The International Development of China/Program 5

by Sun Yat-sen

PROGRAM V

In the preceding four programs, I dealt exclusively with the development of the key and basic industries. In this one, I am going to deal with the development of the main group of industries which need foreign help. By the main group of industries, I mean those industries which provide every individual and family with the necessaries and comforts of life. Of course, when the key and basic industries are developed, the various other industries will spontaneously spring up all over the country, in a very short time. This had been the case in Europe and America after the industrial revolution. The development of the key and the basic industries will give plenty of work to the people and will raise their wages as well as their standard of living. When wages are high, the price for necessaries and comforts of life will also be increased. So the rise in wages will be accompained by the rise in the cost of living. Therefore, the aim of the development of some of the main group of industries is to help reduce the high cost of living when China is in the process of international development, by giving to the majority of the people plenty of the essentials and comforts of life as well as higher wages.

It is commonly thought that China is the cheapest country to live in. This is a misconception owing to the common notion of measuring everything by the value of money. If we measure the cost of living by the value of labor then it will be found that China is the most expensive country for a common worker to live in. A Chinese coolie, a muscular worker, has to work 14 to 16 hours a day in order to earn a bare subsistence. A clerk in a shop, or a teacher in a village school cannot earn more than a hundred dollars a year. And the farmers after paying their rents and exchanging for a few articles of need with their produce have to live from hand to mouth. Labor is very cheap and plentiful but food and commodities of life are just enough to go round for the great multitude of the four hundred millions in China in an ordinary good year. In a bad year, a great number succumb to want and starvation. This miserable condition among the Chinese proletariat is due to the non-development of the country, the crude methods of production and the wastefulness of labor. The radical cure for all this is industrial development by foreign capital and experts for the benefit of the whole nation. Europe and America are a hundred years ahead of us in industrial development; so in order to catch up in a very short time we have to use their capital, mainly their machinery. If foreign capital cannot be gotten, we will have to get at least their experts and inventors to make for us our own machinery. In any case, we must use machinery to assist our enormous man-power to develop our unlimited resources.

In modern civilization, the material essentials of life are five, namely: food, clothing, shelter, means of locomotion, and the printed page. Accordingly I will formulate this program as follows:

I. The Food Industry.

II. The Clothing Industry.

III. The Housing Industry.

IV. The Motoring Industry.

V. The Printing Industry.

PART I

The Food Industry

The food industry should be treated under the following headings:

a. The Production of Food.

b. The Storage and Transportation of Food.

c. The Preparation and Preservation of Food.

d. The Distribution and Exportation of Food.

a. The Production of Food

Human foods are derived from three sources: the land, the sea and the air. By far the most important and greatest in quantity consumed is aerial food of which oxygen is the most vital element. But this aerial food is abundantly provided by nature, and no human labor is needed for its production except that which is occasionally needed for the airman and the submariner. So this food is free to all. It is not necessary for us to discuss it here. The production of food from the sea which I have already touched upon when I dealt with the construction of fishing harbors and the building of fishing crafts, will also be left out here. It is the specific industries in the production of food from land, which need foreign help that are to be discussed here.

China is an agricultural country. About four-fifths of its population is occupied in the work of producing food. The Chinese farmer is very skillful in intensive cultivation. He can make the land yield to its utmost capacity. But vast tracts of arable lands are lying waste in thickly populated districts for one cause or other. Some are due to lack of water, some to too much of it and some to the "dog in the manger" system,—the holding up of arable land by speculators and land sharks for higher rents and prices.

The land of the eighteen provinces alone is at present supporting a population of four hundred millions. Yet there is still room for development which can make this same area of land yield more food if the waste land be brought under cultivation, and the already cultivated land be improved by modern machinery and scientific methods. The farmers must be protected and encouraged by liberal land laws by which they can duly reap the fruits of their own labor.

In regard to the production of food in our international development scheme, two necessary undertakings should be carried out which will be profitable at the same time.

(1) A scientific survey of the land.

(2) The establishment of factories for manufacturing agricultural machinery and implements.

