Part 5 — PART V The Establishment of Shipbuilding Yards

When China is well developed according to my programs, the possession of an oversea mercantile fleet, of ships for coastal and inland water transportation, and of a large fishing fleet will be an urgent necessity. Before the outbreak of the late World War, the world's seagoing tonnage was 45,000,000 tons. If China is equally developed industrially, according to the proportion of her population, she would need at least 10,000,000 tons of oversea and coastal shipping for her transportation service. The building of this tonnage must be a part of our industrial development scheme; for cheap materials and labor can be obtained in the country, and so we could build ships for ourselves much cheaper than any foreign country could do for us. And besides the building of a seagoing fleet, we have to build our inland water crafts and fishing fleets. Foreign shipping yards could not do this service for us on account of the impracticability of transporting such numerous small crafts across the ocean. Thus, in any case, China has to put up her own yards to build her inland water crafts and fishing fleets. So the establishment of ship building yards is a necessary as well as a profitable undertaking from the beginning. The shipping yards should be established at such river and coastal ports that have the facility of supplying materials and labor. All the yards should be under one central management. Large capital should be invested in the project so as to procure a yearly output of 2,000,000 tons of various kinds of vessels.

All types of vessels should be standardized both in design and equipment. The old and wasteful types of inland water crafts and fishing boats should be replaced by modern efficient designs. The inland water crafts should be designed on the basis of certain standard draughts such as the 2-foot, 5-foot, and 10-foot classes. The fishing trawlers should be standardized into the one-day, the five-day, and the ten-day service class. The coastal transports should be standardized into the 2,000-, the 4,000-, and the 6,000-ton class, and for oversea transports we should have standardized ships of 12,000-, 24,000-, and 36,000-ton classes. Thus, the many thousands of inland water crafts and fishing junks that now ply the rivers, lakes, and coasts of China may be displaced by new and cheaper crafts of a few standard types which could perform better services at less expense.