Directory_and_Chronicle_1925 — Page 954

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WUHU-KIUKIANG

Standard OIL Co. oF NEW YORK - Tel.

Ad: Socony

L. J. Mead, in charge

W. P. Coltman

J. Camm

G. H. Cook, installation supt.

WUHU ROADS IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY

Committee-L. P. G. de Cartier (hon

secretary and treasurer), V. Gowen, R. A. Lawson, Li Kia-siang, A. Morton-Smith, L. J. Mead, J Wharton and W. Wiley

KIUKIANG

江九 Kiú-kiang

Kiukiang is situated on the river Yangtsze near the outlet of the Poyang Lake, and is a prefectural city of the province of Kiang-si. It is distant about 142 geographical miles from Hankow and 454 miles from Shanghai, Kiukiang, before the Rebellion, was a busy and populous city; but it was occupied by the Taiping rebels in 1853, and before it was given up to the Imperial troops was almost entirely destroyed. When the Foreign Settlement was established there, however, the population soon returned, and has continued to increase rapidly: it is now estimated at 60,000.

The city is built close to the river, along the banks of which the walls run for some 500 yards. Their circumference is about five miles, but a portion of the space enclosed is still unoccupied. The city contains no feature of interest. There are several large lakes to the north and west of it, and it is backed by a noble range of hills a few miles distant, amongst which is Kuling, some 3,600 feet high, the well-known summer resort, and the existence of which, within 24 hours' of the port, gives Kiukiang a high position among the Treaty Ports. The foreign Settlement lies to the west of the city and is neatly laid out. It possesses a small bund lined with trees, a club, and a Roman Catholic cathedral. The filling-in of the public land at Pinhingchow is now completed. Roads and innumerable houses are being rapidly constructed, and thus a new residen- tial and business district, close to but outside the city, is rapidly coming into being. During 1921 a system of drainage of approved foreign style was initiated. Pinhingchow now comprises either in or adjacent to it the following prominent buildings: the railway station and godowns, the electric-light power house, the Yü Sung Match Factory, the Kiuhsing Spinning and Weaving Company's factory, a large four-storied hotel, and the Kiukiang Customs Lights Repair Yard.

The idea which led to the opening of Kiukiang was, no doubt, its situation as regards communication by water with the districts where tea is produced. But the hopes entertained respecting the port have never been wholly realised, Hankow having become the market for black teas. The general trade of the port, however, has in- creased considerably in recent years, a large development of inland steam navigation in the Poyang Lake contributing to this result. Its now completed connection by rail with the provincial capital, Nanchang, may further improve matters. The net value of the trade of the port for the year 1923 was Hk. Tls. 61,114,310, as compared with Hk. Tls 44,091,309 in 1922, Hk. Tls. 43,457,565 in 1921. Kiukiang is the port whence the ware made at the far-fained porcelain factories at Kin-tê-chên is shipped. The specimens sent to the Paris Exhibition in 1900 secured a silver medal in competition with European porcelain. Rice, beans and peas, hemp, indigo, paper, melon and sesamum seeds, and tobacco leaf are also important exports.