Directory_and_Chronicle_1880 — Page 365

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KIUKIANG.

Kiukiang is situated on the Yangtsze, near the outlet of the Poyang Lake, and is a prefectural city of the province of Kiang-si. It is about 137 geographical miles from Hankow and 445 from Shanghai.

Kiukiang was at one time a busy and populous city; but it was occupied by the Taiping rebels in 1853, and before it was given up to the Imperial troops it was utterly destroyed, presenting one of those melancholy spectacles which these hordes of usurpers left so often behind them. A gentleman (Mr. Laurence Oliphant) who visited it in 1858 speaks of the desolation of the city in the following terms:-"We found it to the last degree deplorable. A single dilapidated street, composed only of a few mean shops, was all that existed of this once thriving and populous city; the remainder of the vast area comprised within its walls, five or six miles in circumference, contained nothing but ruins, weeds, and kitchen gardens." When the foreign settle- meut was established there, however, the population soon returned, and it has con- tinued to increase rapidly. It is now estimated at 40,000.

The city is built close to the river, the walls running along the banks of it for some 500 yards. Their circumference is about five miles, but a considerable portion of the space enclosed is not occupied. The city contains no features of interest. There are several large lakes to the north and west of it, and beyond the principal suburb lies the foreign settlement. On the opening of the port considerable trouble was experienced in securing the land on which to build the foreign residences, the Chinese demanding extortionate prices for it. Indeed, so bitter was the opposition manifested that before the ground could be cleared some of the native houses had to be forcibly demolished.

The idea which led to the opening of Kiukiang was, no doubt, its situation as regards communication by water with the districts where the Green Tea is produced. But the hopes entertained respecting Kiukiang have never been realised. The total quantity of Tea exported in 1878 was 268,099 piculs, of which 40,316 piculs were Green, the import for 1877 being 245,145 piculs. Opium was imported to the extent of 1,653 piculs in 1878, and 1,852 piculs in 1877.

1878 was Tls. 756,202, and for 1877, Tls. 689,125.

The total revenue of the port for

Consulates.

大英領事官

Ta-ying Ling Shih Kuan.

BRITISH CONSULATE.

Acting Consul-B. C. G. Scott

Constable-Charles Rowe

1.法領事官

Ta-fa Ling Shih Kuan.

FRENCH CONSULATE.

Consul-General at Shanghai

大美國領事官

DIRECTORY.

Ta-mai-kwok-ling-shih-kwan.

UNITED STATES CONSULATE.

Consul-I. F. Shepard, residing at Han-

kow

大荷蘭國領事官

Ta-ho-lan-kwoh-ling-shih-kwan.

NETHERLANDS CONSULATE.

Vice-consul―J. H. Anderson

大澳領事官

Ta Ao Ling-shih-kwan.

AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN CONSULATE.

Acting Consul―B. C. G. Scott

大丹國領事官

Ta-tan Ling-shih-kwan.

DANISH CONSULATE.

Acting Consul-B. C. G. Scott

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