Directory_and_Chronicle_1929 — Page 625

PEPING-TIENTSIN

TIPPER & Co., Insurance Agents-131, Wang-fu-ching-ta-chich; Teleph. 624 (E.); Tel. Ad:Sunbeam; Codes: A.B.C. 5th edn.

H. F. Henningsen

Agencies

South British Insurance Co.

Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada Ocean Accident & Guarantee Corpn.

* * A U li man

ULLMANN & Co., J., Jewellers, Diamond

Merchants, Watchmakers Regine's

Buildings, Legation Street West; Teleph. 1471; Tel. Ad: Ullmann

R. Dreyfus, manager

G. Weill, assistant

UNION COMMERCIAL CO., Sausage Casings

Tung Unioncomco

Bien-Men-Wei;

Tel.

Ad:

安保 Pao an

UNION INSURANCE SOCIETY

559

OF CANTON, LTD. (Incorporated in Hongkong)—9,

Mei Chia Hutung; Teleph. 990 (East); Tel. Ad: Union

R. W. Paulden, branch manager

Agents

G. W. Frodsham & Co., Ld. - Teleph.

3955 (East)

行油裕光 Kuang yu you hong

and

VACUUM OIL CO., Illuminating

Lubricating Oils--32, Piao-Peih Hutung

East; Tel. Ad: Vacuum

K. L. Li, representative

VARALDA & Co., Exchange, Stock, Share and General Brokers 98, Morrison St.; Teleph. 1522 (East); Tel. Ad: Varalda

TIENTSIN

津天 Tien-tsin

Tientsin-or the Ford of Heaven, according to the Chinese meaning of its name— may now well be called the commercial capital of North China. Situated at the junc- tion of the Grand Canal and the Pei Ho in Lat. 39 deg. 4 min. N., Long. 117 deg. 4 min. E. (approx.), it is some 80 miles distant from Peking by road and somewhat further by river. Railway connection with the capital was established in 1897. A road between the two places, 94 miles long, was completed towards the end of 1922, and communica- tion was further facilitated by the inauguration of a wireless telephone service on March 7th of that year. The expeditions of the Allies in 1858-61 greatly enhanced the importance of the city, as it then proved to be the military key of the capital and an excellent base. It was here on June 26th, 1858, that Lord Elgin signed the treaty which was to conclude the war, but which unhappily led to its prolongation. The famous temple in which the treaty was signed, about a mile distant from the West gate, was destroyed by British shells in July, 1900.

Tientsin owes its early importance to its location at the northern terminus of the Grand Canal, and its later development is mainly due to the opening up of North China to foreign trade, to improved railway communications with the Interior, and to the deepening of the Bar and the Hai Ho by the Hai Ho Conservancy Board. Before the advent of steamers, however, Tientsin had become a flourishing centre for junk traffic, and when the tribute rice no longer followed the Grand Canal route-owing to the shoaling of this ancient and celebrated waterway-it was sent to Tientsin in sea-going junks when following the downfall of the Manchu dynasty in 1912, the transportation of this commodity ceased altogether. It may be mentioned here that a Commission, composed of Chinese and foreign engineers, has been established to draw up plans for the improvement of the Grand Canal, and hopes are enter- tained that this waterway will ultimately be restored to something like its former usefulness. While it is inprobable that it will ever again be used for through traffic from the Yangtsze it will doubtless serve a very useful purpose as a means of com- munication between many busy trading centres in this Province and Tientsin. The natural expansion of trade to be expected from Tientsin's unique position as the