FOREIGN  TRADE  297
production  is  Manchuria,  next  to  that  Shantung,  Hupeh,  and
the  lower  Yangtze.
Bristles  must  always  be  an  important  export  from  a
land  in  which  the  pig  provides  the  principal  meat  for  the
table.  Their  export  is  first  recorded  in  1894,  with
18,378  piculs,  increased  in  1905  to  39,588  piculs.  They
come  chiefly  from  Tientsin,  Chungking,  Hankow,  and
Canton.
Cotton  has  been  referred  to  before.  In  1864,  owing  to
the  American  Civil  War,  shipments  to  Europe  were  made
amounting  to  391,287  piculs,  while  the  import  was  4,528
piculs  ;  in  1867  the  export  was  29,391  piculs,  and  the
import  (from  India  into  the  southern  ports)  336,072  piculs  ;
in  1902  the  export  was  774,536  piculs,  and  the  import
251,219  piculs,  introduced  from  India  into  the  chief  cottonproducing
  centre  in  order  to  regulate  prices  ;  in  1904,  with
high  prices  ruling  in  the  Western  markets,  exports  rose  to
1,228,588  piculs,  and  imports  fell  to  65,129  piculs;  in  1905
exports  were  789,273  piculs,  and  imports  94,243  piculs.
The  cotton  is  produced  in  the  entire  Yangtze  basin  from
Hupeh  to  Chekiang,  Shanghai  being  the  chief  centre  ;  and
fully  90  per  cent,  of  all  shipments  go  to  Japan.
Fire-crackers  and  fireworks,  almost  entirely  to  help
young  America  in  celebrating  the  Glorious  Fourth,  were
exported  to  the  extent  of  16,186  piculs  in  1867,  and  128,245
piculs  in  1905  :  nearly  the  whole  export  came  from
Canton.
Fibres,  hemp,  jute,  and  ramie,  are  first  recorded  as  an
export  in  1879  with  10,456  piculs  ;  the  export  in  1905  was
262,443  piculs,  coming  chiefly  from  Hupeh  and  Kiangsi,
and  going  chiefly  to  Japan.
Hides  were  exported  in  1867  to  the  extent  of  146  piculs,
and  of  279,976  piculs  in  1904,  which  was  about  normal  ;
the  export  in  1905  was  only  189,446  piculs.  About  half
came  from  Hupeh,  and  next  in  importance  were  Szechwan
and  Kwangsi  :  their  destination  was  fairly  divided  between
the  principal  countries  of  Europe.
Matting,  entirely  the  product  of  the  Canton  district,