rs 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.

[Illustration: EASTERN CHINA]

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