204 REPORT ON COOPERATION IN AMERICAN EXPORT TRADE.
by Government subsidies rather than from local sources of taxation,
ste. The principal steamship companies and routes are subsidized,
and the largest bank (the Bank of Chosen) is a semigovernment
concern.
For the purpose of promoting the technical industries of the
country the Government has established a technical industrial training
 institute in Seoul, where weaving, dyeing, ceramics, metal and
wood work, and applied chemistry are taught; it has established a
central chemical laboratory for testing materials and processes for industrial
 purposes; industrial training schools have been established
in various Provinces, at Government expense; and subsidies are
granted by the Government to industries and associations engaged in
industrial education or in certain local industries, such as weaving,
paper making, matting, bamboo work, and pottery.
CHINA.

Special report rendered by William B. Webster and approved by the American
minister, Paul S. Reinsch, Peking, China, January 15, 1916..

No attempt has been made to give detailed information concerning
 any territory but that of China proper, but much of the general
information given herein will apply to Manchuria as well.
Nrganization of domestic trade of (hina.—Generally speaking
there are no important cartels, syndicates, or combinations of manufacturers
 native to China. It is not normally an industrial country,
and is not likely to become one for many years. The manufacturing
industries of the country are still in a primitive state, the greater
art being carried on by hand in the homes of the people so engaged.
The large manufacturing plants are few in number. The most important
 are cotton, spinning, and weaving mills, 48 in number, of
which 38 are Chinese. There are 27 docks, shipbuilding, and engineering
 works; 62 distilleries, breweries, and aerated-water works;
39 electric light plants; 41 flour mills; 18 glass and porcelain works;
19 match factories; 34 oil mills; 54 printing and hthograph mills;
20 sawmills; 25 soap and candle works; 18 cement and brick factories;
 9 ice and cold-storage plants; 3 steel and iron works; and
others, numbering in all about 600 plants of relative importance.
There are very few railways in China for such an extensive territory,
 but there are now about 6,000 milex open to traffic, with 32
lines. There are 2,000 miles more under construction and some
8,500 miles projected. Of the 6,000 miles in operation, about 5,000
are owned and operated by the Government, 100 privately owned,
and 300 are provincial lines.
There are, however, certain classes or combinations of merchants
and dealers in China who play a very important part in the control
of prices, products, wages, etc., and who will have to be taken into
consideration by any importer or manufacturer in this country.
These are the “ guilds.”
There is no trade which has not its guild of manufacturers, buyers,
and sellers. There are bankers’ guilds, the tea guild, the silk guild, the
piece-goods guild, and others. Many have their headquarters in the
principal provincial cities and towns. Their rules and by-laws form
the commercial law of China, which is enforced between the mem-