EASTERN MARKET

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 78, 29 September 1930, Page 9

EASTERN MARKET

DEVELOPMENT EFFORT

CHINESE PECULIARITIES

"A. WASTK OF MONEY

me.proposal of The Auft'riilian Minister of-. Markets to establish half a dozkn trade commissioners in Eastern countries at a time wnen the most rigid economy'on the part of the Government is necessary is one that has caused considerable surprise among Australian merchants who are steadily Fjailding up a, growing trade with tho "J3aßt, says the Melbourne "Age." It is estimated that these commissioners would c6st at least £20 ; 000 a year, and doubt as to the utility of such appointments lias been expressed in more than one responsible quarter.

As far as tho Chinese market is concerned, the opinion among a number of Australian merchants carrying on business with that country is that tho appointment of a trade agent of tho ordinary type in China would be useless. They point out that, in the first place, if such a man is to bo anything less than a laughing stock to •the Eastern community he would have to possess a knowledge of at least two distinct and different dialects of the Chinese language. In order to be able j to converse, with Chinese traders and business men generally, it is necessary to know Cantonese, and in order to make himself understood and to understand the governmental or. public servant class of Chinese; the, trade, corn- j missioner would be obliged to have tin! intimate knowledge of what the Euro- , peans call "Mandarin," which is about j /as unlike-Cantonese ,as Italian is to Spanish. " In addition to this, the majority of the European traders in China find-.that they are very, much handicapped if. they are .ignorant of as well as English, while quite a number arc able to speak Russian in , addition to tfio language of ; their own country and the two principal Chinese languages. * APPRENTICESHIP. 'But.tho chief bar to 'the transaction of any business in China is to bo found in the necessity for a long residence in that country before any responsible Chinese trader will so much as consider •tho possibility of dealing with the " foreign devil." A residence of a,t least four, years is necessary before a loputablo Chinese business rdan will deign .to "come down to. brass tacks." Above all things he desires confidence, and. before he can be sure that it foreigner is. to be trusted, and that he does not "say one thing and mean another," he deems it necessary to test . his prospective, customer's : character over a period of years. All things move . slowly in China, so infinitely ;_slowly that Europeans and Americans are of ten ;driven almost to homicidal tendencies during the protracted and interminable negotiations necessary "before a deal is so much, as mentioned. This terrible slowness is due in part to the Chinese philosophy of reverence for his parents, and to the ancient re 1 Kgion of ancestor worship. Thus a Chinese business man, even if ho is 60 years of age, will hardly ever make any decision of. his father is alive, and Jiis father may be SO years of age, and almost incapable of understanding the intricacies of the problem under discussion. Thus the Europeans are accustomed to inftrcdible vacillations and delays, and often enough negotiations cannot be resumed without a very substantial "gift." FINANCIAL SYSTEM. But all these difficulties are as nothing compared to the Chinese system .of finance, which is the most 'complicated (and some would say tho most absurd) in the world. 3^o business of any importance can be transacted without a compradore. The compradore system started some 300 years ago, when the Chinese came into contact with the not too scrupulous Portuguese adventurers. It was then decided (or at any rate gradually evolved) that there should always be a Chinese negotiator between the principals in any business with foreigners. That system has developed during the last three centuries in such'a way that nothing can bo bought or sold between foreigners and Chinese r ' without tho presence of .the middleman, or compradore. There are buying 'and selling compradores, and these coinpradores are generally the youngest sons of wealthy families who form, a xery close society. Perhaps out of the 400)000,000 population of China there are to-day some 100,000 compradores, and it is through these men that the entire trade of tho country passes. UTothing is bought, sold, or exchanged which does not go through the hands of these highly honest aud skilled financiers, with their training handed down i from, father to son for the last ton generations. The condition of "the trader or trade commissioner who, is unable to obtain Ihc services 6f a compradore can, therefore, be easily imagined. He will not obtain1 a farthing's worth of business ■from one year's end to another. But with a good salary paid by a generous Australian Government, such a position would be unlikely to causevmuch embarrassment—except'to the Australian taxpayer, who, however, could be very easily hoodwinked with voluminous and glowing "reports"! After, all, it is easy onough to write reports when there is nothing'else to do. What an ideal position for somebody who was a, source of clanger to the party or Government in power! ' AMEMKJA'S FAILURE. . Tho iifihister of Markets is apparently an optimistic individual.; He is said to believe in "push," but an example of the effects of American enterprise, in China should be an object lesson to him. Early in 1918, when Britain—the chief trading power in China—was engaged in tho war,/ the [American Department of Commerce thought that the time was ripe to make an organised raid oh' this market, and millions of dollars were poured out with the.object of wresting the Chinese market'from Britain-—a task which did not appear- to present many difficulties in the circumstances which existed at that lime. Vigorous sales teams, composed of the-picked'men- of various large American industries, were sent over in regular1 droves to Shanghai and other centres,-and there they lived in a most smpressiye: manner, and in true American fashion they worked hard from . morning to night in pushing their various goods. ' After the first year, arid after an "expenditure estimated to amount-to £300,000, not one dollar'sworth of business was secured. More money was poured out, and at the end of the second year the results were so meagre that the team was recalled. Chinese merchants were not a bit impressed, and were considerably annoyed at the attempted commercial domina* tion. They had been accustomed to transacting business "v»i'k foreigners in their own way ffrr over 300 years, and they were not going to change, and they have not changed to-day. The compradore system is inviolate. AUSTRALIAN ENTERPRISE. The .appointment of trade commissioners in the Chinese markets would be useless. They would "have to spend] £4000 a year to even make themselves known,- and that is about as much as.j they could do. After four or five years.; Ihejr might be trusted if they; had per- j