FOOCHOW
911
The Long Bridge has been repaved, the stone steps on either end have been taken away, and now it is possible to ride in jinrickshas from the Nantai Island into the city. A large number of rickshas and a fair number of carriages are employed; the roads, however, are not sufficiently wide to allow of the introduction of motors.
The climate of Foochow is mild and delightful for about nine months of the year, but in the summer it is rather trying, the range of the thermometer then being from 74 deg. Fahr. to 98 deg.
The scenery surrounding Foochow is very beautiful. In sailing up the Min river from the sea vessels have to leave the wide stream and enter what is called the Kimpai Pass, which is barely half-a-mile across, and, enclosed as it is by bold, rocky walls, it presents a very striking appearance. The Pass of Min-ngan is narrower, and with its towering cliffs, surmounted by fortifications and cultivated terraces, is extremely pictur- esque, and has been compared to some of the scenes on the Rhine. The Yung Fu, a tributary of the Min, also affords some charming scenery, the hills rising very abruptly from the river bank. The Min Monastery, the Moon Temple, and the Kushan Monastery all occupying most romantic and beautiful sites, are fine specimens of Chinese religious edifices, and are much resorted to by visitors. Game abounds in all the ravines and mountains in the vicinity of Foochow, while tigers and panthers are common in the more remote hills, and some of these beasts have been killed within ten miles of the city.
Foreign vessels are compelled to anchor at Pagoda Island, owing to the shallow- ness of the river, which of late years has been increasing the difficulties of navigation; even at the anchorage the river is still silting up in several places. A river-training scheme is making good progress for improving the navigational ap- proaches of Nantai Harbour (.e., the harbour of Foochow proper). The aim in view is the elimination of lighterage at Pagoda Anchorage for all cargo that can be brought into the port in steamers drawing up to 17 feet. An incidental benefit will be the reclamation of great tracts of sandbanks and their ultimate recovery for cultivation. The limits of the port of Foochow extend from the City Bridge to the Kimpai Pass. The Mamoi Arsenal, near Pagoda Anchorage, is an extensive Government establishment, where several good-sized gunboats have been built, but it now stands practically idle. The Arsenal was bombarded by the French on the 23rd-24th August, 1884, and reduced to partial ruin, but was restored. The establishment was later reorganised, and was for some years administered by French experts. There is a dock in connection with the Arsenal on Losing Island. The dock is over 300 ft. long and has very powerful pumps and a good steel caisson. The Fukien Christian University, the latest addition to the educational establishments of the port, moved into its new quarters, just below Kushan Point, at the end of 1921. The site com- prises some 50 acres of hill and plain. The object of the University is to provide cheaper education for Chinese on Western lines and in more congenial surround- ings than are to be had abroad. In June, 1900, the port was visited by the most disastrous floods known there in living memory; the river, rising through heavy rains, overflowed and deluged the country, sweeping away villages and causing immense havoc and loss of life. The population of Foochow is estimated at 650,000.
The net value of the trade of the port coming under the cognisance of the Foreign Customs in 1922 was Hk. Tls. 30,107,988, as compared with Hk. Tls. 33,020,688 (a record) in 1921, Hk. Tls. 25,612,810 in 1920, Hk. Tīs. 20,740,234 in 1919, and Hk. Tls. 15,642,219 in 1918.
KULIANG
A refuge from the heat of summer at Foochow can be gained by a four hours' chair ride to the top of Kuliang, .e., “Drum Pass," which is a mountain resort situated about nine miles east of Foochow. The thermometer indicates an average of 10 degrees cooler on the mountain than it is in Foochow; the nights are always cool and blankets a necessity for comfort. Dr. Rennie was the first to build a house of foreign design at Kuliang in 1886. Now there are upwards of one-hundred such houses, and every summer between two and three-hundred persons, chiefly missionaries, are in residence on the mountain. According to the Admiralty Chart, Kuliang reaches a height of 2,900 feet. Nearly five miles of stone-paved roads about three feet in width haye