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directly employed. Figure 3 shows a basic structure of the Chinese oyster exporting network to Hong Kong in terms of the geographical and administrative divisions of the producing areas. Shenzhen City is divided into two major administrative districts, Baoan County and the Special Economic Zone. Two Chinese government bodies, the Baoan Aquaproduct Bureau and the Nantou (Luohu) Aquaproduct Bureau, work in parallel to deal with technical matters such as oyster bed boundaries and production, and a third (the Shenzhen Aquaproduct Import/Export Company) is in charge of the overall import/export trading of oysters.

Figure 3 Structure of PRC Oyster Exporting Network

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Every year, oyster farmers are required to sell part of their product at a relatively low official price to the Chinese Government to meet a certain quota before they can sell the rest on the open market. The quota was reduced from a few thousand dan (1 dan = 50 kg) to only five hundred dan (350 from Baoan County and 150 from the Special Economic Zone) since 1979, when about 90% of the Deep Bay oysters died from a mass mortality the cause of which could not be identified with any certainty. The reduced
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British Navy stationed at Hong Kong which eradicated free-booting from the China coast. Equipped with the newest steam gun-boats designed for navigation in shallow water, the British commenced a blitz on piracy in 1863, and in a short period rousted the privateers from their haunts in Hainan's shallow river estuaries. To prevent a revival of piracy, the Guangdong provincial government was provided with similar gunboats officered by Englishmen, to patrol the waters surrounding Hainan,

Restoration of trade

The quashing of piracy led to a rapid restoration of trade between Hainan and the mainland, which in turn, aroused for the first time the interest of foreign merchants in this unknown island which had previously been dismissed as merely a sanctuary for pirates and banditti. This interest resulted in the opening of K'iungchow as a treaty port in 1876 and the development of a thriving trade with Hong Kong. A steamer link with the British colony was established and Hainan produce was ferried on the regular service. Raw sugar, vegetable oils and livestock (cattle, pigs, ducks, chickens and frogs) were the chief exports, while betel nut, copra, rattan, sisal hemp, hides, tallow, medical herbs and incense timber were shipped in small quantities (Henry, 1886; Moninger, 1919). Unfortunately, Hainan did not escape the baneful effects of opium which became the island's principal import (Henry, 1886), its use being justified in warding off the deadly malaria endemic throughout the island (Swinhoe, 1872a).

With the flurry of business activity, companies formed with foreign and Cantonese capital mushroomed everywhere in Hainan, each striving to secure as large a share as possible of the agricultural and mineral resources of the island. Unfortunately, Hainan did not surrender its untapped wealth easily, and the harshness of the tropical climate sent most enterprises quickly into bankruptcy. Those that did succeed were large, well-financed operations such as the K'iu Hing Kunz Sz, a large plantation near Nada involved in the production of rubber, coffee and tobacco (McClure, 1922). Even this company with over 20,000 rubber trees and 300,000 mature coffee bushes experienced hardship mainly caused by labour shortages, although these may have been
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D.L. MICHALK

their work, but owing to intense persecution they either left peacefully or gave their lives in martyrdom (Dehergne, 1940). Towards the end of the eighteenth century, Chinese priests were sent by the Bishop of Macao to rekindle the Catholic influence and in 1849 these priests were replaced by French missionaries (Swinhoe, 1872a). The reception of the foreigners was not friendly, the first who arrived was so badly beaten by the people that he died of his wounds (Henry, 1886). The mission never regained its former size, and in 1919, consisted of little more than an orphanage near Haikou run by several nuns and a few priests scattered throughout the island (Moninger, 1919).

In spite of their long association with Hainan, Catholic priests proved to be a poor source of intelligence concerning the island and its inhabitants, and it was not until Hainan was opened to foreign trade that thorough exploration was undertaken by Europeans. Although James Purefoy (1825), a British sea-captain, described parts of the east and north coasts through which he passed when shipwrecked in 1804, it was the British Consuls, Robert Swinhoe and Frederick Mayers, who unmasked much of the mystery of Hainan by their authoritative writings on its zoology, geography, history and ethnology based on their extensive excursions through the island in 1871 and 72.

These pioneering observations paved the way for more extensive reconnaissance of the unknown interior of Hainan by the Protestant missionaries, B.C. Henry and Carl Jeremiassen in 1883 (Henry, 1886), which in turn, led to the birth of the American Presbyterian Mission on the island in 1885 (LaTourette, 1929). Like their Catholic contemporaries, however, the Protestant missionaries were viewed with suspicion by the local inhabitants who frustrated all attempts by the Americans to purchase land or secure suitable lodgings.

It was the medical work of the mission which provided the catalyst for acceptance, and by 1919 there were 32 American missionaries on Hainan, including five qualified doctors. In that year, membership in the 29 churches exceeded 5,000, while 1,500 pupils attended mission schools and 3,000 patients sought treatment at the Presbyterian Hospitals in Haikou and Nada (Moninger, 1919).
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for that area. Our local guide quite unabashed, led us straight into the main courtyard, where we took photographs before a polite message from the Admiral, relayed to us by a staff officer, advised us that he was shortly expecting visitors.

i

NOTES

Zhoushan Island, as with many other cities and areas in China, is now rapidly undergoing industrialisation with plans for an airport, factories and container terminals. There has even been talk of building a bridge across to the mainland. Zhoushan is romanised using the current Chinese pinyin system. Formerly it was known as Chusan using the western system devised by British scholars during the late 19th century.

i China was published in 1844, illustrated by Allom and referred to in general as Allom's China; however, a former missionary, the Reverend Wright, wrote the text.

iii

Folk memory can be short, especially when it suits the authorities, and in 1998 people in Wei-hai under the age of seventy either looked blank and disbelieving when we told them of the British lease, or corrected us saying that we were mistaken. They explained that it was the colony of Hong Kong which had been handed back in 1997 and that the British had never been near Weihai.

iv Other pedants may wish to note that the word Tatar tends to be 'misspelled' as Tartar. The original word in Chinese is Dada'er in pinyin and Ta-ta-erh in Wade-Giles. My history professor used to bark that tartar is on teeth!

A Chinese historian writing during the late 1950s described the progression of the British forces up the South-east coast of China in a very abbreviated history and mentioned in a few words that "the local people in Amoy [Xiamen] had dislodged the British occupationists and forced them to evacuate the port city. The Chinese defenders made a gallant stand at Tinghai [Dinghai]. Fierce fighting continued for six days and nights. The British suffered heavy casualties. Although General Ko Yun-fei [Ke Yunfei] was covered with more than forty wounds, he fought till he breathed his last. Hei Shui Tang [Black Waters], a people's armed unit, also inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy". [Tung Chi-ming: An Outline History of China: Foreign Languages Press: Peking: 1959; P 215].
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