Transcriber's Note
Italics are indicated by _underscores_, and superscript text by caret
signs.
[Illustration]
THREE YEARS
IN
WESTERN CHINA.
[Illustration: ICHANG GORGE: SALT JUNK, PROPELLED BY OARS, MAST BEING
UNSHIPPED FOR DOWNWARD VOYAGE.]
THREE YEARS
IN
WESTERN CHINA;
A NARRATIVE OF THREE JOURNEYS
IN
SSŬ-CH’UAN, KUEI-CHOW, AND YÜN-NAN.
BY
ALEXANDER HOSIE, M.A., F.R.G.S.,
H.B.M. CONSULAR SERVICE, CHINA.
SECOND EDITION.
LONDON:
GEORGE PHILIP & SON, 32 FLEET STREET. E.C.
LIVERPOOL: PHILIP, SON & NEPHEW, 45 TO 51 SOUTH CASTLE STREET
1897.
PREFACE.
The following pages are intended to present a picture of Western China
as the writer saw it in 1882, 1883, and 1884. Chapter VII., in a
somewhat modified form, was read at a meeting of the Royal Geographical
Society on the 22nd of February, and published in the Proceedings for
June, 1886; Chapter XI. was read at the Aberdeen meeting of the British
Association in September, 1885; and Chapter XII. was addressed to a
special meeting of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce on the 12th of
May, 1886. The remaining Chapters are now published for the first time,
and, if they meet with half the favour bestowed upon the Parliamentary
Papers in which the journeys were first, and somewhat roughly,
described, the writer will consider himself amply rewarded for the work
which want of leisure has compelled him to neglect so long.
THE AUTHOR.
_Wênchow, China,
September 6, 1889._
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.
Since the publication of the first edition of this book, in 1890,
several important changes have taken place in foreign commercial
relations with Western China, and sufficient time has now elapsed
to admit of a decision being arrived at as to how far these changes
have affected trade. The following Additional Article to the Chefoo
Agreement of 1876, which owed its existence to the murder of Margary in
the west of Yün-nan in 1875, was signed at Peking on March 31, 1890,
and the Ratifications were exchanged on January 18, 1891:
“The Governments of Great Britain and China, being desirous of settling
in an amicable spirit the divergence of opinion which has arisen with
respect to the first clause of the third section of the Agreement
concluded at Chefoo in 1876, which stipulates that--‘The British
Government will be free to send officers to reside at Ch’ung-k’ing to
watch the conditions of British trade in Szechuen [Ssŭ-ch’uan], that
British merchants will not be allowed to reside at Ch’ung-k’ing, or
to open establishments or warehouses there, so long as no steamers
have access to the port, and that when steamers have succeeded in
ascending the river so far, further arrangements can be taken into
consideration,’ have agreed upon the following Additional Article:
“I. Ch’ung-k’ing shall forthwith be declared open to trade on the same
footing as any other Treaty port.
“British subjects shall be at liberty either to charter Chinese
vessels, or to provide vessels of the Chinese type, for the traffic
between Ichang and Ch’ung-k’ing.
“II. Merchandize conveyed between Ichang and Ch’ung-k’ing by the above
class of vessels shall be placed on the same footing as merchandize
carried by steamers between Shanghae and Ichang, and shall be dealt
with in accordance with Treaty, Tariff Rules, and the Yang-tsze
Regulations.
“III. All Regulations as to the papers and flags to be carried by
vessels of the above description, as to the cargo certificates with
which they shall be provided, as to the re-package of goods for the
voyage beyond Ichang, and as to the general procedure to be observed
by those engaged in the trade between Ichang and Ch’ung-k’ing, with a
view to ensuring convenience and security, shall be drawn up by the
Superintendent of Customs at Ichang, the Taotai of the Ch’uan Tung
Circuit, who is now stationed at Ch’ung-k’ing, and the Commissioner of
Customs in consultation with the British Consul, and shall be liable to
any modifications that may hereafter prove to be desirable and may be
agreed upon by common consent.
