Editing Standard Oil (section)

===China===
Standard Oil's production increased so rapidly it soon exceeded U.S. demand, and the company began viewing export markets. In the 1890s, Standard Oil began marketing kerosene to China's large population of close to 400&nbsp;million as lamp fuel.<ref name="r3ibf" /> For its Chinese trademark and brand, Standard Oil adopted the name ''Mei Foo'' ({{zh|<!--hant-->美孚}}) as a transliteration.<ref name="B5WZt" /><ref name="uJG4Q" /> Mei Foo also became the name of the tin lamp that Standard Oil produced and gave away or sold cheaply to Chinese farmers, encouraging them to switch from vegetable oil to kerosene. The response was positive, sales boomed, and China became Standard Oil's largest market in Asia. Prior to Pearl Harbor, [[Standard Vacuum Oil Company|Stanvac]] was the largest single U.S. investment in [[Southeast Asia]].<ref name="bJUhL" />

The North China Department of [[Socony]] (Standard Oil Company of New York) operated a subsidiary called Socony River and Coastal Fleet, North Coast Division, which became the North China Division of Stanvac (Standard Vacuum Oil Company) after that company was formed in 1933.<ref name="ukMJV" /> To distribute its products, Standard Oil constructed storage tanks, canneries (bulk oil from large ocean tankers was re-packaged into {{convert|5|usgal|adj=on}} tins), warehouses, and offices in key Chinese cities. For inland distribution, the company had motor tank trucks and railway tank cars, and for river navigation, it had a fleet of low-draft steamers and other vessels.<ref name="GU2OV" />

Stanvac's North China Division, based in Shanghai, owned hundreds of vessels, including motor barges, steamers, launches, tugboats, and tankers.<ref name="svxm4" /> Up to 13 tankers operated on the [[Yangtze River]], the largest of which were ''Mei Ping'' ({{GRT|1,118|disp=long}}), ''Mei Hsia'' ({{GRT|1,048|link=off}}), and ''Mei An'' ({{GRT|934|link=off}}).<ref name="qhz95" /> All three were destroyed in the 1937 [[USS Panay incident|USS ''Panay'' incident]].<ref name="DqcVc" />

''Mei An'' was launched in 1901 and was the first vessel in the fleet. Other vessels included ''Mei Chuen'', ''Mei Foo'', ''Mei Hung'', ''Mei Kiang'', ''Mei Lu'', ''Mei Tan'', ''Mei Su'', ''Mei Hsia'', ''Mei Ying'', and ''Mei Yun''. ''Mei Hsia'', a tanker, was specially designed for river duty. It was built by New Engineering and Shipbuilding Works of Shanghai, who also built the 500-ton launch ''Mei Foo'' in 1912.<ref name="61Eab" /><ref name="uYZ8R" />

''Mei Hsia'' ("Beautiful Gorges") was launched in 1926 and carried 350 tons of bulk oil in three holds, plus a forward cargo hold, and space between decks for carrying general cargo or packed oil. She had a length of {{convert|206|ft}}, a beam of {{convert|32|ft}}, a depth of {{convert|10|ft|6|in|1}}, and had a bulletproof wheelhouse. ''Mei Ping'' ("Beautiful Tranquility"), launched in 1927, was designed off-shore, but assembled and finished in Shanghai. Its oil-fuel burners came from the U.S. and water-tube boilers came from England.<ref name="61Eab" /><ref name="uYZ8R" />