NEWCHWANG
莊牛 Niu-chwang 7 Ying-taz
子營
Newchwang is the most northerly port in China open to foreign trade. It is situated in the province of Shing-king, in Manchuria. It is called by the natives Ying-tz, and lies about thirteen miles from the mouth of the river Liao, which falls into the Gulf of Liao-tung, a continuation of the Gulf of Pechili.
Before the port was opened, comparatively little was known of this part of the Central Kingdom. Manchuria has since, however, been largely colonised by the Chinese, who now outnumber the natives. The word Ying-tz means military station, and that was the only use formerly made of the port. Between the years 1858 and 1860, the British fleet assembled in Ta-lien-wan Bay, and early in 1861 the foreign settlement was established. The town of Newchwang itself is distant from Ying-tz about thirty miles, and is a sparsely populated, uninteresting, and unimportant place.
The country about the port of Newchwang is bare and desolate, and in sailing up the river a most cheerless prospect greets the traveller's eye. Ying-tz is surrounded by dreary marshes, and the land under cultivation produces principally beans. The river is closed by ice for more than three months every year, during which period the residents are entirely cut off from the outer world. The climate, however, is healthy and bracing. The construction of a railway to connect this port with the province of Kirin has been sanctioned, but the work has not been commenced. The population of the place is estimated at 60,000.
The chief articles of trade at the port are Beans and Bean-cake; 3,872,841 piculs of the former and 3,306,851 piculs of the latter being exported in 1897. The net quantity of Opium imported in 1897 was 28 piculs, compared with 2,453 piculs in 1879. The import of Opium has of late years shown an almost continuous decline, the poppy being largely and successfully cultivated in Manchuria. The total value of the trade of the port for 1897 amounted to Tls. 26,358,671 as against Tls. 22,771,346 in 1896. For nine months of the year 1895 the port was in the possession of the Japanese and the Customs returns for that year are incomplete.
AMERICAN TRADING COMPANY
C. H. McCaslin, agent
Agencies
DIRECTORY
China Traders' Insurance Company
Royal Insurance Company (Fire)
昌旗
Chee-chang
BANDINEL & Co., Merchants
J. J. F. Bandinel
W. J. Lister
F. D. Farmer
Agencies
National Bank of China, Limited Nippon Yusen Kaisha
China Shipowners' Association Norddeutscher Lloyd
Austrian Lloyd's Steam Navign. Co. Northern Pacific Steamship Company Deutscher Lloyd
Standard Life Assurance Company Sun Fire Office
Hanseatischer Lloyd
Internationaler Lloyd
Continental Reinsurance Company
Imperial Marine Insurance Co.
Mitsui Bussan Kaisha
來遠 Yin-lae
BUSH BROTHERS, Merchants and Commis-
sion Agents
Henry A. Bush
H. F. Bush, signs per pro.
A. Van Ess
S. James
Agencies
Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corpn. Jardine, Matheson & Co.
M. Sheveleff & Co., Vladivostock
A. R. Marty
Nisshin Boyeki Kaisha
I. M. Customs Bankers
Cheque Bank Company, Ld., London