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NEWCHWANG
莊牛 Niu-chwang 子營 Ying-tsz
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 phrase 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 and uninteresting place, but the construction of the Eastern Chinese Railway Line and the Imperial Chinese Railway Line from Tientsin to Yingkow greatly increased the importance of the port. There is now a train service through to St. Petersburg. Systematic attack has also at last been made upon the mineral resources of Manchuria, the Eastern Chinese Railway having opened coal mines at Mo-ch'i-shan and Tz'uêrl-shan near Liao-yang, and at Wa-fung-tien in the south of the Liaotung peninsula. The railway line runs close to these valuable properties. The well-known gold-bearing districts of Tung Wha and Tieling are also being worked by foreign companies. An unprecedented expansion in trade has accompanied these developments. The country about the port of Newchwang is bare and desolate, and in sailing up 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 used to be, in pre-railway days, entirely cut off from the outer world. The climate, however, is healthy and bracing. The population of the place is estimated at 60,000. The foreign population (7,699) included 7,408 Japanese last year, and only one Russian !
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The chief articles of trade at the port are Beans and Bean-cake; the export being principally to Japan. The net quantity of foreign Opium imported in 1905 was only 25 piculs. The import of Opium has of late years shown an almost continuous decline, the poppy being largely and successfully cultivated in Manchuria. The total net value of the trade of the port in 1905 was Tls. 61,752,905 as against Tls. 41,517,878 in 1904, and Tls. 47,632,059 in 1903.
The port was for about two years, until November 1906, under Japanese military administration, when it was retroceded to the Chinese. Among the conditions of the retrocession was one that Japanese should be engaged for the police and health admini- strations.
ARNHOLD Karberg & Co.
Otto Hoppe, signs per pro.
E. Leels
A. Nathansohn
Agencies
Messageries Maritimes
America & Oriental Line
DIRECTORY
Shell Transport & Trading Co. Ld. China Traders Insurance Co. Ld. Aachener & Muenchener Feuer Versg.
Gesells
London Assurance Corporation
South British Fire & Marine Insurance
Co. of N. Z.
Algemeine Electr. Gesellschaft, Berlin Asiatic Petroleum Co. Ld.
A. Borsig, Berlin-Tegal
Arthur Koppel, A.G., Berlin
A Chee-chang
BANDINEL & Co., Merchants and Shipping
Agents; Teleph. No. 26
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