Directory_and_Chronicle_1885 — Page 366

CANTON.

Canton proper extends to a breadth of about two miles, is about six miles in circumference, and is enclosed by walls about twenty feet thick and from twenty-five to forty feet high. The suburbs spread along the river for nearly five miles. The entire circuit, including the suburbs, is stated by Williams to be nearly ten miles, the walls enclosing about six miles. What is called the New City now was formerly known as the Southern Suburb. The Western Suburb stretches for miles along the river. The gates by which entrance is gained into the city are sixteen in number, and two water gates. Canton contains great attractions for foreign visitors in ita numerous temples, pagodas, &c., and in the many curio shops to be found there. As a specimen of Chinese architecture the Chin Chew Club is well worthy of inspec- tion; and the Examination Hall, the City of the Dead, the Execution Ground, the Gaols, the Arsenal, and the Mahomedam Mosque are among other show places. The French Mission have erected a large and handsome Gothic cathedral, with two lofty towers surmounted by spires, in the city. The structure is entirely built of dressed granite, and has been completed externally. The population of Canton is estimated at 1,600,000.

When the foreign merchants went back to Canton to establish trade after the capture of the city by the English at the close of 1857, they found the Factory and the buildings along the river in ruins. Recourse for accommodation was consequently had to warehouses on the Honam side of the river. Considerable discussion subse- quently took place as to the selection of a site for a permanent British settlement, and it was eventually determined that an extensivé mudflat known as Shameen should be filled in and appropriated. In 1859 an artificial island was created there, a canal constructed between the northern side of the site and the city, and solid and extensive embankments of masonry built. It took about two years to complete this undertaking, and cost no less than $325,000. Of this sum four-fifths were detrayed by the British, and one-fifth by the French Government, to whom a portion of the reclaimed land was given, but they have never built on it. The French also received a grant of the old site of the Viceroy's Yamen, on which the new Catholic Cathedral has been erected. Shameen is pleasingly laid out, and the roads are shaded with well grown trees, A neat church, called Christ Church, stands at the western end. During an anti-foreign riot on the 10th September, 1883, sixteen houses and the Concordia Theatre on the Settlement were burned by the mob. They are now in course of re-erection.

In consequence of the decline in the importance of Canton as a place of trade, caused principally by the opening of some of the northern ports, the Shameen site has been availed of but by few, and many of the merchants by whom lots were purchased there in 1861, at enormous prices, have withdrawn from Canton altogether. The trade now transacted there by foreigners is limited. Tea and Silk are the staple exports. The total export of Tea for the year ending 31st December, 1883, was 14,827,469 lbs, compared with 16,456,446 lbs. iu 1882, and 15,325,073 lbs. in 1881; and the quantity of Raw Silk exported in 1883 was 18,105 piculs as compared with 16,505 piculs in 1882. The import of Opium in 1883 was 529 piculs as compared with 17 picula in 1882, 211 picula in 1881, and 642 picula in 1880. The total value of the trade of the port for 1883 was Tls. 28,559,580 as compared with Tls. 29,143,025 in 1882. The purely native trade of Canton still enjoys a high degree of prosperity,

Ample means of intercommunication exist between Cauton and Hongkong, a distance of about ninety-five miles, by foreign steamers plying daily, and a large number of native craft. There is daily steam communication with Macao. Steamers also run regularly between Shanghai, Hongkong, and Canton. There is a safe and commodious anchorage within 150 yards of the river wall of Shameen. Only steamers go to Canton; sailing vessels never ascend beyond Whampoa, owing to the difficulties of navigating a crowded river. Canton was connected by telegraph (an overland line) with Kowloon in 1883, and another overland line was completed from Canton to Lungchau-fu, on the Kwangsi and Tonquin frontier, in June, 1884. A railway between Canton and Kowloon is projected.