Directory_and_Chronicle_1898 — Page 544

Directories & Chronicles 香港指南 All

TIENTSIN

103

foreseen contingencies with it. Farmers up near Shan Hai Kwan are supplying fruit and vegetables to Tientsin, coal has come extensively into Chinese household use, whole shiploads of ground-nuts were sent here last year, the foreign residents are developing a first-rate watering place at Pei Ta Ho on the Gulf of Pe-chi-li, and all the various industries of the city have been stimulated. Brick buildings are springing up in all directions and the depressing looking adobe (mud) huts are diminishing.

The Foreigners live in the two Concessions, British and French, which fringe the river below the City and cover an area of less than 200 acres. The Germans in 1895 acquired an extensive concession adjoining and below the British, but have not yet begun to develop it. The Japanese are desirous of acquiring one, and the old British Settlement has been extended in a direction back from the river. Very extensive building operations are going on throughout the two existing concessions, which have excellent roads, with police, oil-gas lamps, etc., etc. The British Municipality has a handsome Town Hall, completed in 1889 ; adjoining there is a well kept public garden opened in the year of Jubilee and styled Victoria Park. An excellent recreation ground of ten acres is also being developed, and three miles distant there is a well- formed race course. There are two hotels (the Astor House and Globe), two clubs (Tientsin Club and Concordia, the latter chiefly German), a theatre, an excellent library, three churches (Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Union), and no public-houses.

Distilling is one of the largest local industries; it is chiefly from kowliang (sorghum) or millet. Although a spirit it is called "wine" and is exported to the south in large quantities. The manufacture of coarse unrefined salt by the evaporation of sea water is also carried on near Taku; the produce is stacked along the river bank just below the native city and sometimes gives off very offensive smells, rendering life a burden. The trade in salt is a Government monopoly. Carpets, shoes, glass, coarse earthen ware, and fireworks are also made in large quantities in the city, but Tientsin is essentially a centre for distribution and collection rather than for manufacture. The exports include coal, wool (from Kokonor, Kansuh, etc.), bristles, straw braid, goat skins, and a few furs, wine, etc. The export trade is a recent creation and is largely due to foreign initiative. Wool cleaning and braid and bristle sorting are the chief industries in the foreign hongs except those of the Russians, who are exclusively engaged in the transit of tea. The imports are of the usual miscellaneous nature; tea for the Desert and Siberia, mineral oil, matches, and needles figure next to piece goods. The fine arts are unknown to the Tientsinese except in the shape of cleverly made mud-figures: these are painted and make really admirable statuettes, but are difficult to carry away, being remarkably brittle.

The export coal trade is rapidly expanding, 128,098 tons having been cleared in 1896, The general trade is increasing by leaps and bounds, and no wonder, as Tientsin is practically the only sea outlet for the entire trade of the provinces of Chilli, Shansi, Shensi, Kausuli, and part of Honan, with a population not far short of 100,000,000. The total net value of the trade in the years 1894-5-6, less re-exports, was Tls. 44,277,054, Ils. 50,175,806, and Tls. 51,316,367; the net foreign imports in 1896 being valued at Tls. 29.490,949 and the native imports at Tls. 21,599,781 gross and Tls. 13,203,578 net after deduction of re-exports. The export trade, which twenty years ago was practically nil, was last year, including re-exports, Tls. 8,561,840. The duty collected was Tls. 41,042, an increment of Tls. 78,490 on that of the previous year. Opium tends to a vanishing point, from native competition. The figures for 1894-5-6 are piculs 1,462, 1,286, and 1,170.

Directory_and_Chronicle_1898 — Page 544

Comments

Private Research Note