It is difficult to name the leading factory products of Peking, for most of the manufacturing enterprise in the capital is confined to household industry, and in general the crafts are not subject' to a classifics tion of degree of importance to the economic life of the inhabitants. In fact, the writer has been unable to obtain authority for any such classifica tion, and must fall back on his own opin-fon, which is that rug manufacture and cloisonne making are perhaps the two leading crafts in Peking in point of import ance on the export markets. At least they are probably more responsible for Peking's commercial reputation abroad than any other two products. In_ these cases, as in others, the industries do not owe anything to the proximity of raw material, for the neighbourhood of Peking is void of anything of benefit to craftsmanship, The rug industry was introduced from Tibet, About 1830 a Tibetan Lama came to Peking, and while stopping at the Pao-kuo Temple in the Chang-c-men Road and engaging in the propagation of religion, taught the monks in the temple how to make rugs. Later, the work was taught to the poor people in Peking by the monks to enable them to earn a living.
With the progress of years, the industry developed, with the result that the rug became a noted product of Peking. About 1900, a certain German firm in Tientsin bought two rugs from a Chinese firm in Peking, and sent them home as samples, one of them being a silk rug and the other a wallon rug. A price of $6 per foot for the former and $1.29 for the latter quality was charged. Berlin, struck with their quality, beautiful colours and patterns, and moderate price, supplied the German firm with La "sand, encouraged, the German concern established a factory in Peking.
The rugs likewise conte to be known among Americans about this time, but did not attain popularity until the International Exposition at St. Louis in 1903, when they were awarded a First Medal, By and: by, they tame to- the notice of! Britons and Prench as.viell, and thei buyer4 came to Tientxin' to. lain Stocks" with Lawraan Sacer. Tm 1s 4 ventranuc "Feast OP Lanvin the result that the Peking rug became one of the important articles of trade in North China, The first rug factory came into existence more than twenty years ago. At the end of the Manchu regime, however, there were not more than ten factories in Peking manufacturing rugs. During the European war many had to close down owing to the depreciation of prices, which were reduced as low as 80 cents per square foot. In 1919 when the World War was over, and business connexions' were resumed with foreign countries, the rug trade revived, so that the value of rugs shipped to the United States increased from $330,117 in the previous year to $820,032.
Now, there are some forty factories in Peking, some having as many as twenty machines, and all are taxed to their full working capacity. However, there are only one or two factories amon them which export directly to foreign countries, the remainder being satisfied with trading with foreign merchants in China.
Rugs are classified according to the quality of wool used and the number of woof threads to the foot, the latter being called by Chinese dealers tao, such as 60 tao, 70 tao, 80 tao, 90 tao and 100 tao. Needless to say, the greater the number of woof threads in one foot, the better will be the quality and consequently the higher the price.
Wool is the principal material in manufacturing rugs, but sometimes camel's hair or even cattle hair is used. The best wool is the winter clip, coming from Kansu, Honan, etc., and is used for making the finest grade. Autumn wool, whi from Shuntienfu, Shiheh other places on the Peking-Hankow railway, is used for making the ordinary varety' of rugs, and these are commonly shipped to foreign countries, An Ancient Lineage The first effort to make Peking a centre of craftsmanship dates from the reign of Kang Hsi, who ranks with Chien Lung as the most enlightened patron of arts and crafts of all the emperors in Chinese history. In 1680, after the destruction of the imperial factories at Kingtehchen, Kiangsi Province, he established no fewer than 27 differ-but it remained comly a minor handicraft until the twentieth century, when foreigners became very much interested in the work, and made such demands on the market that to-day there are more than a hundred and fifty factories in the city, most of whose output is destined for export.
