Evening star., 1923-12-06
P0NCEE LAND BACK
UNDER CHINA RUE
Wei-hai.Wei Given Up by
Britain, Says National
Geographic Society.

What makes pongee. ponseep, :,
riddle that probably not one ont Of n
score of the wearers of tba cool
summer silk can answer is tied ~,
in way with Wei-hai-wei. one of
tue hdh-oozen or so patches of
emma that have been under foreign
control says a bulletin from the
headquarters here of the National
Geographic Society.
Now 1T is announced that. this
patch or pongee-land is to be turned
back to it's age-old owner as a result
OF British-Chinese agreement just
reached in Peking. Great Britain
has held it under lease for the past
quarter century.
Great Britain's step in taking over
control of Wei-hai-wei in 1898 was
not due to any economic Importance
of the olace,' says the bulletin.
but soH1y to the fact that it has
strategic "Rlre as naval base The
Years iS9. and 1898 saw the high
.%atermark of territorial acquisition
In China by foreign powers, and
Great Britain fslt .mpelIed to take a
part IN the procedure, she has ex-
pialned. by wRy of self protection.
y Moved to Checkmate Russia.
Germany started the scramble in
November. 1897. by seizing the ill
fated kiaochow Bay. from which she
the world war, and by forcing China
TO grant her ninety -nine-year lease
on the surrounding territory. AL
most Immediately. Russia forced
from China twenty-fve-year lease
of Manchuria. Following this. Great
Britain negotiated for control of
Wei-hai wei, exactly midway be-
tween the German and Russian ports.
She MAJ e her reasons for the move
plain by setting out in the agreement
that the lease was TO run for twenty
Hve years or so long as Russia oc-
rupies Port Arthur The lease was
therefore nominally for twenty-five
years.
when Japan defeated Russia and
took ninety-nine-yearl lease on Port
Arthur. Great Britain did not extend
her Wei-hai-wei lease correspondence
original term. The British ruled
town of Port Edward will be made
into sort of treaty port for British
residents and traders.
Chief Value Naval.
"Wei-hai-wei is near the tip
of Shantung's principa! peninsula.
which, with what may be called for
AMERICAN ears the Port Arthur pen
insula' to the north. almost closes
the entrance to the Gulf of Chilli
thur. this British territory dominates
the water road to Peking's and
TientSin'S ports.
Just as the Bay of wei-hai-wei is
valuable in strategic position. so it
is valuable physically. for its harbor
is deep and sheltered. But in the
sphere of geography that lies out
side naval considerations the place is
OF small account Germanys and
Iapan's TsAngtau had a rich hinter-
land behind 1T and became rather a
prosperous port. But the low, sandy
coast lands and rolling hills about
Wei-hai-wei are not~known to con-
tain minerals, and they fall far short
OF constituting a Garden of Eden
agrfculturally. The regions two bids
to fame economically are ground
nuts, of which considerable guam
titles are produced in the valleys
and pongee silk.
Oak-Fed SILK Worms.
''To most persons, no doubt. silk
means a fiber spun by domesticated
silk worms fed on mulberry leaves.
But the silk industry Is different in
the Wei-haf-wei neighborhood and
other parts of Shantung. The pongee
by which name their silk is known
--unbleached and in it's natural color.
IS the product, not of domestic, but
of wild silk worms. And they do
no. eat mulberry leaVeS, but browse,
so TO speak. on the leaves of the
scrub oak trees of the Shantung hills.
Their cocoons are gathered in large
quantities, and SO the otherwise
waste Hill lands are made to yield a
relatively rich harvest.
I'm returning the Wei-hai wei
1easehold to China, Great Britain
will turn back a better region than
she received. New plants and ami
mals have been introduced, consid-
erab1e denuded areas have been re-
forested. and good roads have been
built. Wei-hai-wei has a favorable
climate and during the twenty-five
used to a certain extent as a summer
resort by Europeans from Hongkong
and the southern treaty ports"