Situation.
(Translation.) Sir,
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Inclosure 1 in No. 1.
Prince Ching to Sir J. Jordan.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Excellency's note of the
January 28, 1907. 21st January, respecting the delay in establishing custom-bouses in Northern and Southern Manchuria, to the detriment of British sea-borne trade, and requesting that custom-houses may be established at Antung and Tatungkon before the spring, so that the Tariff duties may be collected impartially and irrespective of nationality.
I have the honour to state in reply that we are at present actually engaged in making preparations for opening custom-houses for the levy of duty at Antung and Tatungkou, and are only awaiting the completion of satisfactory arrangements for the opening of these establishments before the spring.
I avail, &c.
Inclosure 2 in No. 1.
Report by Mr. Coales respecting Antung and Talungkou.
Situation
River Yalu
Population
Japanese Settlement
Railways, Seoul-Wiju..
Railway bridge
Railways, Antung-Mukden
General Foreign Settlement
Trade
Timber
Imports and Exports
Shipping
Wharfage
Officials
Silk..
Customs, &c.
Li-kin
Military
Consular
Missionaries
Education
CONTENTS.
Chambers of Commerce
Opium
Post-office, Telegraphs, and Telephones Tramways
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Page.
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Antung is situated on the right bank of the Yalu River, at the point where the several branches into which that river and the Ai-kiang divide, after leaving the mountains, reunite and form a broad tidal stream. It is distant about 30 miles from the sea.
The town is built on a low plain between the river and a range of hills, and is bounded on the north and south by two streams called the Hsiao-sha-ho and the Ch'i-tao-kou. The Ta-sha-ho, which flows from Fenghuangch'êng and enters the Yalu just above Antung, has given the local name of Sha-ho-tzu or Sha-ho-chên to Antung. The Chi-tao-kou, or Seventh Creek, is the last of a series of creeks entering the Yalu on the right bank, which give their names to the districts they drain; for example, the site of the Japanese Settlement is also known as Chi-tao-kou. In order to avoid the periodical freshets of the Yalu which flood the lower parts of the town to the depth of 10 to 15 feet, the town has extended up the lower slopes of the hills, and here the inhabitants take refuge during these inundations.
About 10 miles to the north-east by road from Antung is the Corean town of Wiju or Ichou, on the left bank of the river. It was formerly important as the centre of the
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trans-frontier trade and seat of the Corean Frontier Customs, but it now seems destined to decay in consequence of the rise of a new town, called by the Japanese New Wiju or Hsin Ichou, and Malientung by the Chinese, at the riverside terminus of the North (Corean Railway, about 1 miles below Autung. A small town of some 1,400 Japanese,
200 Chinese, and 80 Coreans has already sprung up here.
Farther down the river on the left bank is the Corean town of Yongampho, called by the Chinese Lung-yen-p'n or Lung-pao-kou. It is about 18 miles from Antung.
Thirty miles from Antung on the right bank of the Yalu estuary is the Chinese town of Tatungkou. It is situated at the edge of a plain at the junction of two tidal creeks connecting with the Yalu, called respectively on the north the Tung-tien-kou and on the south the Ta-tung-kou. The town consists of two or three long streets running parallel to the creeks and a number of cross lanes. On the eastern bank of the creeks is an almost uninhabited reed flat extending to the open estuary.
At The River
The River Yalu is tidal as far as Hsich-li-miao, about 13 miles above Antung. Antung the tide rises at springs 9 feet and at neaps 6 feet. At Yongampho spring rise Yalu. is 18 feet and neap rise 13 feet, and in the estuary at Hung-Shan or Tasarugi the rises are 23 and 16 feet respectively.
The river is closed to navigation by ice at Antung about the 22nd November, and at Tatungkou about the 7th December, and opens about the 20th March and the 5th March respectively.
Off the native town at Antung the Yalu is rather less than half-a-mile broad, but off New Wiju it is nearly two-thirds of a mile broad. Towards the sea it broadens out rapidly, and has an estuary several miles wide. Unfortunately its navigation is much obstructed by shoals and banks which are dry at low tide, and there is a shallow bar just below Yongampho which prevents any but small steamers reaching either that town or Antung. An additional difficulty in its navigation is the changing character of these shoals, which a violent freshet may completely alter. The average size of steamers running to Antung is therefore only about 500 tons, drawing 6 to 7 feet of water, but Mr. Okabe, the Japanese Consul, told me that a steamer drawing 12 feet had under very favourable circumstances reached the Japanese Settlement in 1906, and that now the river is getting better known larger steamers are able to come up. Under these limitations there is good anchorage at Antung from above the native Customs to a point called San-tao-lang-t'ou, about 7 miles below, except at one or two points. On the other hand, the Corean side is shallow. In former years vessels running under Inland Waters Rules used to anchor off the native town, but in 1906 Japanese steamers running from Chefoo have been berthed off the Japanese Settlement, and when the railway bridge, to which I refer later, is built, steamers will be forced to stop below this.
Below San-tao-lang-t'ou the deep channel passes to the Corean side, and there is an anchorage near Yongampho. It is said to be not so good as that at Antung, and to be silting up.
In the estuary of the Yalu there are three anchorages. That which is said to be the most commodious, and which is used by steamers from Chefoo bringing or taking cargo to or from Tatungkou and Antung, is on the west, near the Islands of Chang-tzu- shan and Hsiang-pi-tzu-shan (the Corean names in Chinese are Hsin-tao and Ma-tao respectively). Steamers wait here for the tide to take them up the river, or cargo is lightered and conveyed into Tatungkou or up to Antung. The other anchorages are on the Corean side, near the Islands of K'u-lung-mên (Japanese, Bumbegi or Pai-men) and Hungshan (Japanese, Tasarugi). Steamers from Chemulpho and Japan usually anchor at K'u-lung-men, and lighter their cargo up to Yongampho or Antung and load export cargo. During the war transports of 6,000 tons anchored at IIungshan,
The islands in the river, both those above Antung and those in the estuary, including Chang-tzu-shan and Hsiang-pi-tzu-shan, are Corean territory.
As steamers are unable to enter the creeks at Tatungkou the anchorage for that town is at Ilsiang-pi-tzu-shan. The harbour at Tatungkou consists of the two above- mentioned creeks, Tung-tien-kou and Ta-tung-kou. They contain no water at low tide, and when full can only be used by Chinese boats. Their average breadth is about Tatungkon owes its 100 feet, and there is a broad foreshore on the town bank. importance as a timber port to these creeks. Timber descending the Yalu is floated with the tide into the Tung-t'ien-kou up to the town, and is there handled and stacked on the broad foreshore. When exported it is loaded on junks and conveyed out by the Ta-tung-kou, and in this way the congestion which might constantly happen is prevented. An advantage which Tatungkou enjoys over Antung in the timber business is its immunity from the disastrous floods which at the latter place are liable to wash away
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