There are many nationalities in Chemulpo, and the small community,
excluding the Japanese and Chinese, is made up as follows: British,
twenty-nine and one firm, the remaining twenty-eight being attached to
the Vice-Consulate, the Customs, and a missionary society; American,
eight and two firms; French, six and one firm; German, sixteen and one
firm; Italian, seven and one firm; Russian, four and two firms; Greek,
two and one firm; Portuguese seven, Hungarian five, and Dutch two, the
last three possessing no firms in the port.
If British interests are not materially represented in Chemulpo, other
nationalities are less backward. By means of the Trans-Siberian Railway,
the journey from London to Chemulpo can now be accomplished within
twenty-one days. When the Seoul-Fusan Railway is finished, communication
between the East and the West will be still further facilitated. It
is intended that less than two days shall suffice for the connection
between Chemulpo and Tokio. Meanwhile the service of the Chinese Eastern
Railway Company’s steamers between Port Arthur, Dalny and Chemulpo has
been accelerated. In addition, also, imposing new offices have been
erected at the port. It is much to be regretted that there is no regular
service of British steamers to the ports of Korea. In singular contrast
to the apathy of British steamship companies is the action of the
Hamburg-America Company, which has now arranged for the periodic visits
of its steamers to Chemulpo. From a commercial standpoint the port has
become an important distributing centre. Foreign trade with the capital
and its environs passes through it, and the administrative officers
of the more important gold-mining concessions, of which there are now
four, American, Japanese, French, and British, have settled there. A
cigarette factory, supported by the Government, is now in operation in
the port. During 1901 ninety-three men-of-war entered Chemulpo, of which
thirty-five were Japanese, twenty-one English, fifteen Russian, eleven
French, five Austrian, four German, one Italian, and one American. Of
steamers and sailing-vessels there were 1036, of which 567 were Japanese
with 304 steamers, 369 Korean junks and steamers, twenty-one Russian
steamers, eight American sailing-ships and one American steamer, four
English steamers, three German steamers, sixty-two Chinese junks, and one
Norwegian steamer—forty-seven more men-of-war and seventy more merchant
vessels than in 1900. The shipping which entered and cleared at the port
during 1900 was 370,416 tons, realising a small increase upon previous
years; of these, 500 steamers with 287,082 tonnage were Japanese, 261
steamers with 45,516 tons were Korean, forty-one steamers of 27,999 tons
Russian, two steamers of 4416 tons British, four steamers of 2918 tons
German. The complete return of all shipping entered at the open ports of
Korea during the year 1902—the latest under review—is added as a separate
table at the end of this book.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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