Directory_and_Chronicle_1940 — Page 849

MENGTSZ AND YUNNANFU

A 465

The climate of Yunnanfu--the provincial capital-is temperate and good, being at an altitude of 6,400 feet. From October to April, there is very little rain and a good deal of wind, but in June, July, August and September which is the rainy season the rainfall is about 49 inches in a year of heavy rain, and as low as 24 inches when the rains are scarce. When the rain is as low as the latter figure, there is a drought and harvests are poor, and when as the first figure there are floods and the harvest is similarly poor. Being at the terminus of the Tien-Yueh Railway, Yunnanfu is now becoming an important centre for the distribution of foreign and native goods imported via Tonkin. The whole town, now a Municipality, has a population of some 250,000, being the most densely-populated in the province. There are four Consulates the French, the British, the American and the German. Decent hotels and electric lights are available; and there is a network of highways deviating from the town to the neigbouring districts and scenic sports.

TRADE IN 1938

Yunnan being one of the provinces outside the area of hostilities, the year under review opened at Yunnanfu, the headquarters of the Mengtaz Customs, with every prospect of a trade boom. Although coastwise movements of native products were not exempt from the adverse conditions and disruption of transport facilities existing in other parts of China, the transfer of governmental and financial organisations to Yunn in, the removal of the national capital to Chungking-which is dependent upon Yunnanfu as inain entrepôt for the import of supplies by the Yunnan-Annam Railway, the improvement in highway communications in the south west accelerated by military exigency, and the diversion to the Yunnan route of exports abroad customarily making use of the Yangtze River were all factors contributing to the expansion of foreign trade.

The value statistics of the trade of the port are illustrative of the situation, direct foreign imports being valued at $11.5 million as compared with $9.6 million during 1937; coastwise importations of Chinese merchandise at $19.8 million as against $20.8 million; direct exportations coastwise of Chinese produce at $1.1 million as compared with $1.9 million. The increase in the foreign import trade was mainly accounted for by increased importations of machinery and industrial equipment,. while a brisk demand for moter vehicles, gasoline and lubricating oil followed the rapid development of highway communications. Aniline dyes increased; artificial indigo, however, suffered a set-back, with kerosene oil declining in quantity from 3,313,637 to 2,261,639 litres. As a result of the abnormal rise in foreign exchange, the demand for cigarettes from Shanghai decreased, the total import for the year being 4,536 quintals as against 4,602 quintals in 1937. Imports of native cotton yarn similarly decreased from 106,496 to 104,324 quintals. Due to the dullness of the market and competition of local products, the import of native cotton piece-goods declined in value from $4.4 million to $3.3 million. The Yunnan Spinning and Weaving Factory, opened in August 1937, continued in operation throughout the year.

The expansion in foreign export trade continued in an even more marked degree. The export of wolfram ore (tungstan), a product abundant in the area west of Hwangmaoshan tin fields near Kokiu, advanced from 6,787 to 10,073 quintals; antimony regulus rose to 3,472 quintals, more 10 times the negligible quantity exported abroad in the preceding year. Of bristles, upward of 4,600 quintals were sent abroad, mostly to the United States of America, whereas during 1937 1,208 quintals passed though the Customs. Of this total export some 65 per cent may be attributed to the diversion of Szechwan bristles from the customary Yangtze route. Similarly, in the case of wood oil, arrivals from Szechwan and Kweichow were largely instrumental in swelling the quantity exported from 2,980 to 18,942 quintals. The meteoric rise in wood oil exports was not, however, solely attributable to disruption of Yangtze communication, additional planting of wood oil trees in Yunnan province itself having materially increased provincial output. The export of medicinal