Directory_and_Chronicle_1906 — Page 775

PORT ARTHUR-CHEFOO

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without great loss of life on both sides, and General Stoessel, recognising the hopeless- ness of his position, proposed surrender as before stated on New Year's Day, 1905. The terms of capitulation allowed officers to bear side-arms and to return home on parole. The prisoners delivered to General Nogi were 878 officers and 23,491 men; about half the number being sick or wounded. General Stoessel decided to give paroli and return home, but other prominent generals and one admiral preferred to be sent to Japan as prisoners. The booty delivered included the occupation of 59 permanent forts, 546 guns, including 54 large calibre, 149 medium and 343 small calibre, 82,670 cannon balls, 30,000 kilos of ammunition, 35,252 rifles, 1,920 horses, four battleships, not including the Sevastopol, which was entirely sunk, two cruisers, 14 gunboats, and destroyers; 10 steamers, etc., besides 35 small vessels.

At the time these pages went to press, no information had been received for the compilation of a list of firms and residents.

CHEFOO

罘之 Chi-fau Yen-tai

臺烟

Chefoo, in the Province of Shantung, is the name used by foreigners to denote this Treaty Port; the Chinese name of the place is Yentai, and Chefoo proper is on the opposite side of the harbour. Chefoo is situated in latitude 37° 33′ 20′′ N. and longi- tude 121° 25′ 02′′ E. The port was opened to foreign trade in 1863. The number of foreigners on the books of the various Consulates is about 400, but more than half of them—missionaries-live inland. Chefoo has no Settlement or Concession, but a recognized Foreign Quarter, which is well kept and has good clean roads and is well lighted. A General Purposes Committee looks after the interests of the Foreign Quarter and derives the revenue at its disposal from voluntary contributions by residents. The natives are most orderly and civil to foreigners. There are two good hotels and at least three excellent boarding houses, all of which are full of visitors from July to the end of September. The climate is bracing. The winter, which is severe, lasts from the beginning of December to end of March; April, May and June are lovely months and not hot; July and August are hot and rainy months; and September, October and November form a most perfect autumn, with warm days, cool winds and cold nights. Strong northerly gales are experienced in the late autumn and through the winter, and the roadstead gives but an uncomfortable, though safe, anchorage for steamers. During the summer and autumn amusements are varied sea bathing, lawn tennis, picnics, &c.--and there is a good club. The races take place towards the end of September. Chefoo is two days' journey from Shanghai, and in the summer tourist tickets from Shanghai and return are issued by the Indo-China S. N. Co., the China Merchants S. N. Co. and the China Naviga- tion Co., Ld. Since the declaration of war between China and Japan (August, 1894) the port has been much frequented by vessels of the different foreign navies, and its close proximity to Corea will cause these visits to be continued; the result was that, until the British Government obtained the lease of Weihaiwei, Chefoo became a coaling station, and large stocks of Cardiff coal were kept to supply the foreign men-of-war ; but trade in Cardiff coal, so far as British merchants are concerned, appears to have ceased since Weihaiwei became the coaling basis in North China for the British flects. During the winter of 1894-95 the port was in a state of excitement owing to the close proximity of, and possible occupation by, the Japanese. Within sound of the guns of Port Arthur, Chefoo became the headquarters of many war correspon- dents during the Russo-Japan War, and the foolish rumours customary in such crises came to be known on the China coast as "Chefooleries." It was in this port that the Japanese siezed the Russian destroyer Rechitelny. In 1876 the Chefoo Convention was concluded at Chefoo by the late Sir Thomas Wade and the former Viceroy of Chihli, Li Hung-chang. An enterprise has been recently established by a Wine Company of substantial standing; the soil of the locality lends itself to such an industry and the future success of the proprietors of the first Far Eastern wine growing concern is a matter of considerable interest. Chefoo is noted for its large and increasing fruit growing industry; supplying Shanghai, Vladivostock Kobe and other Eastern ports with foreign fruits, which grow well with care and attention in that part of Shantung-the native fruit growers having received foreign instruction-so that which was at first a hobby is now a paying industry. Chefoo was in 1900 connected by telegraph cables with Tientsin, Port Arthur, Weihaiwei, Tsingtau and Shanghai.