FOREIGN  TRADE  287
This  value  was  15  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  all  cotton  products ­
  in  1905.  The  kinds  which  were  prominent  in  1867
have  lost  their  prominence  in  1905,  and  in  the  latter  year
the  great  bulk  is  made  up  by  “  imitations/’  by  cheap
cotton  substitutes  for  a  more  expensive  woollen  fabric,  by
an  appeal  to  the  eye  ;  of  the  Tls.27,509,419,  the  value  of
all  fine  cottons,  no  less  than  Tls.  19,240,889  are  supplied
by  cotton  Italians,  cotton  lastings,  cotton  Spanish  stripes,
cotton  flannel,  and  cotton  blankets.  The  import  of  cotton
yarn  in  1867  was  33,274  piculs,  entirely  of  English  spinning  :
it  was  of  the  finer  counts,  with  an  average  value  of  Tls.48'20
(£16)  a  picul  ;  and  the  total  value,  Tls.1,603,807,  was
il  per  cent,  of  all  cotton  products.  In  1905  the  cotton
yarn  imported  was  2,577,748  piculs,  of  which  22,075  piculs
were  English  spinning,  1,867,309  Indian,  684,671  Japanese,
and  3,693  from  all  other  sources  ;  this  import  was  mainly
of  the  coarser  counts  (12’s  to  24’s),  with  an  average  value
of  Tls.26  (¿3  18s.)  a  picul,  and  the  total  value,  Tls.66,892,485,
was  36  per  cent,  of  all  cotton  imports  :  in  1903  and  1904
the  percentage  of  yarn  to  the  total  had  been  52  and  48
respectively.  If  we  add  Tls.20,000,000,  the  value  of  the
750,000  piculs  of  yarn  machine-spun  annually  in  the  factories ­
  of  Shanghai  and  other  ports,  it  may  be  declared  that
normally  and  on  the  average  a  full  half  of  all  foreign  cotton
products  is  now  in  the  shape  of  the  semi-finished  product
yarn.  This  yarn  is  imported  to  give  a  strong  warp,  on
which  the  people  in  their  homes  weave  a  coarse  durable
fabric,  filling  in  with  a  hand-spun  weft  of  Chinese  cotton  ;
it  penetrates  to  every  corner  of  the  Empire,  and  in  every
village  street  may  be  seen  the  long  white  stretches  arranged
by  the  women  in  preparation  for  their  labor  at  the  loom.
In  Western  countries  the  cheapness  of  the  machine-woven
cotton  fabric  has  driven  out  the  home-spun  of  our  grandmothers, ­
  whose  descendants  may  now  more  profitably
employ  their  time  and  energy  in  other  occupations  ;  in
China  the  machine  has  only  succeeded  in  partially  supplanting ­
  the  spinning-wheel,  but  the  hand-loom  is  still
unconquered.