Directory_and_Chronicle_1918 — Page 764

CHEFOO

罘之 Chi-fu 臺烟 Yen-tai

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The

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′′ Ñ. 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 Concessions 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. 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 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. 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.

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 eommunication is maintained by the Indo-China Steam Navigation Company, the Chian Merchants' S. N. Company, and the China Navigation Company. 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. Other very important industries are the manufacture 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 and America.

Che oo uses a large percentage of the cocoons from Corea and Manchuria which come to China. Seven new filatures were opened in 1909. There is now a large trade in hair net making, English firms send out the hair which is sent into the interior of the province and made into nets by children. The Netherlands Harbour Works on Sept. 1st, 1915, started work on the construction of the Chefoo Breakwater. Chefoo was in 1900 connected by telegraph cables with Tientsin, Port Arthur, Weiliaiwei, Tsingtau and Shanghai.

The trade of Chefoo is principally in beancake, vermicelli, ground-nuts and silks. The net value of the trade of the port for 1916 was Hk. Tls. 35,077,832 as compared with Hk. Tls. 39,345,259 in 1915 and Hk. Tls. 25,783,277 in 1914.

Chefoo is much in need of railway communication as well as improvements in the harbour. It is an important port of call for large numbers of regular line and tramp steamers, being in the line of communication between Indian, South China, Japanese, Corean and Manchurian ports and the ports in the north. During the season from March to December as many as twenty to thirty steamers per day often enter and clear the port. The port supplies Vladivostock and Siberia with upwards of one hundred thousand coolies annually; the coolies leave for Vladivostock during the spring months, and those returning reach Chefoo in the latter part of the year. This movement of coolies furnishes business for numbers of steamers.