Directory_and_Chronicle_1903 — Page 643

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PEI-TAI-HO-NEWCHWANG

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[Editorial Note, January 1st, 1903. We have allowed the above description to stand; but as a matter of fact, the Pei-Tai-Ho settlements were wholly and utterly des- troyed on and after 20th June, 1900. Some thirty or forty foreign visitors who were in residence when the Boxer cyclone burst were taken off by the boats of H.M.S. Humber, and conveyed to Chefoo in June; immediately after which the natives joined a small party of soldiers in first looting and then burning every house in the place. The natives carried off every scrap of the building material that was portable; even the bricks and dressed stone, and in some cases they actually dug up the foundations. Their action was due to greed and not to anti-foreign malice-as a matter of fact, they had always been on good terms with their foreign neighbours, to whose presence they entirely owed their recent prosperity. The I-Ho-Chuan or Boxer sect is not known to have had any following in the district. The people simply believed the foreigners were to be exter- minated, and would never return; and in this belief resolved to resume possession of their lands and as much else as was possible.

During 1901-2 the German forces encamped at Pei-tai-ho and have made roads; a small gauge steam tramway has been constructed from the Railway Station to Rocky Point. In the early spring of 1902 many of the houses were rebuilt and during the summer quite a number of families were in residence for a short season. Extensive

building is anticipated during 1903. One native and one foreign church (S.P.G.) have heen opened within the past year in the neighbouring district of Shanhaikwan.

NEWCHWANG

莊生 Niu-chwang 子營 Ying-tes

Newchwang is the most northerly port in China open to foreign trade. It is situated in the province of Shing-king, in Manchuria. It is called by the natives Ying-tz, and lies about thirteen miles from the mouth of the river Liao, which falls into the Gulf of Liao-tung, a continuation of the Gulf of Pechili.

Before the port was opened, comparatively little was known of this part of the Central Kingdom, Manchuria has since, however, been largely colonised by the Chinese, who now outnumber the natives. The word Ying-tz means military station, and that was the only use formerly made of the port. Between the years 1858 and 1860, the British fleet assembled in Ta-lien-wan Bay, and early in 1861 the foreign settlement was established. The town of Newchwang itself is distant from Ying-tz about thirty miles, and is a sparsely populated and uninteresting place, but the construction of the railways is rapidly increasing its importance. At the end of 1899 the Eastern Chinese Railway line (Russian) between Port Arthur, Dalny (Talienwan), and the junction at Ta-shih- chias, whence a branch runs to this port, was completed as far as Moukden and the Imperial Chinese Railway line from Tientsin to Yingkow was practically accomplished. These lines are now completed and there is a train service through to St. Petersburg. Systematic attack has also at last been made upon the mineral resources of Man- churia, the Eastern Chinese Railway having opened coal mines at Mo-ch'i-shan and Tz'uêrh-shan near Liao-yang, and at Wa-fung-tien in the south of the Liaotung peninsula. The railway line runs close to these valuable properties. The well known gold-bearing districts of Tung Wha and Tieling are also being worked by foreign companies. An unprecedented expansion in trade has accompanied these developments. The country about the port of Newchwang is bare and desolate, and in sailing up the river a most cheerless prospect greets the traveller's eye. Ying-tz is surrounded by dreary 'marshes, and the land under cultivation produces principally beans. The river is closed by ice for more than three months every year, during which period the residents are entirely cut off from the outer world. The climate, however, is healthy and bracing. The population of the place is estimated at 60,000,

The chief articles of trade at the port are Beans and Bean-cake; 2,997,408 cwts.,

of the former and 3,466,946 cwts. of the latter being exported in 1901. The net quantity of Opium imported in 1901 was 2,133 lbs. compared with 19,956 lbs. in 1900. The import of Opium has of late years shown an almost continuous decline, the poppy being largely and successfully cultivated in Manchuria. The total value of the trade