nd people and
keep more than one million spindles busy. More than one million
operatives are engaged in textile manufactures. Much of the cloth, both
cotton and silk, is still woven on cottage looms. The cotton cloth is
sold mainly in China and Korea; the surplus silk textiles find a ready
market in the United States. The best straw matting used as a
floor-covering is now made in Japan and constitutes a very important
export.

Three thousand miles of railway aid the internal industries of the
country; several steamship lines to Hongkong and Shanghai, and one or
more each to Vladivostok, Bombay, San Francisco, Seattle, Honolulu,
Australia, and Vancouver (B.C.) carry the tea, raw silk, and
manufactured products to Europe and America. Much, if not most, of the
steamship interests are owned by the Japanese, and the lines are
encouraged by government subsidies. France and the United States buy
most of the raw silk. The latter country purchases most of the tea,
sending coal-oil, cotton, leather, and lumber in return. Great Britain
and Germany sell to the Japanese a large part of the textiles and the
machinery they use. The exports to the United States are consigned
mainly to San Francisco, New York and Seattle.

_Tokio_ is the capital; _Yokohama_ is the chief port for American
traffic, and the market for most of the foreign trade. Most of the trade
between China and Japan centres at _Nagasaki_, which is the Japanese
naval station. _Osaka_ and _Kioto_ are the chief centres of cotton and
textile manufactures.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

How has the policy of seclusion affected the commercial development of
China?

What has been its effect on the social life of the people?

How did the cultivation of opium in India become a factor in the opening
of China to foreign trade?

What is meant by "treaty ports"? Make a list of those shown on the map
of eastern China.

Name two Chinese statesmen who have been factors in the relations
between China and the United States.

Compare the position of Japan with that of the British Isles with
reference to commerce.

What advantages has Japan with reference to latitude?--what
disadvantages with reference to cultivable lands?

From the Statesman's Year-Book find the leading exports and imports and
the volume of trade of these states.

From the Abstract of Statistics find the leading articles of trade
between these states and the United States.

FOR COLLATERAL READING AND RE