Directory_and_Chronicle_1939 — Page 863

TENGYUEH (MOMEIN)

越 騰 Teng-yueh

The trade mart Tengyueh-situated near the southwestern frontier of Yunnan, in lat. 24 deg. 45 min N., and long. 98 deg. 30 min. E. was opened to foreign trade under the Burma Agreement of 1897 modifying the Convention of 1894 relative to Burma and Thibet, and the Custom House was opened on the 8th May, 1902. Tengyueh is a walled town situated in a fertile valley at an altitude of 5,356 feet, with mountains fifteen miles to the north of the town reaching a height of 12,000 feet. The valley is watered by the Tieh Shui river, a small tributary of the Tai Ping, which itself flows into the Irrawaddy a few miles above Bhano, a town which has been the principal emporium of Chinese goods in Upper Burma for many years. From Bhamo, there is a good motor road for the first seventeen miles, and in fact motor cars have once or twice actually gone about twenty miles further, but caravans usually do the last 120 miles of the journey to Tengyueh in six easy stages. On the Burma side of the frontier are two dâk bungalows, but once the Sino-Burmese frontier is crossed, at Milestone 56 at the Kulika Bridge, inns, unfortunately none too clean, have to be relied upon though camping grounds can be found at most stages. The main route now runs through Manhsien and Hsiaohsinkai. There is a telegraph office at the latter place and although the official in charge cannot read English he can despatch telegrams. The old route via Manwyne is now seldon used. Here it was that A. R. Margary, of H. B. M. Consular Service in China, was murdered. His memorial stands in the Bund Gardens in Shanghai. Pack animals and porters constitute the sole means of transport, but freights are fairly cheap between November 1, and March 31, when travelling is delightful, and expensive during the monsoon season, when some 70 inches of rain fall and travelling is inad visible on account of climatic conditions. Mails always travel by train from Rangoon to Myitkyina and from thence they go through Sadon and Niuchuanho to Tengyueh. The total time taken being only six days. It is easy to travel over this route, but camping gear is essential owing to the lack of inns. Namkhan, a town some ten days south of Tengyueh, is now joined to Lashio (a rail-head in Burina) and Bhamo by motor road. The road between Tengyueh and Yunnanfu has been repaired and while caravans take 24 days, travellers can reach Yunnanfu in 17 days, as motor transport is available on the Miakuan-Yunnanfu (eastern) section of the road during the months November to June inclusive. The mail couriers take only twelve days. Owing to the prohibitive cost, there can never be any question of building a railway between the two towns, though it would be a comparatively easy matter to build either a road or a railway between Tengyueh and Bhamo. The climate of Tengyueh is for the most part excellent. The temperature hardly ever rises above 80° or falls below freezing point. The climate of the valleys to the south of the town, however, is very malarial. Travellers without adequate money are not permitted to enter Burma and they would do well not to make the journey from Yunnanfu.

Letters for Tengyueli should be marked Via Rangoon & Myitkyina, Burma (foreign postage).

Telegrams should be sent via Madras from places south and west of Pengyueh but by Chinese radio if from the east.

Parcels can only be sent as far as Bhamo, from which town they could be sent on by caravan by an agent (e.g. Messrs. Litung, Bhamo), or they could be sent via Yunnanfu, but by that route they take several months.