Directory_and_Chronicle_1940 — Page 510

TSINGTAO

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plain country on the north-east is alluvial and very fertile, and is carefully cultivated Wheat, barley, beans, millet, maize, groundnuts, leaf tobacco and many other grains in smaller quantities are grown. The foreign residential quarter at Tsingtao has been well laid out, and there are some good foreign hotels. The first sod of the Shantung Railway was cut by Prince Henry of Prussia in Octo- ber, 1899, and the line to Tsinanfu was opened on the 1st, June, 1904. It has done a prosperous business from the day it was opened.

The wireless installation at the Signal Berg, originally built by the Germans, was removed by the Japanese naval authorities in June, 192, but a powerful new wireless station has been established by the Japanese military authorities at Taisichen. It is available to the public for "urgent" telegrains. A thoroughly equipped observatory was opened in January, 1912, with funds supplied by the Union of German Navy Leagues abroad. A boys middle school, built at a cost of Yen 228,000, now stands where the Germans had erected an aero-shed on the western slope of the Yamen Forts. The port came under the control of the National Government on the 15th April, 1929, and was officially proclaimed to be a special area on the 1st May. The new municipality has been active in improving local conditions.

In May, 1929, a radiogram service was made available for commercial use. Roads in general are kept in a good state of repair and construction and extension have steadily increased with the result that at the end of 1933 the mileage of urban and suburban roads was 239 and 373 kilometers respec- tively. Finally, the motor-highway between Tsingtao and Chefoo, a distance of 150 miles, was completed, thus rendering available to motorists using Tsingtao as their base the use of various provincial highways. Private or commercial construc- tion work during 1933 comprised 538 buildings valued at about $3,850,000, among them various bank buildings and the Edgewater Mansions, a new and completely modern hotel. Additionally, the Municipality completed the reconstruction of the pier extending outwards from the main promenade towards the island known as small Tsingtao, at a cost of $260,000 and erected a public stadium at a cost of $197,000. Comprising as it does a running track, a football field, space for tennis, basketball, etc., it is in constant use by Chinese and Foreigners alike.

The Public Works Department has been steadily improving the water supply in spite of difficulties deriving from comparatively scanty rainfall and lack of access to rivers or lakes. The Telephone Administration has also been keeping abreast of local development and has undertaken the installa- tion of 400 additional instruments. Last, but by no means least, the greatest care is being given to education. Municipal expenditure in the latter con- nection has doubled in the past two years.

According to a Chinese census, the population has increased by over 18,000 persons during 1933 and now stands at a total of 444.690 inhabitants.

A new concrete and granite pier in the Great Harbour, construction of which started in June 1932, was completed in February 1936. The port of Tsingtao was occu- pied by Japanese military forces on 10th, January, 1938.

TRADE IN 1938

With the destruction towards the coast of 1937 of the principal mills, fac- tories, and railway bridges and the occupation of the port by Japanese forces early in 1938, it was but natural that the trade of the port of Tsingtao should suffer considerable dislocation. Although transportation became available again on the Kiao-Tsi Railway in April, the shortage of rolling-stock was acutely felt, and while bumper crops were reported, it was next to impossible to bring them down to Tsingtao for shipment owing to the unsettled condition of the interior. Various restrictions, moreover, imposed by the "Provisional Government" during the year on the movement of bank-notes, cotton, hides and skins, and pro- hibition on trade by junk with inland places, further halted the trade of the port. The complete removal of some score of sunken vessels lying across the entrances to the harbour took almost eight months, and although an opening permitting entry of vessels of under 3,000 tons was effected in March, use of the wharves was restricted. Foreign interests suffered severely, but the Japanese

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