[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government. 439
CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[F 4519/1859/10]
No. 1.
[October 23, 1926.]
SECTION 1.
Memorandum on Steam Navigation on the Upper Yang-tsze.
THIS title is, in fact, a misnomer, the section dealt with, that between Ichang and Chungking, is always spoken of as the Upper Yang-tsze," although Chung- king is actually not half-way up the river from its mouth, the distance being roughly 1,400 miles, and the length of the Upper Yang-tsze" (Ichang-Chungking) section being about 400 miles.
This 400-mile section is one long series of navigational difficulties rapids, gorges, whirlpools, and rocks—but all the greatest obstacles are concentrated in the 200-mile stretch between Ichang and Wanhsien, though there are several serious rapids and races above the latter town. A Chinese guide book, compiled for the use of Upper Yang-tsze pilots, enumerates 1,000 rapids between Ichang and Chungking. The current in these rapids may attain a speed of twelve knots or over, and, as the course of every rapid is bestrewn with rocks, visible or submerged, they constitute difficulties of the first order. It may be mentioned that the average fall from Chungking to Ichang is well over 1 foot per mile.
The gorges lie entirely in the mountainous country between Ichang and Wanhsien. The longest of them, the Wushan gorge, is about 20 miles in length, running the whole of this distance in a narrow channel between precipitous lime- stone cliffs, its width varying from 300 to 600 feet, and the cliffs rising at times to 1,000 feet. The enormous mass of water being pent up in a narrow space produces violent eddies, while in times of flood the water level in the gorges rises at a prodigious rate, a rise of 100 feet in a day being by no means extraordinary. These desolate mountainous sections are necessarily very sparsely inhabited, with the natural result that they have at all times been the haunts of pirates; when I first went up the river in 1909 there were to be seen frequent warning notices painted on the rocks to the effect that the river was unsafe and that boats should tie up at recognised mooring places only.
At the upper end of the gorges is the town of Kueichowfu (commonly known as Kweifu), which was formerly the seat of one of the most important and lucrative native customs stations in China, with a collection of 2,000 taels a day, and ranking second only to Canton.
One or two events in the history of Szechuan may be mentioned in order to furnish background. In the 3rd century A.D., China was divided into the famous "Three Kingdoms," one of which, Shu, was roughly identical with the present province and had its capital at Chengtu, the present capital of the province. The period of the Three Kingdoms is the romantic age of China, and furnishes the material for a large proportion of its historical plays; and the names of the "Three Heroes who founded the Kingdom of Shu are household words.
Another event which has contributed largely to the formation of the character of the inhabitants of Szechuan was the rebellion that devastated the province in the middle of the 17th century, at the time of the overthrow of the Ming dynasty and the establishment of the Manchus. Szechuan was the prey of one of the most blood- thirsty tyrants that the world has ever seen, Chang Hsien-chung, whose name is even now a terror to its inhabitants. His orgies of slaughter appear fabulous, but they are well substantiated; their effect was the practical depopulation of the province. (A census of the province taken in 1710 gave a total population of 144,154; the present population is not less than 45 millions.) After this wholesale massacre, the province was repeopled with the off-scourings of other provinces, so that the average inhabitant of Szechuan is a very poor type of Chinese. At the present day it is difficult, if not impossible, to get an inhabitant to admit that he is a native of Szechuan; he will say that he belongs to Hupeh, Hunan, Kiangsi, or even Kwangtung, claiming as his province the home of his immigrant ancestor, and in some districts colonies of descendants of the early settlers are found retaining the costumes, manners, customs, and even traces of the dialects of their forefathers.
Brief mention may be made of two other events that materially affect the -attitude of the Szechuanese; the province was practically untouched by the T'aiping
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