Cloisonne making is a very painstaking work, and demands s0 much patience, individual labour, and artistic spirit that it could hardly be pursued under modern methods of manufacture. This applies to all China's art industries, as a matter of fact; the creative arts, cannot be subject to mass production methods for the reason that they are dependent first and foremost on the personality of the craftsman-artist, The base of cloisonne is copper sheeting. It is first cut into the requisite size; steeped in a solution of sodium chloride for one or two hours, and then thoroughly cleaned with pumice stone. 'The vari-coloured enamel bricks for soldering on to this metal ground come from Poshan, Shantung Province, and are a compound of silica, white sand, saltpetre, borax, and other minerals. When they reach' the Peking workshops, they are pounded by mortar and pestle into powder form. The powder is mixed with water and used to paint on the metal with a bamboo chip specially made for the purpose. Before this process takes place, however, the designs have to be worked out on the copper sheet. Tiny pieces of copper wire are employed, and wrought into the founda tion material with a solution of glue and silver powder. The, design may be a swastika, clouds, a seascape, birds, flowers, or other symbolical patterns, Where Thickness Counts Then the whole must be painted with the enamel mixture, and, after drying, fired in the kiln, More enamelling is done, and after each process the piece must be fired again, The purpose of the continued firing is to fill the cells and correct any defects on the surface. Finally it is polished and gilded. As in the case of lacquer ware, where the number of layers betoken the worth of the article, so the value of cloisonne is determined by the number of times it has been enamelled. All manner of serent handicrafts in the palace precinets of Peking under the sion of viceable articles are now manufactured, vases urns, candle. sticks, box the Works. One of these undoubtedly was the doi sonne industry which is repute ed to have been introduced to China by the Arabs in the golden age" of the early T'angs, when merchant from Middle to Cathay. trays, desk set and innumerable other thin Cloisonne makis carried on without much change from the methods employed in the days of the Mings. The workers are still imbued with the highest ideals of their craft, and though: they have been speeded up a little to dle East were attracted - to Cathay. It gain:
much" en-they.are seldom interfered -with, and pursue their characterised the work in the palmy days of craft. The men know little beyond their tasks, and in the main are illiterate and superstitious. For instance, it was impossible for the writer to obtain photow graphs because the men feared that the camera might rob them of an outer spider mis, Other factory enterprises in-Peking are of comparative unimportance to this simrvey. The following gives a list of these industries, divided into those that manufacture for export, those that manufac ture for consumption in other provinces and cities, those that manufacture only, for local consumption, and new industries created since the Republic Factories manufacturing for export—rugs, cloisonne, jade, carved red lacquer, silk and paper lanterns, ete.
Factories manufacturing for consump= tion in other provinces or cities—articles made of bone, knives and scissors, silk sashes, Chinese caps, silk, tobacco, beer, paper and silk flowers, brass articles, fire crackers, carts, Peking wine, pickled eggs, fruit preserve Factories manufacturing only for locat consumption—rice-hulling, flour, cloth. weaving, coal balls, bricks, furniture, mats, glazed pottery known as Uuli-wa, wooden carts.
New industries in Peking under the Re= publio—knitted hosiery, 'Patriotic' cloth, biscuits, tinned foods, machine-milled flour, motor cars, (Chinese bodies on which are mounted Ford parts and Ford engines), carriages, rieshas, confectionery, foreign-style toilet articles, matches, soda water, printing and flour milling machinery, down pillows and quilts, brass knockers and locks of Western type, other, brass articles, modern bath tubs, organs, printing, foreign ink, glue and paste in bottles, soap, glass ware, leather goods, Passing of the Guilds In view of the fact that most industries in Peking are still in the handicraft stage, it is natural that the guild system still permeates the labour movement.
But, like other things medieval, it, too, slowly making way for its modern counter part, the trade union, These guilds have eon in existence for over two thousand years, each craft boasting its own soparate guild, which includes both employer and employee, and differs very little in details of organisation from those guilds which flourished in England in the cighteenth century. In most of the indus tries mentioned above, masters and men share a common lot, working together, and living on the same plane of social inter course. From the economic view-point, too, there is little to divide them, for proprietor makes little profit beyond means of subsistence for himself and hi workmen." Such a system fitted in we with the basic democracy of Chinese lif Class consciousness, in the language of the trade unionist, is the legacy of the political and industrial systems now in process of assimilation. The translation of the Western labour movement for adequate recognition of the workers' share in industry is now shattering the common interest of master and man, and separate ing them into mutually hostile camps. In the West, it was the impersonality introduced to industry by modern factory, enterprise, but here in Peking the intimacy of industrial and social relations still obtains, industry not having yet evolved out of the household stage.
According to "Peking; a Social Survey", the oldest guild in Peking is the Guild of the Blind, whose members make a business of singing, story-telling, and entertaining. It is claimed that their records go back to the Han dynasty (206 B.c.), but as the authors of the survey were prohibited from examining the records of this guild, it is difficult to establish this claim. Most of the guilds in Peking, as a matter of fact, had their re~ cords destroyed when the sons of Nurchachu left their Manchurian fastnesses and established a new dynasty in the country, of the Mings. The date of reorganise tion is often taken as the date of birth; hence, most of the records of the guilds go back only to the time of the establishment of the Manchu dynasty.
Many of them, again, suffered reorganisation or total disruption when the Manchus were displaced by the republic.. Several catered to customs introduced by the Manchus, such as the barbers, Ket-makers, old-style tailors, and the, undertakers. Their guilds have now. ben disbanded. Further, economic. chingeg, are responsible for, several, casualties,' The instalation of a Waterworks in 1908 broke up (Continued on Page 61).
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.