Directory_and_Chronicle_1913 — Page 878

SHANGHAI

obstructions to its adoption are being raised by the Chinese Government.

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Under the control of the Coast-Lighting department of the Imperial Maritime Customs, and out of the Tonnage Dues provided in the original treaties with China, the approaches from the sea to Shanghai are now well lighted and buoyed, and the dangers of the continually shifting banks and shoals well guarded against. Lighthouses have been erected, served by powerful lights, at West Volcano, Shaweishan, North Saddle, Bonham and Steep Islands, Pehyu-shan, Gutzlaff and Woosung, and there are two lightships in the entrance of the River Yangtze. In this respect the interests of the shipping frequenting the port have been well considered, and the entire installation takes a high rank amongst similar undertakings elsewhere. The same department has also inaugurated a system of buoys and lighting on the Yangtze as far as Hankow, six hundred miles above Woosung, admirably suited to present requirements, and which leaves little to be desired. The northern mouth of the Yangtze, which serves as the main passage for coasting steamers from Shanghai to the northern ports, has also been carefully surveyed and buoyed and lighted by the same authority.

HISTORY

The origin of the name "Shanghai," which literally means "Upper Sea," has been much debated, but probably like Kaoch'ang, "High Reeds," and Kiangwan,

"River Bend," names still existing in the neighbourhood, was merely the vernacular title given to the place when still an island at the month of the Yangtze. It does not appear in history till the time of the Mongol Empire. We find at various periods from after Han downwards that K'wenshan, Changshu, Kiating, etc., were constituted into separate hsiens, and that in the year 1292 Shanghai was likewise erected into a separate district and placed under Sungkiang-fu, which itself had only fifteen years previously been divided from Kiahsing-fu, now in the province of Chekiang. Prior to that it had been made a Customs station on account of its favourable position for trade, but its growth had been slow, and for centuries the chief trade of the lower district had been con- centrated at the mouth of the Liu Ho, now an insignificant creek which, passing Tait- Bang, joins the Yangtze some twenty five miles above Woosung.

With the silting up of the Liu Ho and its eventual extinction as a navigable channel, largely brought about apparently by the opening of the Hwangpu before alluded to, Shanghai became the principal shipping port of this region; and such it had been for some centuries when it was visited in 1832 by Mr. H. H. Lindsay, head of the late firm of Lindsay & Co., accompanied by the Rev. Chas. Gutzlaff, in the Lord Amherst, with a view to opening up trade, and from that time begins its modern history. Mr. Lindsay in his report of the visit says that he counted upwards of four hundred junks passing inwards every day for seven days, and found the place possessed commodious wharves and large warehouses. Three years later it was visited by the Rev. Dr. Medhurst, who confirmed the account given by Mr. Lindsay. On the 13th June, 1842, a British fleet under Vice-Admiral Sir William Parker, and a military force of 4,000 men under Sir Hugh Gough, captured the Woosung forts, which mounted 175 guns, and took the hsien (district) city of Paoshan. On the 19th, after a slight resistance, the force gained possession of Shanghai, the officials and a large proportion of the inhabitants having fled the previous evening, although great preparations had been made for the defence, 409 pieces of cannon being taken possession of by the British. The people, however, rapidly returned and business was resumed. The same force afterwards captured Chapoo and Chinkiang, after which the fleet, having blockaded the Imperial Canal and anchored opposite to Nanking, the treaty of Nan- king was signed, and the ports of Swatow, Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo and Shanghai were opened to trade. The city was evacuated on the 23rd June. The walls, which are three and a half miles in circuit with seven gates, were erected at the time of the Japanese invasion, in the latter part of the sixteenth century.

The ground selected by Captain Balfour, the first British Consul, for a Settlement for his nationals lies about half a mile north of the city walls, between the Yangking- pang and Soochow creeks, and extends backward from the river to a ditch connecting the two, since called the Defence Creek, thus forming what may be called an island a mile square. The port was formally declared open to trade on the 17th November, 1843. Some years were occupied in draining and laying out the ground, which was mostly a marsh with numerous ponds and creeks. The foreigners in the meantime lived at Namtao, a suburb between the city and the river, the British Consulate being in the city. In two years a few houses were built in the Settlement, and by 1849 most foreigners had taken up their residence in it. By that time twenty-five firms were established, and the foreign residents numbered a hundred, including seven ladies. In that year an English Church was built, and on 21st November the foundation of the