Directory_and_Chronicle_1915 — Page 1014

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HANGCHOW

rate sometimes reaching 12 miles an hour. Before the Taiping rebellion Hangchow shared with Soochow the reputation of being one of the finest cities in the Empire on account of its wealth and splendour, but it was almost destroyed by the rebels. It has since rapidly recovered and is once more populous and flourishing, though it has not yet regained its former pitch of prosperity. The population is estimated at 600,000, although a census taken lately by the local Government gives a total a little below that figure. As a manufacturing centre Hangchow takes place even before Soochow. Its three great trades are silk weaving, including several kinds of crape and gauze, the production of fans of all kinds, the manufacture of scissors, and the making of thin tinfoil, from which are formed the imitation ingots of silver, burnt in such immense quantities by the Chinese. In addition, it sends out thread, string, colours, drugs, lacquer, and many other articles in small quantities. Coarse paper is also manu- factured. The communication by water with Shanghai is particularly good, and might be much improved with very little trouble by a small amount of dredging at a spot in the Grand Canal twenty miles from Hangchow. Ningpo, about 120 miles distant, can also be reached by boat from Hangchow with several tran- shipments only: it is quicker to go via Shanghai. Hangchow was declared open to foreign trade on the 26th September, 1896, in accordance with the terms of the Japanese Treaty. Steam launches ply regularly to and from Shanghai and to and from Soochow with passenger boats in tow, making the trip in from 18 to 24 hours. An express launch towing only one passenger barge, in which cabins can be hired, now leaves Hangchow and Shanghai at 2 p.m. daily and reaches its destination at 6 a.m. next morning. There are also two launches daily to Huchow and other places en route; also on Chien Tang river daily launches to Fuyang, Tunglu, Linpu, etc., started in 1912. There is hardly any cargo carried by the latter between Hangchow and Soochow. One of these launches goes via Kashing and the other via Huchow and Nanzing. The Hangchow-Shanghai companies are Tai Sun Chong (practically Japan- ese), the China Merchants' Inland Steam Navigation Co. (Chinese), and the Nisshin Kisen Kaisha (Japanese). The Hangchow-Soochow companies are Tai Sun Chong and China Merchants' Inland Steam Navigation Co., on alternate days via Kashing, and Taito Steam Navigation Co., daily, via Huchow; these three companies formed a combination some years ago and have a monopoly of the trade. Several attempts of outsiders to come in have always failed after a few trips. The Railway, however, is proving a serious rival.

One of the sights of Hangchow is the famous western lake, dotted with islets crowned with shrines and memorial temples, and spanned by causeways joining island to island. The general picturesque effect is heightened by temples, pagodas, and similar monuments judiciously placed in effective spots, while the slopes of the hills bordering the lake on the west are bright with azaleas, honey-suckle, and peach-bloom, and clusters of bamboos, several kinds of conifers, the stillignia, camphor tree, and maple in rich profusion, all help to make the scene very pretty. The western wall of the city has been pulled down and made into a promenade along the West Lake, and a large hotel, foreign style, has been opened near to the city railway station.

The site selected for the Foreign Settlement extends for half a mile along the east bank of the Grand Canal; it covers over half a square mile and is about four miles from the city wall. The Japanese concession adjoins it on the North and is about the same size. The Custom-house and Commissioner's and assistants' residences are built on the Customs Lot, and an imposing Police Station has also been put up. A British Consulate has been built on the opposite side of the Japanese Concession, not in the settlement. The commodities chiefly dealt in are tin, Japanese copper, kerosene oil, soap, sugar, prepared tobacco, varnish, paper fans, silk piece goods, raw silk and tea. The principal article of export is tea. The tea comes from Anhwei and Pingsuey near Shaohsing and from the neighbourhood of Hangchow, where the valuabie Lungching tea is grown. The net value of the trade of the port in 1913 was Tls. 17,261,517 as compared with Tls. 20,205,949 in 1912, and Tls. 17,698,031 in 1911. In 1900 it was Tls. 9,433,771.

Halfway between Hangchow and Shanghai is Kashing, where the Grand Canal joins the Whangpoo River on which Shanghai is situated. Kashing is a Customs Sta tion under Hangchow and was first opened in 1898 for collecting duties on foreign opium owing to fiscal arrangements being against the collection at Hangchow. It now collects duties both on imports and exports and has become quite an important

factor.

Cholera in 1902 killed 10,000 people. A railway from the Settlement to the fur ther end of Hangchow City near the Chien Tang river was completed in Sept., 1907. It was built solely by Chinese and with Chinese capital. There is now railway connection