Only Germans frequented Kiau-Chau and trade decreased, as the natives cordially disliked the inquisitorial ways of the official system.
The chief value of Shantung is in its mineral deposits—principally coal, and coal easily takes the first place amongst articles of export. Iron ore, gold, galena (lead and silver), and copper are found in considerable quantities.
The principal agricultural products are wheat, millet, Indian corn, pulse, arrowroot, castor-oil, vegetables, and fruit.
Wax is a considerable article of trade, while seri-culture (silk) forms an important industry.
Silkworms are fed on mulberry, oak, lettuce, or vine leaves; and the nature and quality of the silk depends upon the character of the food. The worms fed on mulberry and lettuce leaves produce the lighter forms of silk, those on vine leaves a silk of a deeper yellow colour verging on red, while the oak-leaf-fed worms produce the well-known pongee, chifu or Shantung silks. This latter is not as fine as the mulberry or lettuce silk but is of more practical use and of better wear.
The soya bean, cultivated so extensively and profitably in Japan, the oil cake made therefrom, and cotton are also produced by the Chinese in the Shantung province.
The exports from Kiau-Chau, according to Chinese statistics, amounted in 1912 to about £1,250,000; while the exports reached £1,750,000.
Germany brought under her sway in the Shantung Peninsula an area of about 120 square miles.
The German population in Kiau-Chau, exclusive of troops, was only about 2,100 in 1913, but the peninsula was strongly garrisoned. The Chinese population centred about Tsingtau and amounted to nearly 54,000.