The mineral wealth of this region, as indeed of the greater part of China, is very considerable, but it has as yet been exploited only to a slight extent. Coal, iron, and petroleum are known to exist in both Kansu and Shansi, and in Kansu gold is also found. Shansi is one of the great mineral storehouses of the Empire. In the south-east enormous deposits of coal occur, while in the west, between the Hwang-ho and Fen-ho, lies what Richthofen described as a plateau of nearly horizontal coal-bearing strata, although recent research has shown that dips in the strata frequently occur, and that the coalfields are probably more restricted than Richthofen supposed. The mineral wealth of Shansi may yet make it one of the great industrial provinces of the Empire, but at present the only district in the province where coal appears to be worked is at Ping `ting thou, and the output is small. In Honan the Pekin Syndicate works mines at Chinghuachen, where over 500,000 tons of anthracite and good steam and household coal were recently produced in the course of a year. The most important coal mines in China are those owned by the Kailan Mining Administration at Kaiping and Lanchow, about eighty miles from Tientsin. The output, consisting of bituminous coal suitable for steam purposes, amounted in 1911-12 to nearly 1,500,000 tons. There are also mines at Chinghsing, on the borders of Shansi and Chili, but these have a much smaller output. In Shantung the coalfields lie along the margins of the western half of the mountain region where the rocks are of later formation than further east. A German company,
the Schantung Bergbau Gesellschaft, has mines at Fangtze in the Weihsien district, and at Hungshan in Poshan, and these together produced 430,000 tons in 1910-11. The Chinese-owned mines at Poshan are also both valuable and productive. In addition to coal, Shantung has deposits of iron, copper, gold, and other minerals, and iron is also found in Shensi, Shansi, and elsewhere.
The manufactures of the Hwang-ho basin are,with a few important exceptions, confined to the supply of local necessities and are pro duced by primitive methods. Owing to the cold winters which prevail, woollen goods are in much demand, and are manufactured at Lanchow in Kansu, in Shansi, and elsewhere with wool grown in these provinces or imported from Mongolia. Native looms for the weaving of cotton are found everywhere, and modern cotton factories have recently been established at Tientsin, at Tsingtau in Shantung, and at Changteh-fu in Honan. At Tientsin there are also dyeworks and distilleries. Shantung and Honan are both extensively engaged in the silk trade, and at Chef oo there are several steam filiatures and many hand filiatures for the treatment of Manchurian cocoons. Both provinces, but especially Shantung, are also noted for their manufacture of pongees from the tussah silk which they produce. The manufacture of straw plait is an important industry in the west of Shantung and in the south of Chili, where a wheat with a long straw is grown. Japanese straw is also imported for the same purpose.