昌阜
KEWKIANG-HANKOW
Fow-cheong
MOLCHANOFF, Pechatnoff & Co., Merchs.
M. A. Toomassoff, agent
W. A. Panin
Hon. Secretary-
Ta Ying Kung-wu-chü
MUNICIPAL COUNCIL
Chairman--H. B. M. Consul in chge. i.a.
191
W. Standley, inspector of police
TELEGRAPHS--IMPERIAL CHINESE
Whong Jen Yu, manager
豐順
Shoon-foong
TOKMAKOFF, MOLOTKOFF & Co., Merchants
M. J. Ostanin
HANKOW
Hankow is situated on the river Han at the point where it enters the Yangtsze, and is in lat. 30 deg. 32 min. 51 sec. N., and long. 114 deg. 19 min. 55 sec. E. It was formerly regarded as only a suburb of Hanyang, which it immediately adjoins, and which is a district city of the province of Hupeh, but Hankow has outstripped the older city in wealth and importance. These two towns lie imediately facing the city of Wuchang-fu, the capital of the province, which is built upon the south bank of the Yangtsze. Hankow is distant from Shanghai about 600 miles.
Attention was first drawn to Hankow as a place of trade by Hue, a French missionary. Captain Blakiston, in his work “The Yangtsze," give the following correct description of the place and its surroundings:-"Hankow is situated just where an irregular range of semi-detached low hills crosses a particularly level country on both sides of the main river in an east and west direction. Stationed on Pagoda Hill, Hanyang, a spectator looks down on almost as much water as land even when the rivers are low. At his feet sweeps the magnificent Yangtsze, nearly a mile in width; from the west and skirting the northern edge of the range of hills already mentioned, comes the river Han, narrow and canal like, to add its quota, and serving as one of the highways of the country; and to the north-west and north is an extensive treeless flat, so little elevated above the river that the scattered hamlets which dot its surface are without exception raised on mounds, probably artificial works of a now distant age. A stream or two traverse its farther part and flow into the main river. Carrying his eye to the right bank of the Yangtsze one sees enormous lakes and lagoons both to the north-west and south-east sides of the hills beyond the provincial city.
The port was opened to foreign trade in 1861. The British Settlement is located at the east end of the city, which it joins, and is, together with the Race Course, included within the city walls, which are quite modern, having been built at the time of the Taiping Rebellion. It is well laid out, the roads being broad and all lined with well grown trees. The Bund, which is exactly half a mile in length, affords a very fine and pleasant promenade, and has an imposing appearance from the river. There are a large Roman Catholic and small Protestant and Greek churches, the latter a rather handsome structure built by the Russian residents. Several Brick Tea factories owned by Russians are located in the Settlement. A capital club, with tennis and racquet courts, bowling alley, billiard and reading rooms, library, &c., is kept up. A French Settlement was also fixed upon, but it has never been occupied. The river steamers go alongside hulks moored close to the shore; ocean steamers anchor in mid stream. The current is very strong in the river. The native city of Hankow presents no distinctive feature. Like all Chinese cities it is a crowded agglomeration of narrow lanes. The population of Hankow is estimated at 800,000. Cotton cloth mills established by the Viceroy Chang Chih-tung commenced running in 1892, and large ironworks at Hanyang have also been established.
Tea is the staple export. The total export of Tea from Hankow (including re-exports of Kewkiang tea) amounted in 1896 to 470,063 piculs (of which 253,786 was to Chinese ports), as compared with 576,631 piculs shipped in 1895, and the quantity of brick tea exported in 1896 was 434,107 piculs. In 1896 Opium was imported to the extent of 531 piculs as against 577 piculs in 1895. It is computed that 70 per cent. of the opium used at this port is native grown drug; the import of the foreign article is declining. The trade under the transit pass system is larger at Hankow than at any other port; its value in 1896 was Tls. 6,737,406 as compared with Tls. 5,555,905 in 1895. The net value of the trade of the port in 1896 amounted to Tls. 14,306,493, in 1895 to Tls. 44,507,502, and in 1894 to Tls. 39,134,793.
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