Directory_and_Chronicle_1937 — Page 524

TSINAN

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Tsinan, the capital of the province of Shantung, has the distinction of being the first city in the Chinese Empire in which a Foreign Commercial Settlement was voluntarily opened by the Government of China. The date of its inauguration was January 10th, 1906. Within the area of this Settle- ment, which lies outside the West Gate of Tsinan city, foreign merchants are allowed to reside and trade and lease land; the leases are for terms of thirty years, renewable for a similar term. The control of the Settlement is vested in a Municipal Administration presided over by a Mayor appointed by the Nationalist Government. The city of Tsinan lies to the South of a range of hills (Lat. 36 deg. 50 min. N.; Longi 117 deg. E.), and slopes gradually upwards from North to South. Situated in the south-west suburb are magnificent springs giving forth many tons of water per minute, and the streams from these natural fountains flow through the city to a lake situated on the north side. This abundance of water tends to make Tsinan one of the cleanest as weil as one of the healthiest cities in the Republic. The population was computed by the chief of Police at the end of May, 1933, to be about 428,011, about one-twentieth of whom profess the Mohammedan faith. Quite a considerablenumber of foreigners and foreign,. institutions have established themselves in the Foreign Settlement, and several have erected large and imposing buildings. The chief of these are the British. Consulate-General, the Japanese Consulate General, the German Consulate General, the American Consulate, Japanese hospital and the Chinesc Post Office. Residential buildings are also rapidly being constructed. There is quite a boom in the building of small houses which are occupied by Chinese and numbers of Japanese (1,646 in, 1933). In addition to these, large buildings have been erected outside the south suburb of the city for the Shantung Christian University incorporat- ed by charter from the Canadian Government. The Hospital of the Medical College, which is a department of this University, has completed a large new unit during the summer of 1935. The Tientsin-Pukow Railway Co. owns a large piece of ground in the Settlement, and has built offices, and dwelling-houses for members of the staff thereon.

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With the introduction of the use of machinery Tsinan is becoming more important as an industrial city. There are now about 40 industrial establish- ments which can claim to be, more or less, modern factories:-7 flour mills turning out 22,000 bags per day, 2 match factories, 3 cotton mills, several hair net factories, paper, iron and brass goods, soap, dye, leather, needles, wine, cloth, etc., factories, and a press packing plant.

Tsinan is connecteil by rail with Tsingtao (Kiaochau), distant 280 miles, Tientsin 200 miles, and with Pukow on the Yangtsze. It is also connected by a small river, now in process of canalization, with Yang Chao Kou, on the Gulf of Chihli, distant 146 miles, whence there are occasional steamers to Chefoo Tsinan stands five miles south of the Huang-ho or Yellow River, and in spite of some difficulties of navigation there is a considerable junk traffic between its river port of Lo-kou and the Grand Canal, which enters the river 80 miles higher up. This trade is almost, if not quite, entirely with the south, to Tsiningchou and beyond, since the canal from the Huangho northward to Lin-ching-chou has been unnavigable for several years. The high road from Tsinan to the north crosses the Huang-ho by ferry at Chi-ho Hsien, distant 16 miles. Since the opening in 1912 of the bridge over the Yellow River a Lokow through communication has been established on the Tsin Pu Railway from Tientsin to Pukow via Tsinan.

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