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The Foreign Trade of China

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The Foreign Trade of China Cornell MntnwHitg Kibrarg Stljara, Jfein fork THE GIFT OF Date Due ^_ , flb/i i tfBQf / \t -A MAY 1 949 *«te Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023278504 THE FOREIGN TRADE OF CHINA BY CHONG SU SEE, M. A. SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE Faculty of Political Science Columbia University NEW YORK 1919 • National Boundary — •£ Z N A S K A CNaH HAl) (Provingial Boundorit THE FOREIGN TRADE OF CHINA CHONG SU SEE, M. A. 7- SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE Faculty of Political Science Columbia University NEW YORK 1919 Mima- u'Sn y liuuau'y % < A 4^170 Copyright, 1919 BY The Faculty of Political Science of Columbia University, New York ; JJ*JM}100 )' I ISJIdVlHW-' ®0 MY UNCLES SIY CONG JIU and BENITO SIY CONG BIENG IN TOKEN OF THEIR FATHERLY AID AND CARE THIS VOLUME IS GRATEFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED Tsekung asked, saying, " Is there one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all " one's life ? The Master said, " Is not Reciprocity such a word ? What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others." — Confucian Analects. PREFACE The trend of trade and civilization has generally been from the East towards the West. Civilization has advanced from the Tigris, the Euphrates, and the Nile to the Mediter- ranean, thence to the Atlantic, and now it is shifting west- ward to the Pacific, which is rapidly becoming the center of human interest and commercial activity. With the opening of the Pacific era we are witnessing the awakening of the Far East ; and China, with her four hun- dred million people and her wonderful resources, is the key to the whole movement. Stupendous changes are taking place in the Oriental Republic, of which we do not yet see the full significance. The Chinese are now looking into the future instead of dwelling in the past. They are earnestly struggling for the complete regeneration of their country by renovating every phase of their national life—their educa- tion, their politics, their industry, and their commerce—in accordance with the fundamentals of Western civilization. Today China is the part of the world where the most im- portant preparation is being made for the building-up of a nation which is certain to bulk large in the not distant future as a field for great industrial development and commercial expansion. The renaissance of the Chinese people is pregnant with meaning. It is a world problem, for its outcome is bound to affect the destinies of both Europe and America, as well as that of Asia. In view of this importance it is highly desirable that the world should know China better, better 7 8 PREFACE than it does now, and that the Chinese should have a wider knowledge of their economic past and of their potentialities in the new era which is dawning upon us, when to> every peace-loving nation will be conceded the right of untram- meled self-development. The world must know China better, because never has a people been more misunder- stood than the Chinese. Whatever happens, they are invari- ably placed in the wrong. Their case is, as a rule, not pre- sented, the motives and feelings which influence their action are never considered, and they are judged and found guilty by misrepresentation. No matter how absurd a statement may be, it is accepted as true if it deals with China. Much has been written about China, but seldom, if ever, from the Chinese point of view. Most of the books given to us by foreign writers have not done the Chinese justice. They generally describe the activities of the foreigner in China in his own terms and solely from his own stand- point, and are designed primarily to justify the policy of some power in that country. As to the impression pro- duced by those activities upon the Chinese themselves, we are left perfectly in the dark. They tell us that China ought to do this, and that China ought to do that, not for her own benefit, but in order to promote the interest and profit of the foreigner. Of course, this does not necessarily mean that all the authors have been intentionally unfair, for in some cases the prejudice has been due to the inability to see more than one side of the medal. However, what has been done has been done not the less effectively. From the mistaken ideas about the Chinese has flowed the consequent abuse of that people all over the world, even in their own country. They are never thought of as being animated by the same feelings and motives which actuate and guide men in other parts of the world. Both abroad and in their home land they are deprived of many rights PREFACE 9 and innumerable privileges, and everywhere they are treated with discrimination and harshness. Countless misconceptions of the Chinese have arisen and many of them still exist. They can be removed, and it is high time that they should be removed. To be misinformed is to be misguided, and misguidance in foreign affairs may prove disastrous to a country, for at the bottom of most international troubles is to be traced the mutual lack of acquaintance among nations. The European War has brought home to us with especial force the importance of nations knowing one another better and of understanding one another more correctly. There is nothing that will enable the Chinese to understand the foreigners more accu- rately than an honest attempt on the part of the latter to understand the Chinese and to give them a " square deal." Surely the Chinese people are entitled to a more humane judgment than that which is so often registered against them, and this can be best obtained by trying to see their point of view in all questions concerning them. It is hardly conceivable that the intelligent West would pass such sweeping condemnations of the Chinese as it is wont to do, if correct information were placed at its disposal. The westerners would certainly not have blamed the Chi- nese for their early policy of exclusion against the Euro- peans had they known that it was brought about by the deplorable conduct of their own pioneers in the Celestial Empire. They would not have censured China for the Opium War if they knew how the British forced the opium vice upon her with the help of their Government. Neither would they have condemned the Chinese for the Boxer Re- bellion had they been acquainted with the fact that it was the natural sequence of years of foreign insult and aggres- sion upon an inoffensive people. Nor would they complain so vociferously about China's slow progress if they were IO PREFACE to realize that it is in a very large measure to be ascribed to the selfish and disruptive policy of the treaty powers in China. The following study is a humble attempt to trace briefly the development of China's commercial relations with the outside world from the earliest period to the present time, and to explain certain forces at work in that develop- ment. It aims at showing some of the effects upon China herself of her international relations, things on which for- eign writers are usually reticent, although they are cardi- nally important for a proper understanding of the Chinese Question. We have endeavored to point out the injustice and impracticability of the unilateral treaties imposed upon China by the powers; and it is our sincere hope that the present monograph, however inadequate it may be, will serve to draw attention to the urgent need of a just and equitable revision of those antiquated documents. Such a revision will redound as much to the common benefit of the world at large as to the welfare of the Chinese people them- selves. It will, in the first place, accelerate the industrial- ization of China, for which she is so richly endowed by nature, and permit the unfettered growth of her foreign trade, which has demonstrated its remarkable vitality under the present adverse conditions and needs but little encour- agement to expand greatly. The advantages of this mate- rial transformation will unquestionably be shared by all. Moreover, the change will enable the young Republic to carry out the reforms that will metamorphose her into a powerful and progressive nation, thereby rendering possible the permanent peace of the Far East, and hence of the world. In our survey we have been critical towards the policy of the treaty powers in China. But it is to be understood that in so doing we cherish no malice, we bear no grudge against PREFACE ! i the foreigners. We are simply prompted by the desire to see a better and nobler world and not one in which Might makes Right. With us it is merely a question of stating facts ; some of them are, doubtless, painful and humiliating, but they are none the less facts. Indeed the whole history of the foreign relations of China is a very unpleasant one to relate and it will remain so until China's large dossier of grievances against the powers is redressed. Furthermore, we believe that if the world is to become truly democratic and diplomacy is to proceed " always frankly and in the public view," the open discussion of international affairs must be fostered and cultivated.
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