Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/734

 to live in three concessions—British. French, and German—situated south-east of the city along the banks of the Pei-ho, and coverings an area of less than 500 acres. The Japanese

STATUE OF ROLAND. TIENTSIN.

took up a concession in accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Shimonoseki, and, in 1901, Russia, Belgium, Italy, and Austria-Hungary all appropriated large areas on the left bank of the Pei-ho, while the existing Settlements extended their boundaries very considerably, so that, as Dr. A. H. Smith says: "All the Powers, except China, are now accommodated with commodious waterfronts." Throughout the whole of these concessions building operations are being carried on, and numberless improvements are being effected. The streets are broad, well laid-out, and well lighted, and an electric tramway, which has some eight miles of line, furnishes a rapid means of communication to all parts. The sanitation is continually being improved, and a plentiful supply of water, which is quite safe and wholesome to drink, is obtained from one or other of the two waterworks companies — the Tientsin Waterworks Company. Ltd.. and the Tientsin Native City Waterworks Company. Ltd. There are a number of good hotels, five clubs (the Tientsin Club, the German Concordia Club, and the French Cerclc d'Kscrime. the Waverley Club, and the Japanese Club), two excellent libraries, one of which, belonging to the British Munici- pality and the Imperial Maritime Customs, con- tains 8,000 volumes ; three parochial churches, Roman Catholic. Anglican, and Union, with many mission churches, and probably the best racecourse in China. At least live of the Powers maintain post offices, and the British. French, and Austrian Concessions contain market places. The British Munici- pality has a handsome Town Hall, which was completed in 1889. and is called the Gordon Hall alter General Gordon. Around the main audience chamber are memorial tablets to the soldiers and sailors of the different nations who died during the seige of 1900. Adjoining is a well kept public garden, opened in Jubilee year and styled Victoria Park; and a recreation ground. 10 acres in extent, is being laid out. In the British Concession, also, are to be found the electric light works, waterworks, most of the large foreign stores, the principal newspaper offices, the British, American, Belgian, and Japanese Consulates, and almost all the banks. The majority of the missions, originally in Chinese territory, are now, by the extension of the foreign concession boundaries, in the French Concession, which also contains a theatre or music hall named the "Arcade" ; while, in the Japanese Con- cession, the growth of which has been more rapid than any of the others, are to be seen an interesting and artistic monument to the Japanese who fell in the siege of 1900, and a memorial erected on the spot where Colonel Liscum was killed during the advance on the city in the same year. According to the latest figures, the population of the Settlements, exclusive of the military, is nearly four thousand, more than one half of whom are Japanese. Roughly, there are just over a thousand British and Germans. The Government is conducted on lines similar to those adopted in other foreign ■lettlements in China. Most of the concessions are controlled by their own Municipal Council, whose administrative duties are in many respects the same as they would be in the small townships of the various countries represented.

Tientsin can be reached from Europe and from Peking by rail, and from Shanghai by ship, either direct or by way of Cliinwang- tao. It stands at the terminus of the Grand Canal, and, as the navigability of the Pei-ho ceases at Tientsin, it became the great emporium for the tribute rice early sent up to the capital. The trade of the port was imperilled by the silting up of the Pei-ho. but a river improvement scheme was under- taken in 1898, and the Peace Protocol of 1901 contains clauses for the constitution of a Board of Conservancy, and engineering experts are engaged in grappling with the problem of maintaining a navigable channel through the Taku Bar. a considerable obstruc- tion off file mouth of the river caused by gradual deposits of sand. Trade, however, does not now entirely depend on this route, fully 50 per cent, of that with the interior being done by means of the railway. The opening of a coal mine at Toiigshan, 60 miles north-east of Tientsin, in the seven- ties was the precursor of a railway, which has since been extended to Shanhaikwan for military purposes, and from thence round the Gulf of Liau Tung to Kinchow. In 1900 it was carried to Newchwang. and afterwards to Hsin-niin Fu. The line between Tientsin and Peking was opened in 1897. and, on account of the enormous traffic between the

THE RACECOURSE, TIENTSIN.

THE FIRE ALARM BELL, TIENTSIN.

two cities, was doubled in the following year.

Essentially a centre for distribution, Tientsin, nevertheless, possesses certain industries of considerable importance. Distilling is the chief of these, and the spirit, or "wine" as it is called, made from maize is exported in large qiumtities to the South. Coarse, unrefined salt is made by the evaporation of sea water, and this trade, which is a Government monopoly, provides the largest and most permanent portion of the local revenue. In general trade there have been remarkable advances, and the prospects for the future are of the brightest, for Tientsin is practically the only sea outlet for the provinces of Chihii, Shansi, Sliensi, Kansu, and part of Honan, which have a combined population not far short of 100,000.000. The exports include coal (the output of the Kaiping collieries is about 700,000 tons a year), wool, bristles, straw-braid, goat-skins, furs, wine, &c. The imports are of a miscellaneous character and comprise arms, tea (for the desert and Siberia), mineral oil, matches, cotton piece goods, &c. In 1906 the total net value of the trade, less re-exports,