Commercial Geography / A Book for High Schools, Commercial Courses, and Business Colleges

by Jacques W. Redway

Several concessions of territory within recent years have been forced from China by foreign powers: thus, Great Britain has Hongkong Island (with the peninsula of Kaulung) and Weihaiwei; Germany has Kiaochou on the bay of the same name; France has Kwang chau wan harbor. These concessions carry with them the control of the port and surrounding territory. The German concession includes the right to mine coal and iron, and to build railways within a territory of much larger extent. At the close of the war between Russia and Japan, the latter acquired Port Arthur, the gateway to Manchuria.

Whatever may be the political significance of the opening of the treaty ports and the granting of the various concessions, the effect has been to increase the trade of the United States with China about twenty-fold. The imports from the United States consist mainly of cotton and cotton cloth, coal-oil, and flour. The chief exports to all countries are tea, silk goods, and porcelain ware. Most of those sent to the United States are landed at Seattle or San Francisco. Great Britain, through the port of Hongkong, has a larger trade than any other nation. Japan and the United States have most of the remaining trade.

Peking, the capital, is politically, but not commercially, important. The part occupied by the foreign legations is modern and well kept. Tientsin, the port of Peking, is a larger city, with much more business. Canton, the largest city of the empire, and Hongkong, are the commercial centres of nearly all the British trade. Most of the American and Japanese trade centres at Shanghai. Niuchwang, on the Manchurian frontier, is important mainly as a strategic point. Macao, a Portuguese possession, is the open door of Portugal into China.

The inland divisions of the Chinese Empire have but little commercial importance. Musk, wool, and skins are obtained from Tibet, into whose capital, Lassa, scarcely half-a-dozen Europeans have penetrated. The closed condition is due to the opposition of the Lamas, an order of Buddhist priests. Mongolia is a grazing region that supplies the Chinese border country with goats, sheep, and horses. It also supplies the camels required for the caravan tea-trade to the Russian frontiers. Eastern Turkestan is mainly a desert. Kashgar, the metropolis of the fertile portion, is the exchange market for Chinese and Russian products. Most of the mineral known as jade is obtained there. Manchuria is a grazing and wheat-growing country, exporting food stuffs and ginseng into China. Harbin, a Russian trading post, is connected with Peking and with European cities by railway.

Korea, formerly a vassal of China, became an independent state after the war between China and Japan, this step being forced by Russia. The country is a natural market for Japanese manufactures, and in turn supplies Japan with a considerable amount of food-stuffs. Chemulpo is the chief centre of its commerce.

Japan.—Japan is an insular empire, the commercial part of which has about the same latitude as the Atlantic coast of the United States; the empire extends from Formosa to Kamchatka. It is sometimes called the "Great Britain of the East," and the people are also called the "Yankees of the East." Structurally, the chain of islands consists of ranges of volcanic mountains. The abundant rains, however, have made many fertile river-valleys, and have fringed most of the islands with coast-plains.

Since the opening of Japan to foreigners the Japanese have so thoroughly adapted themselves to western commercial methods that they have become the dominating power in eastern Asia. Their influence has been greatly strengthened by a treaty for defensive purposes with Great Britain. A most excellent army and a modern navy make the alliance a strong one. The Japanese are better adapted to mould the commercial policy of China than any other people.

With a population of more than half that of the United States, occupying an area not larger than the State of California, every square foot of available land must be cultivated. Yet the Japanese not only grow most of the food-stuffs they consume, but are able to export rice. There is scant facility for growing beef cattle, but fish very largely takes the place of beef. The cattle grown are used as draught-animals in farm labor. Ordinary dairy products are but little used.

Rice, tea, and silk are the staple crops. Rice is grown on the coast lowlands, the west or rainy side[80] producing the larger crop. The Japanese crop is so superior that the larger part is exported, while an inferior Chinese grain is imported for home consumption. The quality of the Japanese rice is due to skilful cultivation.