Directory_and_Chronicle_1931 — Page 1002

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HANGCHOW

always failed after a few trips. The railway, however, is proving a serious rival, and the rapid and up-to-date service provided is an increasing attraction to all classes of passengers.

The station adjacent to the Foreign Settlement is known as Konzenchiao, for which passengers change at Hangehow city or Kenshanmen stations.

One of the sights of Hangchow is the beautiful Western Lake, dotted with islets crowned with shrines and memorial temples. Several of the islands are connected by causeways. The general picturesque effect is heightened by temples, pagodas, and similar monuments judiciously placed in effective spots; while the slopes of the hills bordering the lake on the west are bright with azaleas, honeysuckle, and peach-blossom at various seasons of the year; and clusters of bamboos, several kinds of conifers, tallow and camphor trees, and maple, in rich profusion, all enhance the grandeur of the scene. Foreign-style houses and villas are also springing up along the lake shore, and a motor scenic road around the lake has been completed as far as Linying temple. The west- ern wall of the city has been pulled down to some extent, and a broad lake shore promenade, about two miles in length, with spacious gardens has been constructed. Indeed, the whole of this district has been laid out with a series of imposing tree- bordered thoroughfares, all of great length and width, comparable with the principal streets of any large city in the world. In this area the buildings are chiefly foreign- style, many of the Governinent offices and other premises being well constructed and of impressive size. Several hotels, in semi-foreign-style, have been opened, including one near the City Railway Station and others near the Public Garden on the Lake, besides one with western accommodation on the lake-shore near the Imperial Island. A fine Y.M.C.A. building was completed early in 1920. The excursions around Hang- chow are numerous and extraordinarily picturesque; and any person who can allow a month for the trip should not fail to explore the rapids of the Ch'ien-t'ang River as far as the Anwei border. The green crystalline water and constant alternation of gorges and park-like rolling country, the lofty heights, heavily afforested right down to the sandy banks with every variety of conifer, camphor tree, scrub oak, maple, tallow tree, bamboo, etc., combine to form a series of landscapes scarcely equalled in Japan. Sport of all kinds is to be had in profusion, including excellent fly-fishing.

The site selected for the Foreign Settlement extends for half a mile along the east bank of the Grand Canal; it covers over half a square mile and is four miles from the nearest point of the city wall. The Japanese Settlement adjoins it on the north and is about the same size. The Custom-house and Commissioner's and Assistants' residences are built on the Customs Lot, and there is also a Chinese Police Station in a modern building. The Hangchow Electric Light Company has erected outside the Kên Shan Mên a large installation for the supply of current to the suburbs.

Some three or four miles south-west of Hangehow 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.

A railway from the Settlement to the further end of Hangchow City near the Ch'ien T'ang 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 motor-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 less completely furnished can be rented. The difference in temperature from the plain amounts to 10° F. in the day and 15o F. at night.

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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.