Directory_and_Chronicle_1927 — Page 586

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SEOUL-CHEMULPO

taining the late King's Palace and the more important public buildings. A street about 50 feet wide intersects the main street at right angles, dividing the northern half of the city into eastern and western quarters. At the point of intersection stands a pavilion called Chong-kak (the "Bell Kiosk "), from a large bell, about seven feet high, which is placed there. This spot is regarded as the centre of the city; and from it another street, as wide as the main street, branches off to the south-west. The four wide streets which thus radiate from the "Bell Kiosk" are known as the four Chong-no or "Bell roads."

Another conspicuous feature of this central part of the city is the row of large warehouses, two storeys high, the lower portions of which are divided off into little shops, opening into a small courtyard instead of facing the street. The width of the main streets was formerly much reduced by the construction in front of nearly every house of a rude wooden shanty used for a workshop or for business purposes, which gave the streets a poor and squalid appearance, but some of the principal streets have now been cleared of these unsightly obstructions, and the people are gradually being taught the benefits of good roads and clean surroundings. A spacious market place has been erected in one of the busiest parts of the city. An annual appropriation of $50,000 has been made by the Finance Department for the maintenance and im provement of the roads. The shops are small and unattractive, and contain no articles de luxe or curios. The population of the city is about 271,000. About 73,000 Japanese reside in Seoul and there are about 550 Europeans and Americans. An electric railway, running for seven miles along the main streets of Seoul and thence three or four miles into the country, was opened in 1899, and one extends to Riong-san and Mokpo. A railway connects Chemulpo with Seoul, and another line connects the city of Fusan.

CHEMULPO

浦物濟 Che-mul-po

This port, called by the Japanese Jinsen, and by the Chinese Jenchuan, is situated on the west coast of Chosen (Corea), in the metropolitan province of Kyongki, at the entrance of the Salée River, an embouchure of the Han or Seoul River. It was opened to foreign trade in 1883, when it was a poor fishing village, and is now a flourishing and rapidly increasing centre of trade, with a native population, including Japanese, of about 40,000. A railway runs from Chemulpo to Fusan, meeting the line from Seoul at Yong-dong-po (Yei-do-ho).

Chemulpo enjoys a beautiful climate and is never shut up by ice. The port has two anchorages, the outer one accommodating ships of all sizes, and the inner one frequented by ships of about 1,000 tons, but a scheme of reconstruction is under way. An enormous rise and fall of the tide, which averages 30 feet, renders the inner anchorage difficult of access to larger ships, and is also a serious hindrance to the navigation of the Seoul River. Only vessels not drawing over six feet may safely run between Chemulpo and Mapo, a place on the river three miles south-west of the capital. A spacious wet dock has been constructed at a cost of Yen 5,700,000 to accommodate vessels up to 4,600 tons gross.

The steamers of the Nippon Yusen Kaisha and Osaka Shosen Kaisha call regularly and have the bulk of the trade and passenger communication with Japan, and, in the case of the former, with North China. The Chosen Yusen Kaisha maintains a regular service between the port and Dairen, touching at Tsingtao.

There are telegraphic communications with China (overland) and with Japan.