On the Foreign Economic Relations of China in the Interwar Era

Abstract

The foreign trade did not play a very significant role in the Chinese economy during the last decades of Qing dynasty and it did not change very much after the fall of empire and the establishment of the new republic. From a fiscal point of view, the significance of foreign trade increased because of growing revenues of customs duties. However, the foreign trade’s influence on both the structure and performance of the national economy stayed marginal. As for the import of foreign capital, direct investments clearly prevailed before 1937. Chinese government bonds represented an interesting phenomenon and rather risky investment. They definitely became a heavy burden for the Chinese government due to the high interest it had to pay to the bond holders.