Directory_and_Chronicle_1899 — Page 581

SHANGHAI

海上 Shing hi

The most northerly of the five ports opened to foreign trade by the British Treaty of Nanking is situate at the extreme south-east corner of the province of Kiang-su, in latitude 31.15 north and longitude 121.29 east of Greenwich, at the junction of the rivers Hwang-po and Woosung (the latter called by Europeans the Soochow Creek), about twelve miles above the village of Woosung, where their united waters debouch into the estuary of the Yangtsze. Shanghai lies in a vast plain, the nearest hills, of only some 300 feet in height, being thirty miles to the westward. The soil is alluvial and extremely rich; it supports a great variety of food and other stuffs. This Kiangsu plain has been called "the Garden of China," and the population here is, perhaps, denser that in any other part of the land-eight hundred iuhabitants to the square mile is not an exaggerated estimate. Rice, cotton and grain are the main products in the immediate neighbourhood; rice to the west and north, cotton to the west and south: but with the greater demand for cotton by the mills started within the last last two years the cultivation of rice is being pushed farther away from Shanghai and cotton is taking its place. The convenience of inland transit is here very great; rivers, canals and creeks are in every direction, but they form a great obstacle to free riding and walking. Mulberry trees are not grown to any extent in the neighbourhood. Wheat, barley, rice, green foods of all kinds, cabbage, turnips, carrots, melons, cucumbers, potatoes, yams, chihlies, the egg plant, cress, etc., abound. Of fruits, Shanghai is famous for its peaches; plums, peepaws (or nedlars) and persimons are common. The apple and pear, chestnut and walnut are brought from the north. The bamboo is common in the district, as is the pine, cypress, willow and a species of elm. The crysanthemum and peony are the favorite flowers. Roses, tulips and other European flowering annuals are highly developed in the public gardens of the foreign settlements. Of birds, the crow, magpie, swallow and sparrow abound; many species of lark, finch, and thrush are common, and the feathered tribe as a whole is plentiful in Kiangsu; but it is otherwise with four footed animals. For a more detailed account of the flora and fauna of the neighbourhood we must refer the general reader to Williams' "Middle Kingdom,” and the student to the scientific works and periodicals in the Asiatic Society's library.

The river opposite the city and foreign settlements, once a narrow canal, was, some twenty-five years ago, 1,800 feet broad at low water, but has been rapidly narrowing till it is now only 1,200 feet. The Soochow Creek, which was, judging by old records, at one time at least three miles across, has now a breadth of less than a hundred yards. The average water on the bar at Woosung at high water springs is nineteen feet, the greatest depth of late years being twenty-three feet. The bar is the cause of heavy loss to shipowners and merchants through the detention of ocean steamers. After repeated eilorts to induce the Chinese authorities to deepen it, an effort was made to cope with the evil by dredging, but after a few months' work it was found that the experiment must prove ineffective, and in September, 1892 it was abandoned as useless. A sum of Tls. 17,350 was subscribed in 1894 to obtain the opinion of a European expert, the Chinese authorities contributing Tls. 10,000, and in the spring of 1897 the services of the Dutch engineer de Rijke were engaged through the Chamber of Commerce to examine into and draw up a report on this question. Mr. Rijke, with the assistance of the Coast Inspector's department of the Maritime Customs, has made a close study of the river and bar and his report is now awaited with interest.

The approach by sea to Shanghai is now well lighted and buoyed, and the dangers of the ever shifting banks and shoals as well guarded as can be expected. Under the superintendence of the Engineering department of the Maritime Customs, Lighthouses have been erectal on West Volcano, "Shaweishan, North Saddle, Gutzlaff, Bonham, and Steep Islands, Peiyüshan, and at Woosung. There are also two lightships in the Yaagtsze below Woosung.

HISTORY.

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Shangh -the name means "upper sea

or par the sea "-is mentioned as existing in 249 B.C. It was a place of some importa ice in the eleventh century, when it was made a customs station; it became a hsien or tairl rate city in the fourteenth century. The walls, which are three and a half mits ia circuit, with seven gates, were erected at the time of the Japanese invasion, in the latter part of the sixteenth century. It had been an important seat of trade for many centuries before the incursion of foreigners, and even two thousand years ago was celebrated as the seat of an extensive cotton manufacturing industry. Shanghai was visited in 1832 by