[A] This marked increase is partly owing to a more complete presentation of statistics; in 1903 an additional number of vessels were placed under the control of the imperial maritime customs.
In 1907 the net imports were valued at £67,664,222 and the exports at £42,961,863. In 1908 China suffered from the general depression in trade. In that year the imports were valued at £52,600,730, the exports at £36,888,050. The distribution of the trade among the various countries of the world is shown in the table which is given below. Hong-Kong is a port for trans-shipment. The imports into China from it come originally from Great Britain, India, Germany, France, America, Australia, the Straits Settlements, &c., and the exports from China to it go ultimately to the same countries.
+-------------------------+-----+-----+-----+------+------+------+--------+ | Imports from |1875.|1880.|1885.| 1890.| 1895.| 1905.| 1908.| +-------------------------+-----+-----+-----+------+------+------+--------+ |United Kingdom |£6340|£6382|£6396|£6,357|£5,518|£1,971| £9,647| |Hong-Kong | 8282| 8829| 9404|18,615|14,331|22,240| 20,033| |India | 4451| 6039| 4306| 2,661| 2,753| 5,220| 4,066| |Other British possessions| 396| 346| 542| 571| 732| 963| | |United States | 304| 351| 884| 949| 827|11,538| 5,499| |Continent of Europe | | | | | | | | | (except Russia) | 230| 671| 671| 638| 1,227| 4,295|[B]3,332| |Russian Empire | .. | .. | .. | 231| 309| 302| 422| |Japan | 746| 1021| 1404| 1,909| 2,794| 9,197| 7,000| +-------------------------+-----+-----+-----+------+------+------+--------+
+-------------------------+-----+-----+-----+------+------+------+--------+ | Imports from |1875.|1880.|1885.| 1890.| 1895.| 1905.| 1908.| +-------------------------+-----+-----+-----+------+------+------+--------+ |United Kingdom |£6340|£6382|£6396|£6,357|£5,518|£1,971| £9,647| |Hong-Kong | 8282| 8829| 9404|18,615|14,331|22,240| 20,033| |India | 4451| 6039| 4306| 2,661| 2,753| 5,220| 4,066| |Other British possessions| 396| 346| 542| 571| 732| 963| | |United States | 304| 351| 884| 949| 827|11,538| 5,499| |Continent of Europe | | | | | | | | | (except Russia) | 230| 671| 671| 638| 1,227| 4,295|[B]3,332| |Russian Empire | .. | .. | .. | 231| 309| 302| 422| |Japan | 746| 1021| 1404| 1,909| 2,794| 9,197| 7,000| +-------------------------+-----+-----+-----+------+------+------+--------+