HANKOW
口漢 Han-kau
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 immediately 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 Huc, a French missionary. Captain Blakiston, in his work "The Yangtsze," gives 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. 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.
Recent develspments at the port are epitomised as follows in the Customs Report for 1896:-
Tea is the staple export. The total export of Tea from Hankow (including re-exports of Kewkiang tea) amounted in 1897 to 410,019 piculs (of which 235,900 was to Chinese ports), as compared with 470,063 piculs shipped in 1896, and the quantity of brick tea exported in 1897 was 483,192 piculs. In 1897 Opium was imported to the extent of 518 piculs as against 531 piculs in 1896. 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 1897 was Tls. 9,467,427 as compared with Tls. 6,737,406 in 1896. The net value of the trade of the port in 1897 amounted to Tls. 49,720,630, in 1896 to 44,306,493, in and 1895 to Tls. 44,507,502.
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