Directory_and_Chronicle_1940 — Page 854

A470

HOKOW-TENGYUEH

DIRECTORY

關分口河 Ho Kow Fén Kwan

Assistant-in-Charge-S. S. Dunn

CHINESE MARITIME CUSTOMS (Sub-Office

of Mengtsz Customs)—

Senior Out-door Officer-Chang Wei

TENGYUEH

越 騰

Teng-yueh

.

The trade mart Tengyueh-situated near the south western 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 Tiehshui river, a small tributary of the Taiping, which itself flows into the Irrawaddy a few miles above Bhamo, 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 17 miles and, in the dry season, motor-cars can go as far as the 30th Mile, 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 Hsiao- hsinkai. 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 seldom used. Here it was that A. R. Margary, of H. B. M. Consular Service in China, was murdered. His memorial stands in the Bund Garden in Shanghai. Pack animals and porters at present constitute the sole means of transport, but in normal times 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 Niu- chuanho to Tengyueh. The total time taken, from Myitkyina to Tengyueh, is about 7 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 Burma) 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 Hsiakuan-Yunnanfu (eastern) section of the road. The mail couriers take only twelve days. In 1938 the construction of the Yunnan-Burma Highway (motor road), linking Hsiakuan, Yungchang, Lungling, Mangshih and Chefang on the Chinese side with Namkham and Lashio on the Burmese side, was accelerated and completed, and motor traffic between and Lashio and Lungling started in the spring, while through traffic between Yunnanfu and Lashio commenced in the winter of the year. Consolidation of the Highway is however necessary before it can remain useful during the rainy season. When the whole road is opened to commercial traffic, travellers will be able to cover the journey between Tengyueh and Yunnanfu in 8 or 9 days. Owing to the high cost and the difficult country there is little likelihood of a railway being built 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 in the valleys to the south of the town, however, is malarial.

Travellers without adequate money are not permitted to enter Burma and they would do well not to make the journey from Yunnanfu.