Directory_and_Chronicle_1934 — Page 860

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FOOCHOW

The climate of Foochow is mild and delightful for about nine months of the year, but in the summer it is rather trying, the range of the thermometer then being from 74 deg. Falır. to 98 deg.

The scenery surrounding Foochow is very beautiful. In sailing up the Min river from the sea vessels have to leave the wide stream and enter what is called the Kimpai Pass, which is barely half-a-mile across, and, enclosed as it is by bold, rocky walls, it presents a very striking appearance. The Pass of Min-ngan is narrower, and with its towering cliffs, surmounted by fortifications and cultivated terraces, is extremely_pic- turesque, and has been compared to some of the scenes on the Rhine. The Yung Fu, a tributary of the Min, also affords some charming scenery, the hills rising very abruptly from the river bank. The Min Monastery, the Moon Temple, and the Kushan Monastery, all occupying most romantic and beautiful sites, are fine specimens of Chinese religious edifices, and are much resorted to by visitors. Game abounds in all the ravines and mountains in the vicinity of Foochow, while tigers and panthers are common in the more- remote hills, and some of these beasts have been killed within ten miles of the city.

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Foreign vessels are compelled to anchor at Pagoda Island, owing to the shallow- ness of the river. The limits of the port of Foochow extend from the City Bridge to the Kimpai Pass. The Mamoi Arsenal, near Pagoda Anchorage, an extensive Govern- ment establishment, was bombarded by the French on the 23rd-24th August, 1884, and reduced to partial ruin, but was restored. The establishment was later reorganised, and was for some years administered by French experts. There is a dock in connec- tion with the Arsenal on Losing Island. The dock is over 300 ft. long and has very powerful pumps and a good steel caisson. The Fukien Christian University, moved into its new quarters, just below Kushan Point, at the end of 1921. The site com- prises some 30 acres of hill and plain. The object of the University is to provide cheaper education for Chinese on Western lines and in more congenial surround- ings than are to be had abroad. In June, 1900, the port was visited by the most disastrous floods known there in living memory; the river, rising through heavy rains, overflowed and deluged the country, sweeping away villages and causing immense havoc and loss of life. The Chinese population of Foochow was estimated at 388,164 in 1929.

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The most important import groups were cotton goods and petroleum products, followed by fishery and sea products and then by cereals and flour. The first and third of these groups are adversely affected by the anti-Japanese boycott, which movement received fresh impetus by Japan's actions at Shanghai and in Manchuria. Chinese cottons seem to have benefited by the boycott, and Russian printed jeans, kerosene, and thread appeared as competitors, but Japanese imports were by no means suppressed. Tea accounts for more than half the value of the exports from Foochow. Exporters of black tea had a poor year and are inclined to be pessimistic about the future of the foreign market. The reasons are to be found both at home. and abroad. Unsettled conditions on the Kiangsi frontier have, affected labour in that quarter as a large proportion of the tea pickers comes from Kiangsi, while bandit taxes have had to be paid both in the producing districts and en route to Foochow. There was constant trouble with communist forces on the inland trade routes leading to Foochow during the year! While these communistic disturbances were confined more or less to the Kiangsi borderland, the country between Yenping and Foochow did not escape scathless, being very much subject to banditry of such a semi- permanent character that the leaders levied regular taxes on trade passing through the district. The toll on trade from these causes was considerable, and, considering the depressed state of markets abroad in addition, it is not surprising to find that all sections of the trade of Foochow coming under Customs cognizance registered a decline. in value for 1932.

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اور میرا

Direct imports from abroad declined in value from 7,7 million. Haikwan taels in 1931 to 6.8 million taels: direct exports to abroad fell from 5.3 million to 3.1 million taels; Chinese imports fell from 18.7 million to 14.4 million taels; and exports to Chinese ports fell from 13.4 million to 12 million taels in value. As Foochow stands about midway between Hongkong and Shanghai, the direct foreign import figures are not a reliable guide the actual consumption' of foreign goods at the port,

that- arrivals from Hongkong are recorded as direct from abroad and that almost all arrivals of foreign goods via Shanghai, being re-exports from that port, are not now recorded at all in the Trade Returns.