The relative position of China, Russia, and Japan is not unlike that of continental Europe and Great Britain, and the struggle for supremacy in the Japan and Yellow Seas is about the same as that which in times past took place in the North Sea. In the latter case France and Holland were the disturbing powers; in the former, it is Russia.

The Chinese Empire.—A comparison of the Chinese Empire with the United States shows that the two countries have about the same position and extent of latitude. There is also about the same proportion of highlands, arid lands, and fertile lowlands. The similarity of the two countries in geographic conditions is very marked.

The fertile lowland in the east and southeast is one of the most productive regions in the world, and forms the chief resource of the country; on account of its productivity it is densely peopled. The arid and mountain lands are peopled mainly by cattle-herders and nomadic tribes.

China is essentially an agricultural country, and the farms are held in much the same way as in the United States, but the holdings are so small that agricultural machinery is not required for their cultivation.

Wheat, millet, and pease are grown throughout the lowlands wherever they can be cultivated. The cultivation of rice is confined mainly to the coast lowlands. The amount of food-stuffs produced, however, is scarcely sufficient for home consumption; indeed, a considerable amount is imported, and the imports year by year are increasing. This is due not so much to the density of population as to want of means of transportation of the soil products from inland regions. It is often much cheaper to import food-stuffs from abroad than to transport them, even from an adjoining province.

Tea is extensively cultivated, and China exports nearly one-half of the world's product; the total amount produced is considerably more than half. Most of this goes to Great Britain and Canada. Raw silk is an important product, and the mulberry-tree is extensively grown. Cotton is one of the most general crops in the southern part of the empire, especially along the lower Yangtze. It is a garden-crop, however, and nearly all of it is consumed.

The mineral wealth is very great, and with proper management will make China one of the most productive and powerful countries in the world. Coal is found in every one of the provinces, and the city of Peking is supplied with an excellent quality of anthracite from the Fang-shan mines, only a few miles distant. It is thought that the coal-fields are the most extensive in the world. Iron ore of excellent quality is abundant, and in several localities, notably in the province of Shansi, the two are near each other.

Foreign capitalists are seeking to develop these resources in several localities. The Germans have obtained mining concessions in Shantung peninsula, and these involve the iron ore and coal occurring there. The Peking syndicate, a London company, has also obtained a coal-mining concession in Shansi.

For the greater part the manufactures are home industries.[79] Until recently most of the cotton cloth was made by means of cottage looms, and the beautiful silk brocades which are not surpassed anywhere else in the world are still made in this manner. Porcelain-making is one of the oldest industries, and to this day the wares sold in Europe and America are known as "china." Straw carpet, or matting, and fans for export are also important exports.

The mill system of manufacture is rapidly gaining ground, however, and foreign companies find it economical to carry the yarn made in India from American cotton into China to be made into cloth. In the vicinity of Shanghai alone there are nearly three hundred thousand spindles. This phase of the industry is due largely to the factor of cheap labor; the Chinese skilled laborer is intelligent; he does not object to a sixteen-hour working-day at wages varying from five to twenty cents.

There is no great localization of industrial centres, as in the United States and Europe. Each centre of population is practically self-supporting and independent from an economic stand-point. The introduction of western methods, however, is gradually changing this feature.

All industries of a general character are hampered for want of good means of transportation. The empire is traversed by a network of unpaved roads; but although these are always in a wretched condition, an enormous traffic is carried over them by means of wheel-barrows, pack-animals, and by equally primitive methods.

The numerous rivers form an important means of communication. The Yangtze is now available to commerce a distance of 2,000 miles, and the opening of the Si Kiang (West River) adds a large area that is commercially tributary to Canton and Hongkong. The most important water-way is the Grand Canal, extending from Hang Chow to Tientsin. This canal is by no means a good one as compared with American and European standards. It was built not so much for the necessities of traffic, as to avoid the numerous pirate vessels that infest the coasts. Junks, row-boats, house-boats, and foreign steam craft are all employed for traffic. The internal water-ways aggregate about fifteen thousand miles in length.

Of railways there were less than three hundred and fifty miles at the close of the century, the most important being the line from Tientsin to Peking. About five thousand miles are projected and under construction by American and European companies. A branch of the Transsiberian railway is under construction to Port Arthur. Telegraph and telephone lines have become popular and have been extended to the interior a considerable distance. There are upward of twenty thousand miles of wire communication, the most important, in many respects, being a direct overland line between Peking and European cities. Inasmuch as there are no letters in the Chinese language, the difficulties in using the Morse code of telegraphy are very great. In some cases the messages are translated into a foreign language before they are transmitted; in others, a thousand or more words in colloquial and commercial use are numbered, and the number is telegraphed instead of the word.

