SHANGHAI
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Mr. H. H. Lindsay, head of the late firm of Lindsay & Co., and the Rev. Chas. Gutzlaff, in the Lord Amherst, with a view of opening up trade. Mr. Lindsay says he counted upwards of four hundred junks passing inwards every day for seven days, and found the place possessed commodious wharves and large warehouses. Three years later it was visited by the Rev. Dr. Medhurst, who confirmed the account given by Mr. Lindsay. On the 13th June, 1842, a British fleet under Vice-Admiral Sir William Parker, and a military force of 4,000 men under Sir Hugh Gough, captured the Woosung forts, which mounted 175 guns, and took the hsien (district) city of Paoshan. On the 19th, after a slight resistance, the force gained possession of Shanghai, the officials and a large proportion of the inhabitants having fled the previous evening, although great preparations had been made for the defence, 406 pieces of cannon being taken possession of by the British. The people, however, rapidly returned and business was resumed. The same force afterwards captured Chinkbang and Hankow, after which the treaty of Nanking was signed, and the ports of Swatow, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo and Shanghai were opened to trade. The city was evacuated on the 23rd June.
The ground selected by Captain Balfour, the first British Consul, for a Settle- ment for his nationals, lies about half a mile north of the city walls, between the Yang-king-pang and Soochow Creeks, and extends backward from the river to a diten connecting the two, called the Defence Creek, thus forming what may be called an island, a mile square. The port was formally declared open to trade on the 17th November, 1843. Some years were occupied in draining and laying out the ground, which was mostly a marsh with numerous ponds and creeks. The foreigners in the meantime lived at Namtao, a suburb between the city and the river, the British Consulate being in the city. In two years a few houses were built in the Settlement, and by 1849 most foreigners had taken up their residence in it. By that the twenty-five tiras were established, and the foreign residents numbered a hundred, including seven ladies. In that year an English Church was built, and on 21st November the foundation of the Roman Catholic Cathedral at Tongkadoo was laid. The French were in 1849 granted the ground between the city walls and the British Settlement on the same terms, and, in exchange for help rendered in driving out the rebels who had seized the city in 1853, got a grant of the land. extending for about a mile to the south between the city walls and the river. They have since by purchase extended the bounds of the Concession westward to the Ningpo Joss house," a mile from the river. Later on the Americans rented land immediately north of Soochow Creek, in the district called Hongkew, so that the ground now occupied by foreigners extends for about four miles on the left bank of the river. The land in the British Settlement was assessed in 1896 at Tls. 18,532,573, and that in Hougkew at Tls. 10,379,735; in 1890 at Tls. 12,397,810, and Tis. 4,806,448; and in 1880 at Tls. 6,118,265 and Tls. 1,945,325 respectively, the total of Tls. 28,912,308 in 1896 shewing an advance since 1880 of over two hundred and fifty-eight per cent. While the value of the land in the British Settlement had trebled that in Hongkew had increased to over five times what it was worth sixteen years previously. A great rise in values took place during the later months of 1895 and this has continued during the last two years, chiefly caused by the influx of native capital, seeking safe investment under foreign protection. The rental assessment in 1896 of foreign houses in the British Settlement was Tls. 480,753 and in Hongkew Tls. 262,363, and that of native houses Tls. 1,666,546 in the former and Tls. 813,387 in the latter, a total annual rental assessment of house property of Tls, 3,223,049. The assessed value of land in the French Concession was Tis. 3,309,684 in 1895; the rental assessment of foreign houses Tls. 65,000 and of native houses Tls. 405,000. The Chamber of Commerce in 1882 valued the land in the three Settlements at Tls, 24,355,000 and the merchandise in stock at Tls. 32,645,000, together equal to fourteen and a quarter millions sterling. Both have been greatly increased in value since that date and the boundaries of Hongkew have been enlarged. The British and French Settlements are now practically all built over, and the vacant spaces in Hongkew are being rapidly covered. A petition has now been sent to Peking praying for a greatly enlarged boundary for the Settlement. The Japanese treaty of 1896 gave that power the right to a separate Settlement at Shanghai, but no definite claim has yet been made for such an area. Most of the land along the outside roads, and at Pootung on the opposite bank of the river, is now also rented by foreigners, but natives have recently been considerable purchasers of landed property within the Settlements. All ground belongs nominally to the Emperor of China, but is rented in perpetuity, a tax of fifteen hundred copper cash, equal to about a dollar and a half
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