Directory_and_Chronicle_1920 — Page 913

HANKOW

口漢 Han-kau

Hankow is situated on the river Han at the point where it enters the Yangtze, and s in lat. 30 deg. 32 min. 51 sec. N., and long. 114 deg. 19 min. 55 sec. E. It was formerly regarded as only a suburb of Hanyang, which it immediately adjoins, and which is a listrict city of the province of Hupeh, but Hankow has outstripped the older city in wealth and importance. These two towns lie immediately facing the city of Wuchang-fu, he capital of the province, which is built upon the south bank of the Yangtze. Hankow is distant from Shanghai about 600 miles.

Attention was first drawn to Hankow as a place of trade by Huc, the French nissionary. Captain Blakiston, in his work "The Yangtsze," gives the following correct lescription of the place and its surroundings:-" Hankow is situated just where an rregular range of semi-detached low hills crosses a particularly level country on both ides of the main river in an east and west direction. Stationed on Pagoda Hill, Hanyang, a spectator looks down on almost as much water as land even when the rivers are low. At his feet sweeps the magnificent Yangtze, nearly a mile in width; from the west and skirting the northern edge of the range of hills already mentioned, comes the river Han, narrow and canal-like, to add its quota, and serving as one of the highways of the country; and to the north-west and north is an extensive treeless flat, so little elevated above the river that the scattered hamlets which dot its surface are, without exception, raised on mounds, probably artificial works of a now distant age. A stream for two traverse its farther part and flow into the main river. Carrying his eye to the right bank of the Yangtze one sees enormous lakes and lagoons both to the north-west and south-east sides of the hills beyond the provincial city."

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. n the Settlement. France, Russia, and Japan have since 1895 acquired concessions along the river front, and the British concession has been extended. The French, 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 frontage. Houses and godowns have been springing up fast of late years 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. A new Union Church "was built in 1916-17 in the French Concession, and opened in April, 1917. 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 October, 1911, and a population of about 800,000 were thereby rendered homeless. At the end of 1914 it was estimated that fully 80 per cent. of the burnt area had been reconstructed, though unfortunately on the old fines, all the laudable plans for modernising the city having fallen through, owing to difficulties in obtaining the necessary funds. Another scheme for the development of a Greater Hankow, however, has been started, with the backing of the Government. This new scheme can be roughly outlined as follows. "The first step will be to develop the land between the Foreign Concessions and the Ching- Han Railway embankment. A boulevard is planned to start from the Yangtze bank, north of the Japanese Concession, and run west to the railway em- bankment. It will then be continued alongside the embankment until it reaches а point opposite

opposite the Hankow Waterworks tower, where it will turn east and run into the existing road near the tower. Ultimately an attempt will be made to extend it from the water-tower, through the city, to the

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