In examining this question Britisl undertakings in Shanghai may conveniently classified in three divisions (1) Those whose activities are confined wholly or mainly to the city and the trade passing through it; (2) Those whose interests lie principally in China but whose Shanghai trade is partially replaceable elsewhere; and (3) Companies with world-wide connections which have subsidiaries in Shanghai and, possibly, elsewhere in China.
While companies of the first category—public utilities are an example—have had to suffer passively, some of those with wider connections may have been able partially to recoup their losses in Shanghai by profiting from changes in the direction of China's trade.
How remarkably the channels of trade have altered is shown in the import and export compiled by the Chinese Maritime Customs. These show that "while for the first five months of the year the total value of trade has been remarkably well mai tained compared with last, the amount passing through Shanghai has declined steeply. This has been due largely to the diversion of trade to Southern ports, a fact illustrated in the following table:
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.