1000
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH
ST.
KEWKIANG-HANKOW
Trustee-H. F. King (H.B.M. Consul) Committee-Rev. Č. F. Lindstrom,
Dr. A. C. Lambert, H. F. King
VINCENT'S
FOREIGNERS
NURSING HOME FOR
Sister Vincent (Superior)
Sister Marguerite Infirmiare Paul
A. C. Lambert, M.D. (medical officer)
TELEGRAPHS, Chinese!
W. S. Ho, director general of Kiangsi or Anhwui and manager of Kiu- kiang Office
T. L. Chu, clerk-in-charge
HANKOW
Han-kau
Hankow is situated on the river Han at the point where it enters the Yangtze, 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 Yangtze. Hankow is distant from Shanghai about 600 miles.
Attention was first drawn to Hankow as a place of trade by Huc, the French missionary. Captain Blakiston, in his work "The Yangtze," 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 Yangtze, 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 Yangtze 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. It is well laid out, the roads being broad and all lined with well grown trees. The Bund affords a very fine and pleasant promenade, and has an imposing appearance from the river. There are a farge 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. The river steamers go alongside hulks noored close to the shore; ocean steamers anchor in mid-stream. The current is very strong in the river. The native city of Hankow was burnt by the Imperialist army in Octo- ber, 1911, and a population of about 800,000 were thereby rendered homeless. The city is to be reconstructed according to designs which will make it a model Chinese city. Cotton cloth mills established by the Viceroy Chang Chih-tung commenced run- ning in 1892, and the ironworks at Hanyang have developed into a large and import- ant enterprise employing about 3,500 men. Hangyang iron is now being placed on the American market at a price which enables it to hold its own against the Steel Trust product. In August, 1895, the Wuchang Mint was established. The Mint has had to be considerably enlarged in recent years to enable it to keep pace with the demand. The machinery was greatly damaged in the Revolution.
The local manufacturing industries include, besides the Government ironworks and arsenals, cotton and silk weaving. A carriage and wagon works to supply rolling stock to the Yuet-Han Railway, closely allied with the Hanyang Ironworks, which is turning out bridges and girders for railways, has been established on