Directory_and_Chronicle_1924 — Page 752

LUNGKOW

龍

Lungkow, a sub-station under the Chefoo Customs Commissioner, was de- clared a trading port in November, 1914, but was not formally opened until 1st. November, 1915. It 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.

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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. Until such time as recognition of its favourable geographical situation forces the bestowal of increased communica- tions, together with harbour improvements similar to those at Chefoo, 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 reinforced concrete pier at the proposed New Settlement has been completed, but has never been used because no roads have been laid to it; nor is there any early likelihood of the town extending eastwards, but rather west- wards. A godown has been erected near the pier for the storage of cargo. An electric light works, long anticipated, is still a distant hope.

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The town of Lungkow has a population of 5,600. 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 Weihsien-Lungkow-Chefoo motor highway, now completed, may be converted into a railway in the near future; in the meantime, this new road brings more trade to the port, although closed to traffic in wet weather and entirely monopolised for passenger traffic only under Government control. The value of land is rising rapidly, and two-storey houses now exist.

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 Shantung 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 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, 5,961,420 in 1922, as compared with Hk. Tls. 5,871,878 in 1921 and Hk. Tls. 3,968,089 in 1920. The principal staple of the port is vermicelli, tlie local brand being, in the estimation of Chinese consumers, supreme in quality. The export of this commodity has risen from 31,017 piculs in 1917 to 141,030 piculs in 1922. A small factory for making isinglass from seaweed, another for making glass- ware from imported broken glass, started operations in 1921, and a third now exists for preparing bean oil.