[PROGRAM I]
The industrial development of China should be carried out along two lines: (1) by private enterprise and (2) by national undertaking. All matters that can be and are better carried out by private enterprise should be left to private hands which should be encouraged and fully protected by liberal laws. And in order to facilitate the industrial development by private enterprise in China, the hitherto suicidal internal taxes must be abolished, the cumbersome currency must be reformed, the various kinds of official obstacles must be removed, and transportation facilities must be provided. All matters that cannot be taken up by private concerns and those that possess monopolistic character should be taken up as national undertakings. It is for this latter line of development that we are here endeavoring to deal with. In this national undertaking, foreign capital have to be invited, foreign experts and organizers have to be enlisted, and gigantic methods have to be adopted. The property thus created will be state owned and will be managed for the benefit of the whole nation. During the construction and the operation of each of these national undertakings, before its capital and interest are fully repaid, it will be managed and supervised by foreign experts under Chinese employment. As one of their obligations, these foreign experts have to undertake the training of Chinese assistants to take their places in the future. When the capital and interest of each undertaking are paid off, the Chinese Government will have the option to employ either foreigners or Chinese to manage the concern as it thinks fit.
Before entering into the details of this International development scheme, four principles have to be considered:
(1) The most remunerative field must be selected in order to attract foreign capital.
(2) The most urgent needs of the nation must be met.
(3) The lines of least resistance must be followed.
(4) The most suitable positions must be chosen.
In conformity with the above principles, I formulate Program I as follows:
I. The construction of a great Northern Port on the Gulf of Pechili.
II. The building of a system of railways from the Great Northern Port to the Northwestern extremity of China.
III. The Colonization of Mongolia and Sinkiang (Chinese Turkestan).
IV. The construction of canals to connect the inland waterway systems of North and Central China with the Great Northern Port.
V. The development of the Iron and Coal fields in Shansi and the construction of an Iron and Steel Works.
These five projects will be worked out as one program, for each of them will assist and accelerate the development of the others. The Great Northern Port will serve as a base of operation of this International Development Scheme, as well as a connecting link of transportation and communication between China and the outer world. The other four projects will be centered around it.
PART I
The Great Northern Port
I propose that a great deep water and ice free port be constructed on the Gulf of Pechili. The need of such a port in that part of China has been keenly felt for a long time. Several projects have been proposed such as the deepening of the Taku Bar, the construction of a harbor in the Chiho estuary, the Chinwangtao Harbor which has actually been carried out on a small scale and the Hulutao Harbor which is on the point of being constructed. But the site of my projected port is in none of these places for the first two are too far from the deep water line and too near to fresh water which freezes in winter. So it is impossible to make them into deep water and ice free ports, while the last two are too far away from the center of population and are unprofitable as commercial ports. The locality of my projected port is just at midway between Taku and Chinwangtao and at a point between the mouths of the Tsingho and Lwanho, on the cape of the coast line between Taku and Chinwangtao. This is one of the points nearest to deep water in this Gulf. With the fresh water of the Tsingho and Lwanho diverted away, it can be made a deep water and ice free port without much difficulty. Its distance to Tientsin is about seventy or eighty miles less than that of Chinwangtao to Tientsin. Moreover, this port can be connected with the inland waterway systems of North and Central China by canal, whereas in the case of Chinwangtao and Hulutao this could not be done. So this port is far superior as a commercial harbor than Hulutao or Chinwangtao which at present is the only ice free port in the Gulf of Pechili.
From a commercial standpoint this port will be a paying proposition from the very beginning of its construction, owing to the fact that it is situated at the center of the greatest salt industry in China. The cheapest salt is produced here by sun evaporation only. If modern methods could be added, also utilizing the cheap coal near by, the production could increase many times more and the cost could thus be made cheaper. Then it can supply the whole of China with much cheaper salt. By this industry alone it is quite sufficient to support a moderate sized harbor which must be the first step of this great project. Besides, there is in the immediate neighborhood the greatest coal mine that has yet been developed in China, the Kailan Mining Company. The output of its colliery is about four million tons a year. At present the company uses its own harbor, Chinwangtao, for shipping its exports. But our projected port is much nearer to its colliery than Chinwangtao. It can be connected with the mine by canal thus providing it with a much cheaper carriage than by rail to Chinwangtao. Furthermore, our projected port will in future consume much of the Kailan coal. Thus eventually the Company must use our port as a shipping stage for its exports. Tientsin, the largest commercial center in North China, has no deep harbor and is ice bound several months a year in winter, and so has to use our projected port entirely as an outlet for its world trade. This is the local need only but for this alone it is quite sufficient to make our projected port a paying proposition.