SOOCHOW
州蘇 Sú-chau
Soochow,the capital of the province of Kiangsu, lies about eighty miles west by water and fifty-four by railand a little north of Shanghai, with which it is connected by excellent inland water-ways. The Shanghai-Nanking Railway supplies still better connection. The city is a rectangle, its length from north to south being three and a half miles and its width from east to west two and a half, the total circumference being about 10 miles. It lies not far from the eastern shore of the great Taihu lake. Past its walls runs the southern section of the Grand Canal, which joins Hangchow to Chinkiang; and in every direction spread creeks or canals, affording easy communication with the numerous towns in the surrounding country. It is an important manufacturing centre, with a population of over half a million. Its two chief manufactures are satins and silk embroideries of various kinds. In addition, it sends out silk goods, linen and cotton fabrics, paper, lacquerware, and articles in iron, ivory, wood, horn, and glass. Since the opening of the port manufactures on foreign principles have been introduced, and there are now three silk filatures and one cotton mill. Before the Taiping rebellion Soochow shared with Hangchow the reputation of being the finest city in China, but it was almost entirely destroyed by the rebels, who captured it on 25th May, 1860. Its recovery by Major (afterwards General) Gordon on 27th Nov., 1863, was the first effective blow to the rebellion. Since that disastrous period it has recovered itself greatly and is once more populous and flourishing, though it has not yet attained to its former pitch of prosperity. It was declared open to foreign trade on the 26th September, 1896, under the provisions of the Japanese Treaty. The Foreign Settlement is under the southern wall of the city, just across the Canal, and is a strip of land' about 1 miles long and a quarter of a mile broad. The western portion has been reserved for a Japanese Settlement. The government has made a good carriage road along the Canal bank extending the whole length of the settlement, and as far as the railway station, a distance of five and a half miles, on which carriages and ricshas ply, and on fine days the road is crowded with people from the city, amusing themselves, walking and driving. The Chinese and European school was opened in 1900. The gross value of the trade of the port passing through the Maritime Customs in 1914 was Tls. 11,404,359 as against the record total of 16,311,166, in 1913, and Tls. 11,372,828 in 1912.- But this represents only a small portion of the total trade of the port, a quantity of which does not come under the jurisdiction of the Customs.
DIRECTORY
亞細亞 A-si-a
ASIATIC PETROLEUM Co. (North China),
LTD.
H. G. Curran, local manager
J. Kitto
BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO Co.
J. Dowding
CHINA MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE CO.
C. A. da Costa, agency manager
局政郵州蘇
CHINESE POST OFFICE-Kiangsu District
Postal Comr.-W.W.Ritchie (Nanking) Soochow Section
First Class Postmaster-J. Hinrichs