Directory_and_Chronicle_1936 — Page 405

CHINA

A25

Good relations were maintained with foreign powers, and in October Wei Hai Wei was formally handed over by Great Britain to China. Negotiations for the modifica- tions of "extrality" between Chinese and the Powers were in progress during the year, but no decisions were made.

In the early part of 1931 it was hoped that peace would be arranged between Nanking and the Kwangsi militarists, who for two years had defied all attempts to dislodge them from Nanning. The cause of unity and centralised government was, however, to receive a serious set-back. A grave crisis, which may permanently effect. the course of Chinese history occurred on April, when Chen Tsai Tong, the Commander- in-Chief in Cantón, effected a coup d'etat, deposing Chien-Ming-Shu, the provincial. governor and a faithful supporter of Chiang Kai Shek. An alliance with the Kwangsi Party, the Ironsides and the Northern rebels, under Yen Hsi Shan and Feng Yu Hsiang was concluded, and a rival "National Government" was set up at Canton. The ostensible reason for the coup was a protest against Chiang Kai Shek's ariest and detention of the veteran Kuomintang leader, Hu Han Min, and a propaganda compaign of intensive violence, demanding the resignation of the President was prosecuted.

CONDITIONS IN 1934.

Distinctly more peaceful conditions were experienced throughout the greater part of the country during the year under review. There were 110 further acts of foreign aggression, and, if there remained some evidences of Sino-Japanese tension in Northern China, the occurrence of embarrassing incidents as a result of this strained atmosphere was safely averted by the discreet conduct of affairs by the Peiping Political Council, under the general direction of the National Government, during the protracted negotiations for the retrocession of the Great Wall passes and the resumption of through traffic on the Peiping-Moukden Railway. The somewhat unimpressively staged revolt in Fukien was crushed in January, and, as foreshadowed in the previous trade report, the internal situation was further improved by the eventual success of the campaign against the so-called Soviet forces in Kiangsi. The most serious natural calamity of the year was a drought affecting the provinces of Anhwei, Chekiang, Kiangsi, and Kiangsu principally, and many other provinces to a lesser extent. No attempt is made here to describe the varied activities of the Government during the year or even to summarise all the important under- takings of the National Economic Council in the interests of commerce and industry, the development of the country in general, and the prospering of agriculture in all its branches: these matters are dealt with in their proper place elsewhere in this report. The silver crisis was such an outstanding economic feature of the year, however, that the Government's handling of this. matter is placed somewhat fully on record in the next section of this introduc- tory chapter. All the constructive work now being done to improve the internal economy of the country must bring results in time. It is a task upon which all nations are now engaged as a necessary preliminary to an expansion in their foreign trade. Meanwhile, it has to be admitted that the nation's pur- chasing power, in common with that of many other countries, shows no sign of improvement as yet, and that her foreign trade is all too obviously suffering still from the effects of the greatest of all disturbances of the world's economic equilibrium. The decline in the combined value of imports and exports amounted to 20 per cent. ; but the fact should not be overlooked that after reducing her adverse visible balance of trade in 1933 by 222 million dollars, China has effected a further reduction of 233 million dollars (which meant decreasing her excess of imports by almost exactly one-third) during the year under review.

Despite a 20 per cent. decrease in the total value of trade with foreign countries, the Customs revenue collection reached the high figure of 344.6 million dollars, a decrease of less than 1 per cent. compared with the figures for the previous year ($339.5 million), and a sum sufficient to provide a considerable fund for ordinary Government usage after fully meeting all the loan and other obligations for which this revenue stands pledged.

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