Directory_and_Chronicle_1915 — Page 986

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HANKOW

The port was opened to foreign trade in 1861. The British Settlement is located at the east end of the city. It is well laid out, the roads being broad and all lined with well grown trees. The Bund affords a very fine and pleasant promenade, and has an imposing appearance from the river. There are a large Roman Catholic and small Protestant and Greek churches, the latter a rather handsome structure built by the Russian residents. Several brick tea factories owned by Russians are located in the Settlement. The river steamers go alongside hulks moored close to the shore; ocean steamers anchor in mid-stream. The current is very strong in the river. The native city of Hankow was burnt by the Imperialist army in Octo ber, 1911, and a population of about 800,000 were thereby rendered homeless. The city is to be reconstructed according to designs which will make it a model Chinese city. Cotton cloth mills established by the Viceroy Chang Chih-tung commenced run- ning in 1892, and the ironworks at Hanyang have developed into a large and import- ant enterprise employing about 3.500 men. Hangyang iron is now being placed on the American market at a price which enables it to hold its own against the Steel Trust product. In August, 1895, the Wuchang Mint was established. The Mint has had to be considerably enlarged in recent years to enable it to keep pace with the demand. The machinery was greatly damaged in the Revolution.

The local manufacturing industries include, besides the Government ironworks and arsenals, cotton and silk weaving. A carriage and wagon works to supply rolling stock to the Yuet-Han Railway, closely allied with the Hanyang Ironworks, which is turning out bridges and girders for railways, has been established on the Hankow side of the river. There is a quasi-official coal-mining company in connection with the ironworks, the pits being at Ping-hsiang in Kiangsi. The coal is brought down in lighters from the railhead, fifteen miles above Changsha. The Wuchang Cotton and Hemp mills, together with the silk filature, were leased by the Viceroy in 1902 to a company of Chinese capitalists for 100,000 taels a year, for a period of 20 years. Apart from the Hemp mill, which began operations in 1904, under Japanese management, the concern is doing a flourishing business. A tannery was start ed in 1906, and three flour mills. Other flour mills have since been erected, and the bean oil milling industry is also well established in the port.

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During the last few years foreign interests at Hankow have undergone a marked development, the chief factor in producing the growth being the construction of the Lu Han Railway, a trunk line connecting Hankow with Peking, the contract for which was let to a Belgian syndicate in 1897. It was opened in November, 1905, when trains passed over the Yellow River Bridge, which was immediately closed again as unsafe. Since December, 1905, through traffic with Peking has continued without interruption. Early in 1906 trains de luxe" were started. The line has diverted much of the traffic that went by water to Chinkiang. Germany, France, Russia, and Japan have since 1895 acquired concessions, and the British concession has been extended. The French, German, Russian, Japanese and British have Municipal Councils. Thus while there was formerly a bund of only half a mile in length, in front of the British concession, there is now a continuous line of concessions measuring in all over two miles of river front ige. Houses and godowns have been springing up fast of late and for some years yet Hankow will have to divert large sums out of all proportion to the value of its trade for converting swamps into building sites and destroying old buildings to make room for others more suitable to the requirements of a great city. The English Church was re-built, and consecrated in May, 1904. Antimony, lead and zinc ores are crushed by machinery on the Wuchang side and exported. A large busi- ness is also done by a match factory, as well as by albumen factories. Several miles below the Foreign Concessions the Shell Transport Company, Limited, of London, have oil tanks for storing bulk oil, to be tinned on the premises. Two tanks have a capacity of 2.500 tons of oil each. During the low-water season small tank-steamers bring the oil from Shanghai, The Royal Dutch Petroleum Company, Langkat, also has an installation. The Standard Oil Co. had three large tanks erected at the end of 1904. Each installation added another tank in 1906. An English Company commenced an export trade in frozen pork, eggs, poultry and game in 1909, the refrigerating plant costing upwards of £30,000.

Tea is the staple export, representing about one-sixth of the total. The net value of the trade of the port in 1913 amounted to Tls. 154,029,939 as against Tls. 135,032,179

in 1912.

The Hankow Race Club and Recreation Ground were incorporated in 1904, and since then has undergone a phenomenal development. At present it has more than 300 members who enjoy facilities unrivalled in any other club in China. The property of

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