Directory_and_Chronicle_1934 — Page 834

A424

YOCHOW SHASI

關: 州

CUSTOMS, CHINESE MARITIME

Revenue Department

DIRECTORY

Commr.-A. S. Campbell (at Hankow)

Clerks Meng Nik Chin, R. Fan,

—

Wong Yue Sih and Ong Sze Yu

Senior Out-door Staff Officer--Chow

Chùng Yen

Tidewaiter-Ying Hoh Nien

和

怡

E wọ

JARDINE MATHESON & Co., LTD.

·Chen Sung Tsun, agent

ng si wodood i

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SOCONY-VACUUM CORPORATION

Ta

會初復美大 Tå me fuh jso wer

Yochow

REFORMED CHURCH MISSION

City; Cable Ad: Allenbarth'

1

Rev. and Mrs. Karl H. Beck

Rev. and Mrs. Edwin A. Beck

Miss Erna J. Flatter

Mrs. Mary B. Hoy

1

Miss Gertrude B. Hoy

Miss Alice E. Traub

Rev. & Mrs. Sterling W. Whitener

Rev. and Mrs. Jesse B. Yaukey

5

I

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 113,526 by the District Magistrate of the Kiangling-hsien at the end of 1931 and that of the Kiangling district at 713,640. 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' re-opened on the 1st July of the same year. In August, 1898, an area 3,800 Chinese feet in length, by 800 to 1,200 in breadth, lying along the riverside below the town, was assigned to Japan as a Japanese Concession. The British Consulate was withdrawn

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