Three thousand miles of railway aid the internal industries of the country; several steamship lines to Hongkong and Shanghai, and one or more each to Vladivostok, Bombay, San Francisco, Seattle, Honolulu, Australia, and Vancouver (B.C.) carry the tea, raw silk, and manufactured products to Europe and America. Much, if not most, of the steamship interests are owned by the Japanese, and the lines are encouraged by government subsidies. France and the United States buy most of the raw silk. The latter country purchases most of the tea, sending coal-oil, cotton, leather, and lumber in return. Great Britain and Germany sell to the Japanese a large part of the textiles and the machinery they use. The exports to the United States are consigned mainly to San Francisco, New York and Seattle. _Tokio_ is the capital; _Yokohama_ is the chief port for American traffic, and the market for most of the foreign trade. Most of the trade between China and Japan centres at _Nagasaki_, which is the Japanese naval station. _Osaka_ and _Kioto_ are the chief centres of cotton and textile manufactures. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION How has the policy of seclusion affected the commercial development of China? What has been its effect on the social life of the people? How did the cultivation of opium in India become a factor in the opening of China to foreign trade? What is meant by "treaty ports"? Make a list of those shown on the map of eastern China. Name two Chinese statesmen who have been factors in the relations between China and the United States. Compare the position of Japan with that of the British Isles with reference to commerce. What advantages has Japan with reference to latitude?--what disadvantages with reference to cultivable lands? From the Statesman's Year-Book find the leading exports and imports and the volume of trade of these states. From the Abstract of Statistics find the leading articles of trade between these states and the United States. FOR COLLATERAL READING AND REFERENCE From a cyclopaedia read the following topics: The opium war, Commodore Perry's expedition. CHAPTER XXXIII AFRICA Africa is in a state of commercial transition. During the last quarter of the nineteenth century the partition of its area among European nations left but few of the names that formerly were familiar. At the beginning of the twentieth century the British, French, and Germans controlled the greater part of the continent, although the Portuguese, Belgians, Italians, and Spanish have various possessions.