YOCHOW
Yochow, with a population of 15,000 to 20,000, is situated in latitude 29° 23' N., and longitude 113° 8' E. (Greenwich), at the outlet of the Tungting Lake. Past it ebbs and flows practically the whole of the trade of Hunan, which, however, adds nothing to the prosperity of the place, as it simply passes by after having paid its inward and outward taxes. The city is the gateway of the province and nothing more. Efforts are being made by British, Gerinan and Japanese jirms to maintain regular communication with Changteh, the trade centre, whose opening to foreign trade was talked of in 1906. The opening of Changsha took away much of Yochow's transit trade, but as the Hankow- Canton Railway will pass through Yochow it may hope to experience better times. The total net value of the trade of the port for 1912 was Tls. 6,285,267 as compared with Tls. 3,455,970 for 1911.
The province of Hunan used to be to foreign commerce what Tibet has been to the explorer-a Forbidden Land-and it is only a few years ago that foreigners were stoned out of Yochow. In 1904, the people were described as showing a friendly attitude" to all foreigners. The anti-foot-binding crusade has done well in Hunan, which was once the most anti-foreign province in all China. They are intensely patriotic, but their patriotism is rather for Hunan than for the Empire at large.
The province is rich in many forms of wealth, though the inhabitants say it consists of "three parts mountain, six water, and one arable soil." One of the main staples is rice, of which nearly a million piculs are sent out of the province to Hupeh and Kueichow in an average year. The Hunan tea sent to Hankow amounts to about six hundred thousand half-chests a year. The timber passing down past Changtch is valued officially at six million taels a year, and is probably worth more. There is also a large production of cotton. The mountain districts contain large fields of coal, both anthracite and bituminous; iron also is known to exist. Sulphur, antimony, nickel, and other minerals are even now exported, and great possibilities of development are undoubtedly to be found.
Steam launches and steamers run through from Hankow to Changsha with cargo and passengers, under River passes; and from Yochow to Inland places under Inland Steam Navigation Rules.
The city of Yochow is perched on a bluff in a very picturesque way. Its site_is, however, not adapted for a transit trade, and it offers no shelter for small craft. The port has, therefore, been opened at Chenglin, five miles to the north and only a mile from the Yangtsze, where a small creek provides the needed shelter for cargo-boats, though the steamer anchorage is bad, being fully exposed to the frequent northerly gales while the bottom affords bad holding ground. Here the Chinese Government has set aside a place for a cosmopolitan settlement, for which they themselves will provide roads, police, etc.; the site contains level ground for business purposes, well raised, but not too high, above flood limits, while higher ground gives good and healthy sites for foreign houses. Work on the formation of the settlement and bunding operations were commenced in 1900, and a new Custom-house and quarters have been built. Yochow is described by the Customs Commissioner as "doubtless the healthiest town in the Yangtse Valley, considering the insanitary conditions." In 1900, really the first open year of the port, the net value of the trade was Tls. 143,827. In 1903 it amounted to Tls. 3,473,241, but in 1905 the value was Tls. 490,053 only, and in 1910 the returns show a net value of Tls. 1,941,869 as compared with Tls. 3,015,913 in 1909. The noticeable decline since 1904 was the result of the opening of Changsha as a Treaty Port.
The noteworthy feature of 1907 was the connection of Changteh by steamer during the high-water season-June to October-the resulting trade being valued at Tls. 617,000. Buoys and lights were established to mark the channel across the lake. The difficulties and risks of this route are considerable, and it is probable that it will be found advisable to adopt the somewhat longer route via Lulintan, though, on account of the sharp bends of the River Yuan in its lower reaches, specially adapted steamers will probably have to be used. The principal products exported from Changteh are native cloth wood oil, vegetable tallow and lotus nuts.