Directory_and_Chronicle_1932 — Page 529

NEWCHWANG

Niu-chwang

口營 Ying-kou

Newchwang, in latitude 40 deg. 37 min. 37 sec. N., longitude 122 deg. 10 min. 23 sec. E., or 38 miles from the Newchang Lightship was opened to foreign trade in May, 1864, and was for more than 40 years the only Treaty port in Manchuria. Manchuria comprises the three Provinces of Liao Ning, Kirin and Heilungchiang, and is commonly called by the Chinese the "Tung San Shêng," or the Three Eastern Provinces. Newchwang is situated in the most southern of these three provinces-Liao Ning-and lies about 13 miles from the mouth of the Liao River, which empties into the Gulf of Liaotung, a continuation of the Gulf of Pohai. The proper name of the port is Ying- kou, and not Newchwang, which is situated 90 li (30 miles) further up the river. The old town of Newchwang was designed by Treaty to be opened to trade, but the first foreigners, finding Yingkow more conveniently situated and more adapted in every respect for the purposes of trade, quietly installed themselves there and got over the difficulty by the simple process of changing the name of Yingkow into that of Newchwang!

The country in the immediate vicinity of the port is flat and unpictures- que in the extreme, and the town itself has nothing in the way of attractions for the traveller. The climate, from the foreigner's point of view, is one of the best in China, the summers being comparatively cool, while the winters are cold and bracing. The hottest summer temperature rarely exceeds 90° (Fahr.), but cold blasts from the North pull down the "mercury" in winter months often to 6° and 10° below zero (Fahr.). The river is generally frozen over for three months of the year, but navigation is practically suspended for four months, from December to the following March. Formerly New- chwang was shut off from the rest of the world during winter, but the advent of railways has changed all this. The Government Railways of North China, through their branch line from Koupangtzu, maintain daily communication with Tientsin, Peking and Shenyang; and the South Manchurian Railway, through its branch line from Tashihchiao, maintains daily communication with Dairen, Port Arthur, Shenyang, Tiehling and Changchun. At the last-named place the Chinese Eastern Railway connects for Harbin and Europe by the Trans-Siberian Railway.

TRADE IN 1930.

The promulgation of the Gold Unit of the 1st February, 1930, when the Haikwan Tael was superseded by the new Gold Unit on imports from abroad, and the collection of duty on goods arriving from Tientsin, while that port was in the hands of the Rebels, made extremely difficult any comparison of the trade of this year with that of last. The almost unprecedentedly abnormal state of the silver market, which was only equalled during the Great War, (when silver was at a premium), and the Civil War, which has continued during the greater part of the year, has, naturally, affected the trade of the port to such an extent that most of the small Chinese concerns have had to close. The surtax on goods exported by Japanese merchants was enforced on the 1st July. Before this date the export application was endorsed by their Consul and no export surtax was levied. It is important to note that the soya bean, by which name Manchuria beans are called in the West, has come to play an important part as a food-stuff in Europe. A kind of flour has been made in Vienna called soyolk, which is said to contain as valuable pro- teins as meat, and, at the same time, is cheaper in price. As predicted, the