Directory_and_Chronicle_1940 — Page 380

A4

CHINA

no agreement being arrival at. The Dalai Lama visited Peiping in 1921 and was received in audience by President Hsu Shih-chang.

FOREIGN TRADE IN 1938

VALUE OF TRADE

The net value of the foreign trade of China for the years 1936, 1937 and 1938 is given in the following table:

NET VALUE OF THE FOREIGN TRADE OF CHINA, 1936-38

Imports Exports

Total

Excess of Imports

1936. Million $ Million $

1937.

1938.

Million $

941

953

886

706

838

763

1,647

1,791

1,649

235

115

123

As will be seen from the above, the net value of the trade of China, import and export, expressed in terms of standard dollars, was for the year 1938 $1,649 million as compared with $1,791 million during 1937. Imports declined from $953 million to $886 million, a decrease of 7 per cent, with exports also falling from $838 million to $763 million, a decline of 8.95 per cent. In this connexion it should be noted that, for purposes of conversion into standard dollars of the declared gold unit valuation of imports, the Government having retained for 1938 the average official daily rate for duty-paying purposes, based on the average official daily rates for foreign exchange of Pence Sterling 14, U.S. $0.30, Japanese ¥1.03, etc., or the average official rate of Gold Unit 1=St. $2.30, the standard dollar valuation of imports as shown above for the year 1938 is not augmented by the rising value on the open market of the foreign exchanges in terms of dollars.

The following table illustrates the adverse balance of trade in standard dollars during the past 29 years since 1910:

NET VALUE OF THE FOREIGN TRADE OF CHINA LESS THE MANCHURIAN TRADE WITH ABROAD, 1910-38

Adverse Imports. Exports. Balance of

Trade. Million $ Million $ Million $

Year.

Year.

Adverse Imports. Exports. Balance of

Trade, Million $ Million $ Million $

1910.....

649

503

146

1925.

1,242 876

366

1911..

650

482

168

1926..

1,473 934

539

1912...

644 485

159

1927.

1,298

980

318

1913... 1914..

788

523

265

1928.

1,530 1,047

483

780 449

331

1929.

1,620 1,070

550

1915...

619

546

73

1930...

1,723

944

779

1916....

678

612

66

1931

2,002

915

1,087

1917....

697 570

127

1932..

1,524

569

955

1918.....

707

587

120

1933..

1,345

612

733

1919...

785

739

46

1934.

1,030

535

495

1920...

997

614

383

1935.

919

576

343

1921...

1,233 698

535

1936

941

706

235

1922.

1,284 764

520

1937

953 838

115

1923..

1,251

868

383

1938...

886

763

123

1924...

1,389 878

511

The steady reduction in the adverse balance of trade since 1931, although the figure for the year 1938 is subject to certain revision as pointed out below, presents a striking feature and is the result largely of a decline in the value of imports rather than of any particular growth in the value of exports. though in recent years the export trade has exhibited a healthy tendency towards