KIUKIANG
江九
Kiú-kiang
Kiukiang is situated on the river Yangtsze near the outlet of the Poyang Lake, and is a prefectural city of the province of Kiang-si. It is distant about 142 geographical miles from Hankow and 454 miles from Shanghai. Kiukiang, before the Rebellion, was a busy and populous city; but it was occupied by the Taiping rebels in 1853, and before it was given up to the Imperial troops was almost entirely destroyed. When the Foreign Settlement was established there, however, the population soon returned, and has continued to increase rapidly: it is now estimated at 60,000. The city wall has been pulled down, and a maloo has been built in its place.
The city is built close to the river, along the banks of which the walls run for som 500 yards. Their circumference is about five miles, but a portion of the space enclosed is still unoccupied. The city contains no feature of interest. There are several large lakes to the north and west of it, and it is backed by a noble range of hills a few miles distant, amongst which is Kuling, some 3,600 feet high, the well-known summer resort, and the existence of which, within 24 hours' of the port, gives Kiukiang a high position among the Treaty Ports. The former foreign Settlement lies to the west of the city and is neatly laid out. It possesses a small bund lined with trees, a club, and a Roman Catholic cathedral. Since the end of 1927 the foreign settlement has been under control of the Chinese authorities. Roads and innumerable houses are being rapidly constructed, and thus a new residential and business district, close to but outside the city, is rapidly coming into being. During 1921 a system of drainage of approved foreign style was initiated. Pinhingchow now comprises either in or adjacent to it the following prominent buildings: the railway station and godowns, the electric-light power-house, the Yu Sung Match Factory, the Kiuhsing Spinning and Weaving Company's factory, a large four-storied hotel, and the Kiukiang Customs Lights Repair Yard.
TRADE IN 1930.
The idea which led to the opening of Kiukiang was, no doubt, its situation as regards communication by water with the districts where tea is produced. But the hopes entertained respecting the port have never been wholly realised. Hankow having become the market for black teas. The net value of the trade of the port for 1930, was Hk. Tls. 54,972,380, as compared with Hk. Tls. 67,758,913, in 1929, Hk. Tls. 69,216,274 in 1928, and Hk. Tls. 50,331,289 in 1927. Kiukiang is the port whence the ware made at the far-famed porcelain fac- tories at Kin-tê-chên is shipped. The specimens sent to the Paris Exhibition in 1900 secured a silver medal in competition with European porcelain. Rice, beans and peas, hemp, indigo, paper, melon and sesamum seeds, tungsten ore, and tobacco leaf are also important exports.
Mr. H. D. Hilliard writes in his trade report for 1930 that at the beginning of the year the province of Kiangsi and the hinterland of Kiukiang were al- ready fermenting with bandit and Communistic activity. Communist forces were moving from Fukien into the southern part of the province, others were infesting the Hunan-Hupeh border, while yet a third group was menacing the Poyang Lake region. To check this movement troops were sent to garrison the more important cities and strategical centres. This measure kept the Communists at bay for a while, but, with the renewal of hostilities in the North, soldiers were gradually withdrawn, and their departure was the signal for a general advance on the part of the Communists and the inauguration of a reign of terror. In July an attempt was made to capture Nanchang. After Changsha had fallen to the combined efforts of two of these Communist
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