“IV. Chartered junks shall pay port dues at Ichang and Ch’ung-k’ing
in accordance with the Yang-tsze Regulations; vessels of Chinese type,
if and when entitled to carry the British flag, shall pay tonnage
dues in accordance with Treaty Regulations. It is obligatory on both
chartered junks and also vessels of Chinese type, even when the latter
may be entitled to carry the British flag, to take out the Maritime
Custom-house special papers and a special flag when intended to be
employed by British subjects in the transport of goods between Ichang
and Ch’ung-k’ing, and without such papers and flag no vessel of either
class shall be allowed the privileges and immunities granted under this
Additional Article. Provided with special papers and flag, vessels
of both classes shall be allowed to ply between the two ports, and
they and their cargoes shall be dealt with in accordance with Treaty
Rules and the Yang-tsze Regulations. All other vessels shall be dealt
with by the Native Customs. The special papers and flag issued by the
Maritime Customs must alone be used by the particular vessel for which
they were originally issued, and are not transferable from one vessel
to another. The use of the British flag by vessels the property of
Chinese is strictly prohibited. Infringement of these Regulations will,
in the first instance, render the offender liable to the penalties in
force at the ports hitherto open under Treaty; and should the offence
be subsequently repeated, the vessel’s special papers and flag will be
withdrawn, and the vessel herself refused permission thenceforward to
trade between Ichang and Ch’ung-k’ing.
“V. When once Chinese steamers carrying cargo run to Ch’ung-k’ing,
British steamers shall in like manner have access to the said port.
“VI. It is agreed that the present Additional Article shall be
considered as forming part of the Chefoo Agreement, and as having the
same force and validity as if it were inserted therein word for word.
It shall be ratified, and the ratifications exchanged at Peking, and
it shall come into operation six months after its signature, provided
the ratifications have been exchanged, or if they have not, then on the
date at which such exchange takes place.”
In other words, Ch’ung-k’ing was constituted a Treaty port, but
British steamers were denied access to it until Chinese steamers
carrying cargo should be pleased to lead the way. No attempt to
navigate west of Ichang was ever made, nor, so far as I am aware,
was it ever contemplated by the latter, and trade between that port
and Ch’ung-k’ing has up to the present been conducted in junks, in
accordance with the terms of this Additional Article. But it fell to
Japan, after the war of 1894-95, to claim the right of steam navigation
to Ch’ung-k’ing, and by Article VI. of the Treaty of Peace, signed at
Shimonoseki on April 17, 1895, not only was Ch’ung-k’ing opened to the
trade, residence, industries, and manufactures of Japanese subjects,
but steam navigation for vessels under the Japanese flag for the
conveyance of passengers and cargo was extended on the Upper Yang-tsze
from Ichang to Ch’ung-k’ing.
