CHUNGKING
慶重
Chung-king
The city of Chungking, situated in lat. 29 deg. 33 min. 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 junction of the river Kia-ling with the Yangtsze, 1,400 miles from the mouth of the latter. 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 of about
700,000.
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 twenty years in steam and motor vessels.
TRADE IN 1939
Owing to its position as the wartime capital of China, the year opened at Chung- king with fair prospects of commercial activity. Consequent, moreover, on the fall of Hankow the railway to Canton could no longer be used as a means of transport, both import and export cargoes being diverted to the various highways.
Comparative statistics for the trade of the port were as follows: direct imports from abroad, $1 million as compared with $2.6 million; coastwise importations of Chinese produce, $26.4 million as against $34.5 million; direct exports abroad, $373,- 379 as against $203,131; and coastwise exports of Chinese goods, $9.5 million as com- pared with $16.5 million.
Of direct foreign imports, gasolene and kerosene, although still heading the list, showed a great decline, the former falling off from 1,145,559 to 116,969 litres and the latter from 2,278,041 to 4,087 litres. The present hostilities have dealt a serious blow to the oil companies, who have been unable to replenish their stocks owing to difficul- ties in transportation and Government restrictions. Among coastwise imports, raw cotton increased from 37,647 quintals valued at $2.1 million to 72,989 quintals valued at $2.1 million to 72,989 quintals valued at $4.7 million, while cotton yarn decreased from 98,285 quintals valued at $15 million to 28,546 quintals valued at $6.3 million preference being given to the former owing to the unprecedented increase in the price of the latter. There was a noticeable increase in importations of iron manufactures electrical materials and fittings, and chemicals and chemical compounds as a result of the increase in population and in industrial development.