A328
SOOCHOW
1
possess
was
many important towns such as Kiating(), Taitsang (✯ ✯ ), Changshu ( ), Soochow 蘇州, and Wusih 錫),all of which are densely populated and
rich agricultural products. Construction of this
of this road began as early as September 1933, and work was not finished until Au- gust, costing about $1,700,000. A new Ching Fan Highway (*) named after the local ancient scholar and stateman Fan Chung-yen (1), was constructed in September, 1933, connecting the Tien Ping Hills () with the Lin An Hills (1), thus providing much facility to the excursionists to these two famous hills. The Soochow Kashing Railway covering a distance of 75 kilometres, was com- pleted and formally opened to traffic in July. The construction of the Chung Shan Memorial Hall (†) was consummated in April, 1934, costing $40,000.00 a sum which was totally contributed by the citizens of the local community. It is a magnificent building and situated in the midst of the Yuan Miao K'uan (), the commercial centre of the city. A new Y.M.C.A. building was opened in December, 1921. The Chinese and missionary schools date back to 1900. The Soochow Domestic Produce Company, situated in the centre of the city was opened in 1935. On New Year's day in 1931, a new city gate named "Chin Mên" ( ), replacing the Hsin Chang Mên and a little to the south of it, was opened to traffic. Another new city gate called "Hsiang Mên" (HPH) was completed in 1936. The city of Soochow has thus, in addition to the newly built "Ping Mên" (4) "Hsiang Men" (*), nine city-gates, instead of six city gates as it had before. Recent years witnessed the growth of a great many modern banking institutions. Branch offices of Chinese modern banks established in this city and opened to business lately were the Ching Ch'eng Bank(); The Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank (****); The Chinese Manu- facturers' Bank ( E ); The Peasants Bank (AR †7); The Oriental Bank(); The National Industrial Bank of China. († FI**); and The China South Sea Bank († 1).
TRADE IN 1937
The trade of Soochow continued to be prosperous until August, when it received a heavy blow in the outbreak of Sino-Japanese hostilities in the neighbourhood of Shanghai, which almost totally stopped traffic between Soochow and other treaty ports. As it was, due to the unusually large importations of certain categories of foreign goods from abroad in the beginning of the year, the value of foreign imports slightly exceeded that of the previous year, as may be seen from the following value statistics: direct foreign imports, $4.7 million as against $4.4 million in the previous year; coastwise importations of Chinese merchandise, $1.8 million as against $2.6 million; and coastwise exportations of Chinese produce, $247.000 as against $314.000. The principal imports were, as usual, sugar, artificial silk yarn, and petroleum oils. It is remarkable that, though the import trade was interrupted in August, only sugar suffered a slight decline as compared with the previous year, the figures being 104,629 quintals in 1937 and 138,882 quintals in 1935, whereas the rest of the principal imports all exhibited some increase. 466,477 kilogrammes of artificial silk yarn was recorded as against 414,493 kilogrammes in 1936, the increase being accounted for by the growth of the silk-weaving industry in the district during the earlier part of the year as well as the Government's effective measures for the prevention of smuggling by rail and other means of transportation. As regards kerosene oil and gasolene, a total quantity of 13,5 1,137 litres arrived as compared with 12,160 572 litres in the previous year. The tea season was better than usual, but the quantity exported during the year was only 1,596 quintals as against 2,142 quintals in 1936, due to the fact that hostilities broke out before the major part of the stocks were shipped to other ports. The district's industry in general suffered a severe set-back as a result of military operations in the area and will require some time to recover after peace reigns again. The Sochow-Kashing Railway and the numerous highways in the district, some of which had just been completed during the previous year, were widely utilised for the purpose of military transportation.