By this most-favoured-nation clause, therefore, Ch’ung-k’ing is now
open to foreign trade on the same conditions as the other Treaty
ports in China, and it remains to be seen which country will take the
initiative in still further developing the trade of Western China
by steam. The mere opening of Ch’ung-k’ing as a Treaty port, even
without the immediate prospect of steam communication, was undoubtedly
a step in the right direction, and the establishment there on the
1st of April, 1891, of a British Consulate, and of an office of the
Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs, soon rendered possible a more
exact estimate of the capacity of this great trade emporium of the
province of Ssŭ-ch’uan, and of the west of China generally. In that
year, virtually from June to December, 300 junks, of a capacity of
7,332 tons, provided with Customs Charter Certificates and flying the
Chinese flag, reported at the Foreign Custom-house at Ch’ung-k’ing from
Ichang, with foreign goods of the value of Haikwan Taels 1,371,027,
and native produce of the value of H.T.[A] 94,003; while 307 similarly
chartered junks, of a capacity of about 4,404 tons, left Ch’ung-k’ing
for Ichang, with exports of the value of H.T. 1,389,683, and silver
(sycee) valued at H.T. 84,381. In addition to this, foreign goods, of
the value of H.T. 2,346,055, and H.T. 643,475, were sent, under transit
pass to Ichang and Hankow respectively, to Ssŭ-ch’uan, and native goods
of the value of H.T. 443,269 were brought down under transit pass from
that Province to Ichang for shipment. The trade steadily increased,
and in 1895 as many as 1,200 junks, whereof 878 were chartered by
British, 112 by American, and 210 by Chinese merchants, of a total of
36,881 tons, carried to Ch’ung-k’ing from Ichang foreign goods valued
at H.T. 5,618,213, native goods valued at H.T. 1,238,816; while 917
chartered junks carried away from Ch’ung-k’ing native produce of the
value of H.T. 6,396,743; a total of imports and exports of the value
of H.T. 13,253,772. Besides this, goods of the value of H.T. 662,679
were sent to Ssŭ-ch’uan, mostly to Ch’ung-k’ing, under transit pass
from Hankow and Ichang. These figures refer only to the trade which
comes under the cognizance of the Imperial Maritime Customs, and
Mr. Woodruff, Commissioner of Customs, writing from Ch’ung-k’ing
in January, 1896, in reference to the trade of the previous year,
says--“Our petty share of the trade (_i.e._, the trade passing through
the Foreign Custom-house) has prospered;” and again, “With prosperity
based on such uncertain foundations, it would be unwise to draw too
definite conclusions, but there is enough else in the appended tables
to give abundant promise: there are the possibilities of a great
trade.” The Customs Returns give precise details of this petty share
of the trade of Ssŭ-ch’uan, and an examination of the list of exports
reveals a state of things which cannot but appear startling to those
unacquainted with the Province. In 1895, as stated above, the value
of the exports reported at the Foreign Custom-house at Ch’ung-k’ing:
was H.T. 6,396,743, and of this amount native opium alone ranked
for H.T. 2,875,180. When Ch’ung-k’ing was made an open port, Mr. H.
E. Hobson, then Commissioner of Customs, despatched to Shanghai,
for analysis, specimens of native opium from the three Provinces of
Ssŭ-ch’uan, Kuei-chow, and Yün-nan, and, after embodying the results
of this analysis in his Report for 1891, he adds--“The above details
go to prove that of late years the native farmers have paid closer
attention to the production of unadulterated drug, and have succeeded;
whilst there is now but little doubt that, with anything approaching a
favourable season, the out-turn of the poppy fields of Western China
alone are ample to the ordinary requirements of pretty nearly the whole
Empire. It would be idle to attempt an estimate of the probable total
yield of what is now the favourite spring crop of regions vaster in
extent than individual European kingdoms; but the fact is patent that,
as regards her opium supply, China is now practically independent.”
Next to native opium comes white-wax of the value of H.T. 940,699. A
description of the remarkable industry by which this wax is produced
will be found in Chapter XI. Silk of all kinds ranks third, with a
value of H.T. 811,764; but this is a mere fraction of the production
of, and export from, the Province, for Ssŭ-ch’uan is an immense silk
district, and the production is practically unlimited. Then follow
medicines (H.T. 589,472), musk (H.T. 540,662), sheep’s wool (H.T.
99,377), bristles (H.T. 96,152), hemp (H.T. 68,806), fungus (H.T.
26,202), brown sugar (H.T. 22,973), feathers (H.T. 15,092), leather
(H.T. 13,770), safflower (H.T. 11,696), turmeric (H.T. 6,314), and
some minor articles which go to make up what is practically a petty
share of the export trade of Ssŭ-ch’uan. Moreover, the great and most
valuable salt export from Ssŭ-ch’uan is under Government control, and
is excluded from the supervision of the Imperial Maritime Customs. A
glance at the list of imports shows that the principal foreign goods
consumed by Ssŭ-ch’uan are--Indian cotton yarn (H.T. 2,600,637), plain
grey shirtings (H.T. 1,169,966), white shirtings (H.T. 162,162), cotton
Italians, plain and figured (H.T. 158,803), American clarified ginseng
(H.T. 131,687), cotton lastings (H.T. 128,292), woollen lastings
(H.T. 97,822), analine dyes (H.T. 86,041), long ells (H.T. 63,648),
seaweed and agar-agar (H.T. 60,917); while the principal imports of
native goods include raw cotton (H.T. 515,891), silk piece-goods (H.T.
