In the present agitation, however, the Chinese seem to have forgotten entirely their slow process absorption of British ideas and culture, As We look out over China at the present time, it would appear that iter these three centuries the is a large section of the Chinese who attribute despicable motives to the one nation which has been outetandingly the friend of China, no matter how misleading distorted facta may appel What Actually Has Happened In view of the fact that China's salvation is generally admitted to lie along economic rather than strictly political channels, I hope to show how important it is that tthe economic balance between China and the countries of the British Commonwealth should not be disturbed, China stands to lose far more than she in in the spirit at the moment to acknowledge. Steadi for close on 30 decades British jade articles of all kinds have finding their way into far inland centres. If you go. to-day into the far confines of Sinkiang, Mongolia, China Far West and Tibet, into any of the 18 pro-you will find British goods indeed, wherever you find foreign commodities of any description there you will be able to handle articles that had their origin either in Great Britain or some other country in the Commonwealth, Similarly, so into any factory in} the busy' industrial parts of Great British where raw produce is drawn from overseas and ten ehaness to one you will find produce from China en one form or another. Step on a railway train in China—realize that the British were the first, against the very greatest odds, to' lay the first railway line fon Ghinete soil. Send a letter—realize that it was a member off the British race that started the service. On the deck of any steamer plying in the coastwise trade or on any of the inland waterways, and you may hark back to the old days when the British did the pioneering, and opened the Yangtze, the West river, the Haiho and other rivers to steam and taught the Chinese that iron would float. The Customs, the most stable unit in the country, was started by a Briton of unquestioned Jove for the Chinese people. More-fever, what would the world know of the maritime provinces. to-day i€ the British had not made remarkable surveys which have ble fact that it required "the list embraces practically in the early days the peculiar "stickability" for which Britons are known all the world round to get China to accept there conveniences of modern civilization. everything, There are certain lasses of commodities in which she has had almost a monopoly, and Honour to Whom Honour Is Due Tam not saying that other nations have not made highly important contributions along: the fame lines, It would merely be silly to infer that they have not. What I wish to emphasize, however, is that, by their very pioneering nature, Britons did what they have done as much for the benefit of the Chinese as for themselves. The whole course of China's trade ie probably more international in character than the trade of any other Enstern nation but it was not always so. To the British, despite all their mistakes and tale moves generally attaching to pioneering in all lines of life, must be handed the honours for ug ly drawn China out of the thraldom of deep-rooted antiquity.
T have merely touched upon the economic angle, for that is all I wish to deal with, But it should be said that in many other culture: and spiritual ways China to-day stands a heavy debtor to the British race. In the present welter of affairs the Chinese seem to ha Jost sight of all that has been dor for them. The "opening up China has not been an altogether one-sided affair. The "exploitation" of China, if it ever existed, has passed once and for all, and what exploiting was done was the result of misunderstanding—and all foreigners were mutually to be blamed.
The result of Britain's persistent activities in China is seen in the fact that British trade is lazgor than any other nation's. It has always been so. Even with Japan's natural advantages in trading with her neighbour, her volume of trade far behind British trade, and when Japan began to buy and sell with China her markets had already been opened for her by the British and other peoples. Furthermor England jas knocking hard China's door when Japan was still deep in the throes of a seemingly immovably strong feudalls spite America's meteoric advances, algo, her trade is small compared with that of the British Commonwealth. So that, economically, the Britich people are more closely allied with the Chinese than any other, and the loss that would result from an ill-advised cessation of com-
Cotton and Woollen Goods, ete... Iron and mild steel (new) (old) Tron, galvanized Tin Lead
Bricks, tiles, ete.
Cigarette-making mat'ls (not to-acco) "see eeee Dyes, colours & paint Electricals materials & Sittings Haberdashery.
Machinery; propelling Boilers, etc. Machinery; propelling, Textile Mechinery; propelling, distilling and other: " eneeeae Paper and cardbor Kailway material (uncias Soap and making mat'ls Railway vehicles, ete. Motor vehicles, ete. Wines and spirities (000s are omitted in the above
lid.
fie thu Ramee ans sere The items given above are, of course, only the principal staple commodities in the trade of which Britain takes a leading There are dozens and dozens of other products which go out from the manufacturing areas of England and Scotland, for which there is a growing demand, details of which are available through oficial publications.
China's Serious Lack of Wisdom The present trouble in. China if not, as all your readers will know, of mushroom growth, nor is it likely to be permanently cleared until the Chinese come into the framerof mind to' recognize that theretare two parties to a contract, and that each is in honour mutually bound towards the other. There fare some who tay that the Chinese dare not boycott the British, or the Americans, as they endeavoured in a lukewarm way to boycott the Iepanese. These people, however, do not know what they are talking about. The boycott is, and has lever been the pet weapon, and a very defective weapon of the Chinese. No people are more versed in the finesse of boycotting than the Chinese. And they could boycott any nation, or all nations if it came to that, and if they thought it was mercial deemed possible, would react. more!
ntercourte, if such can be)€xPedient to do so, no matter what it would cost them, thay would do Great Britain supplies them. I have taken at random two years—the year of the revolution and ten years after:
China's Net Great Britain's Import Share 153,000 38,542 65,146 7820 915 5,167) 162 one: ain, ete., will appoint super-intendants of consular officers tormside in each of the above-named cities or town, to be the medium of communication between the Chinese authorities and the aid merchants, and to sce that the just duties and other dues of the Chinese Government, as hereafter proitannic Mujextic's duly discharged
ment was entered into 8215 ly 4,4sg between the British Consul and the {i924 [Shanghai Taotai on Noveraber 29, 3417 1845 in which the boundaries of 934 448 31360 as follow '1/259 the British settlement were defined 241 11,160
18786488
East. Huangpu River.
'606
1,157 '921 1,779
1,420 West.—Unmentioned spec-3572 ifically '809 but on September 24, 1846, it was 1,041 fixed at Burrior Road, now Honan 3,115 Road. On Novenber 27, 1848, by me agreement, it was extended to Defence Creek. From the begin-table.
Exchange for the haikwan in 1911. 23, 8td.; in 1921, 38.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.