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CHANGSHA
Outside the city there is a very fine hospital, which was erected at a cost of $185,000 by a former Yale graduate for the use of the Hunan-Yale Medical College. The direction of the hospital is in the hands of a board, composed equally of repre- sentatives of the Hunan gentry and the Yale Mission. The Yale School and College buildings are in the inmediate neighbourhood. These are all outside the north gate. Outside the south gate are the famed antimony works of the Huachang Company, which has branch offices in the Woolworth Building, New York. There are two electric-lighting companies.
On the island are to be found the British Consulate and the residences of the indoor Customs and Post Office staffs and of the managers of the Standard Oil, Asiatic Petroleum, British-American Tobacco Companies, Butterfield & Swire and many other mercantile firins.
Motors run daily to Siangtan, a large town 30 miles to the south of Changsha The two cities are also connected by telephone. The motor-road is being extended on the south-west towards Paoking, an important city situated almost in the centre of the province and itself the centre of important iron and coal fields. Paoking has water communication with the outside world, but only by means of a river proverbially difficult of navigation because of the innumerable rapids which obstruct its course. This new
extension of the road was commenced with a contribution of gold $200,000 from the American Red Cross, in relief of the grievous famine which befel the province through the drought, which was prolonged throughout the summer of 1921 and caused the death by starvation of thousands of the people of the districts to the west of Paoking.
TRADE IN 1930
Political disturbances and Communistic excesses combined to make 1930 one of the worst years in Changsha's chequered history as a port. In the opening months of the year normal conditions prevailed, and, with an appreciable expansion in the volume of both imports and exports, the trading outlook appeared promising. The first signs of trouble showed in May, when the activities of Communists in the portion of Hunan to the east of the Tungting Lake became particularly menacing. In the same month the province was invaded by the armies of the Kwangsi faction, who, advancing from the South at great speed, occupied Changsha on the 4th June without meeting with much opposition. During the 13 days they remained in possession of the city practi- cally every available source from which the sinews of war could be extracted was tapped. No sooner, however, had these invaders been driven out and public confidence re-established than the activities of Communists operating on the Hunan-Kiangsi border and in the Tungting Lake area became especially ominous. A panic ensued in which officials, wealthy citizens, and all others who could do so escaped down river, and the Communists entered the city on the morning of the 28th July. The nine days that the Communists re- mained in occupation before being driven out by Government troops were marked by deliberate and widespread destruction on an appalling scale, while all householders were compelled to pay two months' rent in advance. The ravages of the Communists were supplemented by the activities of the local riff-raff, who, taking advantage of the advent of these anarchic conditions,. broke into and ransacked the smaller shops as well as many private residences. Although the Communists were expelled from Changsha early in August, they remained in force close by for several weeks longer, and the greatest appre- hension naturally prevailed. Even when they finally withdrew from this. neighbourhood at the beginning of September bands of Reds continued to terrorise the Tungtung Lake area. During these weeks of stress in July and August trade naturally touched its nadir. The single bright spot during this gloomy period was the excellence of the rice crop, bumper returns of this staple being obtained in every part of the province, and in September the pro- vincial government permitted rice to be exported to other parts of China. With the restoration of normal conditions in the closing months of the year, trade showed a gratifying upward tendency, a considerable briskness being evidenced in imports, especially kerosene oil and piece goods, while the export trade regained much of its former vitality, certain Hunan minerals showing very satisfactory increases. In November and December trade greatly benefited
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