Directory_and_Chronicle_1918 — Page 946

870

CHUNGKING

and shipped to Ichang, Hankow, and Shasi, consignments to the latter port being transhipped there into smaller junks, and forwarded to the southern provinces, via the Tung Ting lake.

The city occupies the end of a high and rocky bluff forming a peninsula, at the junction of the river Kia-ling with the Yangtze, 1,400 miles from the mouth of the latter. The principal streets of the city, in which are many fine shops, are on the side of the Yangtsze. It is surrounded by a crenelated stone wall in good repair, which is some five miles in circunference, pierced with nine gates. This wall was built in 1761, replacing an older one. Chungking is now electrically lighted, a native company with an authorised capital of $300,000 having been formed for that purpose. Tho climate of Chungking is depressing, the summer being hot and damp, the winters raw and chilly, with thick fogs from November to March. Spring and Autumn can indeed hardly be said to exist. The ordinary rise of the river is about 75 feet; in 1892 it rose 96 feet, and on 6th August, 1898, to 101 feet, on 2nd August, 1903, it rose to 93 feet, the water not being able to force its way fast enough through the gorges. On the 11th August, 1905, the river rose to 108 feet. In 1908 it only attained a height of 52 feet 4 inches. According to a Chinese report the river rose 120 feet in 1878. On the left bank of the Kialing and facing Chungking, extending below the junction of the two rivers, is the walled city of Kiang-Peh-ting, formerly within the district of Li Min Fu, but now incorporated in Chungking Fu. These two cities and the large villages in their immediate neighbour- hood are estimated to contain a population of about 300,000.

The port was declared open to foreign trade in March, 1891, but business did not actually commence until the 18th June, since which date a large trade has been done both in imports and exports, carried in foreign chartered junks. The net value of the trade in 1916 was Hk. Tls. 32,869,774 as compared with Hk. Tls. 35,006,336 in 1915, aud Hk. Tls. 37,632,208 in 1914. Rebellious disturbances in years past adversely affected trade but, recently the province has enjoyed comparative immunity in this respect. Trade, however, since the revolution has been affected by brigaudage in the interior. Bands of robbers haunt the roads throughout the province, especially in the mountainous regions, and merchants fear to transport cargo. The European War, also, has made its effects felt. A rising, started in 1904 by a man who said he was commissioned by Heaven to wipe out the missionaries, was ruthlessly suppressed. One church was burned, and a few converts were killed, and then "the Chinese officials caused shell to be fired into the mob until all (several hundred) were killed!" A local police force has been created.

The Yangtsze is navigable for steamers from Ichang, not only to Chungking, but as far as Sui-fu, where the Min river joins the Yangtsze, and during high water in summer the Min river is also navigable as far as Kiating. By the Japanese Treaty of 1894, the right of steam navigation to Chungking was secured, and in the spring of 1898 the voyage was successfully accomplished by Mr. A. Little, with the sinall steamer Leechuen, which, however, being of limited power, had to be tracked up the rapids in the same way as junks. On 6th May, 1900, the two light-draught British gunboats Woodcock and Woodlark arrived from Ichang, having left that port on 5th April. The return journey occupied 25 steaming hours. On 12th June, the Yangtze Trading Company's steamer, the Pioneer, commenced her maiden voyage and arrived at Chungking on 20th June. This steamer was afterwards purchased by the British Government. Several steamers have since been built for the Upper Yangtsze. In 1909 the Szechuen Steam Navigation Co. put on a steamer, the s.s. Shutung, of special design constructed by Messrs. J. I. Thornycroft & Co. in England, with very satisfactory results. The year 1914 saw a great increase in steamers on the Upper Yangtsze. The same Company put on the run to Ichang a second steamer, the Shuhun, a splendid vessel constructed under the supervision of Capt. A. C. Plaut. The Szechuen Railway Steam Navigation Co., a new Chinese company, put on two steamers, the Lichuen and Tachuen. The former, unfortunately, was wrecked on the way from Ichang in the Spring of 1915. A third Chinese steamship company, the Jui Ching Steam Navigation Co., brought up the Chingyue and Juiyue. The latter boat, although small, is making very successful trips between Kiating and Chungking. The great increase in the number of steamers has made aids to navigation through the gorges and rapids between Ichang and Chungking imperative. Captain A. C. Plant, River Inspector of the Upper Yangtsze for the Chinese Maritime Customs, has charge of this work and has erected a system of signals and buoys.