Directory_and_Chronicle_1928 — Page 563

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NEWCHWANG

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mouth of the Liao River, which empties into the Gulf of Liaotung, a continuation of the Gulf of Pechili. The proper name of the port is Yingkow, and not Newchwang, which is situated 90 li (30 miles) further up the river. The old town of Newchwang was designated by Treaty to be opened to trade, but the first foreigners, finding Ying- kow more conveniently situated and more adapted in every respect for the purposes of trade, quietly installed themselves there and got over the difficulty by the simple process of changing the name of Yingkow into that of Newchwang!

The country in the immediate vicinity of the port is flat and unpicturesque in the extreme, and the town itself has nothing in the way of attractions for the traveller. The climate, from the foreigner's point of view, is one of the best in China, the sum- mers being comparatively cool, while the winters are cold and bracing. The hottest summer temperature rarely exceeds 90° (Falır.), but cold blasts from the North pull down the "mercury" in winter months often to 6° and 10° below zero (Fahr.). The river is generally frozen over for three months of the year, but navigation is practically suspended for four months, from December to the following March. Formerly New- chwang was shut off from the rest of the world during winter, but the advent of rail- ways has changed all this. The Government Railways of North China, through their branch line from Koupangtzu, maintain daily communication with Tientsin, Peking and Mukden; and the South Manchurian Railway, through its branch line from Tashih- chiao, maintains daily communication with Dairen, Port Arthur, Mukden, Tiehling and Changchun. At the last-named place the Chinese Eastern Railway connects for Harbin and Europe by the Trans-Siberian Railway.

The value of the trade of the port during the year 1926 was Hk. Tls. 78,588,049, as compared with Hk. Tls. 78,890,212 in 1925, and Hk. Tls. 55,278,087 in 1924. An impetus was given to local trade in 1921-22 by the commercial depression produced in Dairen by the adoption of the Japanese gold standard in the leased territory of Kwantung and strong opposition on the part of the Chinese merchants in Manchuria.

Until a few years back Newchwang had the monopoly of the trade of Manchuria, but now she has powerful competitors in Harbin in the north and Dairen in the south. In spite of the competition, she is holding her own, owing partly to the cheaper rates on water- borne produce from the hinterland, and partly to the reluctance of the Chinese merchants to leave an old-established business centre with all its vested interests. As the result of a deputation sent to Tokyo in 1919, freight rates on the South Manchurian Railway were revised in such a manner that Newchwang is no longer so heavily handicapped as it was in its competition with Dairen. "Perhaps the best proof of the certainty of Newchwang's future"-said the Commissioner of Customs in his report dated March, 1920-" can be found in recent Japanese develop- ments here; land purchases of nearly Yen 2,000,000 are said to have been made, and companies have been floated with an aggregate capital of over Yen 3,000,000 for the exploitation of banking, steamship and godown, and land and building interests. Newchwang's gain will not be Dairen's loss, for the development of Manchuria and Siberia promises to be so great and rapid that within 10 years it is probable that more railways and more ports will be required to deal with the immense surplus of produce.

The chief articles of export are agricultural products-beans, millet, maize, etc., and their by-products-beancake, bean oil and samshu, with a fair amount of bristles, ginseng, native medicines, wild and refuse silk and skins and furs thrown in. There are six new steam bean mills which have an aggregate output of 9,800 cakes a day. Another article of export has lately arisen in Fushun coal, and the South Man- churian Railway, finding the cost of laying down the coal at Newchwang is cheaper than at Dairen, is developing the export trade from Newchwang. The Anshan Steel Works were expected to become an important addition to local industry, but up to the present they have not realised the hopes of their promoters. The mining zone covers about 10 square miles, and borings have proved the existence of 100,000,000 tons of ore with a purity of from 40 to 60 per cent.

The greater part of the export trade here is with Japan and the southern Chinese ports, but some direct shipments of beans and beancake have been made to Europe. Details of a scheme for the improvement of the Upper Reaches of the Liao River and the deepening of the Bar at its mouth were under consideration for over two years, and a preliminary agreement-embodying regulations for the financing and operation of the scheme-signed in July, 1911, by the Consular Body and Taotai, was for some time afterwards the subject of negotiations between the Diplomatic Body at Peking and the Chinese Central and Provincial Authorities. The scheme was eventually