CHE-KIANG, or CHE-CHI ANG, China, a maritime province lying north of Fu-kien and south of Kiang-su and includ ing the Chusan Archipelago; area, 39,150 square miles. The province is of great commercial importance, containing three treaty ports, Ning-Po, Wan-Chau (Wen-Chow) and Hang Chau (Hang-Chow) all of which are connected with Shanghai by a railway under British con trol. The surface is mountainous and trav ersed by rivers, notably the Tsien-Tang and Ta-Kia, which run down to the Eastern Sea. The Grand Canal, which has its gateway in Che-Kiang, affords the only means of internal communication apart from an extensive system of narrow foot roads. Trade in silk and tea is well developed, this province being, with Chiang-Su and Fu-Shien, the first to contain a treaty port, that of Ning-Po, opened in 1844. Beside tea and silk the province produces cotton and sedge for hats and mats, rice, ground-nuts, wheat, indigo, tallow and beans in abundance. It imports opium, cotton and woolen goods, tin and iron, kerosene oil, indigo and sugar. Coal is found in the north and iron ore in the south, and there are traces of copper, but none of these minerals exists in sufficiently large deposits to make mining remunerative. Che
Kiang is famed for its native system of educa tion. It contains the great religious and liter ary centre of China, Hang-Chow (not to be confused with Hang-Kow or Han-Kow), where thousands of candidates yearly resort for the public examinations. Hang-Chow is also the capital of the province, which is ruled by a viceroy. Marco Polo visited Che-Kiang in the 14th century, when it contained beautiful tem ples, now in ruins. The most magnificent architectural feature of the province is the temple of the Queen of Heaven, dating from 1680. Che-Kiang suffered severely during the Tai-ping rebellion in 1861. The Italians in 1900 laid claim to part of Che-Kiang as a sphere of influence and demanded the privilege of establishing a port on the coast to be called San Mun. There are thousands of native Christians. The population is estimated at 18,800,000. The foreign population is esti mated at about 2,750.