Directory_and_Chronicle_1934 — Page 499

MANCHURIAN TRADE CENTRES

In addition to Mukden, the Treaties made with China in 1903 by the United States and Japan secured the opening of Antung and Tatungkow in Manchuria. By an additional agreement made between China and Japan in December, 1905, the following inland places in Manchuria were opened to trade on the dates specified :-September 10th, 1906, Tieh-ling, Tung-chiang-tzu and Fakumen; on October 8th, Hsin-miu Fu; on December 17th, Manchuli, Harbin, Ch'ang-clr'un (K'uan-ch'êng-tzu) and Kirin; on December 19th, Tsitsihar (Pu-k'uei), the capital of the northern province of Hei-lung- chiang; and on June 28th, 1907, the remaining seven places-Fêng-huang-ch'êng (T'ing) Liao-yang, Ninguta, Hun-ch'un, Sansing, Hailar and Aigun-were declared open as a preliminary step prior to the adoption of special settlement regulations. Only at Mukden, Harbin and Newchwang are Foreign Consulates, other than Japanese, established.

On March 9th, 1932, a new State of Manchuria was established at Ch'ang-ch'un (*) the new Capital, as an independent Republic, under the rulership of P'u I, the ex-Emperor of China, dethroned by the Chinese Revolution of 1911.

However, so far no foreign country has yet accorded recognition to the new State of Manchuria.

MUKDEN

天奉 Feng-t'ien.

(Mukden is the Manchu name)

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Mukden, is the capital of the province of Fêng-t'ien (F). It was the ancient seat of the last dynasty of China. Tliough nominally opened to international residence and trade by the Commercial Treaties concluded by the United States and Japan with China in 1903, it was not really opened until 1906, for in the Russo-Japanese war the city became one of the strongholds of the Russian forces, from which, however, they were eventually driven by the advancing Japanese army after one of the most decisive battles of those times. When peace was concluded and the troops were withdrawn the trade possibilities of the province began to receive increased attention. The principal trade of Mukden has been in grain, such as beans and millet; there is, also, a considerable trade in skins, furs and bristles. The chief imports are Japanese and European textiles, hardware, cigarettes, sugar and kerosene oil. The British Cigarette Co. and the Toa Tobacco Co. have opened cigarette factories in the International Settlement, and there is a successful cotton-mill, with a capital of $2,500,000, subscribed partly from official funds and partly by private individuals. Minerals and metals are mined and smelted in the neighbourhood of Mukden. An increase in the area under beet cultivation is reported, but these crops suffered badly in 1923, and the working of the local Sugar Refining Company was curtailed in consequence. Rice-farming, also, is on the increase, there being some 10,000 acres under cultivation in the Mukden and Sinmin districts. The requirements of the local cotton mill liave given an impetus to the growing of cotton in the Liaoyang and Chinhsien districts."

Mukden is situated in slightly undulating country a few miles north of the Hunho, a tributary of the river Liao, about 110 miles north-east of the port of Newchwang, and has stations on the South Manchuria and other Railways. The city stands four square, each side being 2,334 li long, but it is not absolutely north and south. It is walled. The inner town, which is nearly a mile square, is protected by a stone wall 35 feet high and 15 feet wide on the top, pierced by eight gates, two on each