Directory_and_Chronicle_1928 — Page 795

Directories & Chronicles 香港指南 All

HANGCHOW

789

Some three or four miles south-west of Hangchow city lies the rising little town of Zakow, situated upon the Ch'ien-t'ang River at the railway head. The Standard Oil Company, the Asiatic Petroleum Co., and several missionary establishments (includ- ing a large College) have their headquarters here. For residential purposes the hilly sites in the vicinity, overlooking the broad estuary and open to the sea breezes, afford far more sanitary locations than the low-lying malarial Settlement 10 miles away.

Halfway between Hangchow and Shanghai is Kashing, where the Grand Canal joins the Whangpoo River on which Shanghai is situated. Kashing is a Customs Sta- tion under Hangchow and was first opened in 1898 for collecting duties on foreign opium, owing to the fiscal arrangements being against the collection at Hangchow. It has a completely cquipped Custom-house, but has not yet acquired the full status of a Treaty Port.

A railway from the Settlement to the further end of Hangchow City near the Ch'ien Tang river was completed in September, 1907. It was built solely by Chinese and with Chinese capital. There is now railway connection with Shanghai vid Kashing. Twenty-eight miles north of Hangchow is situated the well-known summer resort of Mokanshan. It can be reached from Shanghai by way of the railway and a notor-launch service in ten hours. There are now over 500 houses on the slope of a hill about 2,250 feet high. The scenery is magnificent and the views are very grand. Bamboo forests cover the mountain and afford shade to all the roads, and clear mountain springs abound. Chairs and coolies for baggage are always available, and are under contract with the Mokanshan Association. Houses more or less completely furnished can be rented. The difference in temperature from the plain amounts to 10° F. in the day and 15° F. at night.

Save for the prevalence of malaria-which, however, is not of a virulent type-the climate of Hangchow is fairly salubrious. July and August are hot, the spring months are wet and raw, but the autumn is delightful, and the winter is cold and bracing.

Directory_and_Chronicle_1928 — Page 795

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