NAVIGATION ON THE YANGTSE
UPPER & MIDDLE YANGTSE
Chengtuy SZECHUAN Chungking TID"E 100 MILES 200 HUPLE H sichang Shesi 117 Hankow Yoshow FUNGTING GLAKE HUNAN Changsha 1104/2
It was not until 1878, two years after the Chefoo Convention was signed, that the first steamers went up beyond Hankow. In that year the China Navigation Company and the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company commenced a joint service between Hankow and Ichang. For technical reasons they were unable to maintain this service during the winter months of low water, and it was not until 1884 that a regular all-year-round service was commenced by Archibald Little with his small steamer Y-Ling, the other companies following suit a short time later. By 1901 there were twenty-two steamers running regularly between Hankow and Ichang, during daylight hours only, and it was not until 1920, after intensive surveys by the Chinese Maritime Customs, that night-time sailing was possible.
A further section of the Yangtse was opened to foreign trade after China's defeat by Japan in the war of 1895, namely the 400 miles from Ichang to Chungking. At the same time Chungking and Shasi, the latter between Hankow and Ichang, became treaty ports. With the addition of Chungking to the list of treaty ports,