Directory_and_Chronicle_1936 — Page 548

A 162

SHANGHAI

more frequent. On 27th and 28th July, 1915, a typhoon of extraordinary violence visited the district doing much damage. The mean of the barometer is from 29.769 in the third to 30'245 inches in the first quarter. The annual average of rainy days in Shanghai during eight years was 124; 55 wet days occurred in winter, and 69 in summer; the annual rainfall averages 49'57 inches, about 15 in winter and 302 in summer. The mean degree of humidity is from 786 in the winter to 826 in the summer months.

DESCRIPTION

The streets of the International and French Settlements run north and south and east and west, mostly for the whole length of both, crossing each other at right angles. They were when first laid out twenty-two feet wide, but have since at very great expense been mostly made much wider. In spite of this, however, and the more stringent regulations, the traffic problem is becoming increasingly acute in Shanghai as elsewhere. Notwithstanding the soft nature of the soil the roads are kept in remarkably good order, despite the heavy motor traffic. With the introduction of trams the whole track of the Maloo, one mile in length, was laid with Jarrah hard- wood blocks, and the section of Nanking Road between Kiangse Road and the Bund was paved with the same material. Owing to the nature of the ground, expensive piling or concrete foundations are necessary before any building over one storey in heiglit can be erected, and all stone has to be brought from a long distance. The Soochow Creek, between the British Settlement and Hongkew, is now crossed by nine bridges, seven of which are adapted for carriage traffic.

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Many foreign houses, surrounded by gardens, have been erected near the outside roads, especially on the Bubbling Well, Avenue Haig, Yuyuen, Great Western and Sinza Roads, which are the main outlets from the Settlement, and from which most of the other roads branch off. These roads are planted with trees on both sides, forming fine avenues of five to six miles in length. Building activity of late years may be described as remarkable and unparalleled in the history of the port.

Mention should be made of the many 10 and even 20 storied apartment houses in the central as well as western districts. Foreigners for the most part have migrated to these. These are now too numerous to enumerate off-hand.

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TRADE FOR 1934

The value statistics for the trade of Shanghai in so far as they are now recorded by the Customs, were as follows; direct foreign imports, 600.5 million dollars as against 736.2 million in the preceding year (an 18 per cent. decrease); coastwise importations of Chinese merchandise, 314.5 million dollars as against 220.4 million (a 43 per cent.. increase); direct exportations to foreign countries, 272.3 million dollars as against 315.8 million (a 14 per cent. decrease); and coastwise exportations of Chinese pro- duce, 475.1 million dollars as against 487.8 million (a 3 per cent. decrease). Thus, Shanghai is shown to have handled 1,662.4 million dollars' worth of the cargo which statistics are available, as compared with 1,760.2 million dollars' worth in the previous year. The Returns also show that a greater proportion of China's total im- port trade than in 1933 (57.82 per cent, as against 54.14 per cent.) was landed at Shanghai, and that only a very slightly smaller proportion of the the total exports to foreign countries (50.83 per cent. as against 51.57 per cent.) was shipped from this particular port. In the last report on Shanghai it was pointed out that in reviewing the trade of smaller port it is usually possible to account for yearly variations in statistics by an analysis of local conditions, but that in the case of Shanghai, which handles (chiefly in its capacity as an entreport for the country) over half of the im- portations into China over half of the exportations from China, such a method is in-+- applicable except when a major disturbance interrupts the power functioning of the port. In other words, it is not usually possible in the case of Shanghai to separate local demand and output from the wider demand and output of the country as a whole, or to measure the effect of local conditions on the statistics of the port. Since it would be impossible to give a review of the general trading conditions affecting this great distributing and shipping centre without merely duplicating the review already given of the general conditions affecting China as a whole, it would be point- less to refer in detail here either to the great drought of the year under review, even although this calamity particularly affected most of the provinces immediately served by Shanghai and although, consequently, it had a very direct influence on the amount of cargo handled by the port; or to the success of the campaign against the