. An American engineer in China . nd consequent traderoutes of Southern China. With its fine harborand juxtaposition to Hongkong, it is, of necessity,and must always continue to be, the gateway tothe southern part of the Empire. In like manner,Shanghai, at the mouth of the Yang-tze, is thecontrolling point for the whole of the centralzone; while Tien-tsin, the port of Peking, is theentrance to the north, the northwest, and Mon-golia. Hankow is at the head of steamship navi-gation on the Yang-tze, and at the junction of thatstream and its principal tributary, the Han, and ifthe extreme western
. An American engineer in China . nd consequent traderoutes of Southern China. With its fine harborand juxtaposition to Hongkong, it is, of necessity,and must always continue to be, the gateway tothe southern part of the Empire. In like manner,Shanghai, at the mouth of the Yang-tze, is thecontrolling point for the whole of the centralzone; while Tien-tsin, the port of Peking, is theentrance to the north, the northwest, and Mon-golia. Hankow is at the head of steamship navi-gation on the Yang-tze, and at the junction of thatstream and its principal tributary, the Han, and ifthe extreme western part of the country be omit-ted, which part is mountainous and very thinlypopulated, Hankow is approximately the geo-graphical centre of the Empire. Native vessels trading between native portsreport at custom-houses administered by nativeofficials, where the records are hopelessly con-fused, and which, as a source of income to theChinese Government, will be referred to in a laterchapter. The foreign commerce of China, both import. Chapter V : Commercial Relations 153 and export, is growing steadily, having doubledsince 1891, the figures for 1899 showing that for-eign goods to the value of 264,748,456 Haikwantaels ($185,324,000) were imported, and nativegoods to the value of 195,784,332 Haikwan taels($137,049,000) were exported, or a total commerceof 460,533,288 Haikwan taels. Owing to the lack of internal communication,the distribution of Chinese commerce is singu-larly restricted. Of the imports more than one-half is confined to two classes of articles alone ;thus cotton and cotton goods in 1899 accountedfor per cent., and opium, unfortunately, per cent. In like manner the exports, silkand tea, stand out almost without competitionwith other articles ; these two together also ag-gregating more than 50 per cent, of the provided no less than per cent, and per cent. Kerosene oil, metals, rice, sugar,and coal are other articles largely imported,
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