(1) A scientific survey of the land. China has never been scientifically surveyed and mapped out. The administration of land is in the most chaotic state and the taxation of land is in great confusion, thus causing great hardships on the poor peasants and farmers. So, under any circumstance, the survey of land is the first duty of the government to execute. But this could not be done without foreign help, owing to lack of funds and experts. Therefore, I suggest that this work be taken up by an international organization. This organization should provide the expenses of the work by a loan, and should carry out the work with the required number of experts and equipment. How much will be the expenses for the survey and what is the amount of time required and how large an organization is sufficient to carry on the work, and whether aerial survey by aeroplanes be practical for this work are questions which I shall leave to experts to decide. When the topographical survey is going on a geological survey may be carried out at the same time so as to economize expenses.

When the survey work is done and the land of each province is minutely mapped out, we shall be able to readjust the taxation of the already cultivated and improved land. As regards the waste and uncultivated lands we shall be able to determine whether they are suitable for agriculture, for pasture, for forestry, or for mining. In this way, we can estimate their value and lease them out to the users for whatever production that is most suitable. The surplus tax of the cultivated land and the proceeds of waste land will be for the payment of the interest and principal of the foreign loan. Besides the eighteen provinces, we have a vast extent of agricultural and pastural lands in Manchuria, Mongolia, and Sinkiang, and a vast extent of pastural land in Tibet and Kokonor. They will have to be developed by extensive cultivation under the colonization scheme, which is alluded to in the first program.

(2) The establishment of factories for manufacturing agricultural machinery and implements. When the waste land is reclaimed, cultivated land improved and waste labor set to work on the land, the demands for agricultural machinery and implements will be very great. As we have cheap labor and plenty of iron and coal, it is better and cheaper for us to manufacture than to import the implements and machinery. For this purpose, much capital should be invested, and factories should be put up in industrial centers or in the neighborhood of iron and coal fields, where labor and material could be easily found.

b. The Storage and Transportation of Food

The most important foodstuff to be stored and transported is grain. Under the present Chinese method, the storage of grain is most wasteful for if kept in large quantities it is often destroyed by insects or damaged by weather. It is only in small quantities and by great and constant care that grains can be preserved for a certain period of time. And the transportation of grains is also most expensive for the work is mostly done on man's shoulders. When the grains reach the waterway it is carried in a most makeshift way, without the least semblance of system. If the method of storing and transporting of grain be improved, a great economic saving could be accomplished. I propose that a chain of grain elevators be built all over the country and a special transport fleet be equipped all along the waterways by this International Development Organization. What will be the capital for this project and where the elevators should be situated have yet to be investigated by experts.

c. The Preparation and Preservation of Food

Hitherto the preparation of food is entirely by hand with a few primitive implements. The preservation of food is either by salt or sun heat. Mills and cannery method are scarcely known. I suggest that a system of rice mills should be constructed in all the large cities and towns in the Yangtze Valley and South China where rice is the staple food. Flour mills should be put up in all large cities and towns north of the Yangtze Valley, where wheat, oats, and cereals other than rice are the staple food. All these mills should be under one central management so as to produce the best economic results. What amount of capital should be invested in this mill system by this international development scheme should be subjected to detailed investigation.

In regard to the preservation of food, fruits, meats and fishes should be preserved by canning or by refrigeration. If the canning industry is developed there will be created a great demand for tinplates. Therefore the establishment of tinplate factories will be necessary and also profitable. Such factories should be situated near the iron and tin fields. There are many localities in South China where tin, iron, and coal are situated near each other, thus providing ready materials for the factories. The tinplate factories and the canneries should be combined into one enterprise so as to secure best economic results.

d. The Distribution and Exportation of Food

In ordinary good years, China never lacks food. There is a common saying in China that "One year's tilling will provide three years' wants." In the richer sections of the country, the people generally reserve three or four years' food supply in order to combat a bad year. But when China is developed and organized as an economic whole, one year's food reserve should be kept in the country for the use of the local people and the surplus should be sent out to the industrial centers. As the storage and transportation of food will be under a central management so the distribution and exportation of food should be under the same charge. All surplus grains of a country district should be sent to the nearest town for storage and each town or city should store one year's food. All the staple food should be sold only at cost price to the inhabitants according to their number, by the distributing department. And the surplus food should be exported to foreign countries where it is wanted and where the highest price can be obtained by the export department under the central management. Thus the surplus food will not be wasted as hitherto under the prohibition law. The proceeds of this export will surely amount to a huge sum which will be used in the payment of the interest and principal of the foreign loan invested in this undertaking.

