Directory_and_Chronicle_1940 — Page 752

CHUNG KING

慶重 Chung-king

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The city of Chungking, situated in lat. 29 deg. 33 min. N., long. 106 deg 30 min. E., may well be described as not only the commercial capital of Szechuen bu of the whole of Western China. The foreign import trade centres here, and is thei distributed by a smaller class of trading junks up the various rivers of the province

The city occupies the end of a high and rocky bluff forming a peninsula, at th junction of the river Kia-ling with the Yangtsze, 1,400 miles from the mouth of th latter. The principal streets of the city, in which are many fine shops, are on the sid of the Yangtsze, while new motor roads have now been driven right through the heart of the city, work still continuing in different directions, and one road leads out by way of the Tung Yuan Gate, where it merges with the new Great East Road to Chengtu, over 285 miles distant, which has been completed and is open to traffic. The city is surrounded by a crenelated stone wall which is some five miles in circumference, pierced with nine gates. This wall which has now been partially demolished, was built in 1761, replacing an older one. Chungking is now electrically lighted, the service being now controlled by the Municipality. The climate of Chungking is depressing, the summer being hot and damp, the winters raw and chilly, with thick fogs from November to March. The ordinary rise of the river is about 75 feet; on 6th August, 1898, it rose to 101 ft., on 11th August, 1905, to 108 ft., on 22nd July, 1920, tổ 95 ft. 2 in., on 14th July, 1921, to 100 ft., 90 ft. at the beginning of August 1931 and on 4th August 1936 to 93 feet. In 1908 it only attained a height of 52 feet 4 inches. According to a Chinese report, the river rose 120 feet in 1878: On the left bank of the Kialing and facing Chungking, extending below the junction of the two rivers, is the walled city formerly styled Kiangpei Ting and now known as Kiangpei Hsien. It is proposed eventually to connect the two towns by a steel bridge. These two cities and the large villages in their immediate neighbourhood are estimated to contain a population of about 700,000.

The port was declared open to foreign trade in 1891, since which date a large trade has been done both in imports and exports, carried at first in foreign chartered junks, but for the last twenty years in steam and motor vessels.

TRADE IN 1938

With the exception of the short period before the approach of the Chinese New Year, when the money market was very stringent, trade conditions at Chungking were throughout the year comparatively stable. The volume of trade was, not uunaturally, much restricted owing to the blockade of the Lower Yang- tze River. Until the fall of the port of Canton in October trade was chiefly carried on via Hankow and the Canton-Hankow Railway, after which other out- lets were found via Kweichow and Yunnan provinces, though these presented difficulties in connexion with the transport of relatively bulky commodities.,

Comparative statistics for the trade of the port were as follows: direct foreign imports, $2.6 million as compared with $3.2 million during 1937; coastwise importations of Chinese goods, $34.54 million as against $46.12 million; direct exports to foreign countries, $203,131 as against $204,357; and coastwise exports of Chinese produce, $16.49 million as against $39.23 million. Gasolene and kerosene oil, usually the main imports from abroad, declined seriously: gasolene from 4.83 million to 1.14 million litres and kerosene oil from 8.96 million to 2.28 million litres. Among coastwise imports, raw cotton increased in quantity from 5,943 to 37,647 quintals, the increase being due to the removal from the war-stricken areas into the province of Szechwan of many spinning factories with their stocks of raw materials. Cotton yarn, though still heading the list, fell from 178,062 quintals