TRADE AND COMMERCE.
6 35
a total of 117,525,268 taels, or 83*8 per cent, of the whole com- merce of China, and leaving only 16-2 per cent, for all the other foreign nations. Among the latter the United States take the first rank, with a trade, in 1868, of 7,416,069 taels, or 53 per cent, of the commerce of China.
The first attempt on the part of Great Britain to open a trade with China was made in 1637, when four merchant vessels arrived at Macao; but through the intrigues of the Portuguese there established, the enterprise failed. Afterwards the East India Company carried on a small traffic at the different maritime ports, and chiefly at Canton. In 1792, Lord Macartney's embassy attempted to put the trade on a more liberal basis, but with little success. In 1816, Lord Amherst's mission for a similar purpose also failed, though the English trade continued for the next twenty years. In 1834 the exclusive trade of the East India Company with China terminated, and the country was thrown open to general traders. The opening thus made was followed by a commercial treaty, signed on August 29, 1842, by the plenipotentaries of the Queen of Great Britain and the Emperor of China, by the terms of which five ports of the empire were opened to European trade. The five ports comprised those of Canton, Amoy, Foo-chow-foo, Ningpo, and Shanghae. To these five ports were subsequently added nine others — namely, Swatow, Tientsin, Che-foo, Hankow, Kiu-kiang, Chin-kiang, Newchwang, Takow, and Tamsuy.
The relative importance of these fourteen gates of Chinese com- merce is shown in the following table, which gives the total value of the imports and exports of each, during the years 1867 and 1868 :
Ports
1867
1868
Imports and Exports
Total Commerce
Imports and Exports
Total Commerce
Shanghae : —
Foreign imports . Chinese imports . Exports
Hankow : —
Foreign imports . Chinese imports . Exports
Canton : —
Foreign imports . Chinese imports . Exports
Foo-chow : —
Foreign imports . Chinese imports . Exports
Taels
12,872,525
5,626,675
19,593,901
Taels 38,093,101
30,537,026
24,296,136
23,457,792
Taels
12,454,880
6,657,875
27,710,516
9,852,797
5,135,817
15,481,567
Taels 46,823,271
30,470,181
23,460,665
22,338,997
10,294,656
7,836,038
12,406,332
7,812,994
2,695,971
13,787,171
6,946,711
2,672,838
13,841,116
4,027,118
3,850,718
15,579,956
3,902,691
2,318,576
16,117,730