We cannot complete this part of the food industry without giving special consideration to the Tea and Soya industries. The former, as a beverage, is well known throughout and used by the civilized world and the latter is just beginning to be realized as an important foodstuff by the scientists and food administrators. Tea, the most healthy and delicious beverage of mankind, is produced in China. Its cultivation and preparation form one of the most important industries of the country. Once China was the only country that supplied the world with tea. Now, China's tea trade has been wrested away from her by India and Japan. But the quality of the Chinese tea is still unequalled. The Indian tea contains too much tannic acid, and the Japanese tea lacks the flavor which the Chinese tea possesses. The best tea is only obtainable in Chinathe native land of tea. China lost her tea trade owing to the high cost of its production. The high cost of production is caused by the inland tax as well as the export duty and by the old methods of cultivation and preparation. If the tax and duty are done away with and new methods introduced, China can recover her former position in this trade easily. In this International Development Scheme, I suggest that a system of modern factories for the preparation of tea should be established in all the tea districts, so that the tea should be prepared by machinery instead of, as hitherto, by hand. Thus the cost of production can be greatly reduced and the quality improved. As the world's demand for tea is daily increasing and will be more so by a dry United States of America, a project to supply cheaper and better tea will surely be a profitable one.

Soya bean as a meat substitute was discovered by the Chinese and used by the Chinese and the Japanese as a staple food for many thousands of years. As meat shortage has been keenly felt in carnivorous countries at present, a solution must be found to relieve it. For this reason I suggest that in this International Development Scheme we should introduce this artificial meat, milk, butter and cheese to Europe and America, by establishing a system of soya bean factories in all the large cities of those countries, so as to provide cheap nitrogenous food to the western people. Modern factories should also be established in China to replace those old and expensive methods of production by hand, so as to procure better economic results as well as to produce better commodities.

PART II

The Clothing Industry

The principal materials for clothes are silk, linen, cotton, wool and animal skins. I shall accordingly deal with them under the following headings:

a. The Silk Industry.

b. The Linen Industry.

c. The Cotton Industry.

d. The Woolen Industry.

e. The Leather Industry.

f. The Manufacturing of Clothing Machinery.

a. The Silk Industry

Silk is a Chinese discovery and was used as a material for clothes for many thousands of years before the Christian Era. It is one of the important national industries of China. Up to recent times, China was the only country that supplied silk to the world. But now this dominant trade has been taken away from China by Japan, Italy and France, because those countries have adopted scientific methods for silk culture and manufacture, while China still uses the same old methods of many thousand years ago. As the world's demand for silk is increasing daily, the improvement of the culture and manufacture of silk will be a very profitable undertaking. In this International Development Scheme, I suggest first that scientific bureaus be established in every silk district to give directions to the farmers and to provide healthy silk-worm eggs. These bureaus should be under central control. At the same time, they will act as collecting stations for cocoons so as to secure a fair price for the farmers. Secondly, silk filiatures with up-to-date machinery should be established in suitable districts to reel the silk for home as well as for foreign consumption. And lastly, modern factories should be put up for manufacturing silk for both home and foreign markets. All silk filiatures and factories should be under a single national control and will be financed with foreign capital and supervised by experts to secure the best economic results and to produce better and cheaper commodities.

b. The Linen Industry

This is an old Chinese industry. In southern China there is produced a kind of very fine linen in the form of ramie, known as China-grass. This fiber if treated by modern methods and machinery becomes almost as fine and glossy as silk. But in China, so far as I know, there is not yet such new method and machinery for the manufacturing of this linen. The famous Chinese grass-cloth is manufactured by the old method of handlooms. I propose that new methods and machinery be introduced into China by this International Development Organization to manufacture this linen. A system of modern factories should be established all over the ramie-producing districts in South China where raw materials and labor are obtainable.