200,776), medicines (H.T. 92,046), cotton yarn from Hankow (H.T.
86,329), China-root (H.T. 42,162), paper (H.T. 28,253), paper fans
(H.T. 24,519), and cuttle-fish (H.T. 22,399). These are exclusive of
the goods, mentioned above, sent to Ssŭ-ch’uan under transit pass
from Ichang and Hankow. When the goods have arrived at Ch’ung-k’ing
they are distributed over the Province, part going to Kuei-chow and
Yün-nan; but as transit passes are not taken out at the port to cover
their further distribution, it is impossible to state with accuracy
their ultimate destinations. Mr. Hobson, in his Report for 1891, gives
the following reasons why inward transit passes are not availed of. He
says--“During the December quarter documents were taken out to cover
parcels of Indian yarn to inland marts within the Szechuan borders,
but, owing to a misunderstanding at the barriers, operations quickly
came to a conclusion.” And in the same place, writing of outward
transit, he says--“There were no applications for passes to convey
cargo from the interior, which is not surprising when it is explained
that accumulated tax charges, _en route_, are slighter than transit
dues would amount to.” It must be borne in mind that all these figures
refer to a fraction of the trade of Ch’ung-k’ing, and, therefore, to a
much smaller fraction of the trade of the whole Province of Ssŭ-ch’uan,
conducted between the Upper and Lower Yang-tsze.
[A] H.T. = Haikwan or Customs Taels.
Much has been heard in recent years of the rivalry of the French
for the trade of Western China, by way of Tonquin and the Red River
(Song-koi): but we are now in a position to test it by actual results.
By Art. II. of the Convention Additionelle de Commerce entre la France
et la Chine, signed at Peking on the 26th of June, 1887, the city of
Lungchow, in the Province of Kwangzi, and the city of Mêng-tzŭ, in
Southern Yün-nan, as well as Man-hao at the head of navigation of
the Red River, and south-west of Mêng-tzŭ, were opened to trade, and
by Art. III. the following differential duties were, with a view to
a more rapid development of trade between China and Tonquin, agreed
upon:--Foreign goods imported into China through these cities shall
pay seven-tenths, and Chinese goods exported to Tonquin by the same
routes shall pay six-tenths, of the general tariff in force at the
Treaty ports of China. In August, 1889, a Custom-house was established
at Mêng-tzŭ, with which I propose to deal more particularly in this
place, for the route by way of the Red River, Man-hao, and Mêng-tzŭ
is practically the only way of access from Tonquin to Yün-nan and
the South-Western Provinces of China, and by it the whole trade is
conducted; so that the Custom-house Returns of Mêng-tzŭ supply complete
data as to its value, volume, and distribution. The following table
gives the value of the trade from 1890 to 1895:--
--------+---------+---------+---------+----------+---------+---------
| 1890 | 1891 | 1892 | 1893 | 1894 | 1895
--------+---------+---------+---------+----------+---------+---------
IMPORTS.| H. T. | H. T. | H. T. | H. T. | H. T. | H. T.
Foreign| 466,089| 744,480| 887,606|{1,524,290|1,241,879|1,809,253
Native | 169,014| 202,336| 261,459|{ | |
EXPORTS.| 468,904| 583,275| 736,355| 735,204| 943,321|1,033,066
+---------+---------+---------+----------+---------+---------
Total |1,104,007|1,530,007|1,885,420| 2,259,494|2,195,200|2,842,319
--------+---------+---------+---------+----------+---------+---------
After 1892 no distinction was made between foreign and native imports.
