Directory_and_Chronicle_1939 — Page 780

A396

FOOCHOW

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 now marly constructed 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 for about nine months of the year, but in the summer it is trying, the range of the thermometer then being from 74 deg. Fahr. to 98 deg. Spring is the wet season, but typhoons lead to rain in the summer and autumn also, and frequent local cyclonic disturbances make it a somewhat damp climate at most times of the year...

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 were 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 establishment 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).

TRADE IN 1937,

In Foochow and district the year 1937 opened in an atmosphere of optimism. It was felt that the worst of the world depression had passed, and that better days could confidently be anticipated. The local authorities were busily engaged in the improve- ment of communications, and were lending much assistance to farmers in the develop- ment of their holdings. Local products were in demand at rising prices and with the purchasing power of the community on the increase, it seemed probable that a period of prosperity was about to commence. These hopes were rudely shattered by the attack of Japan upon the country. Restrictive financial measures were immediately enforced, schemes for provincial development were shelved, Chinese shipping was rendered idle by the blockade of the coast, and profitable northern markets were temporarily lost. Notwithstanding this calamity the total value figures for 1937 compare favourably with those for the previous year. The comparative figures are as follows: direct foreign imports, $6.3 million during the year under review as against $5.2 million during 1936; coastwise importations of Chinese merchandise $20.5 million as compared with $21.6 million; direct export to foreign countries, $6.4 million as against $4.4 million; and coast exportations of Chinese produce, $17.6 million as compared with $20.2 million. Both rice crops were satisfactory, as is shown by the significant import of rice and paddy from abroad, which was valued at $36,845 only.. Coastwise imports of wheat flour dropped in value from $2.4 million to $1.8 million owing to the outbreak of hostilities at Shanghai, with direct imports from abroad increasing in value from $20,650 to $312,748. Funds for local development and purchase of manufactured goods were generally available in greater measure than usual.

1

!!Page 781