Directory_and_Chronicle_1936 — Page 821

FOOCHOW

A429

..

opened that there was much done in the export of tea from the interior, but after that the quantity shipped increased largely, and Foochow became one of the principal tea ports in China. From 1880, however, when the tea trade of the port reached its highest figure, the prosperity of the place has gradually waned.

.

The city is built around three hills, and the circuit of what used to be the walled portion is between six and seven miles in length. The walls were about thirty feet high and twelve feet wide at the top. The streets were narrow and filthy, but during recent years remarkable improvements have been carried out, the walls being torn down and replaced by a wide motor road the narrow streets have been widened to permit motor traffic. Motor roads have been built and motor buses connect Foochow City with Nantai, Mamoi (Pagoda), and Amoy. A road is in course of construction from Foochow to Kienow on the Upper Min River, which town is already connected by motor road and bus services with the Chekiang road system and hence with Shanghai.

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. Fahr. 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.

.

Most foreign vessels are compelled to anchor at Pagoda Anchorage owing to the shallowness of the river above that point. The limits of the port of Foochow extend from the City Bridge to the Kimpai Pass. The Min River Conservancy have, however, forseveral years been engaged in dredging and draining the river, which is now nav igable for vessels not exceeding 15 feet in draught and 265 feet in length right up to the City Bridge. Consequently since 1934 some small coasting vessels from Shanghai have regularly steamed right up to Foochow.

There is a Government Naval Yard at Mamoi, with a dock over 300 feet long. The establishinent includes a training college for naval cadets with British instructors. The population of Foochow, comprising Foochow City and the suburbs of Nantai on the banks of the Min River, amounts to 357, 790 persons (Police census, July 1935). The trade of Foochow continues to fall. Imports from abroad fell from $10,621,000 in 1932 to $9,460,000 in 1933 and to $7,534,000 in 1934. Exports fell from $4,816,000 in 1932 and $4,804,000 in 1933 to $4,426,000 in 1934.

-

KULIANG AND SHARP PEAK

鼓嶺 Ku Liang

JI Chuan Shih (Sharp Peak)

川石

A refuge from the heat, of summer at Foochow can be gained by a ride of half an hour by car and two hours by chair to the top of Kuliang, i.e., "Drum Pass," which is a mountain resort situated about nine miles east of Foochow. The thermometer indicates an average of 10 degrees cooler on the mountain than it is in Foochow; the nights are always cool and blankets are a necessity for comfort. Dr. Rennie was the first to build a house of foreign design at Kuliang in 1886. Now there are upwards of one hundred such houses, and every summer between four and five-hundred persons, chiefly missionaries, are in residence on the mountain. According to the Admiralty Chart, Kuliang reaches a height of 2,900 feet. Nearly five miles of stone paved roads about three feet in width have been made under the supervision of a Public Improvement

A25