620
RUSSO-CHINESE SCHOOL
L. Davydoff, superintendent
J. Brandt,
1st teacher
G. Smykaloff, 2nd do.
P. Bazaroff,
3rd do.
PEKING TIENTSIN
ET
SINGER SEWING MACHINE Co.
SOCIÉTÉ FRANÇAISE D'IMPORTATION
D'EXPORTATION, TH. CULTY AND CIE,
D. Duran
SYLVA, J. A., Commission Agent
TELEGRAPHS IMPERIAL CHINESE
H. F. Henningsen, superintendent
堂與德
TO SHING TANG HOTEL
Shigesaku Ichiyama, proprietor
VRARD & Co., Jewellers
WANNIECK, L., Merchant
E. Dumetier
H. Bahlke
K. Mantler
Shin-'oong
Wardroper, W. S., Merchant
TURNER, P., Architect and Builder (Ching
Wang Tao)
YOKOHAMA SPECIE BANK
S. Sawamura, sub-agent
TIENTSIN
津天 Tien-tsin
Tientsin is situated at the junction of the Yun Ho or Hwae River, better known as the Grand Canal, with the l'ei-ho in Lat. 39 deg. 4 min. N., Long. 117 deg. 3 min. 56 sec. E. It is distant from Peking by road about 80 miles, but the bulk of the enormous traffic between the two cities is now by the railway, which was opened in 1897, and the line doubled in November 1898. Tientsin was formerly a place of no importance and till recently had few historic associations; till the end of the Ming dynasty (1644 A.D.) it was only a second rate military station, but at the northern terminus of the Grand Canal it gradually assumed commercial importance, and by the end of the seventeenth century had become a great distributing centre. The navigability of the Pei-ho for sea-going junks ceases at Tientsin, and this made it the emporium for the very large quantities of tribute rice yearly sent up to the capital, after the Grand Canal shoaled up so as to be unfit for carriage in bulk. The trade of the city was imperilled by the silting up of the Pei-ho, but a river improvement scheme of some magnitude was inaugurated in 1898 under Mr. A. de Linde, and the Peace protocol of 1901 contains clauses which constitute a Board of Conservancy (now in existence) and the provision of fairly liberal funds for the maintenance of the works. It is, however, generally believed that no lasting success will attend the remedial measures until steps are taken to deal with Taku Bar by permanent dredging; meanwhile by closing the canals and creeks which take off most of the flood tide, by giving a larger radius of curvature to the bends, and by widening the Reach, and making three cuttings to straighten the river, its navigability has been greatly ameliorated.
The expeditions of the allies in 1858-61 greatly enhanced the importance of the city, as it then proved to be the military key of the capital and an excellent base. It was here on June 26th, 1858, that Lord Elgin signed the treaty which was to conclude the war but which unhappily led to its prolongation. The famous temple in which the treaty was signed, about a mile distant from the West gate, was destroyed by British shells in July, 1900.
During the long satrapy of Li the trade and importance of the city developed exceedingly. Li, by the vigour of his rule, soon quelled the rowdyism for which the Tientsinese were notorious throughout the empire, and as he made the city his chief residence and the centre of his many experiments in military and naval education, it came to be regarded as the focus of the new learning and national
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