TRANSPORTATION OF FARM PRODUCTS BY INLAND WATERWAYS AND CARTS IN MANCHURIA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600310624-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 15, 2011
• Sequence Number: 624
• Publication Date: May 31, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/08/17: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600310624-4
50X1-HUM -I
CLASSIFICATION
REPORT
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
COUNTRY China - Manchuria DATE OF
INFORMATION 1947
SUBJECT Transportation - River, road, rail
HOW
PUBLISMED Book
WHERE
PUBLISHED Mukden
DATE
PUBLISHED Feb 1948
LANGUAGE Chinese
THIS DOC UNTET CONTAINS INFORMATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE
OF THE UNITED STATES WITHIN THE MEANING OF ESPIONAGE ACT ED
V. S. C.. SI AND SE. AS AMENDED. ITS TRANSMISSION OR THE REVELATION
OF ITS CONTENTS IN ANY MANNER TO AN UNAUTHORIIED PERSON IS PRO-
NIBITED BI LAW. REPRODUCTION OF THIS FORM IS PROHIBITED
DATE DIST.,,j/ May 1950
NO. OF PAGES 2
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
Northeast Economic Report, Vol III, Northeast Resources Survey Commit-
tee, 1948.
TRANSPORTATION OF FARM PRODUCTS
BY INLAND WATERWAYS AND CARTS IN MANCHURIA
The three main waterways in Manchuria are the Sungari, the Ussuri, and
the Amur. Compared to the railroads, the freight carried is very small; yet,
considering various factors, such as geography and scarcity of railroad lines,
the farm products carried by river are worth noting.
The navigation season varies with the amount and speed of flow of rivers
and the weather. The mean dates for thaw and freeze at Harbin over an 11-year
period were 11 April and 10 November, respectively. The navigation season
usually lasts from 5 to 6 months.
Data for 1939 lists 40 passenger vessels, 26 passenger and freight ves-
sels, 47 tugs, 130 lighters, and 67 state-owned sailboats, making a total of
310 vessels for the inland waterways in addition to about 3i000 privately
owned vessels along the Sungari. The total capacity of the privately owned
craft was not less than 1.00,000 tons. That of passenger and passenger-freight
ships was about 230,000 tons. The steamers range from 100 to 1,100 in tonnage.
Of the three river systems, traffic is greatest on the Sungari. Next in
amount comes the Amur, with the Ussuri as last. On the Sungari two or three
boats are usually towed by the larger ships, but on the Amur and Ussuri usu-
ally only one boat is towed by a regular steamer.
A large part of the volume carried on the Sungari consists of farm prod-
ucts, the increase of which is due to the following causes:
1. Government interest and aid in farming since 1911.
2. Influence of Soviet farming improvements on Manchurian farm produc-
3.. Use of tractors to increase cultivation.
4. Improved local administration in the Sungari valley, which gives the
peasants a better environment for work.
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NSRB
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For these reasons, agriculture in the Hungari valley has been increasing,
causing a similar growth in river freight. In 1931, a peak of 611,700 tons
was reached. But after the coup of 13 September in that year, there was a
sudden drop due to natural disasters, concentration of peasants in villages,
building of railroads, control of farm products, and similar factors.
Transportation on all rivers in Manchuria reached an all-time high in
1931 with a total of 1,128,267 tons, the average for the period being a little
less than 800,000 tons per year. With the building of railroads after that
date, river freight declined in relative amount. In 1931) farm products
amounted to 611,700 tons, or 54 percent of all water-oorne freight; minerals
amounted to 245,600 tons, or 22 percent; lumber, 42,200 tons, or 4 percent;
and miscellaneous freight, 228,700 or 20 percent. In that year, 84 percent of
the farm products carried by water were beans; wheat 15 percent; other grains
one percent. In 1943, beans and wheat were relatively less, other grains and
processed foods more.
Along the lower Sungari, crops were bought up in the fall, kept by mer-
chants during the winter, and with the opening of navigation, shipped by river
to the Harbin market. The Sungari always carried more than the other rivers.
The quantity, while not large in proportion to the total for Manchuria, was
by no means inconsiderable. The average navigation season, 1932 -1943, was
204 days long.
In the Manchukuo free economy period, farm products and processed goods
were moved to the railroad by carts and wagons of various types. All such
movement of freight was known by the term "small transport." In the past,
goods in this category have amounted to 15 million tons per annum, about one
third being foodstu fs.
In the free economy period, the cost of "small transport" varied with
season, region, distance, packaging, prevailing wages, cost of feed, etc.
Under the controlled economy period of Manchukuo, there was a fixed scale of
costs and wages. In the latter part of this period, because of the demand
for military transport and dwindling of supplies, the "small transport" busi-
ness diminished.
In the old days, transport flourished in private hands. But government
control has stifled the possibility of free development.
In 1944, vehicles of all types, other than railroad cars, transported
4,618,773 tons of cargo plus 297,955 tons of rice, a total of 4,916,728 tons
This figure does not include military transport. The principal types of
transportation were the old-style two-wheel carts, which comprise 47.2 per-
cent of the whole; ox-carts, 13.5 percent; other types of carts, 16.7 percent;
and wagons, 2.9 percent.
In 1937, the total number of transport vehicles in Manchukuo, including
Jehol, was 641,249. By 1943, this number had increased to 817,340. Under
the Manchukuo regime, all transportation was nationalized. A portion of the
earnings of cart transporters had to be paid to the International Transport
Office.
The territory around the railroad centers, for a distance of 10 kilome-
ters on all sides, was graded into half-kilometer sections. A distinction
was made between "A" territory, near the large population centers, and "B"
territory, further away. The cost of moving one ton in "A" territory ranged
from .236 Manchurian currency for a half-kilometer, to .826 for 9-2-10 kilo-
meters. For points further from the railroads, the cost was .801 for 11 kilo-
meters in "A" territory, and .851 in "B" territory.
GO TIAL
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