(I). It is connected by the Shanghai-Nanking (Hu-Ning) rail way with Nanking (194 miles) at the apex of the delta, whence by ferry across the river it is linked by the Tientsin-Pukow rail way with Peking, north China, the South Manchurian and Trans Siberian railways. By the overland route Shanghai can be reached from Western Europe in about a fortnight. There is a local branch of the Shanghai-Nanking railway to the outport, Woo sung.
(2). The Shanghai-Hangchow-Ningpo railway (Hu-Hang-Jung), with a mileage of 178, connects the metropolis with the southern margins of the delta, the important districts round Hangchow Bay and the ancient emporium of Ningpo, with which it has very inti mate commercial relations.
The chief function of Shanghai is to serve as the prin cipal entrepOt for the trade of central and much of north China and particularly to transact trans-oceanic business. The total ton nage using the port in 1926 was returned at 33,937,466, making it—on the criterion of tonnage—the premier port of the Far East and the fifth port of the world. Of this tonnage the share of the British Empire was 32.67%, of Japan 27.96%, of China, 15'.05% and of the United States of America 12.05%. Approxi mately half the total shipping is engaged on coastal and river trade, shared as follows: British Empire 37.98%, China 30.56%, Japan 21.19%, U.S.A.
Of the total ocean shipping of Shanghai, Japan in 1926 claimed (in tonnage) 34.48%, the British Empire 27.56%, and the United States 21.94%. About one-half of the shipping engaged on the trans-Pacific (northern) trade, which forms approximately io% of the total, is owned by the United States and most of the remainder is shared between the British Empire and Japan.
The general character of Shanghai's trade is indicated by the following analysis: Exports Foreign goods re-exported to foreign ports . . . 12.7 Foreign goods re-exported to Chinese ports . . 574.2 Imported Chinese goods re-exported to foreign ports 555.9 Imported Chinese goods re-exported to Chinese ports 63.9Local Chinese produce exported to foreign ports . 123.5 Local Chinese produce exported to Chinese ports . 263.9 Total Exports . 791.1The table indicates the importance of the re-export business which forms about 40% of Shanghai's gross trade.
In 1926 Shanghai yielded no less than 41.81% of the total revenue of the Maritime Customs, a fair indication of her share of China's foreign trade. Swelling the total volume of trade there is, moreover, a large importation of Chinese products in junks which passes through the "native" customs. The possibilities of the future are indicated by the fact that, so far as purchasing power is concerned, China is still in its infancy and the Yangtze valley with its i8o millions imports less than Australia with six mil lions. The list of foreign goods imported into Shanghai is increas ingly varied but considerably the most valuable items are cotton piece goods (grey, white or dyed, printed, etc.) and raw cotton (including thread and yarn) which in 1926 represented respec tively about 87 and 89 million Haikwan Taels out of total imports valued at 596 millions. In 1926 Shanghai took over 8o% of the total Chinese import of foreign cotton. Among other out standing imports are tobacco, sugar, oils and soap, cereals and coal. Out of a total export trade in 1926 valued at about 362 mil lion H.T. silk, silk materials and products accounted for nearly 154 millions, vegetable products (particularly bean and wood oil) 78 millions and textiles and textile products other than silk nearly 37 millions. An important and growing item is the export to
Europe of frozen eggs, albumen and yolk. The chief participants in the import trade of Shanghai are the British Empire, supplying cotton piece goods, woollens, raw cotton (Indian) and machinery, the United States (machinery, tobacco, wheat and kerosene), Japan (cotton piece-goods and coal) and China itself (raw cotton, coal, metals, hides and skins). The United States is the chief foreign market for Shanghai, which is responsible for 33% of the total Chinese exports to America. No less than 65% of Shanghai's exports to U.S.A. consists of raw silk and silk products.
Shanghai is not only China's premier sea port and commercial metropolis, it is also incomparably the chief manufacturing centre of the country and the city where the new industrial activities and tendencies are most conspicuously displayed. This is the result of many causes, chiefly connected with its geographical position as the gateway of commercial China and the base of Western influences. Raw material reaches it from all parts of China and from many foreign sources. It lies in one of the most densely peopled regions of the country, with traditional skill in handicrafts. Fuel for power, although comparatively lack ing in the immediate vicinity, is cheaply imported. The main re liance is on coal imported chiefly from Japan, the Kaiping field of Hopeh (Chihli) via Chinwangtao, Fushun near Mukden in Manchuria and from the Shantung fields via Tsingtao, while further supplies from the interior coal basins of Shansi, Honan and Hunan reach it by the Yangtze from Hankow. Finally the im mense opportunities for industrial development, the immunities hitherto enjoyed by the International Settlement and the relative security which it has offered, in contrast to the troubled condi tions of the interior, have attracted not only foreign but Chinese capital. The rapid expansion of native industries in the Shanghai area is one of the most noteworthy features of recent years, espe cially during and since the World War (1914-18). This is strik ingly shown by the increased importance of "Total Exports of local origin" in the returns of the Maritime Customs. In the decade preceding the War they ranged in value from about 7o to 95 millions of Haikwan Taels per annum. Since 1918 they have never been less than 200 and in 1924 reached 384 millions. Their value is now about half that of the net trade of the port. The major industries of Shanghai are concerned either with her primary activity as a sea-port, e.g., shipbuilding, for which there are now five yards, or with the large-scale manufacture of raw materials on modern factory lines. Of the latter the most out standing is the cotton industry whose development has been re markably rapid. There are at present 58 cotton mills in Shanghai out of a total of 119 in China. They employ over half the total number of cotton operatives in the whole country and account for 6o per cent of the looms and 52 per cent of the spindles used in China. At first it was mainly a Western and Japanese industry but since the War there has been a steady advance in the Chinese ownership of mills. The present position is as follows :— The four British mills are the only cotton factories of this nation ality in China but 70% of the spindles used in Shanghai are of British origin.