CHEH-CHIANG, or CHEH-KIANG, a maritime province of China proper, in which is included the Chusan archipel ago. Cheh-Chiang is bounded N. by the province of Chiang-Su (Kiang-Su), E. by the Eastern sea or East China Sea (Tung-Hai), S. by the province of Fu Chien (Fo-Kien), and W. by the prov inces of Chiang-Hsi (Kiang-Si) and Ngan-Hwei (An-Hui or Gan-Hui). As a province, Cheh-Chiang is of great com mercial importance, containing three treaty ports, Ning-Po, Wan-Chau (Wen Chow), and Hang-Chau (Hang-Chow), all of which are to be connected with Shanghai by a projected railway under British control. The area of Cheh Chiang is 36,670 square miles (about that of Indiana), and the population about 14,000,000. There are thousands of native Christians.
The province is mountainous and trav ersed by rivers, notably the Tsien-Tang and Ta-Kia, which run down to the East ern sea. The Grand canal affords the only means of internal communication apart from an extensive system of nar row foot roads. Trade in silk and tea is
well developed, this province being, with Chiang-Su and Fu-Kien, the first to con tain a treaty port, that of Ning-Po, opened in 1844. Besides tea and silk the province produces cotton and sedge for hats and mats. It imports cotton and woolen goods, tin and iron, kerosene oil, indigo and sugar.
Hang-Chow is the capital of the prov ince. Marco Polo visited the province in the 14th century, when it contained beau tiful temples, now in ruins. The most magnificent architectural feature of the province is the temple of the Queen of Heaven, dating from 1680. Cheh-Chiang suffered severely during the Tai-Ping rebellion in 1861. It contains the gate way to the Grand canal, or system of ':',hinese waterways. The Italians in ,900 laid claim to part of Cheh-Chiang as a sphere of influence, and unsuccess fully demanded the privilege of estab lishing a port on the coast to be called San Mun.