Die Münzen, Maße und Gewichte aller Länder der Erde einzeln berechnet nach ihren Werthen und Verhältnissen zu allen deutschen Münzen, Maßen und Gewichten

Silber, Friedrich

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Persistent identifier:: 1784851779

Author:: Silber, Friedrich

Title:: Die Münzen, Maße und Gewichte aller Länder der Erde einzeln berechnet nach ihren Werthen und Verhältnissen zu allen deutschen Münzen, Maßen und Gewichten

Sub title:: nebst Angabe der Handelsplätze und deren Rechnungsverhältnisse

Scope:: VIII, 480 Seiten

Info on language/writing:: In Fraktur

DOI:: 10.14463/KXP:1784851779

Year of publication:: 1861

Place of publication:: Leipzig

Identifier (digital):: 1784851779

Illustration:: Illustrationen

Signature of the source:: a 2434

Language:: German

Publisher of the original:: Verlag von Mortiz Ruhl

Usage licence:: Public Domain Mark 1.0

Publisher of the digital copy:: Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB)

Place of publication of the digital copy:: Hannover

Year of publication of the original:: 2022

Document type:: Monograph

Collection:: Mathematics; Economy

Section

Title:: Q.

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Section

772 features of Chinese cities-—dirt, closeness, and absence of all sanitary arrangements; while the want of any build- ing of architectural or antiquarian interest robs the city of any redeeming traits. On the eastern face of the city, between the walls and the river, stands the principal suburb, off which the native shipping lies anchored. The native town has thus nothing to recommend it except its geographical position. Situated in the extreme eastern portion of the province of Kiang-soo,and possessing a good and commodious anchorage, as well as an easy access to the ocean, it forms the principal port of central China. From the western wall of the city there stretches away a rich alluvial plain extending over 45,000 square miles, which is intersected by numerous waterways and greab chains of lakes. The products of this fertile district, as well as the teas and silks of more distant regions, find their natural outlet at Shanghai. The looms of Soochow and the tea plantations of Gan-hwuy, together with the rice of this “garden of China,” have for many years before treaty days supplied the Shanghai junks with their richest freight. But though thus favourably situated as an emporium of trade Shanghai did not attract the attention of foreign diplomatists until the outbreak of the war of 1841, when the inhabitants purchased protec- tion from the bombarding propensities of Admiral Parker by the payment of a ransom of one million taels. In the Nanking treaty, which was signed in the following year, Shanghai was included among the four new ports which were thrown open to trade by the terms of that document. In 1843 Sir George Balfour, then Captain Balfour, was appointed British consul, and it was on his motion that the site of the present English settlement, which is bounded on the north by the Soochow creek, on the south by the Yang-king canal, and on the east by the river, was chosen. The site, thus defined on its three sides (on the west no boundary was marked out), is three-fifths of a mile in length, and was separated from the native city by a narrow strip of land which was subsequently selected as the site of the French settlement. Later again the Americans established themselves on the other side of the Soochow creek, on a piece of land fronting on the river, which there makes a sharp turn in an easterly direction. At first merchants appeared disinclined to take advantage of the opportunities offered them at Shanghai. At the end of the first year of its history as an open port Shanghai could count only 23 foreign residents and families, 1 consular flag, 11 merchants’ houses, and 2 Protestant missionaries. Only forty-four foreign vessels had arrived during the same period.”? By degrees, however, the manifold advantages as a port of trade possessed by Shanghai attracted merchants of all nationalities; and from the banks of the Hwang-p'u arose lines of hongs and handsome dwelling-houses, which have converted “a reed-covered swamp into one of the finest cities in the East. Znchorage for v Staps of ¥ Shanghai. Y The Treaty Ports of China and Japan, by W. T, Mayer, SHANGHA'IL The number of foreigners, other than English, who took up their abode in the English settlement at Shanghai made it soon necessary to adopt some more catholic form of government than that supplied by an English consul who had control only over British subjects, and by com- mon agreement a committee of residents, consisting of a chairman and six members, was elected by the renters of land for the purposes of general municipal administra- tion. It was expected when the council was formed that the three settlements—the British, French, and Americans —would have been incorporated into one municipality, but international jealousy prevented the fulfilment of the scheme, and it was not until 1863 that the Americans threw in their lot with the British. In 1853 the pro- sperity of the settlements received a severe check in con- sequence of the capture of the native city by a band of insurgents, who held possession of the walls from September in that year to February 1855. This incident, though in many ways disastrous, was the exciting cause of the estab- lishment of the foreign customs service, which has proved of such inestimable advantage to the Chinese Government. The confusion into which the customs system was thrown by the occupation of the city by the rebels induced the Chinese authorities to request the consuls of Great Britain, France, and the United States to nominate three officers to superintend the collection of the revenue. This arrangement was found to work so well that on the re- occupation of the city the native authorities proposed that it should be made permanent, and Mr H. N. Lay, of H.M.’s consular service, was in consequence appointed inspector of the Shanghai customs. The results of Mr Lay’s ad- ministration proved so successful that when arranging the terms of the treaty of 1858 the Chinese willingly assented to the application of the same system to all the treaty ports, and Mr Lay was thereupon appointed inspector-general of maritime customs. On the retirement of Mr Lay in 1862 Sir Robert Hart was appointed to the post, which he still (1886) occupies. During the period from 1856 to 1864 the trade of Shanghai increased by leaps and by bounds, and its prosperity culminated between 1860 and 1864, when, in addition to the ordinary commerce, the influx of Chinese into the foreign settlement in consequence of the advance eastward of the T’ai-p’ing rebels added enormously to the value of land and to the profits of the leaseholders. Both in 1860 and again in 1861 the rebels advanced to the walls of Shanghai, and on both occasions were driven back in confusion by the British troops and volunteers, aided by the naval forces of England and France. It wasin connexion with this resistance to the rebels at Shanghai that General Gordon assumed the command of the Chinese force, which under his direction gave a meaning and reality to the hitherto somewhat boastful title of ‘ ever-victorious army ” it had assumed under the generalship of the two American adventurers Ward and Burgevine. To Shanghai the successful operations of Gordon against the rebels brought temporarily disastrous conse- quences. With the disappearance of the T'ai-p’ings the refugees who had sought safety in the foreign settlements returned to their homes, leaving whole streets and quarters deserted and empty. The loss thus inflicted on the municipality was very considerable, and was intensified by a commercial crisis in the markets of cotton and tea, in both of which articles there had been a great deal of over- speculation. But, though the abnormal prosperity produced by extraordinary circumstances was thus suddenly brought to an end, the genuine trade of the port has steadily advanced, subject of course to occasional fluctuations. For example, between the years 1878 and 1881 the gross value of the trade increased from 110,956,274 taels to 141,291,357 taels. In 1883, however, this amount fell to 110,433,531 taels, while in 1884 it rose again to 113,215,520 taels, although at this time, as will be remembered, hostilities were being carried on between France and China. In the same year 53,562 bales of silk were exported, as against 47,807 bales in 1883, and 27,084,675 1 of green tea, as against 25,336,041 Ib in 1883. In black tea there was a falling off, the respective figures being 43,813,058 and 48,251,637 1b. 'The total burthen of foreign steamers which entered and cleared at Shanghai during 1884 was 8,145,242 tons. Of this amount 2,238,433 tons were British, 500,222 were American, 188,484 were Japanese, 93,226 were German, 88,983 were French, 24,572 were Russian, and 11,322 were Danish. According to the latest estimate the native population of the

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