Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 58.djvu/202

194 the management of the whole foreign trade in the hands of a single Commissioner, called an Inspector-General, and appointed to this position Mr. Lay, succeeded in 1863 by Mr., afterward Sir, Robert Hart, who has continued in the control since then, and to whom is due the present very satisfactory condition of the management of this Bureau, to which has since been attached, in order to secure efficiency, a Marine Department, covering lighthouses and harbor regulations and the Chinese Imperial Post-office.

The ports open in 1899 were: Niu-chwang, Tien-tsin, Che-foo, Chung-king, I-chang, Sha-si, Yo-chow, Hankow, Kiu-kiang, Wu-hu, Nan-king, Chin-kiang, Shanghai, Soo-chow, Ning-po, Hang-chow, Wenchow, San-tuao, Poo-chow, Amoy, Swa-tow, Wu-chow, Sam-shui, Canton, Kiung-chow, Pak-hoi, Lung-chow, Meng-tsz and Szmao. Of these Niu-chwang is located in the north, at the terminus of the Chinese Imperial Railway, and is the gateway through which the trade passes from China to Russian Manchuria. Two ports, Tien-tsin and Che-foo, are situated on the Gulf of Pe-chi-li, while the next eleven on the list, Chung-king to Soo-chow, are on the Yang-tze Kiang or its tributaries. Seven ports, Ning-po to Swa-tow, are on the East Coast. Wu-chow and Sam-Shui are on the West River. Canton is the great port of Southern China and the oldest seat of foreign trade in the country. Kiung-chow is on the Island of Hainan, and Pak-hoi, Lung-chow, Meng-tsz and Sz-mao are on the Franco-China frontier of Tong-king. The last three and Niu-chwang are the only places not situated on important waterways. Of the total foreign trade about three-quarters is transacted through Canton, Shanghai, Tien-tsin and Hankow, which are the great distributing points for the south, middle coast, north and interior.

The importance of Canton, Shanghai, Tien-tsin and Hankow is fixed by geographical conditions. Canton is at the head of the Canton River, which is really the estuary for the combined flow of the West, the North and the East Rivers, the three principal streams and consequent trade routes of Southern China. With its fine harbor and juxtaposition to Hongkong, it is of necessity, and must always continue to be, the gateway to the southern part of the Empire. In like manner, Shanghai, at the mouth of the Yang-tze, is the controlling point for the whole of the central zone; while Tien-tsin, the port of Peking, is the entrance to the north, the northwest and Mongolia. Hankow is at the head of steamship navigation on the Yang-tze, and at the junction of that stream and its principal tributary, the Han, and if the extreme western part of the country be omitted, which part is mountainous and very thinly populated, Hankow is approximately the geographical center of the Empire.

Native vessels trading between native ports report at custom-houses administered by native officials, where the records are hopelessly