--------+-------------+-------------+
| Year. | Value in |Equivalent in| Value in |Equivalent in|
| | Taels. | Sterling. | Taels. | Sterling. |
+--------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| 1875 | 66,344,000 | L19,903,000 | 77,308,000 | L23,193,000 |
| 1885 | 84,803,000 | 22,618,000 | 73,899,000 | 19,206,000 |
| 1890 | 113,082,000 | 29,213,000 | 96,695,000 | 24,980,000 |
| 1895 | 154,685,000 | 25,136,000 | 154,964,000 | 25,181,000 |
| 1898 | 189,991,000 | 28,498,000 | 170,743,000 | 25,612,000 |
|[A]1904 | 344,060,000 | 49,315,000 | 239,486,000 | 34,326,000 |
|[A]1905 | 447,100,791 | 67,065,118 | 227,888,197 | 34,183,229 |
+--------+-------------+-------------+-------------+-------------+

[A] This marked increase is partly owing to a more complete
presentation of statistics; in 1903 an additional number of vessels
were placed under the control of the imperial maritime customs.

In 1907 the net imports were valued at L67,664,222 and the exports at
L42,961,863. In 1908 China suffered from the general depression in
trade. In that year the imports were valued at L52,600,730, the
exports at L36,888,050. The distribution of the trade among the
various countries of the world is shown in the table which is given
below. Hong-Kong is a port for trans-shipment. The imports into China
from it come originally from Great Britain, India, Germany, France,
America, Australia, the Straits Settlements, &c., and the exports from
China to it go ultimately to the same countries.

_Imports into China._ (000's omitted.)

+-------------------------+-----+-----+-----+------+------+------+--------+
| Imports from |1875.|1880.|1885.| 1890.| 1895.| 1905.| 1908.|
+-------------------------+-----+-----+-----+------+------+------+--------+
|United Kingdom |L6340|L6382|L6396|L6,357|L5,518|L1,971| L9,647|
|Hong-Kong | 8282| 8829| 9404|18,615|14,331|22,240| 20,033|
|India | 4451| 6039| 4306| 2,661| 2,753| 5,220| 4,066|
|Other British possessions| 396| 346| 542| 571| 732| 963| |
|United States | 304| 351| 884| 949| 827|11,538| 5,499|
|Continent of Europe | | | | | | | |
| (except Russia) | 230| 671| 671| 638| 1,227| 4,295|[B]3,332|
|Russian Empire