Directory_and_Chronicle_1896 — Page 598

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NINGFO-WENCHOW

périeure, Thérése Affentauchegg, Marie Bugaud, Joseph Massardur At Hangchow, "Maison de St. Vin- cent"-Marie Archenault, supé- rieure, Gabrielle Perboyre, Anne Tourrel, Marie Théron, Stéphanie Poupon

At Kia-shing "Maison du Sacre

Coeur"-Marie Patrissey, supé rieure, Marguerite Ricaud, Joseph Parada

Tsy-ping-yuen

At Ningpo, "Hospital St. Joseph" -Victoire Gilbert, supérieure, Ma- rie Perrin, Isabelle Ducci, Joseph Castelain, Louise Porte

1

局花織紡源入通波寧

Ning-po long-jue-niu-raun-ki-jue-chok

NINGPO MANUFACTURING Co., N. Barrier Jas. Seddon, engineer-in-charge

OLIVIER, DE LANGENHAGEN & Co., Merchs.

Geo. Racine, Shanghai

PILOT

Lin Chang-yin

J. Smith, cutter "Orphan"

房捕巡

TAOTAI'S POLICE

Tshung.bu.wong

Contlr. and Magistrate-J. C. Watson Sergeant-John Willis

WÊNCHOW

Wên-chow-fu, one of the five ports opened to foreign trade by the Chefoo Convention, is the chief town in the department of the same name occupying the south-east corner of Che-kiang province. The city is situated on the south bank of the river Ou-kiang, about twenty miles from its mouth, in lat. 27 deg. 18 min. 4 sec. N., long. 120 deg. 38 min. 28 sec. E. The site is a well cultivated plain, bounded on all sides, but at a distance of some five miles, by lofty hills. The walls are said to have been first erected during the fourth century, and enlarged and re-built by the Emperor Hung Wu in 1385. They are formed of stone, diagonally laid at the foundation, and partly also of brick, and measure about four miles in circumference. The streets are wider, straighter, and cleaner than those of most Chinese cities. They are mostly well paved with brick and kept in careful repair by the householders. They slope down on either side to waterways, which in their turn communicate with canals permeating the whole city. There are numerous large nunneries and temples in Wen-chow. The Custom-house, outside the chief gate, known as the Shwang Men or "Double Gate," the Taotai's Yamên, the Prefect's and other public offices in a cluster, and the Foundling Hospital, all near the centre, are the other chief buildings. The latter institution, built in 1748, contains one hundred apartments. Among the objects of greatest interest and curiosity to the stranger are two pagodas situated on “Conquest" Island, abreast of the city. They are both of great antiquity and, with the houses close by, were for some time the retreat of Ti Ping, the last Emperor of the Sung dynasty, when seeking to escape from the Mongols under Kublai Khan. The British Consul and the Customs examiners occupy apartments on the island used by His Majesty, who has left behind him autographs preserved to this day in the adjoining temple. The estimated population of the city is 80,000.

Wênchow was formerly a great seat of the tea trade, and previous to 1861 was, it is said by some, the only port in the department from which tea was allowed to be exported. The city was then in a flourishing condition. But in order to prevent the teas from falling into the hands of the Tai-ping rebels, who overran the whole district during that year, this regulation was exchanged for one which authorized the export of tea at any of the Customs stations along the coast; consequently the trade soon gravitated to Foochow in the south and to Ningpo in the north. It was thought that on the conversion of Wênehow into a treaty port it would speedily recover its old position as a tea exporting place, but this has not proved to be the case, although it is estimated that tea could be put on the Wênchow market for $2 per picul less than at Foochow, owing to the higher cost of transport to the latter port. At present there is no foreign settlement, and the foreign residents are a mere handful, consisting almost entirely of officials and missionaries. A large quantity of native opium is produced in the vicinity of Wênchow. There is a considerable native export trade in wood, charcoal, and bamboos, brought down the river in rafts from Ch'u-chow. The annual value of this trade is estimated to be not less than $2,000,000. The shops and yards engaged in it are