ABSTRACT
The modem sector built on the periphery of China's traditional economy was small. Foreign trade, despite its contributions to economic modernization, was of only negligible importance in per capita terms. Among the traditional economic sectors, agriculture was by far the most important. The non-agricultural sectors of the traditional economy in China included the handicraft industry, coolie and animal transport, native banks and pawnshops, and indigenous trade and services. Among these sectors, the handicraft industry was next to agriculture in importance in the value added to net national product, the amount of employment, and the contribution to export trade. In the 1930's agriculture accounted for approximately 60 per cent of the nation's net national product, and 60 to 70 per cent of export trade. The minute scale of farming and the concentration of landholding in the traditional agriculture of China together resulted in both inability and lack of incentive on the part of the Chinese people to accumulate capital.