c. The Cotton Industry

Cotton is a foreign product which was introduced into China centuries ago. It became a very important Chinese industry during the hand-loom age. But after the import of foreign cotton goods into China, this native handicraft industry was gradually killed by the foreign trade. So, great quantities of raw cotton are exported and finished cotton goods are imported in large quantities into China. What an anomaly when we consider the enormous, cheap labor in China. However a few cotton mills have been started recently in treaty ports which have made enormous profits. It is reported that during the last two or three years most of the Shanghai cotton mills declared a dividend of 100 per cent and some even 200 per cent! The demand for cotton goods in China is very great but the supply falls short. It is necessary to put up more mills in China for cotton manufacturing. Therefore, I suggest in this International Development Scheme to put up a system of large cotton mills all over the cotton-producing districts under one central national control. Thus the best economic results will be obtained and cotton goods can be supplied to the people at a lower cost.

d. The Woolen Industry

Although the whole of Northwestern China—about two-thirds of the entire country is a pastural land yet the woolen industry has never been developed. Every year, plenty of raw materials are exported from China on the one hand and plenty of finished woolen goods imported on the other. Judging by the import and export of the woolen trade the development of woolen industry in China will surely be a profitable business. I suggest that scientific methods be applied to the raising of sheep and to the treatment of wool so as to improve the quality and increase the quantity. Modern factories should be established all over northwestern China for manufacturing all kinds of finished woolen goods. Here we have the raw materials, cheap labor and unlimited market. What we want for the development of this industry is foreign capital and experts. This will be one of the most remunerative projects in our International Development Scheme, for the industry will be a new one and there will be no private competitors on the field.

e. The Leather Industry

This will also be a new industry in China, despite the fact that there are a few tanneries in the treaty ports. The export of hides from and the import of leather goods into China are increasing every year. So, to establish a system of tanneries and factories for leather goods and foot-gear will be a lucrative undertaking.

f. The Manufacturing of Clothing Machinery

The machinery for the manufacturing of various kinds of clothing materials is in great demand in China, It is reported that the orders for cotton mill machinery have been filled up for the next three years from manufacturers in Europe and America. If China is developed according to my programs, the demand for machinery will be many times greater than at present and the supply in Europe and America will be too short to meet it. Therefore to establish factories for the manufacturing of clothing machinery is a necessary as well as a profitable undertaking. Such factories should be established in the neighborhood of iron and steel factories, so as to save expenses for transportation of heavy materials. What will be the capital for this undertaking should be decided by experts.

PART III

The Housing Industry

Among the four hundred millions in China the poor still live in huts and hovels, and in caves in the loess region of north China while the middle and the rich classes live in temples. All the so-called houses in China, excepting a few after western style and those in treaty ports are built after the model of a temple. When a Chinese builds a house he has more regard for the dead than for the living. The first consideration of the owner is his ancestral shrine. This must be placed at the center of the house, and all the other parts must be complement and secondary to it. The house is planned not for comfort but for ceremonies, that is, for "the red and white affairs," as they are called in China. The "red affair" is the marriage or other felicitous celebrations of any member of the family, and the "white affair" is the funeral ceremonies. Besides the ancestral shrine there are the shrines of the various household gods. All these are of more importance than man and must be considered before him. There is not a home in old China that is planned for the comfort and convenience of man alone. So now when we plan the housing industry in China in our International Development Scheme, we must take the houses of the entire population of China into consideration. "To build houses for four hundred millions, it is impossible!" some may exclaim. This is the largest job ever conceived by man. But if China is going to give up her foolish traditions and useless habits and customs of the last three thousand years and begin to adopt modern civilization, as our industrial development scheme is going to introduce, the remodelling of all the houses according to modern comforts and conveniences is bound to come, either unconsciously by social evolution or consciously by artificial construction. The modern civilization so far attained by western nations is entirely an unconscious progress, for social and economic sciences are but recent discoveries. But henceforth all human progress will be more or less based upon knowledge, that is upon scientific planning. As we can foresee now, within half a century under our industrial development, the houses of all China will be renewed according to modern comfort and convenience. Is it not far better and cheaper to rebuild the houses of all China by a preconceived scientific plan than by none? I have no doubt that if we plan to build a thousand houses at one time it would be ten times cheaper than to plan and build one at a time, and the more we build the cheaper terms we would get. This is a positive economic law. The only danger in this is over-production. That is the only obstacle for all production on a large scale. Since the industrial revolution in Europe and America, every financial panic before the world war was caused by over-production. In the case of our housing industry in China, there are four hundred million customers. At least fifty million houses will be needed in the coming fifty years. Thus a million houses a year will be the normal demand of the country.

