000
690,000 306,000
119,000
2,694,000
3,961,000
...
Pieces
7,794,000 13,832,000 10,836,000
Shipping. The tonnage of vessels entered and cleared amounted to 104,266,695 tons, which is 8,540,760 tons more than in 1919, and, it is worthy of note, surpasses the record figure of 1914. The British flag, which now reaches 40.3 million tons, has fully recovered from the effects of the war and exceeds the highest figure hitherto recorded, viz., 39.3 million tons in 1914. The Japanese flag, which holds the second place on the list in order of importance, increased from 27.5 to 28.2 million tons. American ship- ping registers a further remarkable advance from 2.6 million tons in 1919 to 4.7 million tons during the year under review and thus retains the fourth place, the third on the list being Chinese shipping, which increased from 22.6 million to 23.6 million tons, not including the tonnage of Chinese junks, which amounted to 4 million tons. French tonnage more than doubled, the 1920 figures being 852,979 tons, against 414,161 tons in 1919; while the Italian flag rose from 53,142 tons in 1919 to 195,900 tons. In the hope of attracting freight and encouraging demand, the China Homeward Freight Con- ference reduced its rates materially during the course of the year, but, despite spasmodic flashes of energy, the market, at the close of the year, was in the same inert condition which had characterised it for some time past, with no promise of an early improve- ment. The same remarks apply, to a great extent, to the Pacific route and to ship- ments to New York via Panama and via Suez. On all these berths there was a scarcity of cargo offering, with ample tonnage available. The situation was aggravated here by the advent of a large number of United States Shipping Board steamers now trading to the Orient, which entered into keen competition with the regular lines.
Summary.--At the close of the year a general deadlock ensued, leaving trade practically at a standstill in most centres and showing, as the year's financial results, only small gains for a few and substantial losses for the majority, Chinese and foreign merchants alike. Nevertheless, viewed from a wider outlook, there are many bright spots discernible. The present is a transition period unavoidable after the economic upheaval caused by the Great War, and must end sooner or later, when conditions again approach their normal level. Furthermore, the potentialities of the industrial and commercial development of China, with its vast resources as yet scarcely touched, and with its teeming population, hardworking and industrious as nowhere else in the world, are such that confidence in the country's future would appear to be fully justified. Already foreign goods are being absorbed by the people in steadily increas- ing quantities. Factories modelled and managed on foreign lines are springing up in every suitable locality. At the end of 1920 there were more than 400 of these factories producing articles of foreign type and enjoying special Customs treatment. Forty- eight of these manufacture soap, 31 candles, 29 cotton yarn, 26 flour, 25 cotton socks, 24 cotton piece goods, 20 miscellaneous cotton goods, 17 paper, 15 cigarettes and tobacco, 10 slate pencils, 7 biscuits, and so on down a long list containing a most varied assortment of household and other articles in daily use. Many other signs of progress are noticeable. The University of Nanking, through its Department of Sericulture, is endeavouring by scientific study to improve the silk industry of China, while the Government author- ised the formation at Chefoo of an international committee for the improvement of Shantung silk. The International Committee for the Improvement of Sericulture in China, situated at Shanghai, is doing good work ; and a similar committee, having the same purpose in view, was recently established at Canton. As the staple articles of export from China are of a bulky nature and have often to be conveyed over long
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