SOOCHOW
Soochow, the capital of the province of Kiangsu, lies about eighty miles west and a little north of Shanghai, with which it is connected by excellent inland water- ways. The city is a rectangle, its length from north to south being three and a half miles and its width from east to west two and a half. It lies not far from the eastern shore of the great Taihu lake. Past its walls runs the southern section of the Grand Canal, which joins Hangchow to Chinkiang; and in every direction spread creeks or canals, affording easy communication with the numerous towns in the surrounding country. It is an important manufacturing centre, with a population of over half a million. Its two chief manufactures are satins and silk embroideries of various kinds. In addition, it sends out silk goods, linen and cotton fabrics, paper lacquer ware, and articles in iron, ivory, wood, horu, and glass. Since the opening of the port manufactures on foreign principles have been introduced and there are now a cotton mill and three silk filatures, and two more of the latter are about to be erected. Before the Taiping rebellion Soochow shared with Hangchow the reputation of being the finest city in China, but it was almost entirely destroyed by the rebels, who captured it on 25th May, 1860. Its recovery by Major (afterwards General) Gordon on 27th November, 1863, was the first effective blow to the rebellion. Since that disastrous period it has recovered itself greatly and is once more populous and flourishing, though it has not yet attained to its former pitch of prosperity. It was declared open to foreign trade on the 26th September, 1896, under the provisions of the Japanese treaty. The locality chosen for the Foreign Settlement is under the southern wall of the city, just across the Canal, and is a strip of land about 13 miles long and a quarter of a mile broad. The western portion has been reserved for a Japanese settlement. The government has made a good carriage road along the Canal bank for the whole length of the Settlement, on which carriages and rickshas ply, and on fine days the road is crowded with people from the city, amusing themselves walking and driving. The population of Soochow is estimated at 500,000.
DIRECTORY
AMERICAN BAPTIST MISSION (SOUTH) Rev. T. C. and Mrs. Britton
AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN MISSION (NORTH) Tooker Memorial Hospital for Women
Rev. Jos. Bailie
Mrs. E. Worley Bailie, M.D.
Rev. J. N. and Mrs. Hayes
Rev. D. N. Lyon
Miss Cattell, M.D.
Miss Ayres, M.D.
AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN MISSION (SOUTH)
Rev. J. W. Davis, D.D.
Rev. H. C. Du Bose, D.D., and wife
John W. Paxton
J. R. Wilkinson, M.D., and wife
Miss Elizabeth Fleming
Miss Belle Smith
Miss Nettie Du Bose
Miss Addie Sloan
Miss Emma McKnight
AMERICAN SOUTHERN METHODIST EPIS-
COPAL MISSION
Rev. D. L. Anderson, D.D., and wife Rev. J. B. Fearn, M.D., and wife
Rev. T. A. Hearn and wife W. H. Park, M.D., and wife Rev. W. B. Nance
Rev. E. Pilley
Mrs. Julia A. Gaither Miss Jennie Atkinson
Miss Lizzie Martin
Miss Martha E. Pyles
Miss Margaret H. Polk, M.D.
Miss Ida Anderson
Tuk-foong
BRASS & Co., Merchants and Proprietors
Wuli Brick Factory
E. Brass (Shanghai)
利吉
CHILI & Co., Merchants
K. Arai
CHINA-EUROPEAN FILATURE, LD.
Massimo Denegri, manager
CONSULATES
GREAT BRITAIN
Acting Consul-W. P. Ker
Digitized by Google