Tonquin by the same routes shall pay six-tenths, of the general tariff in force at the Treaty ports of China. In August, 1889, a Custom-house was established at Mêng-tzŭ, with which I propose to deal more particularly in this place, for the route by way of the Red River, Man-hao, and Mêng-tzŭ is practically the only way of access from Tonquin to Yün-nan and the South-Western Provinces of China, and by it the whole trade is conducted; so that the Custom-house Returns of Mêng-tzŭ supply complete data as to its value, volume, and distribution. The following table gives the value of the trade from 1890 to 1895:—

After 1892 no distinction was made between foreign and native imports.

An analysis of the trade shows that it is composed for the most part of a few articles of considerable value. The year 1895 may be taken as an example.

As the transit pass system is in full working order at Mêng-tzŭ, it is possible to describe with accuracy the area which this route supplies. In 1895—the latest figures available—the value of the imports, as stated above, was H.T. 1,809,253; and all these imports, principally from Hong-kong, are entitled, on payment of seven-tenths of the General Tariff import duty, and of an additional half full import duty, to be conveyed under transit pass to any destination in the interior without further taxation. Eighty-four per cent. were so carried, of the value of H.T. 1,521,021, and of this the Province of Yün-nan itself consumed H.T. 1,509,491, leaving a balance of H.T. 11,530 for distribution in other Provinces. Of this latter, Ta-ting Fu, in Kuei-chow, took seven piculs of prepared tobacco, of the value of H.T. 210; Chang-sha and Ch’ang-tê Hupeh, on the opposite bank of the Yang-tsze from Hankow, took 41 catties of cassia lignea, of the value of H.T. 14. There still remains goods of the value of H.T. 10,936 to be accounted for. These were sent to three places in the Province of Ssŭ-ch’uan, namely, Ning-yüan Fu, which is situated in that part of the Province which juts into the north of Yün-nan, and is separated from the highest navigable point on the Yang-tsze by the inaccessible Lolo country. I visited this city on March 20, 1883, by the only available mountain road from Ch’êng-tu, the capital of Ssŭ-ch’uan, and it is not at all surprising, when the difficulties of this route are taken into account, that it draws its supplies from Mêng-tzŭ. Its requirements, however, amounted to the small sum of H.T. 10,085, consisting almost entirely of Indian cotton yarn. The other two places in Ssŭ-ch’uan which drew from Mêng-tzŭ were Ch’êng-tu, which took 25 catties of cinnamon, valued at H.T. 800, and Hsü-chou Fu, at the junction of the Chin-sha Chiang (Upper Yang-tsze) and the Min River, whose requirements consisted of 203 catties of inferior cardamoms, of the value of H.T. 51. While Ning-yüan will in all probability continue to satisfy its wants from Mêng-tzŭ, there is not the remotest likelihood of other parts of Ssŭ-ch’uan deserting the Yang-tsze route and Ch’ung-k’ing. Although Kuei-chow drew seven piculs of prepared tobacco, and Chao-t’ung, the northern prefecture of Yün-nan, took four pieces of T cloths and 14½ piculs of tobacco from Mêng-tzŭ, I see no reason to alter what I wrote eight years ago in the concluding paragraph of Chapter XII. “The only route to Ssŭ-ch’uan, Kuei-chow, and Northern Yün-nan is the Yang-tsze, on whose upper waters a large trade in foreign goods is even now conducted, a trade which is capable of enormous development when the present burdensome taxation is reduced. The opening of Ch’ung-k’ing by the ascent of a steamer—an event anxiously looked forward to by the native merchants of Ssŭ-ch’uan, will, as I have pointed out, reduce that taxation, and will enable millions, who at present look upon foreign goods as articles of luxury, to become themselves consumers; and I trust the day is not far distant when the British flag will float over entrepôts of British manufactures throughout Western China.” The unwieldy junk, which, if it succeeds in covering the distance of 400 miles between Ichang and Ch’ung-k’ing in less than a month, is considered to have made a good passage, is still the only means of communication between the Lower Yang-tsze and Ssŭ-ch’uan. This long passage entails heavy freights, thereby enhancing the retail prices and hindering the free distribution of our manufactures; and it is sincerely to be hoped that the permission granted by the Japanese Treaty of Shimonoseki, to employ steam on the Upper Yang-tsze, will soon bear fruit. The French have succeeded in running small steamers on the Red River from Hanoi to Lao-kai, that is, to the frontier of Yün-nan, and a weekly service is maintained between Yen-bai and Lao-kai; but in winter the river is too shallow to admit of the passage of even small steamers. In 1895 a cargo steamer was placed on the line in summer, for junk navigation, owing to the strong current, virtually ceases from the beginning of May until September; but the Chinese, even although freights were as light as by junk, refused to ship by her on the plea that “the arrival of goods could not be regulated as at present, and that prices would consequently fall.” The long journey overland from Mêng-tzŭ, or rather Man-hao, to Ssŭ-ch’uan, Kuei-chow, and Northern Yün-nan, is, in my opinion, an insuperable barrier to a successful rivalry of the Red River with the Yang-tsze.

On the 1st of March, 1894, a Convention between Great Britain and China, relative to the boundaries of, and overland trade between, Burmah and China, was signed at London. Art. VIII. of that