Journal of the Society of Arts : Volume LI, No. 2623 [‎731r] (19/32)

February 27, 1903.]
JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS.
we followed a spur down into the plain of
Mengtsz. This place, opened by the French
to frontier trade in 1889, is the principal port of
entry for foreign goods into south and eastern
Yunnan. I note, in passing, that 72 per cent,
of the whole Import trade into Yunnan, via
Mengtsz, is indisputably British, and 79 per
cent, of the total Export trade.
Yunnan has been aptly described as a moun
tainous desert, with here and there an oasis in
the shape of a fertile plain. Most of these
plains lie at elevation of from 4,500 to 6,000
feet above the level of the sea, and enjoy a
warm, equable climate. The Chinese con
gregate in these healthy spots, and in the
course of years have pushed the original
inhabitants, e.g., the Sians and Lolos, into the
hills or down into the fever-stricken valleys
where they themselves cannot live.
The area of Yunnan is 110,000 square miles,
about twice the size of England. Its popula
tion is only 8,000,000. Most of the inhabitants
dwell in the big centres of the eastern portion
of the province—Yunnan Fu, Cheng Chiang,
Chao lung, Linan, &c. It follows, therefore,
that large tracts of the province are very
sparsely peopled, and almost entirely unculti
vated. The poverty of the inhabitants is very
apparent, and the traveller wonders why the
wealth of Yunnan is so often referred to. The
reason, no doubt, is to be found in its position
on the map. It is the hinterland of both
British Burma and French Tonkin, and the
highway from these countries to the richest
province of China—Szechwan. That Yunnan
is also a part of the Chinese Empire is often
forgotten, China being considered, I suppose,
a negligible quantity.
The mineral resources of Yunnan are no
doubt large, though the mines were worked
to a greater extent formerly than now. The
copper mines to the north-east have been
exploited for centuries : deposits of silver and
lead occur in places. Near Mengtsz there are
important tin mines; and iron and coal exist
in large quantities in the neighbourhood of
Tunghai. Zinc and mercury have been found,
I believe, by French prospectors. Gold is
worked at Talang, and one or two other
places; but Yunnan includes no Klondyke
within its borders. The situation of most of |
these mines, however, is unfavourable from a
commercial point of view. Heavy cost of
transport and distance from the world’s
markets are factors that have to be reckoned
with. I know that the Mengtsz merchants
make very little profit on the tin they export to
3i7
Hongkong, but it happens to be for them the
most convenient way of paying for some of
the goods they import.
As the most valuable article of commercial
exchange, however, opium has superseded
everything for the last 30 years. The cultiva
tion of the poppy in Yunnan can be traced
back to the year 1760—eighty years before our
so-called Opium War with China—and the
Yunnanese are further credited with having
discovered the way of smoking the drug.
The production of opium in any quantity
dates from the time of the Mahommedan
Rebellion, which killed the silk industry, and
closed half the mines in the province. The
want of some product, easily transportable,
with which they could pay for their needs, led
the Yunnanese to turn their attention more
and more to the cultivation of the poppy. The
annual output is now not far short of 5,500
tons, whils in the neighbouring province of
Szechwan it is considerably more. Indian
opium, which the sophist accuses us of forcing
on the Chinese, is, on entry into China, handi
capped by an exceedingly heavy import dutiy.
In a few years’ time it is bound to be ousted
from the Chinese market by the native article,
and the great “ Opium Question ” will then no
longer concern us. Opium smoking is, no^
doubt, a terrible vice, but it is preferable, in
some respects, to what is known as our
“ national sin.” The opium smoker never
wants to go “mafficking,” or paint the town
red, to the great discomfort of respectable
citizens !
Salt for local consumption is all obtained
from mines and brine wells within the province,
and carried by pack-animals to the various
markets. When the brine is drawn from the
wells, it is poured into large iron pans, under
which a fire is set, and the salt obtained by
evaporation.
With the exception of the minerals referred
to, Yunnan possesses no product suitable for
exportation, and possible goods for carriage
by projected Burma-Yunnan or Tonkin-Yunnan
railways are hard to think of. The trade that
might eventually arise in live stock has been
made much of, and certainly many parts of
the Yunnan plateau are particularly suited to
the breeding of sheep, oxen and ponies.
This question of railways into Yunnan is one
on which there exists considerable differences
of opinion. It can be viewed from the com
mercial or political aspect, and may briefiy be
summed up as follows:—The French have
obtained a concession to extend their railway