296  THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE
supplied  a  full  half  ;  on  the  basis  of  the  average  output  of
the  three  years  1902-4,  and  not  including  the  home  weaving
of  China  and  Japan,  the  West  was  supplied  with  silk,  27
per  cent,  from  China,  28  per  cent,  from  Japan,  25  per  cent,
from  Italy,  and  20  per  cent,  from  all  other  countries  ;  an
China’s  proportion  in  1905  was  reduced  to  less  than  25
per  cent.  Owing  to  the  improved  methods  introduced  in
J  apan  that  country  has  now  become  China’s  most  important
competitor,  and  the  export  of  raw  white  silk  from  the  two
countries  has  been  as  follows,  1899  having  been  the  year
in  which  China’s  export  reached  its  highest  figure  :—

1899.  1904.  i 9°5-Piculs.
  Piculs.  Piculs.
China  ..  109,279  81,511  69,617
Japan  ..  59,069  96,586  7 2 &gt;4 X 9

Can  it  be  that  silk,  which  furnishes  a  third  of  China  s  exports, ­
  is  going  the  way  of  her  tea  ?
Sundries  furnish  the  evident  line  of  advance  for  China
in  providing  commodities  for  shipment  abroad,  their  value
having  risen  from  Tls.4,487,414,  being  7  per  cent,  of  the  total
of  all  exports,  in  1867,  to  Tls.132,008,712,  or  58  per  cent,
of  the  whole,  in  1905.  In  the  earlier  year  the  only  noticeable ­
  items  were  cassia  (Tls.325,686),  cotton  (Tls.458,424)»
mats  and  matting  (Tls.384,542),  and  sugar  (Tls.462,157)-Those
  commodities  which  were  of  importance  in  I9°5  are
considered  below.
Beans  are  used  to  make  an  oil  for  cooking  and,  prior
to  the  introduction  of  kerosene,  for  illuminating  purposes  ;
the  bye-product  of  this  process,  bean-cake,  is  used  to  fertilise
the  fields  chiefly  of  Kwangtung  and  Japan.  The  foreign
export  of  beans  is  first  recorded  in  1870  with  shipment  of
578,209  piculs,  and  of  bean-cake  in  1890  with  96,297  piculs  ;
in  1905  the  export  of  beans  was  2,665,523  piculs,  of  which
80  per  cent,  went  to  Japan,  and  of  bean-cake  2,897,94^’
entirely  for  Japan  ;  in  addition,  over  two  million  piculs  of
beans  and  two  and  a  half  million  piculs  of  bean-cake  were
imported  into  Kwangtung  ports.  The  chief  source  of