Directory_and_Chronicle_1897 — Page 270

LUNGCHOW-MÊNGTSZ

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wall completed in 1887. The population is estimated to number about 22,000. Lung chow, from a military point of view, is considered, by the Chinese, to be a place of importance and considerable bodies of troops are stationed, and the head-quarters of the Provincial Commander-in-Chief are established, between it and the Tonkin frontier. It was opened to the Franco-Annamese trade on the 1st June, 1889, but so far the little trade existing has been of a very petty description, and will continue so, until the Langson railway, which was opened in Dec., 1894, is extended to Lung-chow. This extension has now been authorised by the Chinese Government, and construction of the line from Lung-chow to the frontier was begun in the Autumn of 1896. Tele- graphic communication exists with Canton and other places down the West River, with Mêngtzŭ in Yunnan, vid Po-sê, and with places in Tonkin. An establishment of the Imperial Maritime Customs is maintained here. The value of the trade for 1895 was Tls. 90,950 as compared with Tls. 45,500 in 1893, and Tls. 153,133 in 1894.

DIRECTORY

暑事領國法大

CONSULAT DE FRANCE

Consul-François

Chancelier-J. J. Beauvais

Writer-Ma Wan-hsiang

Annamese Writer-Tho Bao-thanh

Médecin-Dr. Descous, détaché

Wit Lung-chow Kuan CUSTOMS-IMPERIAL MARITIME

Commissioner-H. B. Morse Assistant C. P. H. Féer Tidewaiter-W. S. Jackson

MISSION DU KOUANG-SI

Mgr. Chouzy, Evêque, Kwei-hsien R. P. Renault, propréfect, Shang-sză Bazin, Lavest, Chanticlair, Poulat, Frayssinet, Humbert, missionnaires

MÊNGTSZ

This is a district city in south-east Yunnan, and together with Man-hao, a village on the left bank of the Red River, was opened to trade by the Additional Convention to the French Treaty of Tientsin of the 25th April, 1886, signed at Peking on the 26th June, 1887. The town is two days' journey from Man-hao and about seven days' from the frontier of Tonkin, and is beautifully situated, being built on a cultivated plateau twenty miles long by about twelve miles in breadth, encircled by picturesque mountains, and 4,580 feet above the level of the sea. It has a population of about 12,000 persons, but before the Mahommedan rebellion was a place of much more importance, as the numerous well-built temples, many of them now in ruins, still testify. It is, however, a considerable commercial emporium even now, and is becoming an important centre for the distribution of foreign goods imported viâ Tonkin. The French Consul hoisted his flag at Mêngtsz on the 30th April, 1889, and the Customs station was opened in the following August. The value of the trade for 1895 was Tls. 2,842,319 as compared with Tls. 2,185,200 in 1894. The Chinese merchants avail themselves largely of the advan- tages offered by the transit pass system, and the value of goods sent into the interior under transit passes during the year 1895 amounted to Tls. 1,521,021, or a little more than 84 per cent, of the quantity imported. The climate of Mêngtsz is temperate and salubrious, though every year, principally in the hot season, the plague makes numerous victims there and throughout the province among the natives. In 1896 the plague appeared late in April and disappeared early in August. The number of victims is stated to have been about 1,400 in the city and neighbouring villages, but no really trustworthy statistics are obtainable. During the winter good sport is obtained, snipe and wild fowl being abundant in the plain, and some pheasants and partridges in the hilly districts. A new French Consulate was finished in 1893, new dwelling houses for members of the Customs service in 1894, and a new Custom House in the spring of 1895. All these buildings are outside the East gate of the city. No foreign merchants have as yet started business in Mêngtsz.

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