CANTON
921
were thrown open to foreign trade.
to foreign trade. Nevertheless, the provisions of the Treaty continued to be ignored in the City of Rams, and foreigners were still denied admittance within its walls. The result of protracted annoyances and insults was that in October, 1856, Sir Michael Seymour, with the fleet, again opened hostilities, and some two months later a mob in retaliation pillaged and burned all the foreign residences. In December, 1857, Sir Charles Straubenzee, in command of an expedition which had been specially despatched from England, attacked the city, and it was taken on the 29th of that month. The French also sent out an expedition, and the city was occupied by the Allied Forces until October, 1861, a period of nearly four years.
The city proper extends to a breadth of about two miles, is about six miles in circumference, and was formerly enclosed by walls 43 ft. thick at the base and from twenty-five to forty feet high. The desire for reform and improvement on modern lines is shown by the recent demolition of the old city wall and utilisation of the site for a fine motor road, from 80 ft. 100 ft. wide, and six miles long, along which tramway lines are to be laid. This work was carried out by the Municipal Council, which was established in November, 1918. Numerous buildings of an improved type have recently been erected, notably the new premises of the Sun Co., a building of nine stories, on the Bund. The suburbs spread along the river for nearly five miles. The entire circuit, including the suburbs, is nearly ten miles. What is now called the New City was formerly known as the Southern Suburb. The Western Suburb stretches for miles along the river. There were sixteen gates giving admission into the city, besides two water gates. Canton contains great attractions for foreign visitors in its numerous temples, pagodas, etc., and in the many curio shops to be found there. As a specimen of Chinese architecture, the Chin Chew Club is well worthy of inspection, and the Examination Hall, the City of the Dead, the Execution Ground, the Gaols, the Arsenal, an ancient Water Clock, the Mohammedan Mosque and the fine ancestral temple of the Chan family are among other show places. The French Mission have a large and handsome Gothic cathedral, with two lofty towers surmounted by spires, in the city. The structure is entirely built of dressed granite. A Mint, constructed by the late Viceroy Chang Chih-tung, near the East Gate, and furnished with a very complete plant, commenced work in 1889, and now issues silver dollars and subsidiary coins, as well as copper cents. The buildings cover a large area. On the opposite side of the river the Honam Temple and Monastery form the principal attractions, and in the same neighbourhood the firing, sorting and sift- ing of tea, the preserving of ginger, and the packing of rattans, cassia, etc., may be seen. The founding of bells and the dyeing of paper and cotton fabrics are two of the chief industries of Fatshan, some ten miles from Canton. There are large glass-works at Fatei, and paper-mills-these with up-to-date European machinery-near the village of Impo. At Shekwan, seven miles from Fatshan, are extensive potteries. The population of Canton has been estimated at 2,500,000 by the Customs authorities.
When the foreign merchants returned to Canton to establish trade after the capture of the city by the English at the close of 1857, they found the factory and the buildings along the river in ruins. Recourse for accommodation was consequently had to warehouses on the Honam side of the river. Considerable discussion subsequently took place as to the selection of a site for a permanent British settlement, and it was eventually determined that an extensive mud flat known as Shameen should be filled in and appropriated. In 1859 an artificial island was created there, a canal constructed between the northern side of the site and the city, and solid and extensive embankments of masonry built. It took about two years to complete this undertaking, and cost no less than $325,000. Of this sum four-fifths were defrayed by the British, and one-fifth by the French Government, to whom a portion of the reclaimed land was given. Up to 1889 most of the French concession remained unutilised, but in that year a number of lots were sold and are now built upon. The French also received a grant of the old site of the Viceroy's Yamên, on which the Catholic Cathedral now stands. Shameen is pleasingly laid out, with gardens and tennis courts, and the roads are shaded with well-grown trees. Christ Church (Church of England) stands at the western end, and close to it are situated the Masonic Hall. Boat House, and Club. There is a Roman Catholic church on the French Concession. The Settlement contains good hotel accommodation. During an anti-foreign riot on the 10th September, 1883, sixteen houses and the Concordia Theatre on the Settlement were burned by the
nob.
In consequence of the decline in the importance of Canton as a place of trade, caused principally by the opening of some of the northern ports, many of the merchants by whom lots were purchased there in 1861, at enormous prices, withdrew from