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ADVANCE RELEASE   - 13 -   NB-2954

a. Electrical Power

Most of the electrical power stations and plants are controlled by the National Resources Commission. This commission, which came into existence in April 1935 and which is part of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, now develops, operated and controls, besides electrical power and enterprises, a great number of basic industries and the more important mining enterprises.

In May 1941, 164 power plants in Free China had a total capacity of 61,327 kilowatts. At about the same period approximately 111,931,000 kilowatt hours were produced in Free China. If compared with the pre-war situation the total capacity of the Free China territories had increased by 20.7 per cent while the output is 86.6 per cent greater. These figures do not include the power produced by factories and industries for their own use. The total production capacity was increased in 1941 to 100,000 kilowatts. A new increase in output was scheduled for 1942. During the period between July 1943 - March 1944, the power generated amounted to 164,501,659 KWH.

b. Metallurgy:

The National Resources Commission controls eight iron and steel factories. By 1940 the production of steel in Free China amounted to 10,000 tons annually. By 1942, production by Government-owned steel works had increased 300 per cent; that by privately owned furnaces, 46 per cent. The maximum production in China is estimated to be 100,000 tons annually. The Chinese steel industry is still in an embryonic stage and most producing furnaces have a daily capacity of less than 10 tons.

c. Machinery:

The most important machine-making factory under control of the National Resources Committee is the Central Machine Works, first situated at Hunan and later moved to Kunming. It produces boiler plants, gas engines, turbo generator sets, gas producers, machine tools, textile machines and parts of vehicles--totaling 120 kinds of machinery. A rather important number of machine shops has been established in Kansu, Kwangtung, Kiangsi and Szechuan.

d. Electrical Manufacturing

The Central Electrical Appliances Works is another wartime creation, comprising four specialized plants with every type of equipment manufactured (near Kunming on Burma Road). However, the production is still entirely insufficient for the needs. Lack of raw materials and insufficient means of transportation are limiting factors. During 1943 the total production by state-operated factories consisted of more than 1,300 telegraph transmitters and receivers and telephone combination sets, more than 3,800 telephone sets, more than 570 radio receiving sets, and 3,990 switchboards, the majority of which were supplied to military and communications organizations. With regard to power equipment, motors with a total rating of more than 11,500 HP and transformers with a total capacity of 12,500 KVA were put out by the various state-and privately-operated plants.

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