CHÚNGKING
慶 重
Chung-king
The city of Chungking, situated in lat. 29 deg. 33 min. 56 sec. N., long. 106 deg. 30 min. E., may well be described as not only the commercial capital of Szechuen but of the whole of Western China. The foreign import trade centres here, and is then distributed by a smaller class of trading junks up the various rivers of the province.
The city occupies the end of a high and rocky bluff forming a peninsula, at the unction of the river Kia-ling with the Yangtsze, 1,400 miles from the mouth of the atter. The principal streets of the city, in which are many fine shops, are on the side of the Yangtsze, while new motor roads have now been driven right through the heart of the city, work still continuing in different directions, and one. road leads out by way of the Tung Yuan Gate, where it merges with the new Great East Road to Chengtu, over 285 miles distant, which has been completed and is open to traffic. The city is surrounded by a crenelated stone wall which is some five miles in circumference, pierced with nine gates. This wall which has now been partially demolished, was built in 1761, replacing an older one. Chungking is now electrically lighted, the service being now controlled by the Municipality. The climate of Chungking is depressing, the summer being hot and damp, the winters raw and chilly, with thick fogs from November to March. The ordinary rise of the river is about 75 feet; on 6th August, 1898, it rose to 101 ft., on 11th August, 1905, to 108 ft., on 22nd July, 1920, to 95 ft. 2 in.; on 14th July, 1921, to 100 ft., 90 ft. at the beginning of August 1931 and on 4th August 1936 to 93 feet. In 1908 it only attained a height of 52 feet 4 inches. According to a Chinese report, the river rose 120 feet in 1878. On the left bank of the Kialing and facing Chungking, extending below the junction of the two rivers, is the walled city formerly styled Kiangpei Ting and now known as Kiangpei Hsien. It is proposed eventually to connect the two towns by a steel bridge. These two cities and the large villages in their immediate neighbourhood are estimated to contain a population
a population of about *$700,000:
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The port was declared open to foreign trade in 1891, since which date a large trade has been done both in imports and exports, carried at first in foreign chartered junks, but for the last ten years in steam and motor vessels.
TRADE IN 1935
At the port of Chungking, after several years' depression, the year 1935 marked a turn, for the better in many respects. Despite the attempted invasion of the province of Szechwan by notorious communist bands, signs were not lacking that trade on the whole was reviving, due to the stabilising effects brought about by the extension of the Central Government's influence into this distant part of China. Since the establisliment of a unified provincial government numerous taxes have been abolished in the inland districts as well as along the main trade routes. The money market was stabilised with the assistance of the Ministry of Finance, public debts were largely liquidated, and the exchange rate on Shanghai was brougtt back to normal. The following were the value statistics of the trade of the port: direct foreign imports, 2 million dollars as against 2.3 million in 1934; coastwise importations of Chinese products, 44.8 million dollars as compared with 27.4 million; direct exports (composed entirely of parcel traffic in medicines, white fungus, etc., with Hongkong), 69,000 dollars as against 78,000 dollars during 1934; and coastwise exportations of Chinese merchandise, 25.1 million dollars as against 27.1 million dollars for 1934. Of direct foreign imports, kerosene oil and its allied products contributed 78 per cent. of the trade, importation being thrice as much as during the previous year. Of coastwise importations, kerosene oil and its allied products contributed 78 per cent. of the trade. importations
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