Distribution of raw cotton in the middle and upper Yangtze Valley in late Qing and early Republican China

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the change in the Chinese local economy, which gradually entered the world economy through the expansion of the raw cotton trade. The paper focuses on the distribution of raw cotton in the middle and upper Yangtze Valley during the period between the late 19th and the early 20th centuries. The demand for raw cotton increased to a great degree from the 1890s because of the development of the cotton-spinning industry in East Asia, especially in Japan and Shanghai. From the 1900s, however, long-staple American cotton became a much more important variety in the East Asian market than short-staple native cotton. Thus the traditional cotton-growing area in the middle Yangtze Valley started cultivating the American variety along with the native type. These two kinds of raw cotton had different markets. The American variety was supplied to the Japanese as well as the Shanghai markets, whereas the native variety was mainly supplied to the local market, such as the upper Yangtze Valley. This shows that with transformations in the world economy the cotton-growing area in the middle Yangtze Valley responded to the two different types of markets, the local and the East Asian markets.