Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/702

694 and prosperity, however, cannot be denied, and the leavening spirit of progress is seen in the recent installation of a plant for supplying some 500,000 gallons of water daily, and in the erection of the necessary machinery for lighting the streets with electricity. The total population of Hankow approaches a quarter of a million.

Hankow has been described as the "Chicago of the East," but that, of course, is a form of poetic licence. Hankow, however, is an extremely important place, from a commercial and industrial point of view, and it will be interesting to examine in more detail the causes that have led to its rapid development, and the scope and extent of its present-day activities. The Peking- Hankow Railway, connecting the interior of China with Europe, has done a great deal towards fostering the multitudinous business interests, and further benefit is expected when railway communication is established with Canton and Hongkong (Kowloon). No work in connection with this project has yet been commenced in the province, but a British engineer, Mr. R. St. George Moore, M.I.C.E., has been engaged, and a start will soon Ix: made. Another ten years should see the line completed. Hankow, it must be remembered, is distant only twenty-nine hours by rail from the capital of the Empire. The passenger from Hankow may arrive in Europe by the Trans-Siberian Railway in twenty days, and already the European mail comes by this route. But it is to its unrivalled water communications that the port chiefly owes its prosperity. In addition to the fine river, on the banks of which it stands, there are canals and large streams bringing it in touch with almost all parts of China. Indeed, in the high-water season, boats may go as far as the borders of the Kwangfung Province, and an additional impetus must be given to trade when the problem of the navigation of the Yangtsze Rapids has been solved and direct communication established with Szechwan, which is said to be the richest province in China. With this end in view there is more than one company in the field at the present time.

The port is well served with river steamers going to all parts of the Yangtsze, both above and below Hankow. The fleet numbers not less than 46, of which at the moment 18 are British, 13 Japanese, 8 Chinese, 5 German, and 3 French. There is also a large fleet

HANKOW BUND IN WINTER.

of smaller vessels and launches. Some 25,000 native junks, carrying probably a million tons of cargo, are said to clear from Hankow annually. From April to November, when the river is at its highest point, large steamers can reach the port. At times Peninsular and Oriental and other ocean-going vessels come direct with cargo, while the battleship Glory, and one of the largest cruisers at present on the China station, have navigated the river between Shanghai and Hankow.

The port has been open to foreign trade for nearly half a century, but a greater advance has been made during the last ten years than throughout the whole of the previous time. Notwithstanding the fact that tea, formerly the staple product, has fallen from its high estate, the trade in this particular commodity is still large. Certainly a fleet of steamers, direct from London and Odessa, is not now to be seen anchored off the Bund as in days gone by, but, nevertheless, there are many large shipments of tea during the season, and the four large tea factories in the neighbourhood do a thriving business. Especially was this the case last year, when, owing principally to the higher prices of Indian and Ceylon teas, there was an increased demand for teas from Hankow. At the present time there is a great call for brick tea, which is made from tea dust, and is exported to Mongolia, North China, and Russia. The factories are working to their utmost capacity, but the supply seems to be insufficient. Of the brick-tea factories, two are situated in the Russian Concession and two in the British Concession. They are equipped with modern machines and employ thousands of Chinese, and the importance of the business may be gathered from the fact that some 26,000,000 taels' worth of brick and tablet tea have passed through the Customs during the last ten years. The tea trade as a whole is mainly in the hands of Russian merchants.

Next to tea, probably the most important trade is done in hides, which are dried and packed for Europe and America. Wood oil, sesamum seeds, and the oil made from them, are other important articles of export, and a considerable business is also done in tobacco, musk, feathers, albumen, antimony, bean-cake, beans, cotton, fungus, horns, iron, lead, rape-seed, animal tallow, and Chinese products of all descriptions. The net value of the trade of the port for 1907 was, in round figures, £18,700,000. Of this sum, imports represented nearly nine millions sterling, and exports upwards of £9,800,000.

THE YANGTSZE RIVER AT CHINKIANG.

The river banks in the vicinity of the town are the scene of much industrial activity, and both on the Hankow and Wuchang sides there are a number of factories which, together with the tank installations