Houses are a great factor in civilization. They give men more enjoyment and happiness than food and clothes. More than half of the human industries are contributing to household needs. The housing industry will be the greatest undertaking of our International Development Scheme, and also will be the most profitable part of it. My object of the development of the housing industry is to provide cheap houses to the masses. A ten thousand dollar house now built in the treaty port can be produced for less than a thousand dollars and yet a high margin of profit can be made. In order to accomplish this we have to produce transport, and distribute the materials for construction. After the house is finished, all household equipment must be furnished. Both of these will be comprised in the housing industry which I shall formulate as follows:

a. The Production and Transportation of Building Materials.

b. The Construction of Houses.

c. The Manufacturing of Furniture.

d. The Supply of Household Utilities.

a. The Production and Transportation of Building Materials

The building materials are bricks, tiles, timber, skeleton iron, stone, cement and mortar. Each of these materials must be manufactured or cut out from raw materials. So kilns for the manufacture of tiles and bricks must be put up. Mills for timbers must be established, also factories for skeleton irons. Quarries must be opened and factories for cement and mortar must be started. All these establishments must be put up at suitable districts where materials and markets are near one another. All should be under one central control so as to regulate the output of each of these materials in proportion to the demand. After the materials are ready they must be transported to the places where they are wanted by special bottoms on waterways, and by special cars on railways so as to reduce the cost as low as possible. For this purpose special boats and cars must be built by the shipbuilding department and the car factory.

b. The Construction of Houses

The houses to be built in China will comprise public buildings and private residences. As the public buildings are to be built with public funds for public uses which will not be a profitable undertaking, a special Government Department should therefore be created to take charge. The houses that are to be built under this International Development Scheme will be private residences only with the object to provide cheap houses for the people, as well as to make profit for this International concern. The houses will be built on standardized types. In cities and towns the houses should be constructed on two lines: the single family and the group family houses. The former should again be sub-divided into eight-roomed, ten-roomed and twelve-roomed houses, and the latter into ten-family, hundred-family and thousand-family houses, with four or six rooms for each family. In the country districts the houses should be classified according to the occupation of the people, and special annexes such as barns and dairies should be provided for the farmers. All houses should be designed and built according to the needs and comfort of man; so a special architectural department should be established to study the habits, occupations and needs of different people and make improvements from time to time. The construction should be performed as much as possible by labor-saving machinery so as to accelerate work and save expenses.

c. The Manufacturing of Furniture

As all houses in China should be remodelled all furniture should be replaced by up-to-date ones, which are made for the comforts and needs of man. Furniture of the following kinds should be manufactured: the library, the parlor, the bedroom, the kitchen, the bathroom and the toilet. Each kind should be manufactured in a special factory under the management of the International Development Organization.

d. The Supply of Household Utilities

The household utilities are water, light, heat, fuel and telephones. Except in treaty ports, there is no water-supply system in any of the cities and towns of China. Even many treaty ports possess none as yet. In all the large cities, the people obtain their water from rivers which at the same time act as sewage. The water supply of the large cities and towns in China is most unsanitary. (1) It is an urgent necessity that water supply systems should be installed in all cities and towns in China without delay. Therefore special factories for equipping the water system should be established in order to meet the needs. (2) Lighting plants should be installed in all the cities and towns in China. So factories for the manufacture of the machinery lighting plants should be established. (3) Modern heating plants should be installed in every household, using either electricity, gas, or steam. So the manufacturing of heating equipment is a necessity. Factories should be established for this purpose. (4) Cooking fuel is one of the most costly items in the daily needs of the Chinese people. In the country the people generally devote ten per cent of their working time to gathering firewoods. In town the people spend about twenty per cent of their living expenses for firewood alone. Thus this firewood question accumulates into a great national waste. The firewood and grass as a cooking fuel must be substituted by coal in the country districts, and by gas or electricity in towns and cities. In order to use coal gas and electricity, proper equipment must be provided. So factories for the manufacturing of coal gas, and electricity, stoves for every family must be established by this International Development Organization. (5) Telephones must also be supplied to every family in the cities as well as in the country. So factories for manufacturing the equipment must be put up in China, in order to render them as cheap as possible.