An analysis of the trade shows that it is composed for the most part of
a few articles of considerable value. The year 1895 may be taken as an
example.
--------------------------------------+--------------------------
IMPORTS. | EXPORTS.
--------------------------+-----------+---------------+----------
| H.T. | | H.T.
Indian cotton yarn | 1,303,108 | Yün-nan opium | 160,197
Raw cotton (Tonquin) | 60,515 | Tin in slabs | 812,819
Prepared tobacco (Canton) | 234,995 | Other goods | 60,050
Coffin wood (Tonquin) | 46,086 | |
Other goods | 164,549 | |
--------------------------+-----------+---------------+----------
Total | 1,809,253 | Total | 1,033,066
--------------------------+-----------+---------------+----------
As the transit pass system is in full working order at Mêng-tzŭ, it is
possible to describe with accuracy the area which this route supplies.
In 1895--the latest figures available--the value of the imports, as
stated above, was H.T. 1,809,253; and all these imports, principally
from Hong-kong, are entitled, on payment of seven-tenths of the General
Tariff import duty, and of an additional half full import duty, to be
conveyed under transit pass to any destination in the interior without
further taxation. Eighty-four per cent. were so carried, of the value
of H.T. 1,521,021, and of this the Province of Yün-nan itself consumed
H.T. 1,509,491, leaving a balance of H.T. 11,530 for distribution in
other Provinces. Of this latter, Ta-ting Fu, in Kuei-chow, took seven
piculs of prepared tobacco, of the value of H.T. 210; Chang-sha and
Ch’ang-tê Hupeh, on the opposite bank of the Yang-tsze from Hankow,
took 41 catties of cassia lignea, of the value of H.T. 14. There still
remains goods of the value of H.T. 10,936 to be accounted for. These
were sent to three places in the Province of Ssŭ-ch’uan, namely,
Ning-yüan Fu, which is situated in that part of the Province which
juts into the north of Yün-nan, and is separated from the highest
navigable point on the Yang-tsze by the inaccessible Lolo country. I
visited this city on March 20, 1883, by the only available mountain
road from Ch’êng-tu, the capital of Ssŭ-ch’uan, and it is not at all
surprising, when the difficulties of this route are taken into account,
that it draws its supplies from Mêng-tzŭ. Its requirements, however,
amounted to the small sum of H.T. 10,085, consisting almost entirely
of Indian cotton yarn. The other two places in Ssŭ-ch’uan which drew
from Mêng-tzŭ were Ch’êng-tu, which took 25 catties of cinnamon, valued
at H.T. 800, and Hsü-chou Fu, at the junction of the Chin-sha Chiang
(Upper Yang-tsze) and the Min River, whose requirements consisted of
203 catties of inferior cardamoms, of the value of H.T. 51. While
Ning-yüan will in all probability continue to satisfy its wants from
Mêng-tzŭ, there is not the remotest likelihood of other parts of
Ssŭ-ch’uan deserting the Yang-tsze route and Ch’ung-k’ing. Although
Kuei-chow drew seven piculs of prepared tobacco, and Chao-t’ung, the
northern prefecture of Yün-nan, took four pieces of T cloths and 14-1/2
piculs of tobacco from Mêng-tzŭ, I see no reason to alter what I wrote
eight years ago in the concluding paragraph of Chapter XII. “The only
route to Ssŭ-ch’uan, Kuei-chow, and Northern Yün-nan is the Yang-tsze,
on whose upper waters a large trade in foreign goods is even now
conducted, a trade which is capable of enormous development when the
present burdensome taxation is reduced. The opening of Ch’ung-k’ing by
the ascent of a steamer--an event anxiously looked forward to by the
native merchants of Ssŭ-ch’uan, will, as I have pointed out, reduce
that taxation, and will enable millions, who at present look upon
foreign goods as articles of luxury, to become themselves consumers;
and I trust the day is not far distant when the British flag will float
over entrepôts of British manufactures throughout Western China.”
