CANTON, a large commercial city and port in the s. of China, and capital of the province of Kwang-tung (of which the name C. is merely a corruption). It is situated in lat. 23° 7' 10" n., and long. 113° 14' 30" e., on the n. side of the Chookeang, or Pearl river, in a rich alluvial plain, 32 m. from the sea. The river (the entrance to which is known by the name of the Boca Tigris, a Portuguese translation of the Chinese Ilu-mun ("Tiger's Mouth"), is very picturesque. The city is surrounded by a brick rampart 6 m. in circumference, and entered by 12 gates, to each of which a guard-house is attached. It forms an irregular square, and is divided by a wall into the n. and s., or old and new city. The former is inhabited by the Tartar population, the latter by Chi nese; and between the two, communication is maintained by four gates in the separat ing wall. The suburbs are very extensive, and in one of these, facing the river, stood the European factories or bongs. Most of the streets of C. are crooked and labyrinthine beyond description, hut there are a small number of straight thoroughfares which make it easy enough for a stranger to find his way. As a rule, a tolerably straight street leads from the water-side to each gate of the city on the southern front, and is more or less prolonged through the interior. Many of the streets are devoted to distinct trades; thus, there is " Carpenter" street, "Apothecary" street, etc. The Joss-houses, chiefly Buddhist temples, are said to be 124 in number. The largest of these, on Honam island, covers seven acres, and has 175 priests attached. It is called Ilae Clocang &e, or " the temple of the ocean banner." Another famous structure is "the temple of the five hundred gods," situated in the western suburbs. There are also several many-storied towers or pagodas, a Mohammedan mosque, founded about A.D. 850 by the Arabian voyagers, who then were accustomed to visit C., a foundling-hospital, an English and an American missionary hospital. Streets of wooden houses were formerly to be seen on the river-side, but these were swept away during the late quarrel with I eli; and one large site that they occupied was walled in for the purpose of erecting new foreign fac tories, the old ones having been totally destroyed by fire. A very remarkable example of life upon the water is the boat-town of Canton. The total population of the city has been vaguely estimated at 1,000,000. The climate of C. may be pronounced healthy; though the heat from June to Sept. is oppressive, and the thermometer sometimes, though rarely, stands at 100' in the shade. In ordinary years, the winter minimum is
42*, and the suminer maximum 96'. The n.e. monsoon commences iu Oct., and is the prevailing wind till Mar., when the s.w. mousoon sets in. Its average tem perature is 701° F., and the annual fall of rain 70.625 inches. The Cantonese are notori ous for their turbulence and hatred of foreigners, and the European factories have more than once been attacked by infuriated mobs, who were only kept at bay by force of arms. This hostility may, however, be greatly due to the baneful influence of those in power; for here the government of the mandarins of the present 3[auchu Tartar dynasty appears to have reached its maximum of corruption and barbarity, and and was fitly represented by the notorious Yell, late governor-general of Kwaug-tung and Kwang-se. The author of Twelve Years in China gives us some startling facts illustrative of mandarinic rule in this part of China. After the defeat of the Triad rebels, who besieged C. in 1814 45, it is estimated that 1,000,000 of people perished in the province.
The admirable situation of C. for conducting traffic explains how, from an early period, it was a favorite port with foreign merchants. The Arabs, as has been said, made regular voyages hither as early as the 9th century. The Portuguese found their way to it in the 16th c., and were followed by the Dutch a hundred years later. These in turn were overtaken and supplanted by the English before the close of the 17th c., and an immense trade was carried on by the agents of the East India company. Their monopoly ceased ou the 22d April, 1834. Since that date the proceedings of the C. government officers have originated two wars with the British. The city was captured by the allied French and English forces Dec., 1857, and continued to be garrisoned by them till Oct., 1861. See CHINA. After the treaty of Nankin (signed Aug. 29, 1842), C. was known as one of the five ports; Amoy, Foochow, Ningpo, and Shanghai having also been thrown open to foreign commerce.
The chief exports from C. are tea, silk, sugar; the chief imports, raw cotton, piece-goods, opium, metallic wares, etc. "War and rebellion" (say the authors of the Treaty Ports of China and Japan, Lond. and Hong-Kong, 1867), " the opening of Hankow as a shipping port for tea, and, above all, the proximity of Hong-Kong and Macao to the delta of the Canton river, with its unrivaled facilities for smuggling, have robbed C. of the pre-eminence it so long enjoyed in commercial prosperity." Yet the following statistics show that the city is recovering ground: