The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-07-10
GATE TO HEAVEN
This Is the Meaning of the
Word ''Tlentsin.
Description ofthe Interesting Chinese
CITY Now Catching the Worlds Eye.
(New York Evening Post. J

New York Evening POST
In view of its being the door through
which the allied armies must march
against the enraged Boxers. there is
certain grim humor in the very name of
Tientsin-The Gate to Heaven. 1t is
modern name having been conferred
upon a small fishing village and trading
centre at the time when Aubia Khan es
tablished his court at Pekin in 1864.
Prior to that period the chief city of
the great state of Chilli had been Pao-
ting Flu, which was situated southwest
! of the capital on the Imperial post-road
which runs from Moukden to Pekin, and
/ thence southwark to the great cities of
/ the empire.
The establishment of the capital in the
north increased the Importance of Pao-
ting Fu but only to limited extent. On
the other hand, it gave an impetus to
Tientsin which might be compared to the
boom of Western city. 1t was so much
easier and cheaper to go to Pekin by
water via Tientsin than it was over
land, that trade soon sprang up which
| was measured by hundreds then by
thousands, and finally by tens Of thous-
ands Of junzs. Even of greater influence
1 was the enlargement and extension of the
canal system of the empire by Kubla
j Khan, who in 1880 opened the celebrated
Grand Canal, which gave direct COM
munication from WI Chau and Canton
ON the south, Ichang and Chung Kiang
ON the west with the Imperial capital.
The Grand Canal ended at Tient-tsin,
from which small and medium sized boats
could go up the river Pei-ho twelve, miles
to lung Chau, the port of Pekin. Be
tween Tung Chau and Pekin was an
other canal, final link in the water
chain which tied the empire together.
For centuries the major part of the tax
of the empire was paid in grain, food
articles, and manufactures These were
shipped by the Grand Canal to the CAPT
tall their transportation giving employ
1 ment to an army of workingmen which
(, in seasons of prosperity has been esti-
mated at a million souls. The effect
! upon the little village of Tientsin may
be easily imagined. 1t grew as the pro-
verbal bay tree, and, of course, attracted
enterprising men and capital from PaO-
, DlIlR anu ObU6T DlR CLUES III Nul LII dl1l1
Shantung. To it focked the powerful
coolies of the ShantuDg peninsula, indus
triOus japanese and Korean traders,
Monaghan drovers, and Manchurian adj
venturers. Its growth was steady, and
babe defiance to the many wars which
that part of the country had witnessed.
In the fifteenth century it was notable
for it's wealth and commercial power, and
in the sixteenth it began to be the cen
tire of an artistic movement which has
not died away even yet. During the
Manchu conquest it suffered severely, and
thereafter witnessed many rebelliOns
! small and large, which were crushed by
the simple Oriental expedient of uni
Versal massacre.
TIENTSIN UNDER THE PRESENT
REGIME.
When the Manchurian rule was firm ly
established and the empire was again
comparatively at peace, Iientsin started
upon a new career Of committing taxes
in money In place of forty junks, each
bringing fifty tons of rice, a single i'm
perlal junk woull now bring fifteen
thousand dollars in bags of silver. This
change in the national financial system
produced corresponding changes in the
industrial world In the present century
higher than ever, trade has diminished
and even Iientsin has felt the claw and
tooth of corruption. Between 1900 and
1850 its growth was very slight. The
TAPPING rebellion increased its military
Importance and made it we'll known to
the western world. Here it was that Ii
Hung Chang and the rOyalist generals
received much of the munitions of war
which they employed in crushing the vast
rebellion The place became popular to
the official as We'll as to the merchant
and when the war was closed it was rec
Ognized as the joint capital Of the PROV
1nce along with Pao-ting Flu. Never6he-
less neither OF the two cities had the full
power OF the capitals OF the other prOYin-
ces. The great politicians Of the state
had taken away one by one the privileges
and rights OF the provincial capital and
exercised them from Pekin. This ended,
however, when Ii Hung Chang made
Iientsin his official home. Yet even here
Chinese civilization has C0mical
illustration. Although for thirty years
T1entsin has been the actual capital OF
the province of Chi Ii, upon the official
books Pao-ting Flu is still the capital
The Vlce-regal YalQen is still open for the
TRANSACTION Of business in Pao-ting Flu,
but it's inmates, though robed in splendor
are really nothing but caretakers, while
the provincial Officialdom is to be found
exclusively at Iientsin. The growth un-
der the present REGIME has been astonish-
ing even for China In 1850 the popula-
tiOn was estimated at SOC, OO0 in 1880 at
600, 600 while at the present time, accord
ing to the local authorities and the I1ent