Directory_and_Chronicle_1935 — Page 816

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NINGPO

Ningpo is built on a plain which is surrounded by many small hills. The walls of the city, originally enclosed a space of some five miles in circumference, they were pulled down in 1931 and macadamised roads now occupy most of the site. Ningpo las the reputation of possessing the fourth library in the republic of which the founder was Fan Chin () a high officer, under the Ming Dynasty. There are also many beautiful temples. The Fukien temple of "Mother of Heaven" is famous for its carved pillars. The Nyo Wang (E) and Tien Dong () monasteries, which are accessible by launches or motor bus, are situated in the hills some forty li from city. The former is celebrated for its "Holy Pearl" ( ) and "Shining Pine-tree" (**) and the latter for its wealth. The railway to Hangchow is completed only as far as Pakuan () but there is a motor road to Hsiao Shan (1) near the bank of Chien Dong River (f) some 90 li fron Shaohsing (H). Passengers from Ningpo to Hangch w and vice versa can make the journey in some 8 hours by the combined. methods of rail, ferry and motor bus. Three main bus routes are in operation: (1) The Ning-Feng Public Road (BAAEA) which joins Ningpo with Fenghua by motor transport of about 1 hours; (2) The Ning Chin-Tze Public Road (BNMAR) which starts froin Ningpo, passes Chinhai (4) and terminates at Kwei Hai Wei (1) in Tzeki (#); and (3) The Ning-Chuan Motor Bus Road (*****) from Ningpo to Chuan Shan (1) along the coast, covering a distance of 42 kilometres. Another road from Ningpo to Huan Shan Pu (l) is under construction and is due to be completed shortly. There is also a landing ground for aeroplanes in Tuan Tang () outside the south gate, which was made by order of the Ministry of War in 1932, but no air traffic has yet taken place. A wireless station was established in 1928 and has since been operating very successfully, eclipsing the telegraph in public favour. The population of Ningpo is estimated at 260,000. There are à cotton mill, a match factory, an electric light company, a telephone company, a flour mill, (temporarily suspended from operation), two coal ball factories, three knitting factories, two cotton weaving and dyeing factories and two canned goods factories. A new stock-breeding school has been established at Fenghua (*) by General Chiang Kai-shek at his personal expense.

There are ten middle schools (four of which belong to foreign missions) and about a hundred. primary schools. In all educational institutions girls play their part and co-education is encouraged. There is no college in the port as yet. There are some ten Chinese foreign style banks; no foreign bank has ever been established since the opening of the port in 1842. Foreign business interests are represented in only four firms: Butterfield and Swire, Standard-Vacuum Oil Company, Asiatic Petroleum Company and Olivier Chine, but in all cases the local management has been entrusted to Chinese agents. Ali foreign business is now in the hands of Chinese agents, the last foreign agent having left the port in April, 1932. There are four main steamship lines, one of which is British, the rest being Chinese; and steamers proceed to and from Shanghai daily except on Sundays. Small launches ply regularly to inland places along the coast and to the Buddhist island of Pootoo, a well-known place of pilgrimage and where foreigners inay spend holidays during the summer. The staple exports of the district are green tea, straw mats, straw and rush hats, samshu, bamboo poles, cotton yarn and vegetable medicines. The Ningpo Lakes are very beautiful, and provide excellent shooting. There is a proposal to make Chiang-tu (E) in Chusan Archipelago, a fish-trawler harbour.

TRADE IN 1933.

The favourable conditions prevailing throughout the year in the province of Chekiang and the benefits derived by Ningpo froin the general tranquillity, fine weather, and good crops were modified only by such local adverse conditions as the continued disorderliness of the bandit-pirate fraternity in the Chusan Archipelago and along the coast, and, as regards crop circumstances, the local disastrous effects of two typhoons that passed close to the port in the autumn. The advent of the second of these typhoons coincided with abnormally high tides, so that the country-side was inundated and much damage was done to life, property, and agricultural produce at Chinhai, Yuyao, Tzeki, Haiyi (all of these places being in the Ningpo district), and Ningpo itself.

Trade with North China was at a standstill until after the conclusion of the "Tangku Agreement," but improved with the cessation of hostilities despite uncertainties regarding the future of the situation there and in the nearby provinces of Kiangsi and Fukien. The three leading industrial enterprises in Ningpo (a flour