SZEM AO
Szemao, opened to the Tonkin frontier trade by the Gérard Convention of 1895 and to British trade by the Burmah Convention of 1896, is situated in the south- western part of the Province of Yunnan in latitude 22° 47′ 29′′ N. and longitude 100° 46′ E. It is a sub-prefectural walled town built on a gently rising ground overlooking a well- cultivated plain. The elevation is 4,700 feet above the sea level, and the population is estimated to be about 15,000. The climate is delightful, the temperature rarely ex- ceeding 80 degrees (Far.) during the summer and seldom falling below 50 degrees in the winter months. The plague, such a common visitor throughout Yuunan, is as yet unknown in Szemao. The place is distant from both Yunnan-fu (the capital of the province) and Mengtsz 18 days, and from the frontier 8 to 12 days. It has rather a prosperous air about it, being a large market for tea and salt, and an important station for the transit trade in cotton from Burmah and the Laos. No statistics of the trade with the Laos districts, Siam, Burmah, or Thibet are yet available. A telegraph line from Tung Hai, vià Yuan Chiang and Pu Erh-fu, will soon connect Szemao with the existing Chinese overland telegraphs, and another one from Szemao to
Moung Hou" (the rst French post across the frontier) will there make a junction with the Tonkin lines.
CONSULATES
FRANCE
Consul-P. Bons d'Anty Chancelier-C. P. H. Féer
GREAT BRITAIN
Acting Consul-J. W. Jamieson
DIRECTORY
CUSTOMS-IMPERIAL MARITIME
Commissioner-Francis A. Carl Assistant-F. W. Carey Examiner-F. Williams Chinese Clerk-Fung Shun-san
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