SHANG-HAE, or SHANGHAI, a sea-port in China, the most northerly and most important of the porta opened to foreigners, is built on the left bank of the river Woo-sung, which is properly only the channel by which the waters of the Lake Tahoe, or Tai (the Great Lake), are discharged into the sea, in 3P 25' N. lat.,120' 40' E. long. The population of the city is somewhat under 150,000, but the suburbs are also densely peopled.
Though the course of the Woo-sung scarcely exceeds fifty miles, it brings down a great volume of water, is very deep, and readily navi gable. Opposite the town of Shang-hae, which is about ten miles from its month, the depth in the middle of the stream varies from 6 to 8 fathoms, so that the largest vessels can come up to the harbour, and unload alongside of the commodious wharfs and large warehouses whioh occupy the banks of the river. At this place the Woo-sung is nearly half a mile wide. Two forts defend the mouth of the river; and on the city side of the river Is a quay more than two miles long, and protected by two batteries.
The city, which is very large, is surrounded by a wall nearly three miles and a half in circuit. A canal extends around the exterior of the wall, and from it three canals traverse tho city, lesser branches diverging from them in various direction,. The streets are narrow, and many of them are paved with small tiles, similar to Dutch clinkers, which make a more agreeable footing than the slippery granite with which other towns in China are paved. In every part of the city are joss-houses, or temples, belonging to the various sects, though little sanctity appears to be attached to them. There are also several benevolent Institutions, u the Jung-jin-tang, or Hall of Bene volence, a hospital, providing lodging and medical aid for the sick, burial for the unclaimed dead, and education for the young; a found ling hospital, &c. The government offices are not remarkable. There are in the city a mint, and considerable manufactories of vegetable oil-ceke, iron-ware, glass, paper, and flowered silk of a peculiar kind. There are several very largo ice-houses in the city. The shops in Shang-hae are generally small, but wares of all descriptions, European as well as Chinese, are exhibited for sale; the specimens of Chinese skill and ingenuity are of almost endless variety, and many of much costliness. Dii Heide, in his ' Description of China; says, that In this 'town and its neighbourhood 200,000 weavers are occupied In making plain cottons and =slit's; and Lindsay adds, that the nan keen cloth from Shang-hes Is said to be the best in the empire: but late events have produced many changes.
As a commercial city Shang-has is the most important on the coast of China. Its wharfs are crowded with vessels from all parts of China, Singapore, Borneo, Java, &c., as well its with the larger craft of Europe and America : it is said that as many as 3000 junks may be at times seen lying off Shang-hae, and 400 have been counted entering the port in a week. Our surprise at the great amount of native com merce will cease if we consider that there is no harbour on the Chinese coast between 30° and 35° N. lat, or between the bay of Ningpo on
the south, and the peninsula of Shantung on the north. On this tract of coast the two largest rivers of China, the Yellow River and the Yanteseliang, enter the sea, and they bring great quantities of earthy matter, which they deposit along the coast, and thus render the whole tract inaccessible to boats beyond the size of a fiahing-barge. The Woo-sung is the first river south of the Yant-se-kiang which is deep enough for the purposes of navigation, and hence the whole maritime commerce of this tract is concentrated at Shang-hae. The country which lies at the back of the coast is the most populous part of China, and contains many very large towns, among which those of Soo-tsheou foo and Hang.tsheou-foo, both far more populous than Shang-hae, and there are others which contain considerably over 100,000 inhabitants, among which is the aucient capital of China, Nankiug. [Nsace.m.] According to the Chinese census the country between 30° and 35° N. lat., extending from the sea about 200 miles inland, and comprehend ing the ancient province of Ki-an-gnan, or the present provinces of Ngan-hoii and Keang-eoo, contains, on a surface not exceeding 70,000 square miles, a population of more than 40,000,000, or about 600 inhabitants to each square mile. Snch a population cannot subsist on the produce of the soil even in the high state of agriculture by which this region is distinguished above all other parts of China. That portion of the immense quantity of grain carried into the port of Shang-hao which is not consumed in the town and its neighbourhood, is conveyed to the centre and even the western districts of Chitin Proper, by the numerous canals which are connected with the Imperial Canal, or Yoon-ho, and the two great rivers above-mentioned. The exports consist of black- and green-teas, camphor, drugs, cotton, and manufactured goods, and tire luliabitants pay for the food which they obtain from other countries by supplying their inhabitants with cotton, Bilk, and linen fabrics. Very large quantities of opium are imported. Sugar, edible birds'-nests, &c., are brought from the Eastern Archipe lago; and cotton and woollen goods, hardware, &c., from England.
Shang-hae was captured by the English in 1842. In 1853 it fell into the hands of the rebels (Crime, vol. ii. col 483], but has since been retaken by the Imperialists. Since 1842, when the port was thrown open to foreigners, and British and American consuls allowed to reside at Shang-hae, a larger number of merchants, chiefly natives of England and the United States, have formed establishments there, and their residences and places of business make quite a new town. Many of their houses are of a superior class, and their gardens, for which Shang-hae has always been famous, rival and even 'surpass those of the Chinese. The progress of the rebellion has a good deal inter fered with the prosperity of the place, and the English and American merchants have found it necessary to repel by force the encroachments of the Imperialists, and even to attack their entrenched camp.