PART IV

The Motoring Industry

The Chinese are a stagnant race. From time immemorial a man is praised for staying at home and caring for his immediate surroundings only. Laotse—a contemporary of Confucius—says: "The good people are those who live in countries so near to each other that they can hear each other's cock crow and dog bark and yet they never have had intercourse with each other during their lifetime." This is often quoted as the Golden Age of the Chinese people. But in modern civilization the condition is entirely changed. Moving about occupies a great part of a man's life time. It is the movement of man that makes civilization progress. China, in order to catch up with modern civilization, must move. And the movement of the individual forms an important part of the national activity. A man must move whenever and wherever he pleases with ease and rapidity. However, China, at present, lacks the means of facility for individual movement, for all the old great highways were ruined and have disappeared, and the automobile has not yet been introduced into the interior of the country. The motor car, a recent invention, is a necessity for rapid movement. If we wish to move quickly and do more work, we must adopt the motor car as a vehicle. But before we can use the motor car, we have to build our roads. In the preliminary part of this International Development Scheme, I proposed to construct one million miles of roads. These should be apportioned according to the ratio of population in each district for construction. In the eighteen provinces of China Proper, there are nearly 2,000 hsiens. If all parts of China are to adopt the hsien administration, there will be nearly 4,000 hsiens in all. Thus the construction of roads for each hsien will be on an average of 250 miles. But some of the hsiens have more people and some have less. If we divide the million miles of roads by the four hundred million people, we shall have one mile to every four hundred. For four hundred people to build one mile of road is not a very difficult task to accomplish. If my scheme of making road-building as a condition for granting local autonomy is adopted by the nation, we shall see one million miles of road built in a very short time as if by a magic wand.

As soon as the people of China decide to build roads, this International Development Organization can begin to put up factories for manufacturing motor cars. First start on a small scale and gradually expand the plants to build more and more until they are sufficient to supply the needs of the four hundred million people. The cars should be manufactured to suit different purposes, such as the farmer's car, the artisan's car, the business man's car, the tourist's car, the truck car, etc. All these cars, if turned out on a large scale, can be made much cheaper than at present, so that everybody who wishes it, may have one.

Besides supplying cheap cars, we must also supply cheap fuel, otherwise the people will still be unable to use them. So the development of the oil fields in China should follow the motor car industry. This will be dealt with in more detail under the mining industry.

PART V

The Printing Industry

This industry provides man with intellectual food. It is a necessity of modern society, without which mankind cannot progress. All human activities are recorded, and all human knowledge is stored in printing. It is a great factor of civilization. The progress and civilization of different nations of the world are measured largely by the quantity of printed matter they turned out annually. China, though the nation that invented printing, is very backward in the development of its printing industry. In our International Development Scheme, the printing industry must also be given a place. If China is developed industrially according to the lines which I suggested, the demand for printed matter by the four hundred millions will be exceedingly great. In order to meet this demand efficiently, a system of large printing houses must be established in all large cities in the country, to undertake printing of all kinds from newspapers to encyclopædia. The best modern books on various subjects in different countries should be translated into Chinese and published in cheap edition form for the general public in China. All the publishing houses should be organized under one common management, so as to secure the best economic results.

In order to make printed matter cheap, other subsidiary industries must be developed at the same time. The most important of these is the paper industry. At present all the paper used by newspapers in China is imported. And the demand for paper is increasing every day. China has plenty of raw materials for making paper, such as the vast virgin forests of the northwestern part of the country, and the wild reeds of the Yangtze and its neighboring swamps which would furnish the best pulps. So, large plants for manufacturing papers should be put up in suitable locations. Besides the paper factories, ink factories, type foundries, printing machine factories, etc., should be established under a central management to produce everything that is needed in the printing industry.