Study On The Foreign Trade In Suzhou In Modern Times(1896-1937)

After the Opium War,with the gradual collapse of the small-scale peasant economy,the capitalist commercial economy gradually developed in China.Suzhou,as one of the more developed commercial cities in the South Yangtze River regions in modern time,had superiority in foreign trade over other inland regions because of the superior natural geographical environment and the location advantage of being adjacent to Shanghai.After the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895,with the opening of Suzhou’s ports and the establishment of customs,Suzhou’s foreign trade developed rapidly,which to a certain extent accelerated the disintegration of the traditional natural economy,undermined the traditional economic operation mode,and accelerated the expansion of the capitalist economy and the establishment of new economic operation mode.After Shanghai-Nanjing Railway was opened to traffic in 1906,a large amount of goods were transported by railways and roads.Although it had a certain impact on the import and export trade activities through Suzhou Customs to a certain extent,in general,the joint development of railways,highways,and water transport had greatly promoted the development of the entire foreign trade in Suzhou.Which greatly promoted the development of the entire Suzhou foreign trade.The analysis results of Suzhou’s foreign trade data in the periods of late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China clearly show that Suzhou’s foreign trade development presented obvious entrepot trade characteristics,that is mainly trading with other domestic regions.International trade was conducted out with Japan,imported goods were mainly daily necessities,and there were few means of production.The import and export trade structure reflects the commodity trade situation of most cities in China at that time.The agricultural economy was long dominant,and the industrial development was relatively slow,which greatly delayed the process of industrialization in China.Due to the influence of war,natural disasters,government policies,exchange rate changes and movement to advocate national goods,Suzhou’s foreign trade development was not as right as rain,but moving forward in fluctuations.There was an important connection between foreign trade and social economy.Agriculture and industry provided the material basis for foreign trade,while foreign trade brought new production methods and technologies to agriculture and industry.Finance and commerce provided capital and market support for foreign trade activities,while foreign trade brought profits and commodities to finance and commerce although it increased financial risks and commercial competition pressure.The development of transportation and post accelerated the circulation of foreign trade commodities,and provided transportation and transshipment convenience for foreign trade.Foreign trade brought capital and new technologies to the transportation industry,and greatly promoted the development of modern transportation in Suzhou.Although the foreign trade of Suzhou in modern times showed a general trend of development,there were also some shortcomings,such as unreasonable trade structure,lack of its own trade characteristics,and over-reliance on Shanghai for trade.It will provide positive significance for Suzhou to develop foreign trade by learning from the history.