284  THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE
export  Tls.4,246,067  ;  and  in  i860,  with  exports  exceeding
imports  in  vaine,  the  movement  of  treasure  at  Shanghai
was  Tls.15,201,277  inwards  and  Tls.1,742,510  outwards.
After  that  date  banking  facilities  were  more  fully  developed
in  the  East,  and  in  1905  was  seen  the  spectacle  of  a
Chinese  import  trade  (Tls.447,000,000)  valued  at  nearly
double  the  value  of  the  export  trade  (Tls.228,000,000)
and  financed  with  only  a  comparatively  trifling  movement
of  treasure,  about  ten  million  taels  on  balance  for  the  year,
and  that  inwards,  in  the  same  direction  as  the  merchandise.
The  truth  is  that  China  has  for  centuries  levied  tribute,
commercially,  on  the  outside  world  in  a  way  which  will  be
referred  to  later.
The  new  trade  of  China,  based  on  conditions  laid  down
by  the  foreign  powers,  has  been  conducted  since  i860  on
lines  similar  in  many  ways  to  those  followed  in  other  parts
of  the  world,  and  practically  identical  up  to  the  moment
when  foreign  imports  are  sold  to  the  Chinese  distributor,
and  from  the  moment  when  Chinese  produce  is  bought  for
shipment  ;  but  one  fact  must  be  borne  in  mind,  that  Customs
duty  is  levied  in  China  on  exports  as  well  as  on  imports,
both  being  assessed  at  rates  based  on  a  nominal  five  per  cent,
levy.  The  development  of  trade  in  the  past  forty-five
years  cannot  be  fully  gauged  by  a  mere  statement  of  the
total  value  inwards  and  outwards,  since  a  much  more
important  factor  is  the  increase  in  the  number  of  articles
demanded  from  the  West  and  of  those  supplied  for  export.
The  Chinese  Customs  statistics,  issued  from  i860,  assumed
their  present  shape  in  1867,  and  that  year  is  taken  for
comparison  with  1905  in  order  to  show  the  progress  made
in  the  exchange  of  commodities  during  thirty-nine  years  of
the  new  dispensation.

Shipping
During  the  sixteenth  century  the  only  ships  trading
to  China  were  the  Portuguese.  During  the  seventeenth
century  Portuguese  ships  traded  to  Canton,  Dutch  to
Formosa  and  Amoy,  and  English  to  Amoy  and,  from  1684,