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After the Sino-Japanese war, the Chinese government used part of the ships bought from the United States as compensation for the loss suffered by civil shipping companies during the war. Consequently, a new shipping company called China Union Lines Limited (CUL) was founded. The background of CUL's establishment involved a complex domestic and international relationship in the post-war era, and thus it had completely different characteristics than other private enterprises. However, the domestic situation worsened soon afterwards, so the executives decided to move CUL first to Hong Kong, and to observe changes in the situation at home and abroad before deciding on its future business direction. Because of the company's management crisis, the American side threatened to detain the vessels, while the new Chinese government was actively carrying out the united front work and mobilizing ship operators to "Return North." Ultimately because of the change in the international arena, CUL moved to Taiwan and chose to repay its loans by selling sea vessels, thus changing its business nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outbreak of the Sino-Japanese war put China in great financial difficulties, pressing China into asking for military and monetary assistance from the international communities. But without enough foreign currencies for repayment, the Chinese government resorted to barter trade (...), an ancient mode of commodity exchange, which came into full swing as time went by. First with U.S.S.R. and later with the U.S. and U.K., this mode of trading provided loan and assistance to China during the war. In particular, the barter trade with the Soviet Union at the early stage of the war had played a crucial role in the Chinese government's effort in seeking foreign aid to fight against the enemy. This paper focuses on how China supplied goods to U.S.S.R. through barter trade in accordance with the agreement. It examines the produce (such as Chinese wood oil, tea leaves, bristles, raw silk, and wool) that were purchased and distributed as a whole by the Fu Hua Trading Co. (...), China National Tea Co. (...) and the Foo Shing Trading Co. (...) under the purview of the Foreign Trade Commission (...). Drawing on original documents of the aforementioned companies, public archives, and reviewing previous literature, the author discusses in detail the negotiation process and contents between China and U.S.S.R., organization and evolution of the trade committee, the quantity, price, means and routes of transportation of the traded produce. They are followed by an in-depth analysis of the effects and problems of the barter trade between China and U.S.S.R. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]