Directory_and_Chronicle_1888 — Page 499

TIENTSIN.

Tientsin is situated at the junction of the Grand Canal with the Peiho river im lat. 39 deg. 3 min. 55 sec. N. and long. 117 deg. 3 min. 55 sec. E. It is distant from Peking by river about 80 miles. It was formerly only a military station, but towards the close of the 17th century it became a place of some importance. The walled portion is small compared with the suburbs, the circumference of the walls being only a little over three miles. The principal trade is carried on in the suburbs. The purely native city has the reputation of being exceptionally dirty. There are a num- ber of soap-boiling works in the neighbourhood, and the smell that arises from them is most disagreeable.

A number of foreigners live in the suburbs of the native city, but the concession, which is situated about a mile and a half farther down on the south bank of the river, has been largely taken up during the last few years, and is now pretty well covered with buildings.

Tientsin will always be famous for the Treaty signed by Lord Elgin in a temple since called the Treaty Temple, or Elgin's Joss-house, on the 26th June, 1858, and known as the Treaty of Tientsin. The port is also infamously notorious for the massacre of the French Sisters of Charity and other foreigners on the 21st June, 1870, by a Chinese mob, under circumstances of shocking brutality. Tientsin is now connected with Shanghai by telegraph, and in 1884 a line to Peking was opened. A Chinese daily paper, called the Shih-pao, was started in May, and an English weekly, entitled the Chinese Times, in November, 1886. The population of Tientsin is estimated at 950,000.

There is a fair foreign trade done at Tientsin compared with the other open ports but the exports are very small compared with the imports. The Tea exported goes principally to Russia and Siberia, via Kiachta. In 1886, 445,158 piculs were exported by this route, compared with 345,391 piculs in 1885. A trade in Coal from the Kaiping mines has sprung up, the export for 1886 being 34,100 tons against 17,486 tons in 1885. Opium to the extent of 2,106 piculs was imported in 1886, as compared with 1,936 piculs in 1885. The total value of the trade of the port in 1886 was Tls. 27,882,445, as compared with Tls. 26,242,763 in 1885.

Consulates.

官事領國英大

DIRECTORY.

Ta Ying-kwo ling-shih-kwan. GREAT BRITAIN.

(For Tientsin and Peking.)

Consul-Byron Brenan

Interpreter-E. F. Bennett

Constable-J. 'T'retheury

*

門衙事領國法大

Ta-fah-kwo ling-shih ya-men.

FRANCE.

Consul-P. Ristelhueber

Chancelier-Interprete—Guérin

Constable-E. Bonneau

門衙事領國俄大

Ta-ngo-kwo ling-shih ya-men. RUSSIA.

■Consul—J. W. Paderin

門衙事領國美大

Ta-mi-kwo ling-shih ya-men. UNITED STATES.

Consul-E. Smithers

Vice-Consul-W. N. Pethick

Interpreter-W. N. Pethick

Marshal

門衙事領國德大

Ta-te-kwo ling-shih ya-men GERMANY.

Consul-Dr. Rettich (absent)

Interpreter-Dr. Schrameier

Constable-E. F. Boos

BELGIUM.

Consul-W. Forbes

Vice-Consul-J. Graham