The unwieldy junk, which, if it succeeds in covering the distance of
400 miles between Ichang and Ch’ung-k’ing in less than a month, is
considered to have made a good passage, is still the only means of
communication between the Lower Yang-tsze and Ssŭ-ch’uan. This long
passage entails heavy freights, thereby enhancing the retail prices
and hindering the free distribution of our manufactures; and it is
sincerely to be hoped that the permission granted by the Japanese
Treaty of Shimonoseki, to employ steam on the Upper Yang-tsze, will
soon bear fruit. The French have succeeded in running small steamers
on the Red River from Hanoi to Lao-kai, that is, to the frontier
of Yün-nan, and a weekly service is maintained between Yen-bai and
Lao-kai; but in winter the river is too shallow to admit of the passage
of even small steamers. In 1895 a cargo steamer was placed on the line
in summer, for junk navigation, owing to the strong current, virtually
ceases from the beginning of May until September; but the Chinese,
even although freights were as light as by junk, refused to ship by
her on the plea that “the arrival of goods could not be regulated as
at present, and that prices would consequently fall.” The long journey
overland from Mêng-tzŭ, or rather Man-hao, to Ssŭ-ch’uan, Kuei-chow,
and Northern Yün-nan, is, in my opinion, an insuperable barrier to a
successful rivalry of the Red River with the Yang-tsze.
On the 1st of March, 1894, a Convention between Great Britain and
China, relative to the boundaries of, and overland trade between,
Burmah and China, was signed at London. Art. VIII. of that Convention
says--“Subject to the conditions mentioned hereafter in Articles X.
and XI., the British Government, wishing to encourage and develop the
land trade of China with Burmah as much as possible, consent, for a
period of six years from the ratification of the present Convention, to
allow Chinese produce and manufactures, with the exception of salt, to
enter Burmah by land duty free, and to allow British manufactures and
Burmese produce, with the exception of rice, to be exported to China by
land free of duty. The duties on salt and rice imported and exported
shall not be higher than those imposed on their import or export by
sea.” Art. XI. says--“The exportation from Burmah into China of salt
is prohibited,” and “the exportation from China into Burmah of cash,
rice, pulse, and grains of every kind is prohibited;” and, again, “The
importation and exportation across the frontier of opium and spirituous
liquors is prohibited, excepting in small quantities for the personal
use of travellers.” Art. XI. says--“Pending the negotiation of a more
complete arrangement, and until the development of the trade shall
justify the establishment of other frontier Customs stations, goods
imported from Burmah into China, or exported from China into Burmah
shall be permitted to cross the frontier by Manwyne and by Sansi.
With a view to the development of trade between China and Burmah, the
Chinese Government consent that for six years from the ratification of
the present Convention the duties levied on goods imported into China
by these routes shall be those specified in the General Tariff of the
Maritime Customs, diminished by three-tenths, and that the duties on
goods exported from China by the same route shall be those specified in
the same tariff, diminished by four-tenths. Transit passes for imports
and exports shall be granted in accordance with the rules in force at
the Treaty ports.” Art. XIII. says--“It is agreed that His Majesty
the Emperor of China may appoint a Consul in Burmah, to reside at
Rangoon; and that Her Britannic Majesty may appoint a Consul to reside
at Manwyne.” By this Convention, therefore, the same differential
duties have been fixed as in the trade between Tonquin and China; but
it will be observed that while Yün-nan pays for a considerable part
of its imports by the Red River with native opium, it is debarred
from exporting it to Burmah. What progress trade is making across the
Burmah-Yün-nan frontier under these conditions I am not in a position
to say, for I have seen no recent statistics bearing on the subject;
but it labours under the same disadvantages in regard to its area of
supply as the Red River route. The overland transit is too long, and
therefore too expensive, to admit of the richest parts of Western China
being “tapped” by it.
