Excerpt from China: Notes on the Foreign Trade of Tientsin During the Years 1900-03

The last report on the trade of Tientsin was despatched just before the troubles in connection with the Boxer outbreak came to a head, and the great pressure of work thrown on the shoulders of the Consular staff, in consequence of its having to grapple with the many complications arising out of a new condition of things when order was finally restored, has rendered the compilation of one in the interval a matter of impossibility.

The following notes, collected in the course of a visit to Tientsin in December, 1903, are intended to give some idea of the great changes which have taken place at that port during the last three years, and to form a point of departure for future reports drawn up in the orthodox manner.

The writer has not been stationed in Tientsin since 1892, and it is, in the nature of things, not easy for a non-resident fully to grasp the situation presented by the new state of affairs. The opinions with which he was furnished wore so divergent that the conclusions drawn are likely to be open to criticism. Points of interest may have been overlooked, nor can freedom from error be guaranteed. It is hoped, therefore, that any shortcomings or inaccuracies which may strike those on the spot will not be treated with undue severity. It should be added that the trade statistics for 1903 are incomplete.

As was pointed out in the report for 1899, Tientsin's geographical position has for years past made it the second port in China. The value of its total trade is only surpassed by that of the port of Shanghai, and the net total of its foreign imports exceeds that of Shanghai. Until it received the disastrous set back of 1900, its commercial prosperity had been growing steadily since 1888, and, after two years of depression, it in 1902 fully recovered itself - the sterling value of the trade in that year being only 8, 000l. behind that of 1899, whereas the silver value was far greater.

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