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Version 1.5 We show that Chinese exports grew rapidly during the first three decades of the twentieth century as China opened up to global trade. Using a new data set on the factor-intensity of traded goods at the industry level, we show that Chinese exports became more unskilled-intensive during these three decades and imports became more skill-intensive. The exogenous shock of World War I increased the demand for Chinese goods overseas, dramatically raised the price of Chinese exports, and increased the demand for unskilled workers producing these export goods) These trends continued even after the war ended. We show that the timing of the rise in export prices is consistent with the observed decline in the skill premium in China. The skill-unskilled wage ratio flattened out during the 1910s and then fell by eight percent during the 1920s. We simulate the exogenous demand shock of World War I using a general equilibrium factor-endowments model of trade and find evidence consistent with the observed fall in the skill premium in China during the 1920s