Szchuen, From Its Size,
Population, Trade And Products, May, According To Mrs. Bishop, Be Truly
Called The Empire Province.
Apart from its great mineral resources, the
province produces silk, wax and tobacco, all of good quality; grass cloth,
grain in abundance, and tea, plentiful though of poor flavor.
The climate
is changeable, necessitating a variety of clothing. Cotton is grown in
Szchuen, but Bourne states that Indian yarn is driving it out of
cultivation, not apparently on account of the enormous saving through
spinning by machinery, but because the fiber can be grown more cheaply in
India. The greater part of the surplus wealth of Szchuen is devoted to the
purchase of raw native and foreign cotton and woolen goods. All the cotton
bought is not consumed in the province, for the inhabitants manufacture
from the imported raw material and export the product to Yunnan and
western Kweichow. Rich as it is, Szchuen has the disadvantage of being
difficult of access from the rest of the world, for at present merchandise
can now only reach it during certain months of the year, and after a
difficult voyage. Its trade would be increased very greatly were the
navigation of the Yangtse rendered easier and safer, thus facilitating the
establishment of effective steam communication not only to Chungking, but
as far as Suifoo.
The natural channel of trade between Hongkong and southwestern China is
the Sikiang, or West River. Owing, however, to the obstacles raised by
taxation and the non-enforcement by England of the transit-pass system,
trade has been diverted to other channels, such as the Pakhoi-Nanning
route, and later to the Tonquin route, the French having insisted on the
effective carrying out of the transit-pass system via Mengtse.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 686 of 704
Words from 186193 to 186483
of 191255
