Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1894-08-09
THE CHICAGO OF CHINA.
a Place of Which the World VIII Hear
More Later On.

Drank Carpenter in st. Louis Globe
Democrat)
Uankow Is the Chicago OF the Chi
nese empire. 1t is nearly 100 miles from
the seacoast. and there are at this
point three cities which face each other.
much as New York, Jersey City, and
Brooklyn, which have an aggregate
population of something like 100000
If people Standing on Pagoda Hill,
behind the city of Hanyang, you look
down. in fact, upon the homes Of al
most 100000, and you see hundreds Of
villages, thousands of boats. in which
families live and die. and have spread
out before you the three great cities
of Hankow, Hanyang. and Wuchang'
In front OF YOU facing the South, flows
the broad Yangtse river, which is at
this place still mile wide, and which
is 80 deep throughout its course that
the biggest steamers that sail the ocean
can come up here and anchor at its
wharves. The city on the opposite side
is Wuchang. 1t has, perhaps, 10000
people. and the high wall which runs
around It is twelve miles in length. 1t
is the home Of one of the most pro-
gresslve governors of China, and is the
capital of the State of Ilupeh. which is
bigger than the whole of New England.
Turn to your left. and you see at your
feet the city of Hanyang, with its vast
iron-works for the making Of steel rails.
Beyond it, across the river Han, which
is so filed with boats that their masts
make YOU think of thicket OF hoop-
poles. is the vast plain covered with the
buildings of tIankaw, which Is even
larger than Wuchang, and which Is the
commercial capital of this part Of the
empire. As you look over the landscape
your eve meets as much water as lana.
The mighty Yangtse above and below
you flows on Ike a great inland sea-
its bosom loaded with a score of steam
err, ana thousands of queer-looknS Jhi.ns.
There are boats before you which have
come 1000 miles down its waters through
tn deep gorges of IchaDg, and miNec
with them are ships from Canton, Annoy,
Foo Chow, and other great cities along
the coast. There are tea junks from the
Big Poyang Lake, and queer-lookins craft
from a thousand different localities. each
having a build and make peculiarly It's
own.
As YOU look YOU realize the force OF
the assertion that China has more boats
than all the rest of the world put to-
rether. The Yangtse is here cut into
by canals. and the great laSoons lying
back in the country are spotted with
sails. The River Han, which has flowed
800 miles i'm its winding course from us
source to its mouth, has brought down
hundreds of river junks, and ships are
being loaded at scores of these wharves
for all parts of the empire and OF the
world To-day the trade Of this place
amounts to about SS7,Oo000O a year, ana
every dollars worth of this has to DE
carried away by water. In the years 10
come a large part of IL will go by land,
and railroads may make Hankow the
greatest city of Asia, II not the biggest
on the globe.
The probabilities are that this place
will be some day one of the greatest man
ufacturing centres of the world. There
is coal and sron near here In close
proximity to one another, and the water
communication is such that the coal can
be shipped here from almost any part OF
| the empire. Already population OF
more than 100000 are tributary 10
| this point by rivers and canals. and the
great trunk line of future China Will
probably run through Hankow from Pc
king to Canton, taking in more blg
cities and a greater number of people
| than any other railroad on the globe
| Peliug has million Of people. 11ent'
sin has more than million, ana II
would be on the line only eighty miles
| south of the imperial capital. From
| thence II would cut its way further
south about 500 miles through one OF
| the most thickly-settled parts of the
emnire 10 Hankow, where ii would
| strike these cities of 100000. From
| here on to Canton IL cannot be mor'
| than 500 miles. and the land is rich II
| ths extreme, and it teens with millions
1 ',s.,,o, &c one of the great trading cen
tres OF the world. and it is said TO have
| ponulation Of about 100000 TIT
| r.bnle length OF the road would be less
| i'm / 5Oo miles, and there would not b'
| waste SPOT on IL. Ii Will take bu'
! I,tle grading. and IL would, L judge
Ia a comparatively cheap road TO buiid
| I, would be a Decline from North te
carth China, and would be largely pat
,orsyed as soon as the Chinese dis'
| covered its value. There are no peopi'
| an the globe quicker to make use OF
| GOOD thing and cheap thing than thes'
| Chnese. 1890. ~,
| AS II is. they have the dearest OF
,nodes OF travel, and though their wheel
ha,.ro,vs and boats carry goods fox al
most nothing in comparison with the
labor spent In running them. they are
| AGAR In competition with steam. AS II
| a. the steamers on the Yangtse are
| Kent no by Chinese freight and passen
| gers and every steamboat l have seef
has been crowded with them. They rid'
| arst and second class, and many o.
/ ,hsm take a sort OF steerage passage
sleeptng in hunks In large ccmpart
mani n the rear end OF the steamers.
Orders for priAttug sent 70 the Dis
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