Directory_and_Chronicle_1932 — Page 867

H

YOCHOW-SHASI

DIRECTORY

797

古太 Tai koo

BUTTERFIELD & SWIRE (John Swire &

Sons, Ltd.)

州岳

CUSTOMS, CHINESE MARITIME

Revenue Department

Commr.-E. G. Lebas (at Hankow)

Senior Out-door Staff Officer-Tseng

Mu-tong

司公運轉莎冶漢

HAN YEH PING TRANSPORTATION CO.

Yang Peh Ying, agent

Tah Chün-ching, shipping clerk

怡

E wo

Fu

JARDINE MATHESON & Co., Ltd.

Cheng Sung Tsun, agent

司公清 日

NISSHIN KISEN KAISHA

(Japan-China

Tidewaiters

Yang Shih-shing and

Steamship Co.)

Tsai Yung-i

Yochow

G.

G.

}

Marine Department

Assistant River Inspector

Worcester (at Hankow)

Acting District River Inspector-A.

Fleury (at Hankow)

―

River Officer R. L. B. Ryde (at

Hankow)

會初復美大 Ta me fuh jso wei

REFORMED CHURCH MISSION

City; Cable Ad: Allenbarth

Rev. H. Karl Beck

学

美

Mei foo

STANDARD OIL CO. OF NEW York

SHASI

市 沙 Sha-si

Shasi (the "market on the sands") is one of the ports opened to foreign trade under the Japanese Treaty of 1895, the official declaration of the opening being dated the 1st October, 1896. The port is about 85 miles below Ichang and is situated at the crossing point of two most important routes of commerce in Central China, namely, from east to west and from north to south and vice versa.

It is re- claimed from the river by a magnificent system of dykes and canals, and is "a monument of ancient commerce, and a witness to native perseverance and engineering skill." The district suffers periodically from the flooding of the Yangtsze. In July, 1908, the river rose to 30 ft. 9 inches, and caused the destruction of all the earlier summer crops; in 1917 it rose to 31 ft. 9 ins., again, on July 21st, 1919, to 31 ft. 6 ins., and on July 16th, 1921, it reached the record height of 33 ft. 4 ins., which was 5 ft. 4 ins. above the level of the Bund. The general commerce of the port has increased yearly since the Revolution, despite the adverse influence of the civil war during the past five or six years. The population, which is steadily increasing, was estimated at 190,500 by the District Magistrate of the Kiangling-hsien at the end of 1925. The floating population, of which no account is kept, may be estimated at 10,000 more. A considerable amount of washing for gold is done between Shasi and Hosueh, chiefly on the Tukkechow. Formerly Shasi was an important distributing centre, but the opening of Ichang to foreign trade diverted much of the traffic to the last-named port. It was hoped that when Shasi itself was opened it would regain its importance as a point of distribution, but the experience now gained shows that the development is likely to be slow. On the 9th and 10th May, 1898, a serious anti- foreign riot occurred at Shasi. The Customs Office and the residence of the Com- missioner, the Customs boats, the premises of the China Merchants' Company and their hulk, the office of the Foreign Board, the Japanese Consulate, the premises occupied by the native agents of Messrs. Butterfield & Swire and Messrs. Jardine, Matheson & Co., and a number of newly-erected Chinese houses were burnt by the mobs, kerosene oil being used to feed the conflagration, and the foreign residents were driven out of the port, narrowly escaping with their lives. The Custom-house was