Most of the business between the natives and foreigners is carried on by means of middlemen, or "compradors," and these include both the commission merchants and the native bankers. They are intelligent, thrifty, and trustworthy. They are the most capable merchants in Asia, and have few if any superiors among the merchants of western nations. A very large part of the retail trade of the Philippine Islands is carried on by Chinese merchants.

The Chinese Empire consists of China and the five dependencies, as shown in the following table:

The five dependencies are mainly arid, unproductive, and sparsely peopled. Their chief importance consists in the fact that they are "buffer states" between China proper and European states. They produce little except meat, wool, and live-stock.

China proper is divided into provinces, each governed by a viceroy appointed by the throne. All business with foreign powers is transacted through a Foreign Office, the Wai-wu-pu (formerly the Tsung-li-Yamen). The government business is managed by a Grand Council whose members are advisers to the throne. The government is controlled mainly by Manchu officials.

Until within a few years China nominally allowed no foreign traders within her borders; recently, however, about forty cities, commonly known as "treaty ports," have been opened to the trade of foreign countries. Goods going inland any distance are required to pay a "liken" or internal tariff at the border of each province.

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.

Tea has become the staple crop, and is cultivated from Formosa to the forty-fifth parallel. Tea-farms occupy nearly every acre of the cultivable hill-side areas in some of the islands, and the soil is enriched with a fertilizer made from fish and fish refuse, dried and broken. Most of the tea product is made into green tea, and on account of its quality it commands a high price. Formosa tea is considered the best in the market.

Silk culture is confined almost wholly to the island of Hondo. The raw silk is of superior quality, and the exported material is used mainly in the manufacture of ribbons and brocades. A limited amount of cotton is grown, but the staple is short, and its cultivation is not profitable except in a few localities.

Among the forestry there is comparatively little timber suitable for building purposes, and a considerable amount of timber is purchased from the mills of Puget Sound. Bamboo is largely employed for buildings. Camphor is the product of a tree (Camphora officinarum) allied to the cinnamon and the sassafras. It is cultivated in the island of Kiushiu. The best gum, however, is now obtained from Formosa, and this island now controls the world's supply. The camphor product is a government monopoly leased to a British company.

The lacquer-tree (Rhus vernicifera) grows mainly in the island of Hondo. The sap, after preparation, forms the most durable varnish known. Black lacquer is obtained by treating the sap with nutgalls. Lacquered wooden-ware is sold all over Europe and the United States. The lacquered surface is exceedingly hard and water-proof; it is not affected by climate.

Gold, porcelain clay, silver, copper, and petroleum are mined. The gold and silver are used both for coinage and in the arts; the clay has made Japanese porcelains famous. The copper comes from the most productive mines of Asia; a considerable amount is exported, but much is used in the manufacture of Japanese bronze goods. Coal is mined, and this has given a great impetus to manufacture; iron ore is deficient, and steel must be imported. The quantity of petroleum is increasing yearly, and is becoming an important factor in the world's product.

Manufacturing industries are giving shape to the industrial future of the country. The cotton-mills alone employ seventy thousand people and keep more than one million spindles busy. More than one million operatives are engaged in textile manufactures. Much of the cloth, both cotton and silk, is still woven on cottage looms. The cotton cloth is sold mainly in China and Korea; the surplus silk textiles find a ready market in the United States. The best straw matting used as a floor-covering is now made in Japan and constitutes a very important export.

Three thousand miles of railway aid the internal industries of the country; several steamship lines to Hongkong and Shanghai, and one or more each to Vladivostok, Bombay, San Francisco, Seattle, Honolulu, Australia, and Vancouver (B.C.) carry the tea, raw silk, and manufactured products to Europe and America. Much, if not most, of the steamship interests are owned by the Japanese, and the lines are encouraged by government subsidies. France and the United States buy most of the raw silk. The latter country purchases most of the tea, sending coal-oil, cotton, leather, and lumber in return. Great Britain and Germany sell to the Japanese a large part of the textiles and the machinery they use. The exports to the United States are consigned mainly to San Francisco, New York and Seattle.

Tokio is the capital; Yokohama is the chief port for American traffic, and the market for most of the foreign trade. Most of the trade between China and Japan centres at Nagasaki, which is the Japanese naval station. Osaka and Kioto are the chief centres of cotton and textile manufactures.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

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