Directory_and_Chronicle_1922 — Page 778

LUNGKOW

口龍

Lungkow, which was declared a trading port in November, 1914, but was not formally opened until 1st November, 1915, is about 60 miles due west of Chefoo, on the west coast of the Shantung promontory. It lies about 100 miles south-west of the Japanese port, Dairen, and is the nearest port to the rich Manchurian provinces. Newchwang and Tientsin are each about 200 miles distant from Lungkow.

The port is well sheltered by the Chimatao Peninsula, and is the most northern one in China proper open to the sea throughout the year. The harbour of Lungkow (Dragon's Mouth) is seven miles wide at the entrance, and has a sand bar which forms a breakwater for five miles across the opening. The inner harbour has a low-water mark of from 11 to 13 feet and storms seldom disturb the shipping inside. It is not to be expected that the Chinese Government will, for many years at least, undertake extensive harbour improvements at Lungkow; but, as it is, the inner harbour has accommodation for a great deal of shipping and, as its bottom is of clay, not sand, a considerable increase in the depth of water available is expected to be brought about by dredging operations to be undertaken shortly. Until such time as recognition of its favourable geographical situation forces the bestowal of increased communications, together with harbour improvements similar to those at Chefoo, any increase of trade will be slow and must come from an increase in exports and a gradual elevation of the scale of living with an attendant increase in imports. A handsome new re inforced concrete pier at the proposed New Settlement has been completed. A light push-cart railway and a wide carriage road have been built, ex tending from the old town to the pier, and it is proposed to use the railway to transport goods from the godowns located in the old town to the jetty. A godown has been erected near the pier for the storage of cargo; and within the limits of the new town, but conveniently near the old, an electric light works is under construction.

The town of Lungkow has a population of 5,400. It is estimated that within a radius of about five miles of Lungkow there is a population of 65,000. A level stretch of country behind Lungkow, thickly populated and very fertile, gives promise of the port some day assuming considerable importance. The proposed Chefoo-Weihsien Railway would connect Lungkow with both Chefoo and Weihsien, thus with north and central Shantung. It is thought that the nearly completed Weihsien-Lungkow-Chefoo motor highway may be converted into a railway in the near future; in the meantime this new road may bring more trade to the port.

The opening of this port to foreign trade was due to overtures made to the Chinese Government by Japan. There is a large passenger trade between Shantung Province and Manchuria. Between 10,000 and 50,000 Shangtung natives migrate to Manchuria each year for the summer crops, returning again in the autumn or early winter. At present the bulk of this traffic goes from Chefoo and Tsingtao. As Dairen is about 120 miles from Lungkow it will be possible to divert much of this passenger traffic to Lungkow, where Japanese steamers will probably be prepared to take it at a lower rate to Dairen than would be possible from Chefoo or Tsingtao, especially so when the railway is completed connecting Lungkow with Weihsien.

The trade of the port coming under the cognisance of the Chinese Maritime Customs amounted to Hk. Tls. 3,968,089 in 1920, as compared with Hk. Tls. 2,802,703 in 1919 and Hk. Tls. 3,229,675 in 1918.