Directory_and_Chronicle_1939 — Page 749

SHASI

市沙 Sha-si

serious

Shasi (the "market on the sands") roughly 900 miles from the sea, is one of the ports opened to foreign trade under the Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895) the official declaration of the opening being dated the 1st October, 1896. The port is about 85 miles below Ichang. It is reclaimed from the river by a magnificent system of dykes and canals. The district suffers periodically from the flooding of the Yangtze. On July, 4th, 1935, the river rose to a height of 35. 7 feet, the highest level in the history of Shasi, and nearly plunged over the dyke into the low-lying roofs of 100,000 inhabitants, Many lives were lost in surrounding districts and whole towns disappeared under the waters. On the 9th and 10th May, 1898. a anti foreign riot occurred at Shasi. The Customs Office and the residence of the Commissioner, 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 nobs, 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 but was not developed and much of the land on which it would have stood has since undergone erosion. The British Consulate was withdrawn in January, 1899, British interests being placed under the care of the Consul at Ichang, whereas the outburst of Sino-Japanese hostilities in August, 1937 necessitated a complete evacuation of the Japanese Consul and his staff and up to now their probable return is very remote. A telephone service was introduced in March, 1921. A motor bus service between Shasi and Hankow was compteled in 1933, while bus services also run to Ichang in the west. Motor buses now leave Shasi daily at about 7 a.m. and reach Hankow soon after 4 p.m. on the same day. The trip by steamer from Hankow to Shasi takes from two to three days, by busnine hours and by air one and half hours! The distance by water is nearly 300 miles and by air only one half as great, the numerous serpentine curves of the river being avoided by the plane. The Air-mail and passenger service between Hankow and Chungking via Shasi and Ichang was commenced in April 1931. Flights are made three times a week. A private company supplies the Shasi public with electricity. The Hankow Press Packing Co., Ltd. (Shasi Branch) started operations in September 1929, while the Shasi Cotton Testing Department of Hankow Bureau of Inspection and Testing for Commercial Com- modities, a governmental organ, commenced work in October 1929. The SHASI Cotton Weaving and Spinning Factory was informally opened in May 1931 with a capital of $1,000,000. The Bank of China, Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank and Bank of Communications have branch offices at Shasi, besides a few other banking establish- ments. The Young Brothers Banking Corporation is the only one having a modern and large building on the main street. A fine new bund, one of the best on the Yangtze, was completed along the Yang Ma Tou section of the waterfront in 1935.

TRADE IN 1937

The value of the trade of Shasi as recorded in Customs statistics was as follow: direct foreign imports, $147,000 as compared with $139,000; coast wise importations of Chinese merchandise, $4.3 million as against $4.6 million; direct exports abroad, $630 as compared with $6,291; and coastwise exports of Chinese produce, $19.1 million as against $17 million. Importations of sugar which represented 84 per cent of the value of direct foreign imports, totalled 10,369 quintals during the first eight months of the year as against 10,744 quintals during the whole of 1936. Of domestic imports, the drop in value of cotton piece goods from $1.4 million in 1936 to $935,000 and in gunny bags from $236,000 to $154,000 was but natural in view of the serious political situation. Cigarettes, on the other hand, showed some advance owing to improved purchasing power during the early months of the year, the value recorded being $1.2