Excerpt from Public Debts in China

Broadly speaking, public debts in China may be classi fied under two main heads: the debts of the central govern ment and those contracted by the provinces. Each of these categories may be divided in turn into domestic loans and foreign loans. The foreign loans of the central government may be subdivided into (i) indemnity and war loans, (2) railway loans, and (3) general loans. To the last group belong the administrative loans, the reorganization loans and some of the industrial loans not for railway purposes. This classification makes no mention of municipal indebt edness which has played such an important role in the his tory of other countries. There are two reasons for the ah sence of municipal indebtedness in China. First, municipal ities have always been administered by appointees of the central government, and hence loans contracted for muni cipal improvements are made in the name of the central government rather than in that of the various municipalities concerned. Second, owing to the incomplete system of state laws, municipal government has not yet been 'fully developed, and thus municipalities are unable to contract obligations upon their own responsibility.

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