We have referred above to the shifting of Chinese trade channels caused by the military operations. Between July and October, imports through Shanghai slumped from 77 million yuan to 8 million, while at the same time imports through Can-ten and Kowloon—two cities having up to the present time direct rail connections with the Central Yangtze hi rose from 6 million yuan to 12 million, Hongkong has also attracted increased business, and many Shanghai firms have moved there or to Canton. The next table, from "Finance & Commerce", indicates the shift of trade between the various ports in the period July to October.
Cinwese Trape By PrrxciraL Ports per cent, Change Yangtze Ports Tuly-Oct. Shanghai -82 Nanking Hankow 00200 Tientsin Northern Paris
Tsingato Southern Paris Swatow Cantor Kowloon
*Mengtsz Wuchow This ty is a border town on a rail-rond ce!
necting Hanoi (French Indo-with Yunnan.
While, more recently, trade figures at Shanghai have recorded some iment, for reasons already noted, ence of the continued disruption.
jormal trade appears in the ug despatch to the "New York dated January 14:
Before the war more than 8 per cent. of China's imports and exports were handled through North and Central China ports, Shanghai and Tientsin accounting for by far the er puly of this lucrative trade. At China's 45 per cent.
South China trol of the Cent ever, by far the major portion of this ow import trade via the South China orts c! Canton, Swatow, Foochow and Emov is in armaments and merchandise heeded in the prosecution of the war ports which are exempt from toms tariffs, Serious as the consequences have been to the foreign trade, the detruction of property and blocking of transportation facilities have been even more disastrous to the vast internal trade plying between the agricultural and raw material producing interior and the industrial areas located largely along the coast. Except at Canton in the South, cotton manufacturing has been the ha portant manu: nai in particular has town into one of the leading cotton tile centres of the world. Up to present time the Tsingtao and nghai areas have suffered the test losses, the damage to phy-property in Shanghai alone heving been estimated at between 750-1,000 million U.S, dollars, while the loss due to unemployment and aznation of trade with the interior an hardly be calculated. Early in Febru: only i5 per cent. of Shanghai cotton spindleage vws reported A rise in the cost of ghai from 110 last July 100) to 155 in December was symptomatic of the disturbed condi-
SRekerhs SRE RARES
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Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.