awake to the situation, it is almost too late. I shall come back later
to the question of what can be done. For the present, let us continue
our survey of facts.

It may be presumed that the population of China will always be mainly
agricultural. Tea, silk, raw cotton, grain, the soya bean, etc., are
crops in which China excels. In production of raw cotton, China is the
third country in the world, India being the first and the United States
the second. There is, of course, room for great progress in agriculture,
but industry is vital if China is to preserve her national independence,
and it is industry that is our present topic.

To quote Mr. Tyau: "At the end of 1916 the number of factory hands was
officially estimated at 560,000 and that of mine workers 406,000. Since
then no official returns for the whole country have been published ...
but perhaps a million each would be an approximate figure for the
present number of factory operatives and mine workers."[108] Of course,
the hours are very long and the wages very low; Mr. Tyau mentions as
specially modern and praiseworthy certain textile factories where the
wages range from 15 to 45 cents a day.[109] (The cent varies in value,
but is always somewhere between a farthing and a halfpenny.) No doubt as
industry develops Socialism and labour unrest will also develop. If Mr.
Tyau is to be taken as a sample of the modern Chinese governing classes,
the policy of the Government towards Labour will be very illiberal. Mr.
Tyau's outlook is that of an American capitalist, and shows the extent
to which he has come under American influence, as well as that of
conservative England (he is an LL.D. of London). Most of the Young
Chinese I came across, however, were Socialists, and it may be hoped
that the traditional Chinese dislike of uncompromising fierceness will
make the Government less savage against Labour than the Governments of
America and Japan.

There is room for the development of a great textile industry in China.
There are a certain number of modern mills, and nothing but enterprise
is needed to make the industry as great as that of Lancashire.

Shipbuilding has made a good beginning in Shanghai, and would probably
develop rapidly if China had a flourishing iron and steel industry in
native hands.

The total exports of native produce in 1919 were just under L200,000,000
(630,000,000 taels), and the total imports slightly larger. It is
better, however, to consider