Hankow

HANKOW, the greatest commercial city of Central China in 30° 32' N. and 114° 19' E. Hankow itself lies on the north side of the Yang-tze at the junction of the Han-kiang with the main river. Immediately opposite, in the angle of junction, is the older city of Hanyang and a little below the confluence, on the south bank of the Yang-tze, is the ancient metropolis of Wuchang, the capital of Hupeh province. Hankow, Hanyang and Wuchang really constitute a single urban unit of vast dimensions known to the Chinese under the composite name of Wu-Han. The total popu lation in 1926, as estimated by the Chinese Maritime Customs, was Communications.—This triple city of Wu-Han has an almost unrivalled geographical centrality which gives its site immense commercial significance. The Hupeh basin in which it lies is pre eminently the central basin of China, the very heart of the coun try, and the converging point of routes from every point of the compass. If a line is drawn connecting the chief emporia along the periphery of China proper (Peking, Sianfu, Chengtu, Yun nanfu, Canton, Shanghai) we get a roughly circular figure with Wu-Han nearly in the centre. The Yang-tze, the greatest of China's arterial waterways, is -navigable for large ocean-going vessels, except during the winter dry season, up to the site of the city which can therefore be considered as the head of ocean navi gation, although 60o miles from the coast. Upstream between Hankow and Ichang, at the outlet of the Yang-tze gorges, it is navigable for vessels of considerable size, and midway in this stretch, at Yochow, the river is the outlet for the large Tung-ting lake into which flows from the south the Siang, the main artery of Hunan, and from the south-west the Yuen-kiang, affording the chief route to Kweichow and south-west China generally. To the east the Po-yang lake, strictly analogous to the Tung-ting lake, receives the waters of the Kan, the second of the two great ways to the south through the south China highlands. Kiukiang, at the Yang-tze outlet of this system, may be regarded largely as a feeder of Wu-Han which is centrally placed in relation to the twin basins of Tung-ting and Po-yang.

To the west of the Hupeh basin is the trough of the Yang-tze gorges, difficult indeed, but the only practicable route by which the Red basin of Szechwan can be brought into relation with the heart of China and the ocean. The construction of special steamers for negotiating the gorges even during the dry season now greatly facilitates trade between Chung-king and Hankow. From the north-west comes the Han, navigable for 30o miles above Hankow and the chief route to Sianfu and north-west China.

The importance of this convergence of river-routes is now in creased by the fact that the main trunk railway of China, des tined to link Peking with Canton, here intersects the Yang-tze. The railway is in two main sections : the completed section from Peking to Hankow, and the incomplete section from Wuchang to Canton. The railway southwards has been finished to a point be yond Changsha and a branch line puts Wu-Han into direct rail connection with the coalfield at Pinghsiang. Among projected rail ways two are of great importance, an urgently needed line to the Red basin and another to south-west China utilizing the valley of the Yuen-kiang. As the meeting point of maritime, river and rail transport, Wu-Han has almost unique advantages as a collecting and distributing centre and its position in this respect may be compared with that of Chicago.

It is connected by regular lines of steamers with Shanghai, Ichang, Changsha and other river ports and is the focus of an enormous junk traffic. It is the chief entrepot for the Central Yang-tze provinces and for west and south-west China particu larly for tea, cotton, silk, timber (from western Hunan by the Yuen-kiang), wood-oil and hides..

Industries.

Hankow was one of the first inland cities of China to be opened to foreign trade (1858) and its development as a port in close contact with Europe brought it early under the influence of western industrialism. Hanyang was selected by the viceroy Chang Chih-tung in 1891 as the site of the first modern iron and steel works in China. This became the property of the Han-yeh-ping Iron and Steel Company, organized in 1908, one of the chief industrial corporations of the middle Yang-tze valley, owning, in addition to the Hanyang iron and steel works, the Tayeh iron mines and the collieries of the Pinghsiang coalfield. This company has been largely financed by Japanese loans and one of the most important concessions obtained by Japan in 1915 was an undertaking from the Chinese Government "not to con fiscate the company nor, without the consent of the Japanese capitalists, to convert it into a state enterprise, nor cause it to borrow and use foreign capital other than Japanese." In recent years this company and also the Yang-tze engineering works have suffered severely as a result of economic and political disturbances but Wu Han is likely to remain one of the chief centres of the Chinese iron and steel industry.

It is also an important centre of textile manufactures, although at present ranking far behind Shanghai. At the end of 1925 there were 27 weaving mills in Hankow, 6 in Wuchang and one in Han yang. The cloths produced are mainly plain cloths, including woollen and cotton mixtures and fancy cloths, including artificial silk and brocades, the demand for which is increasing on the Wu Han market. Dependent on this industry are a large number of dye works, the dyers in the majority of cases being weavers as well. There are five modern-style cotton mills, four of which are in Wuchang. In this connection it may be noted that American varieties of cotton have so far yielded much better results in the Hupeh basin than in the Yang-tze delta and that the area under cotton in the region surrounding Wu-Han has been steadily increasing.

Another large industry based on local production is repre sented by the rice mills of which there are over 3o in Wu-Han, all of them employing modern machinery. In addition there are several oil mills, utilizing the large local supplies of beans and many important refineries of wood or tung oil, which, as a sub stitute for linseed and other oils, has a large American and Euro pean market. There are also flour-mills, cement works, soap and albumen factories, distilleries and a large number of miscellane ous industries. Hankow is also a great banking centre.

Prior to the political disturbances of 1926-27, the rapid in crease in Hankow's foreign trade was very remarkable. The value of the trade coming under the cognisance of the Maritime Cus toms in 1925 was HK. Tls. 288,761,077 made up as follows: net Foreign imports, 69,365,189 ; net Chinese imports, 64,309,105 ; exports, 15 5,086, 283.

Political Significance.

Both on account of its intrinsic im portance and its situation in relation to the chief routes, the Wu Han group of cities has figured prominently in the troubled po litical history of modern China. The revolution of 191 i broke out in the barracks at VVuchang and the low ridges, particularly the Serpents' ridge at Wuchang, which here cross the marshy basin, were of great strategic importance in the subsequent fighting. The line of heights overlooking the Han was the scene of the princi pal struggle between the imperial and revolutionary troops, the main objective being the government arsenal at Hanyang. More recently, the capture of Hankow by the Nationalist armies, ad vancing northwards from Kwangtung (December 1926), marked the extension of Nationalist power to the middle Yangtze. It was followed by a serious mob onslaught on the British Conces sion, the charge of which passed into the hands of the Chinese and for a time business was completely suspended. Finally an agreement was concluded providing for the dissolution of the British Municipal Council and the setting up of a Chinese munici pality modelled on that already set up for the former German Concession in Hankow but Sino-British in composition. The events at Hankow were also followed by the important communi cation (Jan. 27 and 28, 1927) to the Chinese authorities both at Peking and Hankow of the proposals of the British Government for modifying their position under the treaties to meet Chinese Nationalist aspirations. Subsequently Hankow was for a short time under the control of a "Communist" Government in opposi tion to the Nationalist Government at Nanking.