Directory_and_Chronicle_1920 — Page 945

Directories & Chronicles 香港指南 All

CHUNGKING

869

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 1918 was Hk. Tls. 30,099,757 as compared with Hk. Tls. 33,592,533 in 1917, Hk. Tls. 32,869,774 in 1916, Hk. Tls. 35,006,336 in 1915, and Hk. Tis. 37,632,208 in 1914. Trade, since the revolution, has been affected by brigandage 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. The great increase in the number of steamers on the upper Yang- tsze during recent years 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.

Directory_and_Chronicle_1920 — Page 945

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