NINGPO
263
being established. But the lawless acts of the Portuguese soon attracted the attention of the Government, and in 1542 the Governor of Chekiang ordered the settlement to be destroyed and the population to be exterminated. A large force of Chinese troops soon besieged the place, destroying it entirely, and out of a population of 1,200 Portuguese, 800 were massacred. No further attempt at trade with this port was made till towards the close of the 17th century, when the East India Company established a factory at the island of Chusan, some forty miles from Ningpo. The attempt to found a trade mart there, however, proved unsatisfactory, and the factory was abandoned after a very few years' trial. The port was deserted by foreigners for many years after that. When hostilities broke out between Great Britain and China in 1839, the fleet moved north from Canton, and on the 13th October, 1841, occupied Ningpo, and an English garrison was stationed there for some time. In March, 1842, an attempt was made by the Chinese to retake the city, but the British artillery repulsed them with great slaughter. Ningpo was evacuated on May 7th, and, on the proclamation of peace in the following August, the port was thrown open to foreign trade.
Ningpo is built on a plain, which stretches away to a considerable distance on either side. It is a walled city, the walls enclosing a space of some five miles in cir- cumference. The walls are built of brick, and are about twenty-five feet high. They are fifteen feet wide at the summit, and twenty-two at the base. Access is obtained to the town by six gates. A large moat commences at the north gate and runs along the foot of the wall for about three miles on the landward side, until it stops at what is called the Bridge Gate. The main street runs from east to west. Several of the streets are spanned by arches erected in memory of distinguished natives. Ningpo has been celebrated as possessing the fourth library of Chinese works, in point of numbers, which existed in the cinpire. It was owned by a family who resided near the south gate. The site occupied by the foreign residences is on the north bank of the river. The population of Ningpo is estimated at 255,000.
The foreign trade at Ningpo has never been large. This is owing to a considerable extent to the proximity of Shanghai; the native guilds preventing direct dealings with foreigners. A Cotton mill was established in 1896, and commenced work in June of that year. Of Tea, there were exported in 1899, 79,599 piculs, in 1898, 75,399 in 1897, and 178,001 in 1896, the falling off being due to a diversion of the Fychow tea trade, which formerly passed through this port, but is now forwarded to Shanghai via Hang- chow. The net value of the trade of the port was Haikwan Tls. 16,263,262 in 1899, 14,418,531 in 1898, Tls. 16,042,136 in 1897, and Tls. 17,123,444 in 1896.
* Taikoo
BUTTERFIELD & SWIRE
DIRECTORY
F. S. Saunders, signs per pro.
Agencies
Ocean Steamship Company China Navigation Company, Ld.
Union Insurance Society ofCanton, Ld.
Royal Exchange Assurance
London and Lancashire Fire Insce. Co.
Equitable Life Assurance Soc. of U.S.A
Palatine Insurance Company, Ld.
Atlas Assurance Company
Taikoo Sugar Refining Company, Ld.
局甬商招 Chau Shang Yung-Kiuk
CHINA MERCHANTS' STEAM NAVIGATION Co.
Koo Yuen Seng, manager
Le Ching Lin, clerk
Agency
China Merchants' Marine Insurance Co.
CHRIST CHURCH
Bishop-Rt. Rev. G. E. Moule, D.D. (re-
siding at Hangchow)
Chaplain-Rev. A. J. Walker
Treasurer and Church Warden-J. C.
Watson
CONSULATES-
門衙事領國英大
Da Ing-kok Ling-ze-ngo-meng
GREAT BRITAIN
also
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, Consulate
Consul-W. H. Wilkinson
Constable-G. A. McKerrow
"The Da-me Ling-ze-ngô-meng
門衙事領美大
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Consul-John Goodnow (Shanghai)
Deputy Consul-A. H. White do.
The British Government uses over 1,500 REMINGTON Typewriters.
Page 720Page 721