Directory_and_Chronicle_1929 — Page 959

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In describing Amoy, Dr. Williams says: "The island upon which Amoy is built is about forty miles in circumference, and contains scores of large villages (now 136) besides the city. The scenery within the bay is picturesque, caused partly by the numerous islands which define it, surmounted by pagodas or temples, and partly by the high barren hills behind the city. There is an outer and an inner city, as one approaches it seaward, divided by a high ridge of rocky hills having a fortified wall running along the top. A paved road connects the two. The entire circuit of the City and suburbs is about eight miles, containing a population of 300,000, while that of the island is estimated at 100,000 more. The harbour is one of the best on the coast; there is good holding ground in the outer harbour, and vessels can anchor in the inner, with- in a short distance of the beach, and be perfectly secure; the tide rises and falls from fourteen to sixteen feet. The western side of the harbour, here from six hundred and seventy-five to eight hundred and forty yards wide, is formed by the island of Kulangsu. It is a picturesque little spot,

Eastward of Amoy is the island of Quemoy or Kinmun (Golden Harbour), presenting a striking contrast in the low foreground on its south shore to the high land on Amoy." The population of the city is now estimated at 96,000.

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Amoy ranks as a third-class city. It is considered, even for China, to be very dirty, and its inhabitants are unusually squalid in their habits. There are several places of interest to foreigners in the vicinity, and excursions can be made to Chang- chow-fu, the chief city of the department of that name, and situated about 35 miles from Amoy. The island of Kulangsu [“Drum Wave Island," from a hollow rock in which the incoming tide causes a booming sound] is about a third of a mile from Amoy, and the residences of nearly all the foreigners are to be found there, although most of the foreign business is transacted on the Amoy side. It is a remarkably pretty island. It was handed over by China as an International Settlement on the 1st May, 1903. In the opinion of the then Commissioner of Customs, Kulangsu bids fair to become one of the most charming little republics on the coast of China. The value of land on the island of Kulangsu has advanced 100 per cent. compared with the prices ruling a decade ago. There is a good club in the Settlement, adjoining which is the cricket ground. A neat little Anglican Church has been erected. A Japanese Settle- ment was marked out in 1899, and a fair number of Japanese, officials and others, reside there.

In 1922, the ratepayers of the International Settlement of Kulangsu recommended that an Advisory Committee of Chinese residents should be elected by the Chinese residents in the Settlement to assist and advise the members of the Municipal Council in all matters in which Chinese ratepayers were concerned. This recommendation was approved by the foreign and Chinese authorities and adopted by the Chinese rate- payers. Three Chinese members, appointed in December, 1926, took over the full representation of Chinese ratepayers.

There is a slipway at Amoy, formerly owned and managed by foreigners but since sold to the Chinese Government. The Standard Oil Co. of New York have erected several oil tanks at Sung-Su on the mainland, close to the site of the station of the Amoy-Changchow railway. There are kerosene oil tanks, and a can factory capable of turning out 4,000 tins a day, the property of the Asiatic Petroleum Company, on Amoy Island. In June, 1921, the proposal to reconstruct a pier between the hulk of Messrs. Butterfield & Swire and the shore aroused opposition on the part of the Amoy public. The matter having been referred to Peking, no further trouble was experienced. In the late autumn, however, the recommencement of the work resulted in a boycott being declared against the steamers of the firm. A settlement was reached and the boycott was withdrawn in March, 1922. The foreign residents

number about 280.

Frequent and regular steamer communication is maintained with Hongkong, Swatow, Foochow, Formosa and Shanghai, and steamers run direct to the Straits Settle- ments and Manila. There has always been a comparatively good trade done at Amoy, and notwithstanding that the tea trade, for which it was long famous, has now practically disappeared, it is significant that the shipping tonnage employed by the port has quintupled since the decade 1864-73, and almost trebled since the decade 1874- 83. Until the shortage of shipping caused by the European war the tonnage figures for many years topped the million mark. In former times, before the glory of Amoy had departed, the staple export was Tea-the local product as well as the superior blends brought over from Formosa-but, largely owing to the deterioration of the local pro- duct and the indifference of the grower to the changing conditions of the foreign market,