Directory_and_Chronicle_1932 — Page 914

SWATOW

頭汕

Shan-tau

Swatow, which was first thrown open to foreigners by the Treaty of Tien- tsin (1858-1860), is situated in the mouth of the river Han in the Southern most corner of the delta formed by that river on its way to the sea. It lies near

the eastern border of Kwangtung Province in lat. 23° 20′ 43′′ N. and long. 116° 39′ 3′′ E. It is the shipping port and general cntrepôt for the whole of eastern Kwangtung and the chief hinterland cities are Ch'ao-chow-fu (officially renamed Ch'ao-an-hsien by the Republic), Kiayingchow, Chao-yang, Kityang, Samhopa and Hingning.

Swatow is built on the northern shore of an arm of the sea which stretches about 10 miles inland (and not on the north bank of the Han river as is commonly supposed). The shore on the opposite side of the harbour is bold and striking, the hills stretching away eastward to the coast where they form what is known to sea-going people as "Good Hope Cape". Pagoda Hill rises on the opposite side almost due north of "Good Hope Cape" and in a direct line from this hill, across a sheltered stretch of water known as Clipper Roads, lies the large island of Namoa.

The earliest traces of foreign commercial activity are to be found in one of the southern bays of Namoa Island where there are relics of East India Company occupation in the eighteenth century. In the same spot in 1855 an American from Connecticut named Bradley and a Scotsman from Edin- burgh named Richardson founded the firm of Bradley & Co. Both had pre- viously been trading in the Philippines and both had come to Namoa Island from Amoy. Subsequently Bradley & Co. removed to Double Island which is situated at the North of Swatow Harbour and is 4 miles from Swatow. It is interesting here to record from an old document recently unearthed that at the time Bradley and Richardson moved to Double Island Swatow was "a collec- tion of fishing huts on a "mud-flat" and further to state that it is now, 70 years later, a thriving city with a quarter of a million inhabitants.

·

Shortly after the signing of the Treaty of Tientsin Bradley & Co. moved up to Swatow proper, being the first foreign firm to become established there.. In 1862 the British Government was granted a piece of land about a mile out- side Swatow but so strong were the demonstrations of the populace against it that the settlement project fell through. Foreign residences and offices, however, began to spring up at Kakchioh on the opposite side of the harbour and before the decade 1860-1870 was out, opposition had very largely died down and foreigners were living and trading freely in Swatow itself.

The climate of Swatow is very salubrious. The town, however, has suffered from typhoons on many occasions. Fifty thousand lives were lost and very extensive damage to shipping and property was caused by one of these terrible storms which accompanied by a tidal wave, struck the port on the night of August 2nd, 1922. Seismic disturbances, also, have frequently been felt here.. The most serious was that on February 13th, 1918, when, it is computed, over 2,000 people were killed and several thousand injured, while the damage to property was immense. The native population of Swatow was estimated at 141,063 in 1929 and is now about a quarter of a million.

A Chinese syndicate, with a capital of $3,000,000, obtained the necessary sanction for the construction of a railway from Swatow to Ch'ao-chou-fu, and work was commenced on the line in 1904. The line, 28 miles in length, was opened to traffic on November 25th, 1906. The contractors were Japanese, who supplied all material, the rails and engines coming from America and the carriages from Japan. The construction of the line brought about a great. inflation of land values.