Directory_and_Chronicle_1928 — Page 567

MANCHURIAN TRADE CENTRES

In addition to Mukden, the Treaties made with China in 1903 by the United States and Japan secured the opening of Antung and Tatungkow in Manchuria. By an additional agreement made between China and Japan in December, 1905, the following inland places in Manchuria were opened to trade on the dates specified :-September 10th, 1906, Tieh-ling, Tung-chiang-tzu and Fakumen; on October 8th, Hsin-min Fu; on December 17th, Manchuli, Harbin, Ch'ang-ch'un (K'uan-ch'êng-tzu) and Kirin; on December 19th, Tsitsihar (Pu-k'uei), the capital of the northern province of Hei-lung- chiang; and on June 28th, 1907, the remaining seven places-Fêng-huang-ch'êng (Ting) Liao-yang, Ninguta, Hun-ch'un, Sansing, Hailar and Aigun-were declared open as a preliminary step prior to the adoption of special settlement regulations. Only at Har- bin and Antung are Foreign Consulates, other than Japanese, established.

MUKDEN

陽瀋 Shên-yang, formerly Feng-t'ien

(Mukden is the Manchu name)

Mukden, formerly the capital of Manchuria, is now the capital of the province of Fêng-t'ien . It was the ancient seat of the late dynasty of China. Though

天 奉. nominally opened to international residence and trade by the Commercial Treaties concluded by the United States and Japan with China in 1903, it was not really opened until 1906, for in the Russo-Japanese war the city became one of the strongholds of the Russian forces, from which, however, they were eventually driven by the advancing Japanese army after one of the most decisive battles of modern times. When peace was concluded and the troops were withdrawn the trade possi- bilities of the province began to receive increased attention. The principal trade of Mukden has been in grain, such as beans and millet; there is, also, a considerable trade in skins, furs and bristles. The chief imports are Japanese and European_textile hardware, cigarettes, sugar and kerosene oil. The British Cigarette Co. and the Asia Tobacco Co. have opened cigarette factories in the International Settlement, and there is a successful cotton-mill, with a capital of $2,500,000, subscribed partly from official funds and partly by private individuals. Minerals and metals are mined and smelted in the neighbourhood of Mukden. An increase in the area under beet cultivation is reported, but these crops suffered badly in 1923, and the working of the local Sugar Refining Company was curtailed in consequence. Rice-farming, also, is on the increase, there being some 10,000 acres under cultivation in the Mukden and Sinmin districts. The requirements of the local cotton mill have given an impetus to the growing of cotton in the Liaoyang and Chinhsien districts. The Government Arsenal, the largest in China, is situated east of the city and covers over a square mile of ground.

Mukden is situated in slightly undulating country a few miles north of the Hunho, a tributary of the river Liao, about 110 miles north-east of the port of Newchwang, and has stations on the Chinese Government Railway and the South Manchuria Railway 1 miles to the west of the city. The city stands four square, each side being 2.334 li long, but it is not absolutely north and south. It is doubly walled. The outer wall, which is circular and built of mud, encloses the suburbs and is 13 miles in circumference; the inner town, which is a mile square, is protected by a stone wall 35 feet high and 15 feet wide on the

the top, pierced by eight gates, two on each side, which formerly had high towers above them, but only the one over the "Little West Gate" now remains. A smaller wall encloses the ancient palace, which stands in the centre of the inner city, like the palace