Directory_and_Chronicle_1911 — Page 841

CHEFOO

柴之 Chi-fu 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. An International Committee consisting of six Foreigners and six Chinese 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 several 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 lot; 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. In 1909, nearly two months were lost to trade through stress of weather and the entire mercantile community appreciates the necessity for proper harbour works, including a protecting breakwater and quay. Another pressing need is a good water supply. There is a good club. The races take place towards the end of September. Chefoo is two days' journey from Shanghai, and communication is maintained by the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company, the China Merchants' S. N. Company, the China Navigation Company, the Russian East Asiatic Steamship Company, the Nippon Yusen Kaisha and the Osaka Shosen Kaisha. In 1876 the Chefoo Convention was concluded at Chefoo by the late Sir Thomas Wade and the former Viceroy of Chilli, Li Hung-chang. An enterprise was established a few years ago 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, Seven new filatures were opened in 1909 Other very important industries are the manu- facture of foreign silk and hand-made silk laces, which in the hands of foreigners promise to assume large proportions. Silk thread and silk twist are largely made and exported from here to France, Germany and America. Chefoo uses a large per- centage of the cocoons from Corea and Manchuria which come to China. Chefoo was in 1900 connected by telegraph cables with Tientsin, Port Arthur, Weihaiwei, Tsingtau and Shanghai.

The trade of Chefo, which is increasing, is principally in beancake and beans, of which large quantities are annually exported to the southern ports of China. A slight reduction, however, has been shown in the export during the past two years, owing, no doubt, to the diversion of some of this trade to Daireй. The beancake ex- port from Chefoo down to 1907 amounted to well over a million piculs annually, but in the last two years it has fallen below the million. Silk, strawbraid, ground- nuts, and vermicelli are the other chief exports. The import of opium was 603 piculs of Indian brands, as no supplies came from Manchuria. The net value of the trade of the port for 1909, after deducting re-exports, was Tls. 38,421,625, as compared with Tls. 37,985,362 in 1908.

Chefoo is much in need of railway communication as well as improvements in the harbour, and both of these undertakings are under contemplation by Chinese capital- ists. These improvements, in the estimation of business men, will greatly develop the importance of Chefoo as a trade centre. An extensive work known as the Chefoo City