On the 1st of December, 1888, a Convention between France and China
was signed at Chefoo, whereby, _inter alia_, the junction of the
Chinese and French telegraph lines in Yün-nan and Tonquin respectively
was agreed to, and Mêng-tzŭ and Lao-kai, which lies just within the
Tonquin frontier, were subsequently united by wire; and on the 6th
September, 1894, a similar Convention, respecting the junction of the
Chinese and Burmese telegraph lines, was signed at Tien-tsin between
Great Britain and China, wherein it was stipulated that the junction
should be effected between the British station at Bhamo and the Chinese
station at Têng-yüeh (Momein), at latest on the 31st May, 1895, unless
prevented by accident or by _force majeure_.
By a Supplementary Convention, concluded between France and China at
Peking on the 20th of June, 1895, and ratified in 1896, Man-hao, the
station opened by Art. II. of the Convention of 1887, at the head of
navigation of the Red River in Yün-nan, is superseded by Ho-k’ou, a
place on the left bank of the same river, and just within the Chinese
frontier.
Of recent years Western China has acted as a magnet, not only to
exploring expeditions, but also to more practical commercial missions.
In 1890 a French expedition, including Prince Henry of Orleans, passed
southwards through Western Ssŭ-ch’uan and Yün-nan by way of Ta-li Fu,
Mêng-tsŭ, and the Red River, from Tibet to Tonquin; and in 1895 the
Prince was again at Ta-li Fu, whence he proceeded west to the Mekong,
ascended the right bank of the latter to Tse-ku, and then struck
westwards across the Salwen and Irrawady to Sadiya in Assam. To show
the spirit of rivalry which exists, I may quote from the paper which
the Prince read before the Royal Geographical Society on the 18th of
May, 1896, and published in the December number of the _Geographical
Journal_ of that year. He says--“We heard [at Ssŭ-mao] that two
Englishmen had just left the town. This news was not calculated to
rejoice our hearts. Reconnoitring parties are numerous in Yün-nan, and
there is a race between the French and English, and even amongst the
French themselves. The field of the unknown is day by day being reduced
with marvellous rapidity, and to find unexplored ground on the map one
must hasten. At Ta-li Fu we were told that one of these Englishmen was
Captain Davis, who arrived from Burmah by way of T’êng-yüeh and Ta-li,
intending to return by Mien-ning, Ssŭ-mao, P’u-êrh Fu, and Tamano. We
twice crossed the itinerary of these travellers, and were lucky enough
only to travel along 120 miles of the same road.”
A French commercial mission (Mission Lyonnaise d’Exploration
Commerciale en Chine), consisting of a dozen members, and including
several experts, has recently overrun Western China from Tonquin to
the borders of Tibet, part of the mission remaining at Ch’ung-k’ing
for some considerable time. A Japanese Commercial Mission visited
Ch’ung-k’ing in December, 1895, and returned in January, 1896, and the
United States Mission, which left Tien-tsin overland for Chêng-tu to
arrange a settlement, so far as American missionaries were concerned,
of the anti-missionary outrages which occurred there and in other parts
of the Province of Ssŭ-ch’uan in May and June, 1895, returned by way
of Ch’ung-k’ing and the Yang-tsze in January, 1896. At the present
moment the Blackburn Commercial Mission, headed by Mr. Bourne, of the
British Consular Service in China, my successor as Consular Agent at
Ch’ung-k’ing in 1884, is traversing the Western Provinces of China;
and it is certain that all these missions have collected, and are
collecting, information which cannot fail to be of great assistance in
developing foreign trade with the West of China.
ALEX. HOSIE.
NEWCHWANG,
_February 18, 1897_.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
UP THE YANG-TSZE TO WESTERN CHINA.
PAGE
Western China and the interest attaching to it--The way
thither--An unsuccessful attempt to reach Ichang--Ichang at
last--Difficulties of navigation--Commercial importance of
Ichang--My native passenger-boat, opium-smoking skipper,
and crew--The navigability of the Upper Yang-tsze by
steamers--Dangers and difficulties of the Ching T’an Rapid--Up
and down the rapid--The poppy--Ch’ung-k’ing. 1