The Middle Kingdom, Volume 1 (of 2): A Survey of the Geography, Government, Literature, Social Life, Arts, and History of the Chinese Empire and its InhabitantsWilliams, S. Wells (Samuel Wells)
History
The Middle Kingdom, Volume 1 (of 2): A Survey of the Geography, Government, Literature, Social Life, Arts, and History of the Chinese Empire and its Inhabitants
Williams, S. Wells (Samuel Wells)
China
effort was translated into French by Amyot.
The town of Hingking,[98] sixty miles east of it, is one of the favored
places in Shingking, from its being the family residence of the Manchu
monarchs, and the burial-ground of their ancestors. It is pleasantly
situated in an elevated valley, the tombs being three miles north of
it upon a mountain called _Tsz’yun shan_. The circuit of the walls is
about three miles. Hingking lies near the Palisade which separates
the province from Kirin, and its officers have the rule over the
surrounding country, and the entrances into that province. It has now
dwindled to a small hamlet, and the guards connected with the tombs
comprise most of the inhabitants.
Kinchau, fifteen leagues from Mukden, carries on considerable trade
in cattle, pulse, and drugs. Gutzlaff[99] describes the harbor as
shallow, and exposed to southern gales; the houses in the town are
built of stone, the environs well cultivated and settled by Chinese
from Shantung, while natives of Fuhkien conduct the trade. The Manchus
lead an idle life, but keep on good terms with the Chinese. When he was
there in 1832, the authorities had ordered all the females to seclude
themselves in order to put a stop to debauchery among the native
sailors. Horses and camels are numerous and cheap, but the carriages
are clumsy. Kaichau, another port lying on the east side of the gulf,
possesses a better harbor, but is not so much frequented.
~TRADE AND CLIMATE OF MANCHURIA.~
Since the treaty of 1858 opened the port of Niuchwang or Yingtsz’, on
the River Liau, to foreign trade, the development of Shingking has
rapidly increased. The trade in pulse and bean-cake and oil employs
many vessels annually. Opium, silk, and paper are prepared for export
through this mart, besides foreign goods. Fung-hwang ting, lying
near the Yaluh River, commands all the trade with Corea, which must
pass through it. There are many restrictions upon this intercourse
by both governments, and the Chinese forbid their subjects passing
the frontiers. The trade is conducted at fairs, under the supervision
of officers and soldiers; the short time allowed for concluding the
bargains, and the great numbers resorting to them, render these bazaars
more like the frays of opposing clans than the scenes of peaceable
trade. There is a market-town in Corea itself, called Kí-iu wăn, about
four leagues from the frontier, where the Chinese “supply the Coreans
with dogs, cats, pipes, leather, stags’ horns, copper, horses, mules,
and asses; and receive in exchange, baskets, kitchen utensils, rice,
corn, swine, paper, mats, oxen, furs, and small horses.” Merchants are
allowed not more than four or five hours in which to conduct this fair,
and the Corean officers under whose charge it is placed, drive all
strangers back to the frontier as soon as the day closes.[100]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account